Open AccessNeo-Rawlsian Co-ordinates: Notes on A Theory of Justice for the Information Age
Author(s) -
Alistair S. Duff
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international review of information ethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2563-5638
DOI - 10.29173/irie135
Subject(s) - normative , politics , secularism , sociology , morality , economic justice , social choice theory , globalization , political philosophy , state (computer science) , distributive justice , positive economics , inequality , epistemology , law and economics , social science , political science , law , economics , welfare economics , mathematics , philosophy , mathematical analysis , algorithm
The ideas of philosopher John Rawls should be appropriated for the information age. A literature review identifies previous contributions in fields such as communication and library and information science. The article postulates the following neo-Rawlsian propositions as co-ordinates for the development of a normative theory of the information society: that political philosophy should be incorporated into information society studies; that social and technological circumstances define the limits of progressive politics; that the right is prior to the good in social morality; that the nation state should remain in sharp focus, despite globalization; that liberty, the first principle of social justice, requires updating to deal with the growth of surveillance and other challenges; that social wellbeing is a function of equal opportunities plus limited inequalities of outcome, in information as well as material resources; and that political stability depends upon an overlapping consensus accommodating both religion and secularism. Although incomplete, such co-ordinates can help to guide policy-makers in the twenty-first century.