Rawls

Question 1

Does political philospgy still exist?

Answer 1

→ mostly conceptual analysis, ethics or ideology

Question 2

What are the two tradtions of political philospohy?

Answer 2

continental political philosophy

analytical political philosophy

Question 3

What is continental political philosophy?

Answer 3

(from european continent): arendt, hegel, marx,
neo-marxists.
- It aims to be profound, express deep truth about political and social life.
profoundness appreciated most.
- Also very reflective, every single sentence can have deep meaning.
- They also use ‘thick’ concepts. all concepts have rich meaning, such as
revolution, liberty etc. not sharply defined, but has a broad and rich meaning.
very diverse school, but recognizable as one type.
- Large questions

Question 4

What is analytical political philosophy?

Answer 4

• the focus is on analytical sharpness, being as precise as possible. often
  means you have to deal with narrow questions that you can precisely define.
• Very argumentative.
• meaning of concepts is very thin, therefore being as precise as possible. for
  example, defining democracy, you have to be very narrow. no broad
  definition.
• Analytical philosophy and continental philosophy are very contrast to each other.
  Hard to combine these two traditions.

Question 5

What are two tradionts Rawls is oppsed to?

Answer 5

utilitarianism and Perfectionism

Question 6

What are the three layer of his thouight?

Answer 6

• Social contract theory (Locke, Rousseau, esp. Kant): society/politics/civil life is based
  on social contract between individuals
• liberalism (mill): opposing one element of mill (utilitarianism), and accepting one (all
  liberty)
• democratic politics (constitution + Bill of Rights, capitalism)