Rawls and Dewey on Democracy, Pluralism, and the Person

Abstract

John Rawls and John Dewey are among the most influential philosophers. Although some aspects of Rawls’s and Dewey’s philosophical positions have been discussed previously by some scholars, those critical studies have compared Dewey’s ideas with the ideas of Rawls while focusing on Rawls’s earlier work, A Theory of Justice. Different from the previous studies, this paper reexamines the two philosophers’ ideas within the limits of political liberalism as framed by Rawls’s later work, Political Liberalism, while focusing on the two philosophers’ discussions about the concepts of democracy, pluralism, and the person.John Rawls and John Dewey are among the most influential philosophers. Although some aspects of Rawls’s and Dewey’s philosophical positions have been discussed previously by some scholars, those critical studies have compared Dewey’s ideas with the ideas of Rawls while focusing on Rawls’s earlier work, A Theory of Justice. Different from the previous studies, this paper reexamines the two philosophers’ ideas within the limits of political liberalism as framed by Rawls’s later work, Political Liberalism, while focusing on the two philosophers’ discussions about the concepts of democracy, pluralism, and the person.