Rawls on Kantian Constructivism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15173/jhap.v4i8.2700Abstract
John Rawls’s 1980 Dewey Lectures are widely acknowledged to represent the locus classicus for contemporary discussions of moral constructivism. Nevertheless, few published works have engaged with the significant interpretive challenges one finds in these lectures, and those that have fail to offer a satisfactory reading of the view that Rawls presents there or the place the lectures occupy in the development of Rawls's thinking. Indeed, there is a surprising lack of consensus about how best to interpret the constructivism of these lectures. In this paper, I argue that the constructivism presented in the Dewey Lectures is best understood as involving the view that moral truth is correspondence with procedurally-determined, stance-dependent facts. Employing Rawls’s discussion of rational intuitionism as a foil, I defend this reading against textual discrepancies from within the lectures, as well as those one finds across Rawls’s other works. In addition to settling interpretive disputes, I draw out the ways in which this understanding of Kantian constructivism fits within the broader comparative project in ‘moral theory’ that Rawls inherits from Sidgwick.
References
Bagnoli, Carla, 2013a. ‘Constructivism about Practical Knowledge.’ In Bagnoli (2013b), pp. 153–82.
———, ed., 2013b. Constructivism in Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barry, Brian, 1989. A Treatise on Social Justice, vol. I, Theories of Justice. London: Harvester-Wheatsheaf.
Blackburn, Simon, 1998. Ruling Passions: A Theory of Practical Reasoning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brink, David, 1987. ‘Rawlsian Constructivism in Moral Theory.’ Canadian Journal of Philosophy 17: 71–90.
———, 1989. Moral Realism and the Foundations of Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, Joshua, 2009. ‘Truth and Public Reason.’ Philosophy & Public Affairs 37: 2–42.
Darwall, Stephen, Allan Gibbard and Peter Railton, 1992. ‘Toward a Fin de siecle Ethics: Some Trends.’ Philosophical Review 101: 115–89.
Dorsey, Dale, 2012. ‘A Puzzle for Constructivism and How to Solve It.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 99–118.
Engstrom, Stephen, 2013. ‘Constructivism and Practical Knowledge.’ In Bagnoli (2013b), pp. 133–52.
Enoch, David, 2009. ‘Can There Be a Global, Interesting, Coherent Constructivism about Practical Reason.’ Philosophical Explorations 12: 319–39.
Fitzpatrick, William, 2005. ‘The Practical Turn in Ethical Theory: Korgaard’s Constructivism, Realism and the Nature of Normativity.’ Ethics 115: 651–91.
Freeman, Samuel, ed., 1999. John Rawls: Collected Papers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
———, ed., 2003. The Cambridge Companion to Rawls. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———, 2007. Justice and the Social Contract: Essays on Rawlsian Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Galvin, Richard, 2010. ‘Rounding Up the Usual Suspects: Varieties of Kantian Constructivism in Ethics.’ Philosophical Quarterly 61: 16–36.
Gibbard, Allan, 1999. ‘Morality as Consistency in Living.’ Ethics 110: 140–64.
———, 2003. Thinking How to Live. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hill, Thomas, 1989. ‘Kantian Constructivism in Ethics.’ Ethics 99: 752–70.
———, 2011. ‘Kantian Constructivism as Normative Ethics.’ Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics 1: 26–50.
Hussain, Nadeem, 2012. ‘A Problem for Ambitious Metanormative Constructivism.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 180–94.
Hussain, Nadeem and Nishi Shah, 2006. ‘Misunderstanding Metaethics: Korsgaard’s Rejection of Realism.’ Oxford Studies in Metaethics 1: 265–94.
Irwin, Terence, 2009. The Development of Ethics: A Historical and Critical Study, vol. III. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
James, Aaron, 2007. ‘Constructivism about Practical Reasons.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 74: 302–25.
———, 2012. ‘Constructing Protagorean Objectivity.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 60–80.
Korsgaard, Christine, 1996. The Sources of Normativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———, 2003. ‘Realism and Constructivism in Twentieth-Century Moral Philosophy.’ Journal of Philosophical Research APA Centennial Supplement: 99–122.
LeBar, Mark, 2008. ‘Aristotelian Constructivism.’ Social Philosophy and Policy 25: 182–213.
Lenman, James, 2010. ‘Humean Constructivism in Moral Theory.’ Oxford Studies in Metaethics 5: 175–93.
———, 2012. ‘Expressivism and Constructivism.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 213–25.
Lenman, James and Yonatan Shemmer, eds., 2012. Constructivism in Practical Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lynch, Michael, 2009. Truth as One and Many. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Mackie, J. L., 1977. Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. New York: Penguin Books.
Milo, Ronald, 1995. ‘Contractarian Constructivism.’ Journal of Philosophy 92: 181–204.
Moore, G. E., 1903. Principia Ethica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Neill, Onora, 1989. Constructions of Reason: Explorations of Kant’s Practical Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———, 2003a. ‘Constructivism in Rawls and Kant.’ In Freeman (2003), pp. 347–67.
———, 2003b. ‘Constructivism vs. Contractualism.’ Ratio n.s. XVI 4: 319–31.
Rawls, John, 1950. A Study in the Grounds of Ethical Knowledge: Considered with Reference to Judgments on the Moral Worth of Character. Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University.
———, 1951. ‘Outline of a Decision Procedure for Ethics.’ The Philosophical Review 60: 177–97.
———, 1971/1999. A Theory of Justice, 2nd ed.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. (First edition 1971.)
———, 1974–75. ‘The Independence of Moral Theory.’ Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 48: 5–22.
———, 1980. ‘Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory.’ Journal of Philosophy 77: 515–72.
———, 1985. ‘Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical.’ Philosophy & Public Affairs 14: 223–51.
———, 1989. ‘Themes in Kant’s Moral Philosophy.’ In Kant’s Transcendental Deductions, edited by Eckhard Forster, pp. 81–113. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
———, 1993/1996. Political Liberalism, 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. (First edition 1993.)
———, 2000. Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ridge, Michael, 2012. ‘Kantian Constructivism: Something Old, Something New.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 138–58.
Scanlon, T. M., 1982. ‘Contractualism and Utilitarianism.’ In Utilitarianism and Beyond, edited by Amartya Sen and Bernard Williams, pp. 103–28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schafer, Karl, 2015a. ‘Realism and Constructivism in Kantian Metaethics (1): Realism and Constructivism in a Kantian Context.’ Philosophy Compass 10: 690–701.
———, 2015b. ‘Realism and Constructivism in Kantian Metaethics (2): The Kantian Conception of Rationality and Rationalist Constructivism.’ Philosophy Compass 10: 702–13.
Shafer-Landau, Russ, 2003. Moral Realism: a Defence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sidgwick, Henry, 1907/1966. The Methods of Ethics, 7th edition. New York: Dover Publications, 1966. (Edition first published 1907.)
Silk, Alex, 2015. ‘Nietzschean Constructivism: Ethics and Metaethics for None and All.’ Inquiry 58: 244–80.
Street, Sharon, 2008. ‘Constructivism about Reasons.’ Oxford Studies in Metaethics 3: 207–45.
———, 2010. ‘What is Constructivism in Ethics and Metaethics?’ Philosophy Compass 5: 363–84.
Timmons, Mark, 1999. Morality without Foundations: A Defense of Ethical Contextualism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———, 2003. ‘The Limits of Moral Constructivism.’ Ratio 16: 391–423.
Weithman, Paul, 2010. Why Political Liberalism? On John Rawls’s Political Turn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———, ed., 2013b. Constructivism in Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barry, Brian, 1989. A Treatise on Social Justice, vol. I, Theories of Justice. London: Harvester-Wheatsheaf.
Blackburn, Simon, 1998. Ruling Passions: A Theory of Practical Reasoning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brink, David, 1987. ‘Rawlsian Constructivism in Moral Theory.’ Canadian Journal of Philosophy 17: 71–90.
———, 1989. Moral Realism and the Foundations of Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, Joshua, 2009. ‘Truth and Public Reason.’ Philosophy & Public Affairs 37: 2–42.
Darwall, Stephen, Allan Gibbard and Peter Railton, 1992. ‘Toward a Fin de siecle Ethics: Some Trends.’ Philosophical Review 101: 115–89.
Dorsey, Dale, 2012. ‘A Puzzle for Constructivism and How to Solve It.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 99–118.
Engstrom, Stephen, 2013. ‘Constructivism and Practical Knowledge.’ In Bagnoli (2013b), pp. 133–52.
Enoch, David, 2009. ‘Can There Be a Global, Interesting, Coherent Constructivism about Practical Reason.’ Philosophical Explorations 12: 319–39.
Fitzpatrick, William, 2005. ‘The Practical Turn in Ethical Theory: Korgaard’s Constructivism, Realism and the Nature of Normativity.’ Ethics 115: 651–91.
Freeman, Samuel, ed., 1999. John Rawls: Collected Papers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
———, ed., 2003. The Cambridge Companion to Rawls. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———, 2007. Justice and the Social Contract: Essays on Rawlsian Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Galvin, Richard, 2010. ‘Rounding Up the Usual Suspects: Varieties of Kantian Constructivism in Ethics.’ Philosophical Quarterly 61: 16–36.
Gibbard, Allan, 1999. ‘Morality as Consistency in Living.’ Ethics 110: 140–64.
———, 2003. Thinking How to Live. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hill, Thomas, 1989. ‘Kantian Constructivism in Ethics.’ Ethics 99: 752–70.
———, 2011. ‘Kantian Constructivism as Normative Ethics.’ Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics 1: 26–50.
Hussain, Nadeem, 2012. ‘A Problem for Ambitious Metanormative Constructivism.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 180–94.
Hussain, Nadeem and Nishi Shah, 2006. ‘Misunderstanding Metaethics: Korsgaard’s Rejection of Realism.’ Oxford Studies in Metaethics 1: 265–94.
Irwin, Terence, 2009. The Development of Ethics: A Historical and Critical Study, vol. III. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
James, Aaron, 2007. ‘Constructivism about Practical Reasons.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 74: 302–25.
———, 2012. ‘Constructing Protagorean Objectivity.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 60–80.
Korsgaard, Christine, 1996. The Sources of Normativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———, 2003. ‘Realism and Constructivism in Twentieth-Century Moral Philosophy.’ Journal of Philosophical Research APA Centennial Supplement: 99–122.
LeBar, Mark, 2008. ‘Aristotelian Constructivism.’ Social Philosophy and Policy 25: 182–213.
Lenman, James, 2010. ‘Humean Constructivism in Moral Theory.’ Oxford Studies in Metaethics 5: 175–93.
———, 2012. ‘Expressivism and Constructivism.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 213–25.
Lenman, James and Yonatan Shemmer, eds., 2012. Constructivism in Practical Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lynch, Michael, 2009. Truth as One and Many. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Mackie, J. L., 1977. Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. New York: Penguin Books.
Milo, Ronald, 1995. ‘Contractarian Constructivism.’ Journal of Philosophy 92: 181–204.
Moore, G. E., 1903. Principia Ethica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Neill, Onora, 1989. Constructions of Reason: Explorations of Kant’s Practical Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———, 2003a. ‘Constructivism in Rawls and Kant.’ In Freeman (2003), pp. 347–67.
———, 2003b. ‘Constructivism vs. Contractualism.’ Ratio n.s. XVI 4: 319–31.
Rawls, John, 1950. A Study in the Grounds of Ethical Knowledge: Considered with Reference to Judgments on the Moral Worth of Character. Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University.
———, 1951. ‘Outline of a Decision Procedure for Ethics.’ The Philosophical Review 60: 177–97.
———, 1971/1999. A Theory of Justice, 2nd ed.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. (First edition 1971.)
———, 1974–75. ‘The Independence of Moral Theory.’ Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 48: 5–22.
———, 1980. ‘Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory.’ Journal of Philosophy 77: 515–72.
———, 1985. ‘Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical.’ Philosophy & Public Affairs 14: 223–51.
———, 1989. ‘Themes in Kant’s Moral Philosophy.’ In Kant’s Transcendental Deductions, edited by Eckhard Forster, pp. 81–113. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
———, 1993/1996. Political Liberalism, 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. (First edition 1993.)
———, 2000. Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ridge, Michael, 2012. ‘Kantian Constructivism: Something Old, Something New.’ In Lenman and Shemmer (2012), pp. 138–58.
Scanlon, T. M., 1982. ‘Contractualism and Utilitarianism.’ In Utilitarianism and Beyond, edited by Amartya Sen and Bernard Williams, pp. 103–28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schafer, Karl, 2015a. ‘Realism and Constructivism in Kantian Metaethics (1): Realism and Constructivism in a Kantian Context.’ Philosophy Compass 10: 690–701.
———, 2015b. ‘Realism and Constructivism in Kantian Metaethics (2): The Kantian Conception of Rationality and Rationalist Constructivism.’ Philosophy Compass 10: 702–13.
Shafer-Landau, Russ, 2003. Moral Realism: a Defence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sidgwick, Henry, 1907/1966. The Methods of Ethics, 7th edition. New York: Dover Publications, 1966. (Edition first published 1907.)
Silk, Alex, 2015. ‘Nietzschean Constructivism: Ethics and Metaethics for None and All.’ Inquiry 58: 244–80.
Street, Sharon, 2008. ‘Constructivism about Reasons.’ Oxford Studies in Metaethics 3: 207–45.
———, 2010. ‘What is Constructivism in Ethics and Metaethics?’ Philosophy Compass 5: 363–84.
Timmons, Mark, 1999. Morality without Foundations: A Defense of Ethical Contextualism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———, 2003. ‘The Limits of Moral Constructivism.’ Ratio 16: 391–423.
Weithman, Paul, 2010. Why Political Liberalism? On John Rawls’s Political Turn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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