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Rawlsian HarmoniesOverlapping Consensus Symphony OrchestraPennsylvania State University John Rawls’s distinction between a comprehensive liberalism and his political version remains unclear to even his sympathetic critics. They stress his over-reliance on intuitive ideas of a liberal political culture in formulating the original position and its principles of justice. In this article, I argue that Rawls defends his liberal intuitions in a way philosophers might least expect. He conveys the sense of justice that motivates political liberalism through his metaphors. Rawls draws his concept of a well-ordered society – a social union of social unions – from Wilhelm von Humboldt, a seldom-noticed source. Paralleling von Humboldt’s use of musical metaphors, Rawls characterizes liberal democracy as a symphony orchestra. Analyzing this metaphor, I argue, reveals the cultural limitations of Rawls’s overlapping consensus and the political project which undergirds his theory of justice.
Key Words: communication – in politics • consensus • democracy • liberalism • metaphor • music – political aspect
Theory, Culture & Society, Vol. 20, No. 6,
121-140 (2003) This article has been cited by other articles:
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