SENSE OF JUSTICE AND NORMATIVITY: THE ROLE OF MORAL FEELINGS IN THE THEORY OF JUSTICE AS EQUITY BY JOHN RAWLS
John Rawls. Moral feelings. Sense of justice. Normativity
The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the role of moral feelings in the theory of justice as equity as proposed by the philosopher John Rawls. In Chapter VIII of A Theory of Justice (1971), Rawls introduces the idea that moral feelings are important to guarantee social stability in well-ordered societies. In Political liberalism, Rawls reviews some points of the theory of justice as equity, however, he remains firm in his main ideas. It is possible to see a considerable advance between A theory of justice and Political liberalism, since in political liberalism Rawls defends a political conception of justice without refers to current moral conceptions in society. The sense of justice in political liberalism is presented as a social virtue indispensable to achieve a superimposed consensus. Moreover, the sense of justice remains linked to the issue of social stability. The role of the sense of justice in both works is mediate possible conflicts and disagreements inherent to all democratic social system. Thus, this research analyzes how moral feelings, as the sense of justice, can intermediate the conflict of interests between individuals and groups in contemporary democratic societies.