Rawls, Dewey, and Constructivism

On the Epistemology of Justice

Eric Thomas Weber

• Publisher: Continuum
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781441199447
• eBook ISBN: 9781441120694
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Education Technology

In Rawls, Dewey, and Constructivism, Eric Weber examines and critiques John Rawls' epistemology and the unresolved tension - inherited from Kant - between Representationalism and Constructivism in Rawls' work. Weber argues that, despite Rawls' claims to be a constructivist, his unexplored Kantian influences cause several problems. In particular, Weber criticises Rawls' failure to explain the origins of conceptions of justice, his understanding of "persons" and his revival of Social Contract Theory. Drawing on the work of John Dewey to resolve these problems, the book argues for a rigorously constructivist approach to the concept of justice and explores the practical implications of such an approach for Education.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Social Contract Theory, Old and New
• Chapter 3 Worlds Apart: On Moral Realism and Two Constructivisms
• Chapter 4 Freedom and Phenomenal Persons
• Chapter 5 Rawls’s Epistemological Tension: The Original Position, Reflective Equilibrium, and Objectivity
• Chapter 6 Dewey and Rawls on Education
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index