Zhou Lian (Associate Professor, School of Philosophy, Renmin University, China; HYI Visiting Scholar)
Chair/discussant: Eric Beerbohm (Professor of Government, Harvard University)
John Rawls distinguishes five kinds of regimes viewed as social systems, complete with their political, economic, and social institutions: (a) laissez-faire capitalism; (b) welfare-state capitalism; (c) state socialism with a command economy; (d) property-owning democracy; and finally, (e) liberal (democratic) socialism. He claims that the former three systems violate the two principles of justice in at least one way, and that only property-owning democracy and liberal (democratic) socialism satisfy the two principles of justice. The justification of the thin conception of economic liberties in the first principle of justice is the key to understanding Rawls’s claim. As James Nickel and Benjamin Barros suggest, Rawls’s justification is not convincing in some aspects, hence, which social systems satisfy the two principles of justice remains an open question.
Upcoming Events
Visiting Scholar Talks
Shakespeare’s Influence on Modern Chinese Literature and CultureWednesday, October 4, 2023
Online Information Session for the 2024-25 BC Ricci Institute – HYI Joint Fellowship
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Visiting Scholar Talks
Diachronic analysis of human-object relations: a case study of the Kavinyangang ancestral pots, TaiwanWednesday, October 11, 2023