Free Public Reason: Making It Up As We Go - Hardcover

D'Agostino, Fred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195097610 ISBN 13: 9780195097610

Publisher: OUP USA, 1996

Synopsis

This book examines the idea of public justification, stressing its importance but also questioning the coherence of the concept itself. D'Agostino shows that the concept is composed of various values, interests, and notions of the good, and that no ranking of these is possible. The notion of public justification is thus shown to be itself contestable. In showing this to be so, D'Agostino undermines many current political theories that rely on the concept of public justification, including those by Rawls, Waldron, and Nagel.

About this title

About the Author

Fred D'Agostino is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia.

From the Back Cover

Free Public Reason examines the idea of public justification, stressing its importance but also questioning the coherence of the concept itself. Although public justification is employed in the work of theorists such as John Rawls, Jeremy Waldron, Thomas Nagel, and others, it has received little attention on its own as a philosophical concept. D'Agostino shows that the ideal behind this concept is constituted by many, sometimes competing, demands and that no formal way of weighing these demands can be identified. The notion of public justification itself is thus shown to be contestable. In demonstrating this, D'Agostino questions many current political theories that rely on this concept. Having broken down the foundations of public justification, D'Agostino then draws on the ideas of Dworkin and Kuhn as well as insights from feminism and post-modernism to offer an alternative model of how a workable consensus on its meaning might be reached through the interactions of a community of interpreters or delegates at a constitutional convention.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195097610
• ISBN 13: 9780195097610
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216