Rawls and Law

John Rawls (1921-2002) is widely held to be amongst the most important political philosophers for over a century. This volume, which is the first work of its kind to publish in one place the most influential essays in the field, features articles on a wide range of subjects including constitutionalism, democratic theory, egalitarianism, feminism, global justice, political liberalism, the rule of law, and public reason. The collection informs scholars and students coming to the study of Rawls's work for the first time of the importance and complexity of Rawl's ideas, and sheds light on how these ideas might be further improved and applied.

Contents: Introduction; Part I Constitutional Law: Rawls on constitutionalism and constitutional law, Frank I. Michelman; Rawls and the law, Ronald Dworkin; Are there limits to constitutional change? Rawls on comprehensive doctrines, unconstitutional amendments, and the basis of equality, Charles A. Kelbley; A backdoor to policy making: the use of philosophers by the Supreme Court, Neomi Rao; Does philosophy deserve a place at the Supreme Court?, Thom Brooks. Part II Immigration: Immigration, association, and the family, Matthew Lister. Part III Political Liberalism and Public Reason: Political liberalism, Michael J. Sandel; The subject of liberalism, Frank I. Michelman; Some problems with public reason in John Rawls's Political Liberalism, Kent Greenawalt; Can a liberal take his own side in an argument? The case for John Rawls's idea of political liberalism, Ronald C. Den Otter. Part IV Private Law: On belling the cat: Rawls and tort as corrective justice, Kevin A. Kordana and David H. Tabachnick; Private order and public justice: Kant and Rawls, Arthur Ripstein. Part V Reparations: Rawls and reparation, Martin D. Carcieri. Part VI Global Justice and International Law: From Utopia to Kazanistan: John Rawls and the law of peoples, John Tasioulas; The incoherence between Rawls's theories of justice, Thomas W. Pogge; Why Rawls is not a cosmopolitan egalitarian, Leif Wenar; Preventing military humanitarian intervention? John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas on a just global order, Regina Kreide; Human rights and liberal toleration, David Reidy; Name index.

Thom Brooks, Reader in Political and Legal Philosophy, Newcastle University, UK