The Impact on the Future Development of Western Political Philosophy of J. Rawls' Theory of“Reasonable Pluralism”

Qiang Yihua

Abstract: According to John Rawls，“reasonable pluralism”refers to different and incompatible reasonable comprehensive doctrines of religion, philosophy and morality in contemporary western democratic societies. His theory had convincingly argued for the indispensability of“reasonable pluralism”in the past and future development of western democracy from three key aspects: the“topic transition”（which is closely related to reasonable pluralism）from“the good of the past”to“the justice of the current”as laid out in western moral and political philosophy, the“historical necessity”of the“reasonable pluralism”，and finally its“positive significance”. Furthermore, Rawls attempted to address the co-existence problem of human beings by seeking“consensus”in the basic structure of society（i. e. in the field of politics）rather than through a theory of comprehensive doctrines. Such solution should be preferred to those that seek consensus through studying human history or otherwise constructing comprehensive doctrines. Therefore, it indicates a new direction of reaching“consensus”in the future development of western political philosophy.

Keywords: reasonable pluralism; comprehensive doctrines; overlapping consensus; future development