Rawls and the Economists: The (Im)potential Dialogue

Though falling inside the scope of political and ethical philosophy, it’s well-known that A Idea of Justice has additionally had an amazing influence on economists. As such, Rawls put nice emphasis on his want to mix economics and philosophy, and significantly to take care of rational alternative idea, notably and famously claiming that “the idea of justice is a component, maybe probably the most vital half, of the idea of rational alternative” (1971, 15).

After the publication of A Idea of Justice, points of it got here in for criticism – typically very vehement – by economists equivalent to Arrow (1973), Musgrave (1974), Harsanyi (1975) and later by Sen (1980).

Rawls’s fast solutions (1974a,b specifically) confirmed that he first wished to keep up a dialogue with the economists, however the later evolutions of his works (1993, 2001) clearly demonstrated that he had eliminated himself from the financial realm, returning to his preliminary philosophical territory with the intention to overcome the inner inconsistencies of A Idea of Justice.

On this paper, by focusing extensively on the letter exchanges between Rawls and the economists earlier than and after the publication of A Idea of Justice, I try and make clear different (complementary) parts which may clarify Rawls’s retreat from the realm of economics, and his progressive disenchantment relating to the potential for a dialogue on equal footing between economists and philosophers.