Consenso imposto: abordagem crítica do liberalismo político de John Rawls

Abstract

The present paper analyses critically the thought of the American philosopher John Rawls, as it is developed in the book Political Liberalism. Thence it examines directly the author’s work, presenting the key elements, the sources and general aim of the rawlsian liberalism. In this research, it is identified that, though professed as a neutral and universal proposition of political and juridical organization, liberalism is actually committed to ideological and moral values, unveiling itself in place of a political doctrine, a moral one. Therefore, the liberal political consensus establishes an ideological state, in which other worldviews, notably those springing from religious traditions, are marginalized from politics, at the cost of democracy. Hence, it concludes that political liberalism – under Rawls’ terms – is unsuitable as a political measure to deal with the issue of moral and cultural pluralism.