TY - JOUR
T1 - Justification, choice and promise
T2 - Three devices of the consent tradition in a diverse society
AU - Gaus, Gerald
PY - 2012/6/7
Y1 - 2012/6/7
N2 - The twin ideas at the heart of the social contract tradition are that persons are naturally free and equal, and that genuine political obligations must in some way be based on the consent of those obligated. The Lockean tradition has held that consent must be in the form of explicit choice; Kantian contractualism has insisted on consent as rational endorsement. In this paper I seek to bring the Kantian and Lockean contract traditions together. Kantian rational justification and actual choice are complementary devices through which our freedom and equality can be reconciled with moral and political authority. We should not think that there is simply one way by which relations of moral and political authority can be reconciled with our status as free and equal. I defend three distinct devices through which freedom and authority may be reconciled: justification to others, social choice and promise. All three are aspects of the 'consent tradition' broadly construed.
AB - The twin ideas at the heart of the social contract tradition are that persons are naturally free and equal, and that genuine political obligations must in some way be based on the consent of those obligated. The Lockean tradition has held that consent must be in the form of explicit choice; Kantian contractualism has insisted on consent as rational endorsement. In this paper I seek to bring the Kantian and Lockean contract traditions together. Kantian rational justification and actual choice are complementary devices through which our freedom and equality can be reconciled with moral and political authority. We should not think that there is simply one way by which relations of moral and political authority can be reconciled with our status as free and equal. I defend three distinct devices through which freedom and authority may be reconciled: justification to others, social choice and promise. All three are aspects of the 'consent tradition' broadly construed.
KW - Authority
KW - Consent
KW - Contractualism
KW - Public justification
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U2 - 10.1080/13698230.2012.651014
DO - 10.1080/13698230.2012.651014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84861779322
VL - 15
SP - 109
EP - 127
JO - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (CRISPP)
JF - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (CRISPP)
SN - 1369-8230
IS - 2
ER -