John Rawls - Political Liberalism - Choose 1 out of 2 suggested topics - Essay Example

The idea explains political liberalism in a democratic society. It is evident that, in a democratic society, each person’s world view is valid and acceptable. The confusion here is that, if each person’s opinion of the world is diverse, it is a miracle how they live in the same society, sharing common laws. The idea of public reason explains how the society is able to maintain political liberalism. It shows that the public reason plays an important role in ensuring constitutional democracy.

Below is a description of the connection between public understanding and political liberalism, which also illustrates its role in the constitutional democracy. Rawls’ political liberalism is all about the liberal conception of the role of justice. Rawls argues that because the society has competing conceptions of the good, the government should be neutral when it comes to support such conceptions. This is where he develops the idea of public reason, to explain the existence of political liberty even with the existence of different people with different views and beliefs.

A political liberty comes with a democratic society, but within a democratic society, people still have to be coerced to specific laws. One law for so many people, yet they have differences. Rawls uses public reason to explain how it ensures constitutional democracy (Rawls 213). In order to understand how public reason helps a society achieve political liberty, it is important to describe what it is, as conceptualized by Rawls. It is also essential to comprehend what a democratic society means.

A democratic society is a free society. A free society is composed of citizens with dissimilar worldviews. People have different conceptions about what is wrong or right; people have different religious beliefs, and people value various forms and pursuits of interpersonal relations. Democratic people will have different aims in life and will want to act according to their beliefs, yet in a