ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: John Rawls's conception of the person : beyond utilitarian individual
Author: Hawi Rima
The person is the place of contradictory forces. « Elle exprime la liberté de se contraindre (Kant), le combat entre soi et l’autre (Hegel), la lutte de l’individu contre la société (Freud 1929) » (François Mahieu , pp.15-16). We find, directly or indirectly, those contradictions in John Rawls construction of the person, the hypothetical person of the original position. This paper will explore this construction, and more precisely, those contradictions that Rawls’s theory of justice seems to require. : « Le citoyen se pense comme personne autonome et coopérateur » (Stéphane Chauvier , p.93). It appears that they are deeply connected to what we can call the ‛economic dimension’ of the person. To understand Rawls’s conception of the person, we will have to analyze, what Rawls himself describes as an « unexpected » conclusion (Rawls , p.164) as well as « a surprising contrast » (ibid ., p.165) in his interpretation of utilitarianism.“ The average principle of utility is the ethic of a single rational individual (with no aversion to risk) who tries to maximize his own prospects, the classical doctrine is the ethic of perfect altruists.” (idem.) Therefore, we will try to situate the person in the original position. How this human being, autonomous, mutually disinterested, not envious or vain and that is not moved by affection or rancour (…) can deliberate, cooperate with the others? Why is he presented as ‛superior’ to the utilitarian individual, in Rawls’s opinion? It is through the confrontation of the person in Rawls’s theory and that of the utilitarian, that we intend to demonstrate the importance of Rawls’s contribution for the economic theory and questions of social justice.
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