Social Justice and Social TheoryInstitute of Human Rights社会正义与社会理论-人权研究所.docVIP

PAGE PAGE 2 Social Justice and Social Theory RLE 701r: Ethics Seminar J. Gunnemann Graduate Division of Religion 308 Bishops Hall Fall, 2005 7-4162 We will read selected contemporary theories of justice, beginning with the revised edition (1999, first published in 1971) of John Rawlss A Theory of Justice, a re-interpretation of the social contract tradition; then looking at a variety of alternative perspectives and critiques: communitarian, neo-Aristotelian, critical theory, and various feminist critiques. Several perennial issues and questions will guide our inquiry: How is justice related to good and to problems connected to conceptions of good, such as personal identity and social integration? How is the problem of justice (and its solution) conceived in relation to the purportedly unique problems of “modern” and “post-modern” societies, including its plurality of ends, institutional differentiation, and increased rationality? How, and on what grounds, can principles of justice be grounded or justified? A related question: How is justice related to problems of legitimacy in modern society? (And, Why are these two questions related?) Which social theories (interpreting modern, or “post-modern,” society) are drawn upon by the different accounts of justice, making them intelligible and explaining their differences? Every theory of justice draws on one or more social theoretical traditions which offer specific characterizations of the problematic aspects of the modern world (including the problems of good, identity formation, social integration, the meaning of freedom, and more) as well as characterizations of human nature (moral anthropology). The different social theories often account for many of the normative differences. What theological critique can be offered of a given theory? Are any of the theories usable by or instructive for theological ethics? Does or must theology modify or add something to them? Can these theories