Philosophy, et cetera 2008-06-12

Autonomy and Instrumentalism

I've been reading Michael Frazer's paper 'John Rawls: between two enlightenments', and was puzzled by the following passage about reasoning behind the veil of ignorance:Facing the possibility that they will be deeply committed to a certain religious or philosophical vision of life, these actors [in the original position] must feel their way into the perspective of such committed believers, and consider the role that first principles play in the lives of those devoted to them. Upon doing so, Rawls argues, actors in the original position come to understand that any risk of not being allowed to live according to one's most cherished convictions cannot be compensated for by any degree of economic or political benefit. Such a rejection of the very sort of cost-benefit analysis characteristic of instrumental rationality cannot itself be the product of that very faculty, but must ...

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