Chad van Schoelandt

Individual liberty for a diverse society: Public reason liberalism

February 27, 2017

Role of Government

Public reason liberalism is an important approach to social and political philosophy that has two main tenets. We could summarize these tenets as Laws and institutions must be justified from the point of view of the people who are expected to obey them — and those people have diverse beliefs. “Liberal” laws and institutions are the ones most likely to be justified to all those diverse people. Indeed, liberal institutions may even be unique in having such justification in modern, deeply diverse societies. I will explain each of these tenets in turn. Justification and Diversity The basic