Abstract

MACDONALD, Paulo Baptista Caruso. Disagreement on the just criteria of equality and the role of political theory in a constitutional democracy: a contrast between the positions of Dworkin, Sen and Rawls. Conjectura: filos. e Educ. [online]. 2018, vol.23, n.spe3, pp.333-347.  Epub Sep 02, 2019. ISSN 2178-4612.  https://doi.org/10.18226/21784612.v23.dossie.15.

The issues concerning justice are not only those related to the establishment of the criteria of equality which ought to be incorporated by legal rules, but also those connected with the legitimacy of the choice of those criteria. In virtue of the tragical experiences of the 20th century and of the impossibility of conceiving a perfect mechanism of social choice, the recent debate on the just criteria of equality must be read in the context of a broader discussion which includes matters of political legitimacy and the stability of democracies in spite of the profound disagreement occasioned by pluralism. This paper intends to compare the political theories of Ronald Dworkin, Amartya Sen and John Rawls regarding their approach to political disagreement on the just criteria of equality to be incorporated into legislation. Since different functions are attributed to political theory by each author, another aim is to verify whether they are complementary or incompatible.

Keywords : Political theory; Constitutional democracy; Equality; Ideology; Public reason.

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