Must the Subaltern Speak Publicly? Public Reason Liberalism and the Ethics of Fighting Severe Injustice
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The victims of severe injustice are allowed to employ disruption and violence to seek political change. This article argues for this conclusion from within Rawlsian political liberalism, which, however, has been criticized for allegedly imposing public reason’s suffocating norms of civility on the oppressed. It develops a novel view of the applicability of public reason in nonideal circumstances—the “no self-sacrifice view”—that focuses on the excessive costs of following public reason when suffering from severe injustice. On this view, those treated in what Rawls describes as less than a reasonably just way are relieved of the duty of public reason and therefore entitled to employ disruption and violence. In contrast, their privileged fellow citizens must still obey public reason’s civility unless they have been authorized by the oppressed to join their fight. This article also starts exploring from within political liberalism the normative principles governing disruptive and violent protest.
Source: The Journal of Politics
DOI: 10.1086/730731
Authors: Gabriele Badano, Alasia Nuti
Institution: University of York
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4393899395