Abstract

The hermeneutics of justice spans across development, economics, government and socio-political rights. Its conceptualization and utilization for divergent purposes however creates an enigma that fundamentally hampers its application. This paper creates a discourse around the context and content of justice by utilizing Rainer Forst's Context of Justice as a framework in interrogating the debates between the Liberal and Communitarian propositions of the self and community respectively. It envisages a midpoint between these dissenting views and concludes that since the communitarian thesis encounters problems with its approach at submerging the rights of the individual within the communal structure, justice can only be effectively responded to and applied within an intersubjective context that not only resonates with but also synchronizes the offerings of liberalism with community without being incongruous.

Keywords:

Justice, Liberalism, Communitarianism, Constructivism, Rights, Self.

References:

1) Forst, R. 2002. Context of Justice: Political Philosophy beyond Liberalism and Communitarianism University of California Press p.12

2) Ibid., p.17

3) Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice Havard University Press p.65

4) Forst, p.45

5) Ibid., p.64

6) Hegel, G.W. F. 1967. Philosophy of Right, Translated by T. M Knox. Oxford University Press p.54

7) Ibid., 55

8) Habermas, J. 1976. Legitimation Crisis, Translated by Thomas McCarthy. London: Heinemann p.34

9) Ibid., p. 40

10) Larmore, C. 1984. Review of Liberalism and the Limits of Justice. Journal of Philosophy 81: 336-343

11) Rawls. Op. cit., p.

12) Forst, p.101.

13) Ibid., p.104

14) Ibid.

15) Ibid., p.106

16) Ibid., p.107

17) Walzer, M. 1983. Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality. Basic Books

18) Ibid., p. 143

19) Forst, p.240

20) Ibid.

21) Ibid., p.258

22) Ibid.

23) Ibid., p. 243

24) Ibid.

25) Ibid., p. 241

26) Ibid., p. 256

27) Ibid.

28) Ibid., p.256

29) Ibid.

30) Habermas, op. cit., p.42

31) Garner, R. 1996. Introduction to Politics Oxford: University Press p.137