In Rawls, Dewey and Constructivism, Eric Weber examines and critiques John Rawls’ epistemology and the unresolved tension - inherited from Kant - between Representationalism and Constructivism in Rawls’ work. Weber argues that, despite Rawls’ claims to be a constructivist, his unexplored Kantian influences cause several problems. In particular, Weber criticises Rawls’ failure to explain the origins of conceptions of justice, his understanding of "persons" and his revival of Social Contract Theory. Drawing on the work of John Dewey to resolve these problems, the book argues for a rigorously constructivist approach to the concept of justice and explores the practical implications of such an approach for Education.
Eric Thomas Weber is assistant professor of Public Policy Leadership at the University of Mississippi, USA. He has published in
Human Studies, Review of Policy Research, Skepsis, William James Studies, Contemporary Pragmatism, and
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society. He is the author of
Rawls, Dewey, and Constructivism (Continuum, 2010).