Pluralism, citizenship and equality: Michael Walzer’s Theory of Justice

Authors

  • Ricardo Corrêa de Araujo PPGFIL-UFES

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2017.3.25798

Keywords:

Political philosophy. Theory of Justice. Democracy. Michael Walzer.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a reconstruction of the Michael Walzer’s theory of justice from his work Spheres of Justice: A defense of Pluralism and Equality, which emphasizes only the pluralism, highlighting likewise the essential role of democratic citizenship in achievement of equality. To do this, it will be done a presentation of book’s basic concepts: the pluralistic theory of goods, the spheres of justice’s autonomy from the social significance of the goods, the negative notions of dominance and domination and the ideal of equality complex allegedly resulting from that autonomy. After, it will be analyzed a criticism pointing the failure of autonomous spheres for the realization of Walzer’s egalitarian project as a well the risk of inequality to which it is exposed, supporting the need for democratic citizenship to overcome it. Finally, it will show how Walzer itself has always adopted, although without developing it, the idea of democratic citizenship as the other indispensable bastion of equality.

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Author Biography

Ricardo Corrêa de Araujo, PPGFIL-UFES

Professor do Departamento de Filosofia e do Programa de pós-graduação em Filosofia da UFES (PPGFIL-UFES)

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Published

2017-12-28

How to Cite

de Araujo, R. C. (2017). Pluralism, citizenship and equality: Michael Walzer’s Theory of Justice. Veritas (Porto Alegre), 62(3), 748–778. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2017.3.25798