Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- 25 Capabilities
- 26 Care
- 27 Catholicism
- 28 Chain connection
- 29 Circumstances of justice
- 30 Citizen
- 31 Civic humanism
- 32 Civic republicanism
- 33 Civil disobedience
- 34 Close-knitness
- 35 Cohen
- 36 Cohen, Joshua
- 37 Common good idea of justice
- 38 Communitarianism
- 39 Comprehensive doctrine
- 40 Conception of the good
- 41 Congruence
- 42 Conscientious refusal
- 43 Constitution and constitutional essentials
- 44 Constitutional consensus
- 45 Constructivism: Kantian/political
- 46 Cooperation and coordination
- 47 Cosmopolitanism
- 48 Counting principles
- 49 Culture, political vs. background
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
32 - Civic republicanism
from C
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- 25 Capabilities
- 26 Care
- 27 Catholicism
- 28 Chain connection
- 29 Circumstances of justice
- 30 Citizen
- 31 Civic humanism
- 32 Civic republicanism
- 33 Civil disobedience
- 34 Close-knitness
- 35 Cohen
- 36 Cohen, Joshua
- 37 Common good idea of justice
- 38 Communitarianism
- 39 Comprehensive doctrine
- 40 Conception of the good
- 41 Congruence
- 42 Conscientious refusal
- 43 Constitution and constitutional essentials
- 44 Constitutional consensus
- 45 Constructivism: Kantian/political
- 46 Cooperation and coordination
- 47 Cosmopolitanism
- 48 Counting principles
- 49 Culture, political vs. background
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This expression refers to an interpretation of the republican tradition of political thought that is often contrasted with the civic humanist interpretation of the same tradition. Civic republicans argue that in order to sustain a political regime that secures the central rights and liberties of citizens, it is necessary for citizens to participate actively in politics and to cultivate certain civic virtues. The kind of virtues they have in mind include the dispositions to be informed about public affairs, to be vigilant about the behavior of public oficials, and to support the rule of law. They warn that society’s effective pursuit of the common good is undermined when citizens are corrupted by luxury, ambition, excessive self-interest, and factionalism. Civic republicans defend the value of political participation and of civic virtues by appealing to their fundamental contribution to the establishment and maintenance of a free society. In other words, they defend them primarily in instrumental terms, rather than presenting them as essential components of a comprehensive view of the human good. Among the historical igures who offered this kind of argument for civic engagement are Cicero and Machiavelli.
There are many signiicant afinities between civic republicanism and justice as fairness. Rawls agrees with civic republicans that in order to sustain a just democratic regime over time, it is necessary that citizens be politically active.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon , pp. 102 - 103Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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