De Rousseau à Rawls. La théorie de la justice comme « utopie réaliste » ?

Abstract

International audience ; Political philosophy is realistically utopian when it pushes back what ordinary reflection conceives of as the limits of practical political possibilities. 2 Summary: In the history of Rousseau's philosophical uses, John Rawls unquestionably deserves privileged treatment. The author of the Theory of Justice assumes the heritage of Rousseau, even if the influence of this thinker remains less, in his work, than that of Kant. Resolutely turning his back on the anti-totalitarian reading of the Social Contract, Rawls fully reintegrates Rousseau into the history of liberal thought and makes the general will one of the pillars of the "well-ordered society". Rousseau not only makes it possible to think about justice based on the contract, but also the question of the "stability" of a society: the contractualist theory exposed in the Social Contract serves to specify the stakes of the concept of equality, in its articulation with freedom ; it envisages the mechanism of the general will, the object of which is to create the social conditions of justice, thanks to the basic institutions which ensure its foundation; finally, it wonders about the best way to create the "social spirit" or the motivations which will allow these institutions to be perpetuated. Far from being the precursor of totalitarianism and the gravedigger of freedom, Rousseau thus appears as the supporter of a just and stable society where only true freedom can be achieved. ; La philosophie politique est utopiste de façon réaliste lorsqu'elle fait reculer ce que la réflexion ordinaire conçoit comme les limites des possibilités politiques pratiques 2. Résumé : Dans l'histoire des usages philosophiques de Rousseau, John Rawls mérite sans conteste un traitement privilégié. L'auteur de la Théorie de la justice assume l'héritage de Rousseau-même si l'influence de ce penseur reste moindre, dans son oeuvre, que celle de Kant. Tournant résolument le dos à la lecture anti-totalitaire du Contrat social, Rawls réintègre pleinement Rousseau à ...