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*A Waterstones, Financial Times and New Statesman Book of the Year*
‘A tremendous book, timely, wise, authoritative and clear’ Stephen Fry
‘A brilliantly eloquent, incredibly insightful reimagining of liberalism’ Owen Jones
‘Clear, brave, compelling’ David Miliband
‘Inspiring … impassioned … full of hope’ Zadie Smith
‘This is a fantastic book’ Thomas Piketty
Imagine: you are designing a society, but you don’t know who you’ll be within it – rich or poor, man or woman, gay or straight. What would you want that society to look like?
This is the revolutionary thought experiment proposed by the twentieth century’s greatest political philosopher, John Rawls. As economist and philosopher Daniel Chandler argues in this hugely ambitious and exhilarating intervention, it is by rediscovering Rawls that we can find a way out of the escalating crises that are devastating our world today.
Taking Rawls’s humane and egalitarian liberalism as his starting point, Chandler builds a careful and ultimately irresistible case for a progressive agenda that would fundamentally reshape our societies for the better. He shows how we can protect free speech and transcend the culture wars; get money out of politics; and create an economy where everyone has the chance to fulfil their potential, where prosperity is widely shared, and which operates within the limits of our finite planet.
This is a book brimming with hope and possibility – a galvanising alternative to the cynicism that pervades our politics. Free and Equal has the potential not only to transform contemporary debate, but to offer a touchstone for a modern, egalitarian liberalism for many years to come, cementing Rawls’s place in political discourse, and firmly establishing Chandler as a vital new voice for our time.
Publisher : Allen Lane (20 April 2023)
Language : English
Hardcover : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 0241428386
ISBN-13 : 978-0241428382
Item Weight : 500 g
Dimensions : 15.2 x 4.4 x 23.6 cm
Country of Origin : India
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Ryan Boissonneault –
What happens when you prioritize money and economic growth above all other social, moral, and political considerations? Look around. This is the world neoliberalism createdâunbounded greed, delusional faith in âmarkets,â rampant inequality, political incivility, environmental destruction, and widespread psychopathology. After 40 years of failed âtrickle-down economicsâ based on the shoddy philosophy of Hayek, Freidman, and Nozick, itâs about time for a new plan and a new direction.Luckily for us, we already possess the intellectual foundations for a better society, developed by the twentieth centuryâs greatest political theoristâJohn Rawls.In this urgent political manifesto, Daniel Chandler describes and defends Rawlsâs theory of justice and outlines its practical implications. The result is a vision for society that transcends the culture wars and reestablishes core values in society that cannot simply be reduced to the maximization of profits.The core ideas of Rawlsian philosophy are simple enough. Society should be, above all, fairâthe kind of society you would agree is fair if you didnât know what position youâd hold in that society ahead of time. Itâs the world you would want to live in regardless of whether you were born rich or poor, black or white, male or female, gay or straight. It is, essentially, a society where you would be best off if you happened to be born into the least advantaged position financially, intellectually, or socially. Itâs a society that tolerates inequality (in contrast to Communism), but only insofar as it improves the standards of living for the least advantaged.The key idea for Rawls is that in a pluralistic society, we shouldnât expect to agree on much. We each have our own religions (or no religion) and various ideas about how to live a good life. We therefore canât base our society on specific religious or philosophical viewpoints because we should never expect these to attain universal assent. Instead, our political institutions should establish and protect basic liberties (that we can all more or less agree on) that allow us to pursue these different goals according to the dictates of our own conscience. And it should establish and promote an equality of opportunity for everyone to do soânot, as is currently the case, an opportunity for the rich to simply get even richer. For Rawls, crucially, economic rightsâto own unlimited amounts of property and to exploit others in the processâdo not trump all other rights.Chandler not only does a terrific job of explicating the theory and defending it from criticism from both the left and right, but also advances the thought of Rawls by showing us what its practical implications might look likeâsomething Rawls never did, which probably explains why his ideas are not more politically actionable. This book is hopefully, for the sake of all of us, a remedy for this shortcoming.
Richard Davies –
I had long thought that, as a white middle-class male, Rawls did not pay sufficient attention to questions of race, class and gender. Chandler has done us all a favour by showing how the machinery of the Original Position can be put to work to make out a reform programme that also takes in a good deal of what is awry wiith capitalism in its present form and that might even mitigate the ecological disaster we are facing. Though it is only June, this sure to be my Book of the Year.
Dr. Peter J. Bourke –
This is a clear easy to read explanation of John Rawls ideas such a âjustice as fairness â ,people being free and equal.Lots of ideas for friendly discussion.However I doubt if the times are favourable for the widespread adoption of his theory-that said anyone interested in humanity should read it.
J. Rugino –
Daniel Chandler writes about John Rawls’ work THEORY OF JUSTICE in a clear and relevant way that it is important for contemporary readers to understand.John Rawls wrote in the early 1970s asking “what kind of society would you choose to live in, if you didn’t know where you would be within it – rich or poor, black or white, elite or marginalized, gay or straight, Christian or atheist, Muslim or infidel?A decade later, Reaganism suppressed all such questions and questioning. “Fairness” itself was being discredited, so Rawls’ philosophy had no ‘standing’, and it’s only now that his ideas can be re-presented fairly with the expectation of being heard seriously.Daniel Chandler’s new work is both timely and valuable. This is important, this means something.