The article discusses the role of Rawls's theory of justice for the evaluation and improvement of social wellbeing. It is shown that the idea of justice can be seen as a specification of a more general moral idea of dignity. This approach allows us to characterize the actions of institutions and individuals not only in terms of their effectiveness, but also of their conformity with the dignity of the individual. Like any moral theory, Rawls's theory of justice is designed to assess various forms of social life and to determine the nature of the action towards them. The article claims that the introduction of the two principles of justice provides a higher degree of moral sensitivity to various forms of social life and a more differentiated moral attitude towards them. In conclusion, the paper examines the limits of applicability of Rawls's theory of justice. The article argues that the priority role of the idea of justice in the structure of moral theory comes from the specifics of the market society.
Abstract. The article discusses the role of historical narratives in the formation of identity. Rüsen's thesis on the contradiction of traditional historical identities that suggest an ethnocentric position with the processes of intercultural communication is analyzed. The potential of historical narratives in overcoming (or restricting) ethnocentrism is considered. It is shown that ethnocentrism is constituted by kinds of the configuration of historical writing rather than by a subjective position of historical narrative authors. The types of stories suggest a) the way of making history using only the criteria of success and failure in the interpretation of the past; b) interpretation of history as teleological continuity; c) merely the necessity to justify (to substantiate claims) or to discredit something. It is alleged that the realization that the form of historical knowledge constructs, not discovers, can facilitate liberation from referential fallacy on the whole and enslavement by certain kinds of stories in particular. It is concluded that the recognition of the constitutive nature of historical narratives allows being independent from the traditional forms of historical knowledge and traditional ideas about their cultural value. In particular, it allows reconsidering the need to apply historical knowledge when constructing identity.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.