Moon has written a brief overview of John Rawls’s political philosophy. He also reviews some major criticisms of Rawls and defends Rawls against those criticisms. This book would be an excellent starting point for readers seeking a serious introduction to Rawls and the secondary literature Rawls’s work generated. Moon provides a persuasive synthesis of Rawls’s major works as a whole ... Read morerather than seeing them as distinct works. The emphasis is primarily on tying Rawls’s conclusions together rather than on Rawls’s method. Moon argues that Rawls’s liberalism is a 'radically new approach' in the history of political theory because it rejects a 'comprehensive doctrine' that does not have wide enough appeal in late modernity to serve as a fundamental principle. Moon describes Rawls as a 'chastened liberal,' which stands in contrast to Enlightenment liberalism, rendered untenable by the traumas of the 20th century. Moon presents Rawls’s theory as political and practical rather than abstract. Rawls developed a justification of liberalism that satisfies democratic norms. The book raises a number of important points, not just about Rawls’s work but also about 20th-century political philosophy and the project of political philosophy in general. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections.
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