Possibility And Boundary : A Study On The Dialogue Between Marx And Rawls’ View Of Justice

As the two most important thinkers on the issue of justice in the tradition of Western political philosophy,Marx and Rawls have been widely concerned by the academic circles in recent years.This exploration originated from Rawls’ interpretation of Marx’s view of justice,which gave birth to the dialogue research on the two views of justice,and formed two research directions of "difference theory" and "integration theory"."Difference theory" holds that Marx and Rawls,as representatives of historical materialism and liberalism,have clear boundaries;"Fusion theory" believes that the two have a consensus in many aspects,such as the realistic background and ideological domain,and can be integrated with each other.However,whether it is the attempt of "integration theory" to ignore the fundamental differences between the two,or the "difference theory" does not pay attention to the discussion of consensus,it does not pay attention to both consensus and differences.The dialogue between Marx and Rawls should be a dialogue based on consensus based on differences.In this context,it has become an important topic in contemporary justice research to understand Marx and Rawls’ justice thought from the possibility and boundary and construct the integration theory based on difference.The justice thoughts of Marx and Rawls are "common" in some aspects,which constitute the basis of dialogue.Marx revealed the essence of capitalist exploitation and inequality with capital logic in the perspective of political economy criticism.Rawls criticized the contemporary welfare capitalist countries with the two principles of justice,which can enhance the appeal of Marx’s justice criticism from the moral level and supplement the modernity of justice;Marx criticized liberalism based on historical materialism.Rawls’ Ideological Reconstruction Based on this criticism and the resulting internal contradictions further deepened the scientificity of Marx’s criticism;Marx and Rawls explored human equality and free development based on the social structure.Marx went deep into the field of production.Rawls paid attention to the institutional reform at the level of distribution,and freedom and equality should be grasped with both hands.The "commonalities" of the two in the above ideological field and problem field can be integrated to build a new theory of justice.These "commonalities" are directly reflected in Rawls’ affirmation of Marx’s thought of justice.Besides affirmation,there are also doubts,which show that there are theoretical boundaries that can not be ignored in the dialogue research of Marx and Rawls’ concept of justice.This boundary shows the fundamental differences between historical materialism and liberalism.On the basis of historical materialism and taking the realistic individual as the logical starting point,Marx used relational thinking to expose the essence of exploitation through the false appearance of capitalist equality,and revealed that the root of capitalist injustice lies in the fundamental contradiction between the private ownership of means of production and the socialization of production.Only by seeking the revolutionary path and building communism can we eliminate inequality and realize complete fairness and justice;Rawls,on the basis of contract theory,takes the abstract individual as the logical starting point,uses logical thinking,believes that the basic social contradictions revealed by Marx are inherent in human society,and tries to reform the capitalist society through the construction of institutional theory,alleviate inequality and promote fairness and justice.There are significant differences between Marx and Rawls in thinking method,solution path and class position,which is the boundary that can not be ignored in dialogue research.The discussion of the above differences and consensus defines the boundaries and possibilities of integration.Marx will not accept Rawls’ reformist plan,nor will Rawls accept Marx’s thorough revolutionary theory,and he still has illusions about capitalism.To realize justice,we must adhere to production justice and take the reform of production system as the fundamental way and ultimate goal.However,in the socialist stage where the productive forces are not sufficiently developed,we can learn from Rawls’ distributive justice and pay attention to the reform of superstructure and political system on the basis of production justice.Generally speaking,the justice theory based on China’s reality is the integration on the basis of Boundary: the realization of justice should not only pay attention to economic construction,vigorously develop productive forces and promote the rational distribution of means of production;We should also pay attention to political construction,ensure equal rights and opportunities for individuals,and build a fair social security mechanism.That is to take labor justice and production justice as the fundamental guidance and pay attention to distributive justice.In the process of dialogue research and combing,comparing the self contradictions and limitations within liberalism,we can realize the scientific connotation of Marx’s concept of justice.His exploration of justice goes deep into the field of production,realizes the unity of facts and values,and is both scientific and normative;Through the critical transcendence of historical materialism to liberalism,we can examine the basic ideas of western justice theory represented by Rawls.They break away from real production,pursue distributive justice from the level of abstract theory and defend capitalism;At the same time,the justice theory based on possibility and boundary guides contemporary Chinese practice and provides guidance for the realization of fairness and justice of socialism with Chinese characteristics,which also reflects the practical value of dialogue research.