Faviola Rivera Castro

Una de las afirmaciones más controvertidas de "La justicia como equidad: política no metafísica" de John Rawls es que la justicia como equidad no se presenta como una concepción de la justicia verdadera. Explico que esta tesis no se debe a algún tipo de escepticismo en política, como con frecuencia se supone, sino que proviene del constructivismo kantiano. Aunque Rawls nunca trazó una distinción clara entre este último y el carácter político de su propuesta. muestro que es importante distinguir entre ellos y que es posible sostener el uno sin el otro.

Friends and foes of liberal neutrality assume that neutrality presupposes pluralism. On this view, the state should be neutral among the many permissible conceptions of the individual good that citizens affirm. I argue that neutrality need not be construed as a response to pluralism. I focus on the case of specifically religious neutrality and argue that it can be an appropriate political response to what I call “the fact of religious hegemony,” which is a social scenario in which a particular religion is unanimously recognized as dominant. Religious neutrality, in this kind of context, requires the state to avoid all religious words and symbols that can be taken as an expression of endorsement or criticism of religion. I take this conception of religious neutrality from both political history and current political practice and discourse. Neutrality was originally conceived of as a proper political response in contexts of religious hegemony both in France and in Mexico. Today, and despite the growth of religious pluralism, this conception continues to be a live political posture in the places where it first originated. I call it “neutrality as independence from religion” and argue that it differs from liberal neutrality in crucial respects.

In contemporary Latin America “liberalism” has become a political discourse that includes the defense of constitutional democracy and basic individual rights and freedoms, the rule of law, a tolerant social culture that positively values the growing pluralism of ways of life, the rights of minorities—which include both cultural and sexual minorities, the separation of church and state, and a secularized social and political culture. Regarding economic matters liberals differ on the degree to which the State ought to regulate market forces, alleviate poverty, and take steps to moderate economic inequality. While some liberals reject what they consider “statism”, others favor what has been called “socioliberalism” or “social” liberalism.