Substance and Form in Political Theory: A Sceptical Comment upon Barry's Attack on Rawl's Treatment of Toleration

DOI10.1111/j.1467-9256.1983.tb00078.x
AuthorGeoffrey W Smith
Published date01 October 1983
Date01 October 1983
Subject MatterArticle
The
1983
Election Campaign
in
ScotZand
11
all the arguments. The
SNP
were irrelevant and Labour were misinformed. The Government
had protected essential services and knew how to present the case.
about one assumption, that what was said in Scotland would matter.
Scotland arose not the slightest interest down South and Scotland was indeed dragged along
in the wake of England's march.
siderable success of the un-Scottish Alliance only confirmed the drift.
'Till
the last
Minister of the Kirk is strangled with the last copy of the Sunday Post', Tom Nairn
once wrote, 'Scotland
will
no be free', to which
I
can only add that until the
SNP
rise
again
it
will
no be very interesting either.
He was wrong only
The campaign in
The last minute drop in Labour's support, the con-
-0-000-0-
SUBSTANCE AND FORM IN POLITICAL THEORY:
A
SCEPTICAL
COMMENT
UPON
BARRY'S
ATTACK
ON
RAWL'S
TREATMENT
OF
TOLERATION
GEOFFREY
W
SMITH
Barry's
Criticism
of
RawZs
In chapterllof The Liberal Theory of Justice Brian Barry misguidedly takes John
Rawls to task for a supposed fallacy in his argument for toleration (Barry, 1975
pp.121-27). Barry's mistake is an interesting one, not simply because
it
importantly
misrepresents Rawls' position on toleration, but also because
it
flows from the adop-
tion of a method of interpretation which, though widely favoured amongst modern Ancjlo-
American political philosophers, can in fact be quite treacherous.
The essence of Barry's objection is that Rawls' way of formulating the options
between which bersons in the 'original position' are to choose begs the question in
favour of liberalism and toleration.
The choice to be made is a choice between different kinds of society, each
with advantages and disadvantages, a liberal society and an orthodox
society
. .
.
Rawls mis-states the case by saying that the person in
the 'original position' could not rationally wish for a majority-imposed
orthodoxy because, although he would more likely than not be
in
the
majority, he would not take the risk of being in the minority. For
to pose the question in this way
it
takes
it
for granted that the person
in the original position
will
turn out to live in a pluralistic society,
so
that that question is whether to introduce orthodoxy. (Barry, 1975 p123)
This is a mis-statement, Barry argues, because Rawls' own principles permit access,
even behind the 'veil of ignorance', to a body of psychological generalisations con-
cerning the effectiveness of socialization. Hence, persons in the original position
are able to conceive of the possibility of an alternative both to majority-imposed
orthodoxy (with its risk of persecution for anyone who happens to turn out. to be a
member of a minority persuasion) and to liberal pluralism; namely a society (the
'orthodox' society) in which persecution can never occur because dissent is impossible.
It
is impossible because the kind of vocabulary available to the inhabitants
is
too
impoverished to enable anyone even to formulate heterodox opinions and values.
effective choice, therefore,
is
not as Rawls presents
it
-
as between toleration and
the risk of persecution
-
but rather between toleration and the monolithic (and hence
entirely risk-free) orthodoxy of a relentlessly ideologically homogeneous society.
Barry maintains that there is absolutely no reason to think that Rawlsian prudent
risk-avoiders must opt for a society of diversity plus toleration when faced with these
alternatives. And he concludes the chapter on a note which recurs throughout his
discussion
of
A
Theory of Justice: Rawls' handling of the argument for toleration rep-
resents merely one more example of his fundamentally mistaken attempt to squeeze moral
The

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