John Rawls (1921–2002) and his work are now squarely a subject for history. In the more than fifteen years since his death, a rich body of scholarship has emerged which attempts, in different ways, to understand the nature, development, and impact of Rawls's thought from a variety of historical perspectives. With 2021 marking fifty years since A Theory of Justice (1971) was first published, this special forum examines what we here call the “historical Rawls.”
The papers in this forum build on and critically engage with ongoing efforts to historicize both Rawls's interventions and postwar anglophone analytical political philosophy more broadly. The authors work across the disciplines of African American studies, history, philosophy, and politics, bringing a variety of disciplinary perspectives to existing scholarship, while pushing it in new and exciting directions. Each draws on the archives of Rawls's papers, held at Cornell, Princeton, and, most abundantly, Harvard.
The following academics have contributed to the collection: Sophie Smith, Teresa Bejan, Annette Zimmermann and Zofia Stemplowska:
- The Historical Rawls: Introduction, pp. 1-7 (Sophie Smith, Teresa Bejan, Annette Zimmermann)
- Historicizing Rawls, pp. 1-34 (Sophie Smith)
- “A Quite Similar Enterprise … Interpreted Quite Differently”? James Buchanan, John Rawls and the Politics of the Social Contract, pp. 1-24 (Ben Jackson, Zofia Stemplowska)
- Rawls's Teaching and the “Tradition” of Political Philosophy, pp. 1-22 (Teresa Bejan)