From Institutions to Persons?: Rawls and the Subject of Justice

This article examines two potential Rawlsian arguments, namely the moral dualism argument and the educative effect of institutions argument as regards the extension of the primary subject of justice to personal conduct. The article makes two claims. First, while moral dualism is a logical step to make, it suffers from a potential conflict between the principles that apply to institutions and those that govern personal conduct. Second, despite the attractive features of the educative effect of institutions argument, an explanative gap has to be filled in order to account for how and why individuals comply to just institutions. In the end, the article concludes that extending Rawls's theory of justice to include personal conduct may be difficult to sustain.