The question of the minimum social in John Rawls

Abstract

The social minimum is a matter of difficult consensus regarding the administration of the state public policies, with that knowledge beforehand, this paper tried to contribute with the discussion presenting a cut of John Rawls’ theory. The paper starts from the problematic of whether Rawls had worked with this concept of uniform way throughout its works or not. The objectives are to demonstrate the evolution of the concept of social minimum in Rawls and to expose the new reformulations through which it was undergone. Methodologically, a hermeneutical analysis was used starting with a bibliographical research. The results were that after the book A Theory of Justice, later books such as Political Liberalism and Justice as Fairness, made revisions of the concept of the social minimum, namely: it became an essential constitutional element, there was a change in which the first principle of justice must be lexically preceded by the principle of the social minimum that must be enforced to allow the development of the remaining principles of justice. The relationship between the social minimum and the principle of difference was highlighted, for it needs a minimum that, linked to a set of public policies, could maximize the life expectancy of the less favored. The existential minimum has become essential for the constitution to be adopted, and is closely linked to the principle of the human being’s dignity, the right to life and citizenship. It was concluded that the Rawls’ social minimum is a concept that has undergone reformulations throughout the trajectory of the philosopher, which shows his care with the subject and of how its effectuation is important for the understanding and discussion of his theory, mainly because this is a concept rarely tackled by the academy and that needs more studies.