ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Rawls's arguments for the lexical Priority of Liberty found in the revised edition of A Theory of Justices. It shows that Rawls's argument for the Priority of Liberty is not vulnerable to this inference-fallacy objection. The chapter presents a Kantian reconstruction of the Hierarchy Argument, showing that it can offer a compelling and attractive defense of the Priority of Liberty. It also presents the reconstructed Hierarchy Argument has both positive and negative implications for the Rawlsian political project. The chapter then examines Rawls's defense of the Priority of Liberty in Political Liberalism, where he adds two new arguments to the battery of arguments presented in Theory. The chapter further shows that the Priority of Justice over Efficiency and Welfare and the Priority of the Right over the Good are both expressions of our reasonableness, whereas the Priority of Liberty is an expression of our rationality.
