ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the possibilities for constructing a Deweyan conception of justice from the materials provided in his broader corpus in social and political philosophy. Dewey's justice-blindness adversely impacts his other work in political philosophy. In his central work in political theory, The Public and Its Problems (LW2), Dewey introduces a framework according to which the fundamental unit of political analysis is not the individual, the party, or the voting bloc, but rather the public. On Dewey's view, publics emerge out of the recognition of shared problems, and democracy provides the social conditions by which the information distributed across the multitude of publics can be harnessed and employed in political decision-making. Pragmatists may respond that they never intended to fault Rawls's principles; they may say instead that Rawls's argument from the Original Position is unacceptable.
