I'm Concerned About The Survival, Historically, Of

There Are Two Kinds Of Comprehensive Doctrines, Religious And Secular. Those Of Religious Faith Will Say I Give A Veiled Argument For Secularism, And The Latter Will Say I Give A Veiled Argument For Religion. I Deny Both. Each Side Presumes The Basic Ideas Of Constitutional Democracy, So My Suggestion Is That We Can Make Our Political Arguments In Terms Of Public Reason. Then We Stand On Common Ground. That's How We Can Understand Each Other And Cooperate.

Any Comprehensive Doctrine, Religious Or Secular, Can Be Introduced Into Any Political Argument At Any Time, But I Argue That People Who Do This Should Also Present What They Believe Are Public Reasons For Their Argument. So Their Opinion Is No Longer Just That Of One Particular Party, But An Opinion That All Members Of A Society Might Reasonably Agree To, Not Necessarily That They Would Agree To. What's Important Is That People Give The Kinds Of Reasons That Can Be Understood And Appraised Apart From Their Particular Comprehensive Doctrines.

Man Is A Historical Being : The Realisations Of The Powers Of Human Individuals Living At Any One Time Takes The Cooperation Of Many Generations (or Even Societies) Over A Long Period Of Time. By Contrast With Humankind, Every Individual Animal Can And Does Do What For The Most Part It Might Do, Or What Any Other Of Its Kind Might Or Can Do That Lives At The Same Time.

What's Important Is That People Give The Kinds Of Reasons That Can Be Understood And Appraised Apart From Their Particular Comprehensive Doctrines: For Example, That They Argue Against Physician-assisted Suicide Not Just By Speculating About God's Wrath Or The Afterlife, But By Talking About What They See As Assisted Suicide's Potential Injustices.

When The Basic Structure Of Society Is Publicly Known To Satisfy Its Principles For An Extended Period Of Time, Those Subject To These Arrangements Tend To Develop A Desire To Act In Accordance With These Principles And To Do Their Part In Institutions Which Exemplify Them