Name: ALCEU MAURICIO JUNIOR
Publication date: 29/10/2025
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| DENIS COITINHO SILVEIRA | Examinador Externo |
| EVANDRO BARBOSA | Examinador Externo |
| JORGE LUIZ VIESENTEINER | Examinador Interno |
| LUCAS MATEUS DALSOTTO | Examinador Externo |
| RICARDO CORREA DE ARAUJO | Presidente |
Summary: This thesis examines the possibility of formulating a conception of political perfectionism
compatible with John Rawls's political liberalism, thereby challenging the traditional
reading that considers Rawls to be unequivocally anti-perfectionist. Based on the
question of whether the liberal democratic state should legitimately promote specific
values and virtues of its citizens without violating its moral duty to treat them with equal
respect, through a liberal political perfectionist conception, it is argued that the
antagonism between state perfectionism and political liberalism is superficial and relies
on a limited understanding of state perfectionism and an unjustified optimism about civil
society’s capacity to guarantee the fact of the majority. It is proposed that, given the fact
of reasonable pluralism, it is possible to sustain the legitimacy of a perfectionist political
liberalism for the promotion of political virtues, anchored in Rawls’s idea of equitable
social cooperation among free and equal citizens, without resorting to comprehensive
doctrines of the good, even partial ones, and without incurring criticisms of disrespect
towards persons or paternalism, which are directed at liberal perfectionism. It is argued
that political perfectionism is not redundant in relation to political liberalism, since the
latter does not account for the erosion of the fact of the majority, nor is it confused with
liberal perfectionist proposals or moderate perfectionism, which are based on
comprehensive conceptions, even if partial. It is maintained that political perfectionism,
the state promotion of essential political virtues for cooperation in a well-ordered society,
does not claim exclusivity. Still, it is not only theoretically possible but also necessary for
the preservation and strengthening of a democratic culture in societies marked by the fact
of reasonable pluralism, in the face of the decline. From the case study of civic education,
it is also observed that the contribution of political perfectionism is normative, but its
implementation must prudently be proportional to the state of the fact of the majority in
a society that claims to be democratic.
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