An Analytical Model of Overlapping Consensus

Abstract

The problem of order in sociology refers to an inquiry made into the social mechanism used to mediate various conflicts. Whereas many theoretical studies have explored the diverse concepts of order, only a few have examined the concept of consensus as a major element of that order. This article, therefore, focuses on an analysis of “overlapping consensus” as proposed by the political philosopher John Rawls, namely the idea that free and equal moral citizens in a constitutional democratic society can reach a common consensus on their basic principles using diverse viewpoints, so that justice can establish long-term stability in that society. The purposes of this article are 1) to reconstruct Rawls's overlapping consensus into an ideal type of overlapping consensus and 2) to examine what conditions in a case study requires the overlapping consensus model.

The findings suggest that Rawls's overlapping consensus is typified as both a narrow and wide and thus, a wide overlapping consensus model can be used to analyze the problem of order. First, overlapping consensus presumes two types of reflective equilibrium, that is, the coherence of ethical judgments for different levels of generalities, so that the overlapping consensuses are also classified as two types. Second, the wide overlapping consensus model requires particular conditions, namely the avoidance of any conflicts of interest, the procedure of equal opportunity, the plurality of moral citizens, the identification of common values, coherence of the data, basic principles and background theories, and the long-term stability of these principles.