Rawls as a critical theorist: Reflective equilibrium after the ‘deliberative turn’

An interpretation of John Rawls’ ‘justice as fairness’ as a deliberative critical argumentative strategy for evaluating existing institutions is offered and its plausibility is discussed. I argue that ‘justice as fairness’ aims at synthesizing the moral values claimed byexisting social institutions into a coherent model of a well-ordered society in order to demand that these institutions stand up tothe values that they promise. Understood in such a way, ‘justice as fairness’ provides a set of idealizing ‘mirrors’ through which power dynamics in society can be viewed but does not function as a model for an ideal society.