public reason / Rawls

Rowls(John Rowls 1921-2002) says citizens of a democratic society have public reason. Public reason can be said to be a cooperative attitude to maintain society, even if they have different beliefs.

The reason why Korea handled the Corona crisis well is because of its excellent activities in systems such as the government and Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it seems that the public reason of the people who have developed through the democratization process has been well demonstrated. It is not necessarily due to government control, but the voluntary response of the people seems to have played a major role.

On the contrary, extreme capitalism, extreme individualism, and extreme religious beliefs have hampered the formation of public reason and cooperative attitudes. North Korea, which needs a lot of time to form public reason because of its long tradition of ideological countries, seems to have managed the Corona situation with strong government control.

In Korea, the new generation seems to have a tendency to exercise responsibility through public reason instead of demanding more freedom and equality than the old generation. Korea’s old generation tends to be irrational compared to the new generation. They have had no chance of public reason forming under authoritarian government rule. On the other hand, the lack of democratic education and diverse reading could also be a reason.