Most political liberals argue that only rules, policies and institutions that are part of society’s basic structure need to be justified with so-called public reasons. Laws enacted outside this set are legitimate if and when public reasons can justify the procedure that selects them. I argue that this view is susceptible to known problems from social choice theory. However, there are resources within political liberalism that could address them. If the scope of public reason is extended beyond the basic structure it could order people’s preferences in a way that circumvents the identified issues.

中文翻译：

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公共理性程序主义的社会选择问题

大多数政治自由主义者认为，只有作为社会基本结构一部分的规则，政策和制度才需要借助所谓的公共理由进行辩护。如果公共原因可以证明选择这些程序的正当理由，则在此范围之外制定的法律是合法的。我认为这种观点容易受到社会选择理论中已知问题的影响。但是，政治自由主义内部有一些资源可以解决这些问题。如果将公共理性的范围扩展到基本结构之外，则可以以规避已发现问题的方式命令人们的偏好。