Joseph Margolis, John Rawls, and the Mentally Retarded

Abstract

In his paper [6], Joseph Margolis criticizes the attempt to use universal moral principles to understand the moral status of the mentally retarded. In doing so, Margolis has made an important contribution to our appreciation of the difficulties of moral reasoning. A candid appraisal of the capacities of ethics to deliver generally successful moral arguments leads to the conclusion that they are extremely limited. Moreover, when such arguments are delivered, they often support positions we may not have wished in the beginning to embrace. Also, the more one looks, the more complicated things are shown to be. Intellectual honesty will require acknowledging the weaknesses, accepting the inescapable conclusions, and living with the complexities, no matter how painful these may be. It would be much simpler if one could straightforwardly harness a major intellectual account, such as that of John Rawls, to the service of the establishment of the rights of the mentally retarded [8].