Karma and Justice in Postcolonial Liberalism

In "Political Liberalism", Rawls characterises the problem of political liberalism as whether it is possible for citizens with "deeply opposed though reasonable comprehensive doctrines" to "live together and all affirm the political conception of a constitutional regime" (PL, xvii). I argue that the theory of karma can provide a reason for its adherents to support a political conception of a constitutional regime. The argument is that the theory of karma and our ignorance of our stock of karma entails that we are ignorant of our future place in the social order. In particular, we cannot rule out that we may be the most disadvantaged because of our religion or caste or socio-economic status. If we cannot rule out that we may be the most disadvantaged in those ways, we have a reason to affirm a regime that protects the rights of the most disadvantaged and seeks to ameliorate their condition, i.e. a political conception of a constitutional regime. Thus, the theory of karma provides a reason to affirm a political conception of a constitutional regime. The argument I develop shows how intellectual resources within the Indian tradition can be used to defend a constitutional regime currently under existential threat from the self-appointed guardians of Indian tradition.