Diversity, Polycentricity, Justice, and the Open Society

Abstract

Abstract Moral diversity poses significant challenges for normative theory building, because no particular conception of justice may be agreeable to all members of society. Polycentrism offers a potential solution by allowing a plurality of local regulative principles. For deeply morally diverse societies, however, polycentrism fails conceptually. This chapter argues that Moehler’s (2018) multilevel social contract theory can overcome this problem. The theory disposes the quest for justice as the sole and exclusive objective and considers agents’ liberty and peaceful interaction as the primary goals of (new) social contract theory and the basis for an open society. To clarify its nature, the chapter contrasts the vision of the open society provided by Moehler’s theory with the vision provided by Gaus’s (2021) theory. Both theories move beyond polycentrism and offer promising versions of a “new social contract” that shows how diverse societies can progress and become more robust and open in their social fabric.