本文的目的在於闡明羅爾斯的公共理性觀念，並對之提出分析與批判。對羅爾斯而言，公共理性是民主公民身份的一種理想，它要求人們只能根據所有公民都能合理接受的理由來進行基本政治問題的討論。於是，公共理性可以在當代自由社會具合理多元的既定事實下，促成政治共識的產生。

The aim of this essay is to elucidate John Rawls's idea o public reason and its limits. According to Rawls, public reason is an ideal of democratic citizenship, which requires that the public discussion of fundamental political questions should be conducted solely in terms of reasons all citizens can reasonably be expected to endorse. Public reason can therefore produce a political consensus given the fact of reasonable pluralism of a liberal society.