Is it possible for a plurality of "reasonable" doctrines," although opposite to each other, to co-exist in the midst of a society and at the same time adhere to the political principles of a constitutional regime? In answer to this classical question on political liberalism, John Rawals says that it is possible when "the basic structure of a society is regulated by a political conception of justice that works as the axis of a consensus superposed in part between, at least, the different reasonable doctrines to which the citizenry subscribes."
Thus, on the basis of an analysis of the notions of political justice, of what is "reasonable" and "rational" and of reasonable pluralism versus simple pluralism, Rawls puts forth the possibility of a shared political conception that serves as the foundation for tolerance and stability in a plural society.