A Comparison between Tabataba'i's "Theory of Etebariat" and Rawls' Contractualism (Based on the Similarities)

Seyed Mohammad Hossein Tabataba'i “Theory of Etebariat” is a theory for explaining the mechanism of a set of human perceptions which have not counterparts in the external world and are the fictions of the active powers of man. Some of these perceptions consist of our perceptions of Goodness (Husn) and Badness (Qubh). By knowing Goodness and Badness as Etebari (conventional), it can be assumed that Tabataba'i Theory of Etebariat is a contractualist theory. In this paper, we have tried to compare Tabataba'i theory with one of the contemporary contractualist theory, i.e., John Rawls’ “Justice as fairness” theory, to consider their points of similarities, and to get, by this comparison, a better understanding of Tabataba'is Theory of Etebariat and it's being a contractualist or non-contractualist theory. So, in this paper, we will discover, extract, and state, by an analytic method, the presuppositions, arguments, and implications of these two theories. We claim that, in these three aspects, there are similarities in Tabataba'i’s and Rawls’ theories, which justifiably support our assumption.