Political liberals are, of course, perfectly aware that the pluralism
they defend cannot be total and that some views will have to be
excluded. Nevertheless, they justify those exclusions by declaring that
they are the product of the 'free exercise of practical reason' that
establishes the limits of possible consensus. It is, according to them,
necessary to distinguish between 'simple' and 'reasonable pluralism'.
19
When a point of view is excluded it is because this is required by the
exercise of reason. Once exclusions are presented as arising from a free
agreement resulting from rational procedures ('veil of ignorance' or
rational dialogue), they appear as immune from relations of power. In
that way rationality is the key to solving the 'paradox of liberalism':
how to eliminate its adversaries while remaining neutral.