Moral theory and reflective equilibrium

John Rawls claims, in A Theory of Justice, that the moral theorist's role is to formulate principles of justice that characterize our competence to distingish between right and wrong. The aim of this article is to discuss the meaning of this claim. I analyze and argue against the reading recently advocated by Mikhail. According to Mikhail, Rawls is proposing a "naturalistic conception" of moral theory as a empirical inquiry. I maintain that this reading is based on a misreading of the idea of reflective equilibrium.