Suchergebnisse

THERE HAS BEEN A SHIFT FROM LIBERALS ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER ABOUT RIGHTS VERUS UTILITY TO LIBERALS EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF RATIONALLY DEFENDING THE FAITH IN THE FACE OF CHALLENGES FROM OUTSIDE. THIS ARTICLE IDENTIFIES THREE PRIMARY STRAGEGIES OF LIBERAL SELF-DEFENSE AS: 1) THE MODUS VIVENDI MODEL, 2) THE NEUTRALITY MODEL, AND 3) THE IDEAL BASED MODEL. THIS ARTICLE OUTLINES THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE NEUTRALITY AND IDEAL-BASED MODELS. IT REDESCRIBES THE NEUTRALITY AND IDEAL-BASED MODELS THROUGH THE LENSES OF THE MODUS VIVENDI MODEL. THE DISCUSSION REMAINS WITHIN THE CONFINES OF A FRAMEWORK OF UNDERSTANDING THAT CONCEPTURALIZED THE THREE MODELS AS ALTERNATIVES TO ONE ANOTHER.

The business of laws is not to provide for the truth of opinions, but for the safety and security of the commonwealth, and of every particular man's goods and person. John Locke

THE MUCH-DISCUSSED CONTEMPORARY REVIVAL OF POLITICAL THEORY IN THE ANGLO-AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL COMMUNITY HAS FOR THE MOST PART BEEN A REVIVAL OF LIBERAL THEORY. THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE COME AS A GREAT SURPRISE. MOST ANGLO-AMERICANS ARE, IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, LIBERALS; ALL ARE DEEPLY INFLUENCED BY THE EXPERIENCE OF LIFE IN LIBERAL SOCIETIES. LIBERAL POLITIES HAVE COME UNDER ATTACK FROM WITHIN AS WELL AS FROM WITHOUT, GIVING THOSE WHO THINK THEM WORTHY OF DEFENSE BOTH THE MOTIVE AND THE OCCASION TO CLARIFY THE GROUNDS OF THEIR PARTISANSHIP. IT IS LESS OFTEN REMARKED THAT IN ONE DECISIVE RESPECT, THE REVIVAL OF LIBERAL THEORY REMAINS ROOTED IN THE CLIMATE OF MORAL SKEPTICISM THAT IT HAS SUPPLANTED. MOST CONTEMPORARY LIBERAL THEORISTS ARE DEEPLY MISTRUSTFUL OF WHAT JOHN RAWLS HAS CALLED "PERFECTIONISM"-THE PHILOSOPHIC ATTEMPT TO IDENTIFY SUPERIOR WAYS OF LIFE OR TRAITS OF CHARACTER AND, ONCE HAVING IDENTIFIED THEM, TO USE THEM AS THE GOALS OF POLITICAL LIFE. CONTEMPORARY LIBERAL THEORY CONSISTS IN THE ATTEMPT TO COMBINE THIS SKEPTICISM ABOUT THEORIES OF THE GOOD LIFE WITH THE BELIEF IN PHILOSOPHICALLY DEFENSIBLE PRINCIPLES THAT REGULATE RELATIONS AMONG INDIVIDUALS. IT IS MY THESIS THAT THIS DEFENSE OF LIBERALISM IS FUNDAMENTALLY MISGUIDED. NO FORM OF POLITICAL LIFE CAN BE JUSTIFIED WITHOUT SOME VIEW OF WHAT IS GOOD FOR INDIVIDUALS. IN PRACTICE, LIBERAL THEORISTS COVERTLY EMPLOY THEORIES OF THE GOOD. BUT THEIR INSISTENCE THAT THEY DO NOT REDUCES THE RIGOR OF THEIR THEORIES AND LPY: 1982