Suchergebnisse

Introduction. 1. The Study of Language and the Study of Politics 2. Obligation and Ideals 3. Obligation and Rules 4. The Social Bases of Obligation Rules 5. Obligation, Stability, and Change: Praise, Blame, and Disinclination 6. Obligation, Political Freedom, and Coercion 7. Obligation, Consent, and Utility 8. The Utility of Obligation. Bibliography. Index.

In Toward a Liberalism, Richard Flathman shows why and how political theory can contribute to the quality of moral and political practice without violating, as empiricist- and idealist-based theories tend to do, liberal commitments to individuality and plurality. Exploring the tense but inevitable relationship between liberalism and authority, he advances a theory of democratic citizenship tempered by appreciation of the ways in which citizenship is implicated with and augments authority. Flathman examines the relationship of individual rights to freedom on one hand and to authority and power on the other, rejecting the quest for a single homogenous and authoritative liberal theory.