WALZER'S COMPLEX EQUALITY: CONSTRAINTS AND THE RIGHT TO BE WRONG
In: Polity: the journal of the Northeastern Political Science Association, Band 20, Heft 1, S. 32-56
ISSN: 0032-3497
MICHAEL WALZER'S ACCOUNT OF JUSTICE IS A PARTICULARIST ONE THAT IS OFTEN CRITICIZED BY ADVOCATES OF A UNIVERSALIST APPROACH. ONE CRITICISM, ON WHICH THIS ARTICLE FOCUSES, IS THAT WALZER'S EMPHASIS UPON THE COLLECTIVE LIBERTY OF THE COMMUNITY OVERRIDES ANY GUARANTEE OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AGAINST THE COMMUNITY. THE AUTHOR ARGUES THAT WALZER'S PARTICULARIST ACCOUNT CONTAINS UNIVERSALIST IMPLICATIONS THAT TRANSCEND NEUTRALITY AS TO A GOOD SOCIETY AND LIMIT THE SCOPE OF A COMMUNITY'S COLLECTIVE OR DEMOCRATIC LIBERTY. A BROAD RANGE OF SHARED UNDERSTANDINGS, WHICH ARE NOT FIXED BUT EVOLVE AND CHANGE OVER TIME, NEED NOT, SHE INSISTS, PRECLUDE A CRITICAL STANCE BY OR ON BEHALF OF INDIVIDUALS.