T. H. Green's community of rights: an essay on the complexity of liberalism (original) (raw)
Related papers
Liberalism and its Communitarian Critics
"Now written as a chapter in Rational Freedom vol 4 The Good Life This paper argues that communitarian critics are not - with the exception of MacIntyre - opposed to liberalism but attempt a synthesis in which individuality and communality are combined in a community which reconciles the individual and the social self. The paper pursues a synthesis which develops a concept of self that combines individual and collective identity within a community. This synthesis transcends the public-private dualism so as to achieve a polity which unifies participation (autonomy) and community (sociality). Though similar, the aims of the communitarian critics of liberalism are betrayed by the fundamentally liberal premises of their arguments. Such, attempts are predicated upon the classic liberal dualism between the individual and community; none get to the roots of this dualism in order to remove it. Communitarianism, no less than liberalism, is predicated on the modernist antithesis between the individual and society. Communitarian conclusions cannot be derived from individualist premises without having recourse to an ideal and abstract form of community independent of the individuals subject to it. As with any dualism, the two elements - individual and community - are interdependent; neither can exist without the other. This paper therefore argues the need to get to the roots of this antithesis in the division of social space into public and private spheres, the public world as an impersonal-rational sphere, the private world as a personal sphere."
The New Liberalism Reconciling Liberty and Community
The New Liberalism Reconciling Liberty and Community The "new liberalism" of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century is an unjustifiably neglected strand of the liberal tradition. By emphasizing community as well as rights and liberty, thinkers such as T. H. Green, J. A. Hobson, and L. T. Hobhouse support-but in distinctive ways-recent challenges to the established dichotomy between communitarianism and liberalism. These essays examine new liberal thinking and conclude that liberal and communitarian concerns are compatible, even mutually reinforcing. The "common good," the empowerment of individuals to exercise their freedom and a regulated free market are among the new liberal "basket of ideas" which, these essays argue, can revitalize the liberal tradition. This collection of essays by leading scholars provides exciting new insights into current debates within the liberal tradition, and will be of great interest to scholars of political theory and the history of political thought.
Political Liberalism and Political Community
We provide a justification for political liberalism’s Reciprocity Principle, which states that political decisions must be justified exclusively on the basis of considerations that all reasonable citizens can reasonably be expected to accept. The standard argument for the Reciprocity Principle grounds it in a requirement of respect for persons. We argue for a different, but compatible, justification: the Reciprocity Principle is justified because it makes possible a desirable kind of political community. The general endorsement of the Reciprocity Principle, we will argue, helps realize joint political rule and relationships of civic friendship. The main obstacle to the realization of these values is the presence of reasonable disagreement about religious, moral, and philosophical issues characteristic of liberal societies. We show the Reciprocity Principle helps to overcome this obstacle.
Liberalism and Communitarianism (2003)
* 'Liberalism and communitarianism' (co-authored with Eamonn Callan) in Blake N., Smeyers P., Smith R., and Standish P. (eds) The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Education Oxford: Blackwell Chinese translation forthcoming (Renmin University Press)
Liberalisms and Communitarianisms: whose Misconception?
Political Studies, 1993
There is much of value in Simon Caney's review of the debate between liberals and their communitarian critics.' His identification of three different types of claim advanced by the communitarians provides a useful framework for analysis, his treatment of each is rigorous and nuanced, and his ...