What's the Matter With Liberalism? - Softcover

Beiner, Ronald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520203356 ISBN 13: 9780520203358

Verlag: University of California Press, 1995

Inhaltsangabe

In the wake of the revolutions of 1989, the ongoing political turmoil in the Soviet Union, and the democratization of most of Latin America, what is the task of political theorists?

Ronald Beiner's invigorating critique of liberal theory and liberal practices takes on the shibboleths of modern Western discourse. He confronts the aridity of liberal societies that possess incommensurable "values" and "rights," but no principles. To Beiner, this neutralist view is both a false description of liberal society and an incoherent political ideal. Rather, he encourages the theorist to remain faithful to the important task of questioning and criticism, instead of serving as a source of ideological reassurance about our own superiority.

Beiner looks to the Socratic tradition for guidance. Permitting ethos to replace values, and discourse about "the good" to replace talk about "rights," the theorist is able to reorder social priorities. Considered in this light, the liberal political philosophy of the 1970s and 1980s appears insufficiently Socratic, as does a liberal way of life that presents itself as a model of imitation.

Polemical, impassioned, and brilliantly argued, What's the Matter with Liberalism? is essential reading for everyone who cares about contemporary theory and the future of liberal society.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ronald Beiner is Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Political Judgment (1984) and editor of Hannah Arendt's Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy (1982).

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of California Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1995
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0520203356
• ISBN 13: 9780520203358
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 208
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
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