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Full Idea
If communitarians are right that we are not free to choose, but rather that our values are determined by our community, the individualists say, then there is no reason to criticise the values of one's society.
Gist of Idea
If our values are given to us by society then we have no grounds to criticise them
Source
Avineri,S/De-Shalit,A (Intro to 'Communitarianism and Individualism' [1992], §5)
Book Ref
'Communitarianism and Individualism', ed/tr. Avineri,S. /de-Shalit,A. [OUP 1992], p.10
A Reaction
This is an obvious challenge, but if one's concept of community is a forum for free debate then it can be overcome. There is no avoiding the fact, though, that a good community always needs a high degree of consensus.
Related Idea
Idea 22815 If freedom depends on society and culture, the greatest freedom is in shaping them [Taylor,C]
| 22091 | Kierkegaard prioritises the inward individual, rather than community [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle] |
| 22814 | Our reliance on other people close to us does not imply any political obligations [Taylor,C] |
| 23420 | In a pluralist society we can't expect a community united around one conception of the good [Rawls] |
| 23413 | Feminism has shown that social roles are far from fixed (as communitarians tend to see them) [Kymlicka] |
| 23419 | Communitarianism struggles with excluded marginalised groups [Kymlicka] |
| 23415 | Participation aids the quest for the good life, but why should that be a state activity? [Kymlicka] |
| 18657 | Communitarian states only encourage fairly orthodox ideas of the good life [Kymlicka] |
| 22807 | If our values are given to us by society then we have no grounds to criticise them [Avineri/De-Shalit] |
| 22265 | I can't defend the view that the majority values of a community are thereby right [Sandel] |
| 20557 | Membership and inclusion in a community implies non-membership and exclusion [Swift] |
| 20555 | Liberals are concerned to protect individuals from too much community [Swift] |
| 22842 | For communitarians it seems that you must accept the culture you are born into [Charvet] |
| 23536 | Community is now a nostalgic memory, which no longer exists [Berardi] |