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Single Idea 23112

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / g. Liberalism critique ]

Full Idea

Liberals comfortably believe that autonomy minimises contingency, that humans are disposed to the good, that wickedness is due to remediable institutions, and that humans are morally equal because of their autonomy.

Gist of Idea

Liberals ignore contingency, and think people are good and equal, and institutions cause evil

Source

John Kekes (Against Liberalism [1997], 07.4)

Book Ref

Kekes,John: 'Against Liberalism' [Cornell 1997], p.158

A Reaction

In a nutshell, Kekes thinks liberals are naïve. That institutions cause evil sounds more Marxist than liberal. When individuals become evil, it is reasonable for us to think that this need not have been the case.

The 24 ideas with the same theme [difficulties for liberal theory]:

23272 The human race matters, and individuals have little importance [Hegel]
23372 Liberals want the right to be separate, rather than for people to be united [Marx]
18332 The creation of institutions needs a determination which is necessarily anti-liberal [Nietzsche]
20938 Liberalism's weakness is its powerful rigid bureaucracy [Gramsci]
9277 Rawls's account of justice relies on conventional fairness, avoiding all moral controversy [Gray on Rawls]
22661 My Anarchy, State and Utopia neglected our formal social ties and concerns [Nozick on Nozick]
23080 Liberals debate how conservative or radical to be, but don't question their basics [MacIntyre]
4654 Autonomy favours present opinions over future ones, and says nothing about the interests of potential people [Glover]
4655 If a whole community did not mind death, respect for autonomy suggests that you could kill them all [Glover]
18656 Marxists say liberalism is unjust, because it allows exploitation in the sale of labour [Kymlicka]
23426 Ecologism is often non-liberal, by claiming to know other people's best interests [Dobson]
22803 Can individualist theories justify an obligation to fight in a war? [Avineri/De-Shalit]
23079 Liberal justice ignores desert, which is the essence of justice [Kekes]
23082 Liberal distribution cares more about recipients than donors [Kekes]
23091 Why do liberals not see a much wider range of values as basic? [Kekes]
23112 Liberals ignore contingency, and think people are good and equal, and institutions cause evil [Kekes]
22251 Liberalism may fail because it neglects the shared nature of what we pursue and protect [Haldane]
20553 Liberals mistakenly think individuals choose their values, without reference to the community [Swift]
21115 Liberalism should not make assumptions such as the value of choosing your own life plan [Shorten]
23129 Right-wingers attack liberal faith in reason, left-wingers attack its faith in reform [Gopnik]
23133 Cosmopolitan liberals lack national loyalty, and welcome excessive immigration [Gopnik]
23138 Modern left-wingers criticise liberalism's control of culture [Gopnik]
23139 Liberalism's attempt to be neutral and colour-blind erases cultural identities [Gopnik]
22603 Laissez-faire liberalism failed to give people the protections and freedoms needed for a good life [Dunt]