more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
For liberals the basis of state legitimacy is a shared sense of justice, not a shared conception of the good.
Gist of Idea
Liberal state legitimacy is based on a belief in justice, not in some conception of the good life
Source
Will Kymlicka (Community [1993], 'legitimacy')
Book Ref
'A Companion to Contemporary Political Phil', ed/tr. Goodin,R.E/Pettit,Philip [Blackwell 1995], p.375
A Reaction
For a liberal state to work, the citizens have to roughly believe in the core values of liberalism, which are primarily freedom and equality (and hence justice).
| 23413 | Feminism has shown that social roles are far from fixed (as communitarians tend to see them) [Kymlicka] |
| 23411 | Communitarians see justice as primarily a community matter, rather than a principle [Kymlicka] |
| 23410 | Modern liberals see a community as simply a society which respects freedom and equality [Kymlicka] |
| 23409 | Community can focus on class or citizenship or ethnicity or culture [Kymlicka] |
| 23419 | Communitarianism struggles with excluded marginalised groups [Kymlicka] |
| 23418 | Liberal state legitimacy is based on a belief in justice, not in some conception of the good life [Kymlicka] |
| 23412 | Justice resolves conflicts, but may also provoke them [Kymlicka] |
| 23415 | Participation aids the quest for the good life, but why should that be a state activity? [Kymlicka] |
| 23414 | Liberals say state intervention in culture restricts people's autonomy [Kymlicka] |