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Single Idea 21114

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 7. Communitarianism / a. Communitarianism ]

Full Idea

Communitarians say that liberalism treats individuals as strangers to one another, and underestimates the extent to which individuals are 'constituted' by their societies and social memberships.

Gist of Idea

Liberals treat individuals as mutual strangers, rather than as social beings

Source

Andrew Shorten (Contemporary Political Theory [2016], 01)

Book Ref

Shorten,Andrew: 'Contemporary Political Theory' [Palgrave 2016], p.8

A Reaction

On the other hand you can have 'too much community'. Surely the test for any political system is the quality of lives led by individual citizens? There can never be a wonderful community full of miserable citizens.

The 35 ideas with the same theme [nature of politic systems based on community]:

5841 Obedience to the law gives the best life, and success in war [Socrates, by Xenophon]
239 Education in virtue produces citizens who are active but obedient [Plato]
2131 Is there anything better for a community than to produce excellent people? [Plato]
8237 Extend the treatment of the old and young in your family to the rest of society [Mengzi (Mencius)]
5260 Friendship holds communities together, and lawgivers value it more than justice [Aristotle]
5264 Friendship is based on a community of sharing [Aristotle]
22564 Community is based on friends, who are equal and similar, and share things [Aristotle]
22565 The best communities rely on a large and strong middle class [Aristotle]
22585 Look at all of the citizens before judging a city to be happy [Aristotle]
22589 Citizens do not just own themselves, but are also parts of the city [Aristotle]
7668 Herder invented the idea of being rooted in (or cut off from) a home or a group [Herder, by Berlin]
22034 Modern life needs individuality, but must recognise that human agency is social [Hegel, by Pinkard]
8936 Human nature only really exists in an achieved community of minds [Hegel]
21790 Moral individuals become ethical when they see the social aspect of a matter [Hegel, by Houlgate]
8030 For Hegel, the moral life can only be led within a certain type of community [Hegel, by MacIntyre]
5293 Only in community are people able to cultivate their gifts, and therefore be free [Marx/Engels]
20576 Early Marx anticipates communitarian objections to liberalism [Marx, by Oksala]
23028 The highest political efforts express our deeper social spirit [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23038 People only develop their personality through co-operation with the social whole [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
22880 The things in civilisation we prize are the products of other members of our community [Dewey]
7492 Early societies are based on community, and modern societies on association [Tönnies, by Watson]
22811 Assigning a right based on a human capacity implies that the capacity should be developed [Taylor,C]
22815 If freedom depends on society and culture, the greatest freedom is in shaping them [Taylor,C]
23409 Community can focus on class or citizenship or ethnicity or culture [Kymlicka]
18659 The 'Kantian' view of the self misses the way it is embedded or situated in society [Kymlicka]
18660 Communitarians say we should pay more attention to our history [Kymlicka]
22804 Autonomy is better achieved within a community [Avineri/De-Shalit]
22806 Communitarians avoid oppression for the common good, by means of small mediating communities [Avineri/De-Shalit]
22260 Modern liberalism fails to articulate a vision of the common good [Sandel]
22805 Liberalism concerns rights, and communitarianism concerns the common good [Sandel, by Avineri/De-Shalit]
10333 Communitarianism in epistemology sees the community as the primary knower [Kusch]
20556 The best way to build a cohesive community is to be involved in a war [Swift]
20689 In 1750 losing your family and community meant death [Harari]
21114 Liberals treat individuals as mutual strangers, rather than as social beings [Shorten]
20613 We have obligations to our family, even though we didn't choose its members [Tuckness/Wolf]