Single Idea 22818

[catalogued under 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / e. Liberal community]

Full Idea

It is alleged that liberals fail to recognise that people are naturally social or communal. …But liberals believe that people form and join social relations in which they come to understand and pursue the good.

Gist of Idea

Liberals are not too individualistic, because people recognise and value social relations

Source

Will Kymlicka (Liberal Individualism and Liberal Neutrality [1989], Conc)

Book Reference

'Communitarianism and Individualism', ed/tr. Avineri,S. /de-Shalit,A. [OUP 1992], p.184


A Reaction

This is particulary aimed at communitarians, who see liberalism as based on a distorted concept of people as isolated beings. Personally I am beginning to shift my views from Aristotelian communitarianism to modern liberalism, so I like this idea.