liberalism/ neutrality Flashcards
Perfectionist liberalism
also liberal perfectionism) has been defined by Charles Larmore (1987) as the “family of views that base political principles on ‘ideals claiming to shape our overall conception of the good life, and not just our role as citizens”.
perfectionism and pluralism
perfectionism that can coexist with pluralism, recognizing that there might be multiple goods or values that are worth pursuing and that can contribute to human flourishing. These forms of perfectionism might prioritize certain values or virtues (such as autonomy, rationality, or self-realization) but still allow for diversity and variation in how individuals understand and pursue these values.
role of state in liberal perfectionism
posits that the state should promote and facilitate not just the basic liberties and opportunities for its citizens but also certain substantive values or goods that contribute to a good or flourishing life. the state can and should go beyond merely protecting these rights. Eg promote autonomy / self-realisation etc
liberal neutralists
the state should focus on securing and protecting the basic rights and liberties of its citizens without favoring or promoting any particular comprehensive doctrine or way of life.
Neutrality: between conceptions of the good- not privileging one conception of the good
Raz overview
perfectionist liberal + - autonomy is necessary but not sufficient – simply having the freedom to choose does not automatically lead to morally desirable outcomes.you need enough good choices but you don’t need any bad choices – have to be autonomous and have to choose wisely to live a good life – nothing valuable in having a wrong conception of the good
public reason
the set of principles and norms guiding political discourse and decision-making that aims to ensure laws and policies are justifiable to all citizens based on rational and universally accessible arguments
monism
the belief or doctrine that there is only one ultimate source or principle of value or reality.
pluralism
pluralism refers to the recognition and acceptance of diverse beliefs, values, lifestyles, and viewpoints within a society. Liberal pluralism emphasizes the importance of individual freedom, autonomy, and tolerance as core principle
Political liberalism - modelling the citizen not the individual what does it mean
in the context of “modelling the citizen not the individual” emphasizes the importance of viewing individuals as active, engaged citizens within a democratic society rather than as isolated entities. It underscores the interconnectedness of individuals within a political community and highlights the shared rights, responsibilities, and values that unite citizens in their collective pursuit of a just and equitable society
iews citizens not just as isolated individuals but as members of a political community with shared values, interests, and obligations.
Political liberalism - modelling the citizen not the individual- rights
focuses on the rights and responsibilities of citizens within a democratic society rather than merely individual rights.
- It emphasizes the importance of active citizenship, civic engagement, and participation in democratic processes.
Political liberalism and social contract
- Political liberalism is often grounded in social contract theory, which posits that individuals voluntarily come together to form a society and establish a government to protect their rights and promote the common good.- citizens collectively determine the rules, laws, and institutions that govern them, rather than each individual acting solely in their own self-interest
politcal liberalism - democracy and debate
- Political liberalism emphasizes the importance of public reason, rational discourse, and deliberative democracy. It encourages citizens to engage in reasoned debate, dialogue, and decision-making processes to address societal issues and make collective choices.
o This approach values inclusivity, diversity of perspectives, and mutual respect among citizens, aiming to reach consensus or compromise through democratic deliberation.
Political liberalism and constitution
- Political liberalism emphasizes the rule of law, constitutionalism, and the protection of individual rights and liberties against potential abuses of state power.
- It recognizes the importance of a robust legal framework, independent judiciary, and checks and balances to safeguard citizens’ freedoms, ensure government accountability, and uphold the principles of justice and fairness.
Rawls on justice
- Rawls argues that the principles of justice are concerned with the fair distribution of rights, opportunities, and resources within society.
- Justice as fairness focuses on establishing fair terms of social cooperation and determining the fundamental institutions, laws, and policies that govern the basic structure of society.
- The principles of justice aim to create a shared framework of rules and norms that ensure equal basic liberties, fair equality of opportunities, and the protection of the least advantaged members of society.
Rawls on the good
- Rawls acknowledges that people have different and often conflicting views about the good life, and these beliefs are deeply personal and may vary across cultures, religions, and individuals.
- Rawls contends that the principles of justice should not favour or promote any particular comprehensive conception of the good life. Instead, justice should be impartial and neutral with respect to individuals’ diverse beliefs and values.
Rawls on neutrality
- emphasizes the importance of the state being neutral and impartial regarding individuals’ diverse comprehensive conceptions of the good life. This neutrality aims to respect and accommodate the pluralism and diversity of modern democratic societies.
Rawls- overlapping consensus
- Rawls’ concept of an overlapping consensus seeks to find common ground and shared principles of justice among citizens with diverse moral, religious, and philosophical beliefs. It focuses on what citizens can agree upon despite their differences in comprehensive doctrines.
Rawls- political conception of justice - what is it
o a moral framework designed to guide the basic institutions, laws, and policies that constitute the basic structure of a constitutional democratic regime
aims to establish a framework of justice that ensures equal basic liberties, fair equality of opportunities, and the protection of the least advantaged members of society within the context of democratic governance.
o Political liberalism acknowledges and affirms certain fundamental rights and liberties, such as freedom of speech, assembly, religion, and the right to fair trial.
It presents itself as a reasonable and impartial framework that can be endorsed by citizens with diverse moral, religious, and philosophical beliefs about the good life.
Rawls- political conception of justice - how is it formulated
o it is not formulated in terms of any comprehensive doctrine but in terms of certain fundamental ideas viewed as latent in the public political culture of a democratic society.
These ideas are viewed as latent values and principles that citizens can recognize, understand, and endorse as essential elements of fair and just social cooperation.
By focusing on shared political values and principles, a political conception of justice aims to establish common ground and foster mutual respect and understanding among citizens with different comprehensive doctrines.
Rawls- political liberalism - why establish a framework of justice
o These basic rights and liberties are assigned a certain priority and are considered essential for safeguarding individual freedoms, promoting democratic participation, and protecting citizens from arbitrary power and unjust treatment by the state.
Rawls- Political liberalism - justice and good as complementary
o While a political conception of justice is neutral with respect to citizens’ comprehensive doctrines about the good life, it does not operate in isolation from ideas of the good- The right and the good are seen as complementary aspects of a well-ordered society, where principles of justice are informed by and draw upon various reasonable conceptions of the good that citizens can endorse and uphold within the framework of democratic institutions
Rawls- Political conceptions of justice - inclusion of the good in a limited sense
The ideas of the good included in a political conception of justice must be political ideas that focus on the public sphere and are relevant to the basic structure of society.
The ideas of the good must be capable of being shared by citizens who are regarded as free and equal within a democratic society.
o This requires that the ideas of the good do not favor or privilege any particular group or individual based on their comprehensive beliefs, but rather aim to accommodate and respect the diversity of citizens
Rawls- Political conceptions of justice - what goods it must impose
o A workable political conception of justice should recognize and prioritize human life and the fulfillment of basic human needs and purposes as a general good. This involves acknowledging the inherent dignity, worth, and equality of all individuals, and recognizing the importance of promoting social, economic, and political conditions that enable individuals to lead fulfilling and meaningful lives.
o Must also endorse rationality as a basic principle of political and social organization.
This involves recognizing the importance of reasoned deliberation, mutual respect, and cooperation among citizens in addressing collective issues, resolving conflicts, and making decisions that affect the well-being and interests of individuals and communities.
- political conception of citizens as free and equal who possess moral powers and higher-order interests.
Rawls - well ordered political society
- A basic feature of a well-ordered political society is the existence of a public understanding about the kinds of claims that are appropriate for citizens to make when questions of political justice arise and how such claims are to be supported.
- A political conception of justice provides the basis for this understanding and enables citizens to reach agreement in assessing their various claims and determining their relative weight within the framework of democratic institutions.- * it is a society in which everyone accepts, and knows that everyone else accepts and publicly endorses, the very same principles of justice
Rawls - two things suffice for a shared idea of rational advantage
o First, citizens affirm the same political conception of themselves as free and equal persons.
o Second, their conceptions of the good, while distinct in content and related religious and philosophical doctrines, require roughly the same primary goods, including basic rights, liberties, opportunities, the same basic rights, liberties, and opportunities, and the same all-purpose means such as income and wealth, with all of these supported by the same social bases of self-respect.
Rawls - basic list of primary goods
can add to them
o basic rights and liberties, also given by a list;
o freedom of movement and free choice of occupation against a background of diverse opportunities;
o powers and prerogatives of offices and positions of responsibility in the political and economic institutions of the basic structure;
o income and wealth; and finally,
o the social bases of self-respect.
Rawls - 4 main kinds of variation between citizens
o a) variations in moral and intellectual capacities and skills;
o b) variations in physical capacities and skills, including the effects of illness and accident on natural abilities.
o c) variations in citizens’ conceptions of the good (the fact of reasonable pluralism); as well as
o d) variations in tastes and preferences
Rawls - acceptability of variation between citizens
- when the principles of justice (with their index of primary goods) are satisfied, none of these variations among citizens are unfair and give rise to injustice.
Rawls - how far can we determine the good
- it is neither possible nor just to allow all conceptions of the good to be pursued (some involve the violation of basic rights and liberties). Yet we can say that when basic institutions satisfy a political conception of justice mutually acknowledged by citizens affirming comprehensive doctrines in a reasonable overlapping consensus, this fact confirms that those institutions allow sufficient space for ways of life worthy of citizens’ devoted support.
Rawls - responsibility of citizens
- citizens have distinct responsibilities in maintaining equal basic liberties, fair equality of opportunity, and ensuring a fair share of primary goods for all.
- Citizens are expected to adapt their conceptions of the good to their expected fair share of primary goods.
Rawls - restrictions on plans of life
- The only restriction on plans of life is their being compatible with the public principles of justice, and claims may be advanced only for certain kinds of things (primary goods) and in ways specified by those principles
o Claims may be advanced only for certain kinds of things, referred to as “primary goods,” which include basic rights, liberties, opportunities, income, wealth, and social bases of self-respect- Citizens are entitled to make claims for these primary goods and seek fair and equal access to them within the framework of public principles of justice that ensure the protection and promotion of these fundamental goods for all members of society.
o but these claims must be advanced in ways specified by the principles of justice that ensure the protection and promotion of these fundamental goods for all members of society.
Rawls - the two forms of neutrality of poltical liberalism
- Political liberalism aims to be neutral in terms of procedure and aim, respecting citizens’ diverse comprehensive doctrines.
Rawls - neutrality in terms of procedure
Neutrality of procedure focuses on the legitimacy, justification, and fairness of the procedures used by basic institutions and public policy. Emphasizes the importance of public reason as the basis for political decision-making and policy formulation within a democratic society. by reference to a procedure that can be legitimated, or justified, without appealing to any moral values at all. Or a neutral procedure may be said to be one justified by an appeal to neutral values, that is, to values such as impartiality, consistency in application of general principles to all reasonably related cases and equal opportunity for the contending parties to present their claims.
Rawls- neutrality in terms of aims
focuses on the objectives and goals of basic institutions and public policy, ensuring that they are compatible with a shared public political conception that can be endorsed by citizens generally establish principles of justice that are acceptable to all citizens within a democratic society. focuses on ensuring that public institutions and policies are designed and implemented in a way that can be endorsed by citizens generally as part of a shared public political conception that respects and accommodates the diversity of citizens’ beliefs, values, and aspirations.
o Eg the state is to ensure for all citizens equal opportunity to advance any conception of the good they freely affirm
Political liberalism - conception of superiority
- political liberalism seeks common ground and is neutral in aim but it may still affirm the superiority of certain forms of moral character and encourage certain moral virtues
o if a constitutional regime takes certain steps to strengthen the virtues of toleration and mutual trust, say by discouraging various kinds of religious and racial discrimination (in ways consistent with liberty of conscience and freedom of speech), it does not thereby become a perfectionist state. Rather, it is taking reasonable measures to strengthen the forms of thought and feeling that sustain fair social cooperation between its citizens regarded as free and equal
Rawls - restricting versions of the good
- The principles of any reasonable political conception must impose restrictions on permissible comprehensive views
their associated ways of life may be in direct conflict with the principles of justice eg a conception of the good requiring the repression or degradation of certain persons on, say, racial, or ethnic, or perfectionist grounds, for example, slavery in ancient Athens
they may be admissible but fail to gain adherents under the political and social conditions of a just constitutional regime eg a particular religion, and the conception of the good belonging to it, can survive only if it controls the machinery of state and is able to practice effective intolerance
Rawls - education
- children’s education include such things as knowledge of their constitutional and civic rights so that, for example, they know that liberty of conscience exists in their society and that apostasy is not a legal crime, all this to insure that their continued membership when they come of age is not based simply on ignorance of their basic rights or fear of punishment for offenses that do not exist.
- their education should also prepare them to be fully cooperating members of society and enable them to be self-supporting; it should also encourage the political virtues so that they want to honour the fair terms of social cooperation in their relations with the rest of society.
Rawls- political society as good for citizens
- political society is a good for citizens as it secures for them the good of justice and the social bases of their mutual self-respect. Thus, in securing the equal basic rights and liberties, fair equality of opportunity, and the like, political society guarantees the essentials of persons’ public recognition as free and equal citizens. In securing these things political society secures their fundamental needs
Rawls - conception of the good - well ordered society
- a further idea of the good: namely, that of a well-ordered society as a social union of social unions- A well-ordered society facilitates and supports the harmonious coexistence, cooperation, and collaboration among these diverse social unions, fostering mutual respect, understanding, and solidarity.
Sandel - need for conception of good If majority agree
- Sandel argues that if a society has a shared conception of the good, such as being overwhelmingly Christian, then its politics should reflect and incorporate these values.
- state actively promotes and embodies certain moral and religious values that are widely shared by its citizens.
Sandel’s - critique of Rawls
- Rawls’ political liberalism is too neutral and detached from substantive moral and religious beliefs, and it fails to address or accommodate the shared values and beliefs that are integral to a society’s identity and cohesion.
Rawls - modelling individuals versus modelling citizens (response to Sandel)
- He argues that the original position, where individuals come together to establish principles of justice, is not about individuals leaving behind their comprehensive conceptions of the good. Instead, it’s about citizens deliberating behind a “veil of ignorance” regarding their particular circumstances.
- He introduces the idea of an “overlapping consensus,” where citizens can agree on a common framework of justice and principles of political cooperation, even if they hold different comprehensive doctrines or conceptions of the good.
- even if citizens have different reasons or motivations for supporting a particular political conception or policy, what matters is that they can converge on a shared understanding and agreement about fundamental principles of justice and fairness.
critique of Rawls - right v good
Rawls’ distinction between the right (justice) and the good (comprehensive conceptions of the good life) is problematic and artificial. They contend that it’s challenging to separate the two entirely and that they inevitably influence and shape each other.
o principles of justice are not as neutral and impartial as he claims them to be. They argue that these principles are influenced and shaped by underlying comprehensive moral and philosophical doctrines, even if they are not explicitly stated.
o it’s impossible to develop or apply principles of justice without some reference to or consideration of individuals’ broader beliefs and values about the good life.
Critique of Rawls - practicality
- Critics also question the feasibility and desirability of citizens leaving behind their deeply held religious or moral beliefs when engaging in political deliberation and decision-making
o public reason, as envisioned by Rawls, may exclude or marginalize citizens who cannot or choose not to separate their comprehensive views from their political reasoning and participation
o achieving genuine consensus on fundamental principles of justice may be difficult or impossible in societies characterized by deep-seated moral, religious, and philosophical disagreements.
Raz - how far does his notion of the good life extend
- Raz believes that there are objective values or principles that are important for human flourishing. These values serve as a guide for individuals in their pursuit of the good life. In promoting autonomy, Raz seeks to create conditions where individuals can engage with and pursue these objective values.
Raz on what the state’s role in perfectionism should be
- In Raz’s perfectionist view, the state should actively promote autonomy by creating a legal and social environment that supports individual decision-making and self-governance. This involves not just protecting individuals from external interference but also providing opportunities and resources that enable individuals to act autonomously.
there is zero value in autonomy unless you make correct decisions
Raz - what personal autonomy is
- personal autonomy holds the free choice of goals and relations as an essential ingredient of individual well‐being. The ruling idea behind the ideal of personal autonomy is that people should make their own lives. The autonomous person is a (part) author of his own life. The ideal of personal autonomy is the vision of people controlling, to some degree, their own destiny, fashioning it through successive decisions throughout their lives.
- Autonomy is opposed to a life of coerced choices. It contrasts with a life of no choices, or of drifting through life without ever exercising one’s capacity to choose.
Raz- self awareness and the good life
- Evidently the autonomous life calls for a certain degree of self‐awareness. To choose one must be aware of one’s options- then the autonomous person must be aware of his life as stretching over time. He must be capable of understanding how various choices will have considerable and lasting impact on his life. He may always prefer to avoid long‐term commitments. But he must be aware of their availability
