A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

The differences between liberals and libertarians

An interesting piece here, part of a symposium on common ground between liberals and libertarians and the prospects for political cooperation.

However, I increasingly think that the liberal reliance (at least among intellectual types) on John Rawls’ philosophical framework is a mistake. I’ve moved in a more egalitarian-liberal direction myself, but I’m starting to think that liberals need a more positive account of the good than is allowed by Rawls’ system and its attempt to withdraw from any claims about the good life. I don’t think anybody really buys the idea that liberal policies embody some kind of metaphysical “neutrality” anyway.

, ,

3 responses to “The differences between liberals and libertarians”

  1. Gaius Sempronius Gracchus

    I thought he backed away from that in “Political Liberalism.”

    No?

    Reply
  2. Gaius Sempronius Gracchus

    I though he changed his view in “Political Liberalism.”

    No?

    Reply
  3. Lee

    I was under the impression that PL reaffirmed the view that liberalism was “political not metaphysical.”

    In any event, we are plagued by no end of “vulgar Rawlsianism” whenever someone trots our the old neutrality saw, whether the historical Rawls would affirm it or not.

    Now it may be that Rawls is simply saying in his later work that people with various metaphysical commitments could come to agreement on political positions, de facto as it were.

    Reply

Leave a comment