Liberalism New Essays on Liberal Themes
No theory is more passionately and widely defined, or decried, than is liberalism in contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. But what is this theory, on which so much ink is spilled? This collection of original essays by leading specialists in political p
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Edited by JAN NARVESON University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and SUSAN DIMOCK York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Reprinted from The Journal of Value Inquiry, Volume 34, Nos. 2-3, 2000
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Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 978-90-481-5591-0 ISBN 978-94-015-9440-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-9440-0
Printed on acid-free paper
All rights reserved © 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2000
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner
CONTENTS Foreword, Thomas Magnell Introduction, Susan Dimock and Jan Narveson UNDERSTANDING LIBERALISM Jan Narveson, Liberal-Conservative: The Real Controversy Susan Dimock, Liberal Neutrality Steve Scalet, Liberalism, Skepticism, and Neutrality: Making Do Without Doubt Tibor Machan, Liberalism and Atomistic Individualism Andrew J. Cohen, Liberalism, Communitarianism, andAsocialism SOME POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS David Schmidtz, Diminishing Marginal Utility and Egalitarian Redistribution Randall G. Holcombe, Public Goods Theory and Public Policy J.C. Lester, Libertarian Rectification: Restitution, Retribution, and the Risk-Multiplier Joseph Ellin, Restitutionism Defended
1-2 3-18 19-40 41-58 59-77 79-99 101-113
115-124 125-138 139-149 151-169
CHALLENGES TO THE FOUNDATIONS Robert Bass, Pure Contractarianism: Promise, Problems, and Prospects Christopher Tucker, A Moral Obligation to Obey the State Bob Bright, The Poverty of Market Contractarianism Paul Vuninitz, A Proof that Libertarianism Is Either False or Banal Michael R. Rhodes, The Nature of Coercion
171-184 185-199 201-209 211-219 221-233
Index
235-237
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The Journal of Value Inquiry 34: 149-150, 2000.
149
Foreword THOMAS MAGNELL Department ofPhilosophy, Drew University, Madison, NJ 07940-4036, USA
Liberalism, it might be said, is not what it used to be. The term "liberal" has come to stand for something approaching a free use of power, especially by politicians ready to promote programs with other people's money. How the term has come to be appropriated by partisans favoring expropriation is curious, though not unprecedented for terms tending to the honorific. In any event, verbal appropriation only adds to the importance of safeguarding against encroachments on individual freedoms. Unreconstructed liberalism is a moral and political outlook in which autonomy is accorded particularly high value. The governing ideal is an injunction against constraint and coercion. It may be expressed as a precept for individuals to enjoy a secure sphere of self-determined thought and action consistent with some principle to refrain from inflicting harm on other individual
