TAKING COMMUNITY SERIOUSLY? COMMUNITARIAN CRITIQUES OF LIBERALISM GAWKOWSKA A. Księgarnia

Taking Community Seriously?

Communitarian Critiques of Liberalism

The book presents an analysis of five major communitarian critiques of liberalism.

Particular communitarians (A. Etzioni, M. Walzer, M. Sandel, Ch. Taylor, A. MacIntyre), though not all of them identify themselves with this label, are treated as such due to their various theoretical and/or practical attempts to restore vitality to the concept of community in contemporary social and political discourse. They managed to stimulate interesting debates about the problems of individualistic liberalism. However, despite substantial differences between their critiques, all of them fall prey to various weaknesses typical for standpoints they criticize, e.g. the assumption of the perennial conflict of values or lack of the objective moral order, which eventually makes individualism inevitable. Thus, though the communitarians take community more seriously than liberals, they do not take it seriously enough. They accept some of the fundamental liberal assumptions rather than change them on the basis of the existence of actual communities which can be observed in the social reality.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FOREWORD
GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Chapter I: NEUTRALITY, AUTONOMY, AND ORDER: THE THEORY OF AMITAI ETZIONI UNDER SCRUTINY
Introduction
1.a. Etzioni’s Picture of the Self
1.b. Community and Autonomy in Etzioni’s Theory
1.c. Layered Loyalty and Its Fostering
2.a. A Critique of Etzioni’s Portrayal of the Self
2.b. Etzioni’s Standing on Autonomy Examined
2.c. Etzioni’s Standing on Social Order Examined
2.d. Conflicts and Equilibria Scrutinized
Conclusions: No Way Out of the Conflict?

Chapter II: DISHARMONIOUS PLURALITY OF COMMUNITIES: Michael WALZER’S ATTEMPT TO SAVE LIBERALISM
Introduction
1.a. The Individual and the Community
1.b. The Social Goods
1.c. Pluralism and Disharmony
2.a. Analysis of Walzer’s Idea of the Self
2.b. Analysis of Walzer’s Understanding of Social Goods
2.c. Analysis of Pluralism and Disharmony
Conclusions

Chapter III: THE SELF-GOVERNMENT OF THE ENCUMBERED SELVES: MICHAEL J. SANDEL’S LONGINGS FOR THE REPUBLICAN TRADITION
Introduction
1.a. The Encumbered Self Described
1.b. The Republican Community
2.a. Problems with Sandelian Selves
2.b. The Republican Community Revisited
Conclusions

Chapter IV: MUTUAL RECOGNITION OF DIALOGICAL SELVES: CHARLES TAYLOR’S HOLISTIC ORDER THROUGH ARTICULATION
Introduction
1.a. Taylor’s Vision of the Dialogical Self
1.b. The Goals and the Goods
1.c. Recognition in Politics
2.a. Does Dialog Exclude Atomism?
2.b. Does Logos Need Affirmation?
2.c. Who Really Needs Recognition?
Conclusions

Chapter V: VIRTUES, PRACTICES, GOODS, AND TRADITIONS: ALASDAIR MACINTYRE’S ALTERNATIVE TO LIBERAL INDIVIDUALISM
Introduction
1.a. The Dependent, Rational, and Social Animal
1.b. Incommensurability of Goods and Traditions?
1.c. State vs. Community
2.a&b. Is MacIntyre a Realist? Contextualism and/or Universalism
2.c. Why and How to Stay Local?
Conclusions

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS: REALITY AND HOPE?
BIBLIOGRAPHY

158 pages Paperback

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