Canterbury Christ Church University's Repository of Research Outputs
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Canterbury Christ Church University’s repository of research outputs http://create.canterbury.ac.uk Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. Jones, M. (2012) Enlightenment liberalism and the challenge of pluralism. Ph.D. thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University. Contact: [email protected] Enlightenment Liberalism and the Challenge of Pluralism by Matthew Jones Canterbury Christ Church University Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Table of Contents Abstract 4 Acknowledgements 6 1. Introduction 7 1.1 Opening Context.................................................................................................................7 1.2 Research Question.......................................................................................................... 13 1.3 Definition of Key Terms................................................................................................ 17 1.3.1 Liberalism: Conceptual Discussion and Justificatory Arguments .......................18 1.3.2 The Challenge of Pluralism...................................................................................................35 1.4 Methodology..................................................................................................................... 42 1.5 Thesis Outline .................................................................................................................. 50 1.5.1 Part I...............................................................................................................................................51 1.5.2 Part II .............................................................................................................................................52 1.5.3 Part III............................................................................................................................................55 2. Enlightenment Liberalism 57 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 57 2.2 What is ‘The Enlightenment’? ..................................................................................... 58 2.3 The Enlightenment, or The Enlightenments?........................................................ 66 2.4 The Enlightenment View of Reason.......................................................................... 76 2.4.1 Isaiah Berlin................................................................................................................................77 2.4.2 Alasdair MacIntyre and the Enlightenment Project ..................................................79 2.4.3 John Gray and the Enlightenment Project .....................................................................83 2.4.4 Gerald Gaus and the Enlightenment View .....................................................................84 2.5 Moral Monism .................................................................................................................. 87 2.6 Marxism ............................................................................................................................. 94 2.7 Kant: Morality, Politics, and Political Association ............................................... 97 2.8 The Lockean Caveat .....................................................................................................113 3. Challenging the Political Legitimacy of Enlightenment Liberalism 118 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................118 3.2 The Romantic Challenge and the Superficiality of Atomistic Individualism ....................................................................................................................................................121 3.3 Nietzsche’s Enlightenment ........................................................................................131 3.4 The Communitarian Critique of Enlightenment Liberalism ..........................138 3.5 The Feminist Challenge ..............................................................................................161 4. Rawls’ Political Liberalism and the Departure from Kantian Normativity 180 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................180 4.2 Theoretical Foundations: A Theory of Justice ......................................................181 4.2.1 The Original Position and the Veil of Ignorance ......................................................187 4.3 Political Liberalism and the Problem of Political Legitimacy........................195 2 4.4 Embracing the Political: The Departure from Normative Metaphysics .....204 4.5 Reasonable Pluralism and Liberal Neutralism...................................................214 4.6 Liberal Neutralism .......................................................................................................215 4.7 Thin and Thick Pluralism...........................................................................................219 4.8 The Intolerance of Political Liberalism.................................................................226 5. Crowder’s Liberal Value Pluralism 229 5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................229 5.2 Berlinian Origins − The Hedgehog and the Fox..................................................230 5.3 Berlinian Value Pluralism..........................................................................................243 5.3.1 The existence of universal values...................................................................................244 5.3.2 The plurality of values.........................................................................................................248 5.3.3 The existence of conflicts among values .....................................................................252 5.3.4 The incommensurability of values.................................................................................254 5.4 A Berlinian Value Pluralism? ....................................................................................259 5.5 A Distinctly Liberal Value Pluralism?.....................................................................265 5.6 The Paradox of Crowder’s Liberal Pluralism ......................................................271 5.6.1 Autonomy and the Right to Exit ......................................................................................275 5.6.2 Autonomy‐Facilitating Liberal Education...................................................................285 5.6.3 Exclusion Through Restriction ........................................................................................287 6. Rorty’s PostFoundational Liberalism 293 6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................293 6.2 Pragmatism and the Rejection of Truth................................................................294 6.3 Contingency: Neither Relativism or Universalism ............................................298 6.4 Conflict: Private Irony and Public Solidarity.......................................................304 6.5 Rorty’s Liberal Utopia: Reconciling Private Irony and Public Solidarity...320 6.6 The AntiPolitical Nature of Rorty’s Liberal Utopia ..........................................333 7. Mouffe’s Radical Democratic Project 352 7.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................352 7.2 Laclau and the Empty Universal ..............................................................................354 7.3 Mouffe and the Illusion of the Liberal Democratic Consensus ......................366 7.4 The Position of Pluralism within Agonistic Politics..........................................381 7.5 The Agonistic Distinction between ‘the Political’ and ‘Politics’ ....................384 7.6 Agonism: Perfection and Emancipation................................................................390 7.6.1 Perfectionist Agonism .........................................................................................................391 7.6.2 Emancipatory Agonism.......................................................................................................394 7.7 The Inclusive Nature of Radical Pluralism...........................................................399 8. Conclusion 410 8.1 Thesis Overview............................................................................................................410 8.2 Liberalism and the Denial of The Political ...........................................................415 8.3 Scope for Future Research.........................................................................................420