Cornell University Press
Toward a Liberalism
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About this book
In Toward a Liberalism, Richard Flathman shows why and how political theory can contribute to the quality of moral and political practice without violating, as empiricist- and idealist-based theories tend to do, liberal commitments to individuality and plurality. Exploring the tense but inevitable relationship between liberalism and authority, he advances a theory of democratic citizenship tempered by appreciation of the ways in which citizenship is implicated with and augments authority. Flathman examines the relationship of individual rights to freedom on one hand and to authority and power on the other, rejecting the quest for a single homogenous and authoritative liberal theory.
Author / Editor information
The late Richard Flathman (1934–2015) was the George Armstrong Kelly Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, at Johns Hopkins University. Known for his influential application of the methods of analytic philosophy to questions in political science, he was the author of many books, including Pluralism and Liberal Democracy, Reflections of a Would-Be Anarchist: Ideals and Institutions of Liberalism, and Willful Liberalism: Voluntarism and Individuality in Political Theory and Practice.
Reviews
This book is an important contribution to contemporary liberal theory. It is important (1) because Flathman’s gift of patient and probing analysis has seldom been deployed to more illuminating advantage; (2) because he does much to restore teleological considerations to what I regard as their proper place; and (3) because he mitigates, in a manner both sensible and principled, the excesses and implausibilities of a great many well-known liberal theories.
Topics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
vii -
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Acknowledgments
ix -
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Introduction
1 -
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I Theory and Practice, Skepticism and Liberalism
14 -
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2 Liberalism and Authority
48 -
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3 Citizenship and Authority: A Chastened View of Citizenship
65 -
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4 Liberalism and the Human Good of Freedom
109 -
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5 Moderating Rights
141 -
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6 The Theory of Rights and the Practice of Abortion
168 -
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7 Egalitarian Blood and Skeptical Turnips
206 -
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Index
221
