Against LiberalismCornell University Press, 1997 - 244 páginas Liberalism is doomed to failure, John Kekes argues in this penetrating criticism of its basic assumptions. Liberals favor individual autonomy, a wide plurality of choices, and equal rights and resources, seeing them as essential for good lives. They oppose such evils as selfishness, intolerance, cruelty, and greed. Yet the more autonomy, equality, and pluralism there is, Kekes contends, the greater is the scope for evil. According to Kekes, liberalism is inconsistent because the conditions liberals regard as essential for good lives actually foster the very evils liberals want to avoid, and avoiding those evils depends on conditions contrary to the ones liberals favor. Kekes argues further that the liberal conceptions of equality, justice, and pluralism require treating good and evil people with equal respect, distributing resources without regard to what recipients deserve, and restricting choices to those that conform to liberal preconceptions. All these policies are detrimental to good lives. Kekes concludes that liberalism cannot cope with the prevalence of evil, that it is vitiated by inconsistent commitments, and that--contrary to its aim--liberalism is an obstacle to good lives. |
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... object ( namely , an evil action ) and one of the conditions ( namely , enduring identification ) of collective responsibility must be distinguished from each other , even if they occur together . By way of analogy , compare this with ...
... object of benevolence . Limited benevolence attributes its possession to all human beings , whereas general benevolence goes beyond universal possession and claims as well that the objects of benevo lence ought to be all human beings ...
... object . The trouble with general benevolence is that it directs the attention away from personal relationships and toward universality and impartiality . The more successful it is , the less there is left for everyday moral ...
Contenido
The Prevalence of Evil | 23 |
Individual Responsibility | 46 |
Collective Responsibility | 69 |
Derechos de autor | |
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