Liberalism after the fall: Schmitt, Rawls and the problem of justification

Philosophy and Social Criticism 22 (3):9-37 (1996)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Carl Schmitt's critique of liberalism portrays liberalism as a supple political ideology, one which moves constantly between the horns of several connected dilemmas. In particular, liberalism cannot decide whether it is based on substantive political values or is neutral or substanceless. John Rawls's 'political liberalism' is argued to exemplify-and to fall prey to-Schmitt's critique. Rawls tries to find a shallow justification for liberalism, one which claims no truth for itself and is thus neutral between many different ideologies. But his justification, as he is forced to admit, presupposes the substantive commitments he wants to avoid. Hence, liberalism has to move beyond Rawls and accept its place within democracy.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
198 (#92,845)

6 months
10 (#135,615)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

David Dyzenhaus
University of Toronto, St. George Campus

Citations of this work

Critical Notice.David Dyzenhaus - 1998 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 28 (2):269-286.
Critical Notice. [REVIEW]Kok-Chor Tan - 2001 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 31 (1):113-132.
The Morals of Modernity. [REVIEW]David Dyzenhaus - 1998 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 28 (2):269-286.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references