Abstract

The dissertation examines how liberalism, through toleration and justice, attempts to cope with pluralistic conflicts by trying to reach an ideal of neutral or impartial governance. The liberal goal is to reinforce principled social unity or the Rawlsian overlapping consensus by reconciling diverse citizenry around commonly shared ideals. After discussing the liberal justifications of toleration and Rawls's principles of justice, I argue that liberalism does not generate a neutral position, nor can it do so without betraying the principles it is committed to. My argument then shows, after examining perfectionism and the communitarian critiques of liberalism, that liberalism can rather be compatible with perfectionism and communitarianism in its defense and promotion of specifically liberal ideals of the good, and in its quest for common goods that are characteristically liberal and which help unite a liberal community