ENGLISH

Liberalism (Concepts in Social Thought), Second Edition

By John Gray

Book information

Year
1995
ISBN
0335194753, 0335194222, 9780816628018, 9780816628001, 9780335194759, 9780335194223, 0816628009, 0816628017
LCC
JC585 .G735 1995
Open Library ID
OL784146M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
6 MB (5812336 bytes)
Edition
2nd
Pages
128\132
Topic
Economy
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

Since the publication in 1986 of the first edition of "Liberalism", both the world and the author's views have changed significantly. In this second edition, John Gray argues that, whereas liberalism was the political theory of modernity, it is ill-equipped to cope with the dilemmas of the postmodern condition. Developments in philosophy have undermined the attempts of liberal theorists to give liberal institutions a universal foundation in reason, while developments in political life have overturned the Enlightenment philosophy of history on which liberal theory depends. The liberal project - the project of stating universal principles which persons and communities with divergent conceptions of the good and differing views of the world can accept as framing terms of peaceful coexistence - has foundered. The task now, as Gray sees it, is to develop a pluralist political theory, in which the liberal problem of finding a modus vivendi among rival communities and worldviews is solved in postliberal terms.

Similar books