Liberals and cannibals
Subtitle: the implications of diversity
By: Steven Lukes
Edition: Paperback edition.
Publisher: Verso
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 180
ISBN-13: 9781784786472
Subjects: Multiculturalism; Philosophy; Ethical relativism; Liberalism; Political science
Other titles: Liberals and cannibals :
Description: "Taking as his starting point Robert Frost's accusation that a liberal is someone who can't take his own side in an argument, Steven Lukes confronts liberal thought with its own limitations. The essays in this collection focus on the perennial but newly urgent questions of how the tension between relativism and the moral universalism current in contemporary politics can be resolved within the framework of liberalism." "While recognizing the dangers of moral imperialism, Lukes argues that a relativist position based on identifying clearly distinct cultural and moral communities is incoherent. Drawing on work in anthropology and philosophy, he examines the nature of social justice, the politics of identity and human rights theory, as well as discussing how ideas drawn from the work of Isaiah Berlin can shed light on these debates."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Moral Diversity and Relativism; title: 2. Is Universalism Ethnocentric?; title: 3. Liberalism for the Liberals, Cannibalism for the Cannibals; title: 4. Different Cultures, Different Rationalities?; title: 5. On Comparing the Incomparable: Trade-offs and Sacrifices; title: 6. The Singular and the Plural; title: 7. Must Pluralists be Relativists?; title: 8. An Unfashionable Fox; title: 9. Social Justice: The Hayekian Challenge; title: 10. Humiliation and the Politics of Identity; title: 11. The Communitarian Voice; title: 12. Five Fables About Human Rights; title: 13. The Last Word on the Third Way.