Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T01:37:55.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Are liberal perfectionism and neutrality mutually exclusive?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Eldar Sarajlic
Eldar Sarajlic*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this paper, I question the view that liberal perfectionism and neutrality are mutually exclusive doctrines. I do so by criticizing two claims made by Jonathan Quong. First, I object to his claim that comprehensive anti-perfectionism is incoherent. Second, I criticize his claim that liberal perfectionism cannot avoid a paternalist stance. I argue that Quong’s substantive assumptions about personal autonomy undermine both of his arguments. I use the discussion of Quong to argue that the standard assumption in liberal theory about mutual exclusivity of liberal perfectionism and neutrality needs to be reconsidered, and I show why the argument about the convergence of perfectionism and neutrality makes conceptual sense.

Keywords

perfectionismneutralityautonomyliberalismQuongconvergence
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , August 2015 , pp. 515 - 537
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Alumnus, graduated in 2014.

References

Abrams, K. 1999. “From Autonomy to Agency: Feminist Perspectives on Self-direction.”; William and Mary Law Review 40 (3): 805–846.Google Scholar
Anderson, J., and Honneth, A.. 2005. “Autonomy, Vulnerability, Recognition and Justice.”; In Autonomy and the Challenges to Liberalism, edited by Christman, J. and Anderson, J., 127–149. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511610325CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arneson, R. 2003. “Liberal Neutrality on the Good: An Autopsy.”; In Perfectionism and Neutrality: Essays in Liberal Theory, edited by Wall, S. and Klosko, G., 191–219. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Baumann, H. 2008. “Reconsidering Relational Autonomy: Personal Autonomy for Socially Embedded and Temporally Extended Selves.”; Analyse & Kritik 80: 445–468.Google Scholar
Beauchamp, T. L. 2005. “Who Deserves Autonomy and Whose Autonomy Deserves Respect?”; In Personal Autonomy, edited by Taylor, J. S., 310–329. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511614194CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colburn, B. 2010. “Anti-perfectionisms and Autonomy.”; Analysis 70: 247–256.10.1093/analys/anp171CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colburn, B. 2012. “In Defense of Comprehensive Liberalism.”; Philosophy and Public Issues 2 (2): 17–29.Google Scholar
Coons, C., and Weber, M.. 2013. Paternalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139179003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dworkin, G. 1988. The Theory and Practice of Autonomy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511625206CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrara, A. 1998. Reflective Authenticity: Rethinking the Project of Modernity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, H. 1988. “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person.”; In The importance of What We Care about, 11–26. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511818172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristinsson, S. 2000. “The Limits of Neutrality: Toward a Weakly Substantive Account of Autonomy.”; Canadian Journal of Philosophy 30 (2): 257–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kulenovic, E. 2014. “Defending Perfectionism: Some Comments on Quong’s Liberalism without Perfection.”; Filozofija i drustvo 25: 35–46.10.2298/FID1401035KCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kymlicka, W. 1989. “Liberal Individualism and Liberal Neutrality.”; Ethics 99 (4): 883–905.10.1086/et.1989.99.issue-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kymlicka, W. 2002. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, C. 2008. “Relational Autonomy, Normative Authority and Perfectionism.”; Journal of Social Philosophy 39: 512–533.10.1111/josp.2008.39.issue-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrill, R., and Weinstock, D.. 2014. Political Neutrality. London: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9781137319203CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noggle, R. 2005. “Autonomy and the Paradox of Self-creation: Infinite Regresses, Finite Selves, and the Limits of Authenticity.”; In Personal Autonomy, edited by Taylor, J. S., 87–108. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511614194CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nye, S. 2012. “Autonomy and Anti-perfectionism.”; Philosophy and Public Issues 2 (1): 81–99.Google Scholar
Porter, T. 2011. “Colburn on Anti-perfectionism and Autonomy.”; Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Discussion Note, 1–7.Google Scholar
Quong, J. 2011. Liberalism without Perfection. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Raz, J. 1986. The Morality of Freedom. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Stoljar, N. 2000. “Autonomy and the Feminist Intuition.”; In Relational Autonomy: Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Self, edited by Mackenzie, C. and Stoljar, N., 94–112. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sunstein, C., and Thaler, R.. 2008. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Wall, S. 2010. “Neutrality for Perfectionists: The Case of Restricted State Neutrality.”; Ethics 120 (2): 232–256.10.1086/603565CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, G. 1982. Free Will. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Westlund, A. C. 2009. “Rethinking Relational Autonomy.”; Hypatia 24: 26–49.10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01056.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar