Le quattro indegnità dei liberali irresoluti

In the essay the author takes up the issue of the ways in which communitarianism has influenced liberal thought and in general present societies’ ways of thinking. He describes four «unworthiness» which depend on the compromises liberals have made with their adversaries. The first has its roots in the belief that universalism lacks appeal. The second is due to the belief that liberal univesalism is in fact a form of particularism: the theory of a «tribe» among other ones, imperialist too. The third depends on the conception of liberalism as a civilization, that is a perfectly coherent and unitary system, while it is an ideal in need of betterment. The fourth is linked to the intolerant closing up of liberalism, which feels under attack by irreconcilable «others». The author shows that any form of liberalism assuming one of these points of view is unfaithful to its own principles;

Flavio Baroncelli, Le quattro indegnità dei liberali irresoluti in "TEORIA POLITICA" 3/2001, pp , DOI: