THE LIBERALISM OF DIVERSITY

Book Symposium on "Dealing with Diversity: A Study in Contemporary Liberalism" by D. Melidoro: comments and replies.

WHY LIBERALISM NEEDS AUTONOMY

Book Symposium on "Dealing with Diversity: A Study in Contemporary Liberalism" by D. Melidoro: comments and replies.

HOBBESIAN LIBERALISM

Book Symposium on "Dealing with Diversity: A Study in Contemporary Liberalism" by D. Melidoro: comments and replies.

DIVERSITY WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF JUSTICE

Book Symposium on "Dealing with Diversity: A Study in Contemporary Liberalism" by D. Melidoro: comments and replies.

Introduction

The introduction sets out the central concern of this book: in a liberal regime, what is required to bring children from dependence to freedom? Children are not immediately capable of freedom or even of consent to government, so liberalism must always find some way to account for the authority that must be exercised over them until they are. The dominant contemporary approach has been one of “congruence”: modeling the family and school on the authority structure of the liberal state to allow children to practice liberty and equality in these protected settings to prepare them for their civic roles as adults. However, congruence was originally the aim of absolutists like Bodin, Hobbes, and Filmer, while early liberals like Locke and Rousseau rejected it as tyrannical. What was the reason for their rejection? Understanding where contemporary liberalism falls short requires returning to this early modern debate over education and authority.

“From Out of the Depths!”

This chapter addresses the limited amount of scholarship on Steve Ditko’s work and challenges persistent claims that Ditko’s thinking and art should viewed exclusively through the lens of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism. This chapter also lays out the parameters for discussing and interpreting Ditko’s work visually as well as textually, considering both solo and collaborative efforts in order to introduce key terms like “mystic liberalism,” “cosmic intraspace,” and “dark karma.” In addition, Steve Ditko has composed a number of essays and a few comics regarding his philosophy and politics of artistic creation and those ideas are presented in this chapter, in part, as a means for re-evaluating Ditko’s work and a revised interpretation of it. Finally, this chapter includes a discussion of the necessity of considering Objectivism, the occult mysticism of the twentieth century, and the important links between them to form a clearer understanding of the varieties of contemporary liberalism.

On the Very Idea of Civilisation

The concept of civilisation is a controversial one because it is unavoidably normative in its implications. Its historical associations with the effort of Western imperialism to impose substantive conditions of life have made it difficult for contemporary liberalism to find a definition of “civilization” that can be reconciled with progressive discourse that seeks to avoid exclusions of various kinds. But because we lack a way of identifying what is peculiar to the relationship of civilisation that avoids the problem of domination, it has tended to be conflated with other ideas. Taking Samuel Huntington's idea of a “Clash of Civilisations” as a starting point, this article argues that we suffer from a widespread confusion of civilisation with “culture,” and that we also confuse it with other ideas including modernity and technological development. Drawing on Thomas Hobbes, the essay proposes an alternative definition of civilisation as the existence of limits on how we may treat others.

Liberal Relativism’s Challenge to Conscience Rights

I argue that within contemporary liberal theory and case law is a relativistic conception of conscience, a conception which has the effect of obscuring the significance of conscience and downplaying the importance of conscience rights. The article focuses in particular on the right to conscientious objection. After outlining a representative cohort of cases from within contemporary liberalism concerning conscientious objection I analyse Cardinal Ratzinger’s (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) ‘dictatorship of relativism’ critique for its cogency as a response to these cases. I contend that although the ‘dictatorship of relativism’ critique is almost always understood in a univocal manner it is in fact comprised of two logically distinct arguments. One of these is found fundamentally flawed while the other is deemed promising yet in need of supplementation and defence. This I attempt via an analysis of the understanding of conscience present within contemporary liberal case law and theory. I go on to claim that contemporary liberalism, in part due to its problematic understanding of conscience, is often insufficiently respectful of an important principle of conscience rights protection when it dismisses claims of conscientious objection. The final part of the article is an attempt at explaining the paradox of a liberalism which readily justifies significant restrictions on conscience rights. I end by concluding that one version of the ‘dictatorship of relativism’ critique, suitably clarified and supplemented, is basically sound and poses a very serious challenge to contemporary liberalism.

Conservative Anarchism. French Critics of the “Anthropological Mistake”

G. Orwell once called himself “anarchist tory”, the collocation “anthropological mistake” belongs to British theologian J. Milbank, characterizing so liberal thought. These expressions are used today by two French philosophers, Jean-Claude Michea and Alain de Benoist. Though they came from oppos­ing political camps, both are ready to define themselves “populists” and “conservative anarchists”. Their common enemy is contemporary liberalism. This article is a description of this polemics, espe­cially with liberal anthropology. Their difference with many critics of political or economic liberal­ism lies in their belief that liberalism is a totality, and the core of all the aspects of this doctrine (economy, law, politics) is represented by the vision of man in liberal philosophy, which have a long history. This genealogy of liberalism, proposed by French thinkers, is the main theme of the article.