Reconstructing the Liberalists and Communitarians Discourse over Sandel`s Criticisms of Liberal Democracy

Subject Areas :

Ali Asghar Kazemi ¹ , Hasan Bojmehrani ²

1 - Islamic Azad University- Tehran Science and Research Branch
2 - Islamic Azad University- Tehran Science and Research Branch

Received: 2019-07-05 Accepted : 2019-07-05 Published : 2010-05-22

Keywords: Liberal Democracy, Liberalists and Communitarians, Non -Textual Self, Government Impartiality, Procedural Republican Idealism,

Abstract :

Thinkers like Charles Taylor, Michael Sandel, Alsadair Maclentyre and Michael Valdez, who are called communitarians, believe that liberal attitude of a person as a self-foundation and selective subject in nature cannot guarantee the understanding of communicative and connective status of the person with social traditions and culture. Presenting a disarranged picture from the relation between person and society can lead to inadequacy in defining the human values like justice, freedom, equality, and moral virtues. Furthermore, communitarian thinkers have criticized ideas like the notion of non-textual self, impartiality of government, and universality of liberalist ideas. As an example, Sandel has followed the roots of declining of American republican idealism in procedural liberalism as an immediate result of such idealisms. In contrast, liberalists have attempted to prepare an adequate response which has brought about this academic debate between these two groups. Hence, the first aim is to reconstruct Sandel`s criticisms of liberalism.  Secondly, by presenting the liberalists and communitarians arguments, Sandel`s ideas and thoughts have been investigated from a theoretical and practical perspectives. Theoretically, Sandel has analyzed the notion of non-textual self of a person and has discussed about its incongruity and its deficiency. Government impartiality and procedural liberalism has been criticized from practical view point.