Beyond Individualism Reconstituting the Liberal Self

by Crittenden, Jack

• ISBN13: 9780195073300
• ISBN10: 0195073304
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-08-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In the examination of the conception of human nature, a duality is commonly perceived--the liberal self as atomistic, self-contained, even selfish; and the communitarian self as socially situated and defined through its environment. Crittenden argues that neither view is acceptable, drawing on recent psychological research to expound on a theory of "compound individuality." This work includes a discussion of the compound individual as the self of liberalism, as well as a discussion of the sort of political organization that can generate personal identity constituted by liberal autonomy and communitarian sociality.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 3
Behind Individualism
The Disposition of the Self	p. 13
Charles Taylor: The Disengaged Self Versus the Strong Evaluator	p. 14
Alasdair MacIntyre: Individualism Versus Narrative Unity	p. 21
Michael Sandel: The Unencumbered Self Versus the Socially Situated Self	p. 28
The Self as a Two-Track System	p. 34
The Theory of Compound Individuality	p. 38
Piaget's Cognitive Structures	p. 39
The Self-system: Process and Product	p. 42
Membership Versus Autonomy	p. 44
Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development	p. 52
Critiques of Kohlberg	p. 60
Liberal and Communitarian Selves Revisited	p. 63
Beyond Individualism
Autonomous Selfhood: Individualism Versus Compound Individuality	p. 73
Defining Autonomy	p. 74
Individualism	p. 77
Contextualism and Compound Individuality	p. 82
Practicing Contextualism	p. 91
Political Participation: Self-development and Self-interest	p. 96
Participation as Cultivation of Character	p. 97
Mirroring: Habits of the Heart	p. 100
Empirical Support for Participation as Self-development	p. 104
Outcomes: Generating the Common Good	p. 108
Transforming Self-interests	p. 114
Rousseau's Self-interest Properly Understood	p. 117
Transcending Self-interest	p. 122
Why Obey?	p. 124
Veneration of Community	p. 129
What Is Community?	p. 130
Communitarians on Community	p. 135
Total Community	p. 137
Participation and Liberal Community	p. 142
Reconstituting the Liberal Self
Socrates in a Pluralistic Tradition	p. 149
Retrospective	p. 149
Modern or "New" Liberals	p. 154
A New Liberal Psychology	p. 160
The Bugbear of Relativism	p. 163
Liberal Virtues and the Good Life	p. 168
Liberal Politics	p. 172
Liberal Lessons from Communitarianism	p. 177
Notes	p. 183
Bibliography	p. 209
Index	p. 224
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