Debating Democracy's Discontent Essays on American Politics, Law, and Public Philosophy

by Allen, Anita L.; Regan, Milton C.

• ISBN13: 9780198294962
• ISBN10: 0198294964
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-03-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Here, a distinguished cast of some the world's finest political and legal theorists offer criticisms of Michael Sandel's Democracy's Discontent, a recent, popular, and influential call for a more moralistic democracy. In this collection, Sandel's liberal and feminist critics square off with his communitarian and civic republican sympathizers in a lively and wide-ranging discussion that spans constitutional law, culture, and political economy. Such practical, topical issues as immigration, gay marriage, federalism, adoption, abortion, corporate speech, militias, and economic disparity are debated alongside theories of civic virtue, citizenship, identity, and community. Not only does Debating Democracy's Discontent afford the most comprehensive and insightful critique to date of Sandel's volume, it also makes a significant, substantive contribution to contemporary political and legal philosophy in its own right. This book will prove essential to all who are interested in the future of American politics, law, and public philosophy.

Author Biography

Anita L. Allen is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship at Georgetown University Law Center. Milton C. Regan, Jr., is Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	xi
Introduction: The Quest for a Post-Liberal Public Philosophy	1	(16)
RONALD S. BEINER
I. Reviving Civic Virtue	17	(46)
1. The Retrieval of Civic Virtue: A Critical Appreciation of Sandel's Democracy's Discontent	17	(15)
THOMAS L. PANGLE
2. Virtue en Masse	32	(8)
JEREMY WALDRON
3. Reworking Sandel's Republicanism	40	(23)
PHILIP PETTIT
II. Toward an American Public Philosophy	63	(54)
4. Political Economy and the Politics of Virtue: US Public Philosophy at Century's End	63	(23)
WILLIAM A. GALSTON
5. The Encumbered American Self	86	(6)
CLIFFORD ORWIN
6. A Public Philosophy for the Professional-Managerial Class	92	(7)
MARK TUSHNET
7. Notes of a Jewish Episcopalian: Gender as a Language of Class; Religion as a Dialect of Liberalism	99	(18)
JOAN C. WILLIAMS
III. Liberal Republicanism	117	(58)
8. A Defense of Minimalist Liberalism	117	(9)
RICHARD RORTY
9. Michael Sandel and Richard Rorty: Two Models of the Republic	126	(5)
RICHARD SENNETT
10. Liberal Egalitarianism and Civic Republicanism: Friends or Enemies?	131	(18)
WILL KYMLICKA
11. Moral Status and the Status of Morality in Political Liberalism	149	(10)
ANDREW W. SIEGEL
12. Sandel's Liberal Politics	159	(16)
BRUCE FROHNEN
IV. Living with Difference	175	(54)
13. Michael Sandel's America	175	(8)
MICHAEL WALZER
14. Moral Dialogues: A Communitarian Core Element	183	(10)
AMITAI ETZIONI
15. Can This Republic Be Saved?	193	(12)
JEAN BETHKE ELSHTAIN
CHRISTOPHER BEEM
16. Civic Republicanism and Civic Pluralism: The Silent Struggle of Michael Sandel	205	(7)
WILLIAM E. CONNOLLY
17. Living with Difference	212	(17)
CHARLES TAYLOR
V. Law, Morals, and Private Lives	229	(44)
18. Unencumbered Individuals and Embedded Selves: Reasons to Resist Dichotomous Thinking in Family Law	229	(19)
MARY LYNDON SHANLEY
19. The Right of Privacy in Sandel's Procedural Republic	248	(12)
JAMES E. FLEMING
LINDA C. McCLAIN
20. Gay Marriage and Liberal Constitutionalism: Two Mistakes	260	(13)
ROBIN WEST
VI. Self-Government and Democratic Discontent	273	(46)
21. Fusion Republicanism	273	(16)
NANCY L. ROSENBLUM
22. Corporate Speech and Civic Virtue	289	(18)
MILTON C. REGAN, JR.
23. Federalism as a Cure for Democracy's Discontent?	307	(12)
MARK TUSHNET
VII. A Reply to His Critics	319	(17)
24. Reply to Critics	319	(17)
MICHAEL J. SANDEL
Notes	336	(43)
Index	379