R. Bruce Douglass - Liberalism and the Good

Volume 20

LIBERALISM AND THE GOOD

Edited by
R. BRUCE DOUGLASS, GERALD M. MARA AND
HENRY S. RICHARDSON

First published in 1990 by Routledge

This edition first published in 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1990 Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-367-21961-1 (Set)
ISBN: 978-0-429-35434-2 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-23133-0 (Volume 20) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-27843-3 (Volume 20) (ebk)

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

Edited by
R. Bruce Douglass,
Gerald M. Mara, and
Henry S. Richardson

Published in 1990 by

Routledge
An imprint of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
29 West 35 Street
New York, NY 10001

Published in Great Britain by

Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane
London EC4P 4EE

Copyright 1990 by Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Liberalism and the good / edited by R. Bruce Douglass, Gerald M. Mara, and Henry S. Richardson,

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-415-90242-8 : ISBN 0-415-90243-6 (pbk.) :

1. Liberalism. 2. Political ethics. I. Douglass, R. Bruce.

II. Mara, Gerald M. III. Richardson, Henry S.

JC571.L5365 1990

320.51dc20

89-29623

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Liberalism and the good.

1. Political ideologies: Liberalism

I. Douglass, R. Bruce II. Mara, Gerald M. III. Richard, Henry S.

320.51

ISBN 0-415-90242-8

ISBN 0-415-90243-6 pbk

The Problem of Liberalism and the Good
Henry S. Richardson

Neutralities
Bruce Ackerman

How Not to Defend Liberal Institutions
Brian Barry

Identity and Difference in Liberalism
William E. Connolly

Is Liberalism Good Enough?
Kenneth L. Schmitz

Catholicism and Liberalism200 Years of Contest and Consensus
John Langan, S.J.

Moral Conflict and Political Consensus
Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson

Bringing the Good Back In
William M. Sullivan

Loppd and Bound: How Liberal Theory Obscures the Goods of Liberal Practices
Stephen G. Salkever

Aristotelian Social Democracy
Martha Nussbaum

The Search for a Defensible Good: The Emerging Dilemma of Liberalism
R. Bruce Douglass and Gerald M. Mara

This volume is the fruit of a conference held at Georgetown University under the joint auspices of the Departments of Government and Philosophy and the Graduate School. The conference was held on the main campus of the university in Washington, D.C., November 3-5, 1988, as a part of the celebration of the Georgetown Bicentennial. All of the papers presented here were prepared in their initial form for discussion at the conference, where they were presented by their authors.

The conference itself was, we feel, in important respects a model for how discussions of this sort should proceed. The papers were available, to participants and authors alike, before the event, so that the time given over to their actual presentation could be cut to a minimum and a premium placed on the give and take of discussion. What resulted was an unusually stimulating series of conversations. Credit for this result goes entirely to the participants, especially the authors, who took the responsibilities of participation seriously and enthusiastically. With few exceptions, those who had written papers were presentand activefor the entire two and one-half days, continually interrogating and challenging one another in constructive ways. More broadly, moreover, it quickly became evident that the audience as a whole had arrived prepared to engage in conversation, and the resulting questions were such that the sessions repeatedly turned into many-sided, ongoing collaborations rather than individual displays. In general, the contributions made by individual participants in this regard are too numerous to mention, but we would like to acknowledge, with special appreciation, the questions and comments of William Galston, presently a member of the faculty of the University of Maryland in College Park.

The conference was funded entirely by Georgetown sources, and we want to acknowledge in this regard our debt to Deans Richard Schwartz and Royden Davis, S.J., of the Graduate School and the College of Arts and Sciences, respectively, as well as John Bailey and Terry Pinkard, who chair the Departments of Government and Philosophy. The Rev. Charles Currie, S.J., director of the bicentennial celebration, was also very generous in his encouragement and support.

The administration of the conference itself could not possibly have been done effectively without the able support of Ms. Nora Kelly, then of the Graduate Deans Office, as well as David Boyer and June Creasman. Valuable logistical support was also provided by a number of Georgetown graduate and undergraduate studentsnotably, Alfred Alonso, Daniel Carpenter, William Gould, Dinnhe Hua, and, especially, Pamela Kaleugher.

The final version of this book owes a great deal to the careful criticism of Routledges anonymous reader. And we are very grateful to Jay Wilson, Karen Sullivan, and the rest of the Routledge staff, who have seen this project through to completion with grace, good humor, and admirable professionalism. We have found them accommodating to a fault and a source of many helpful criticisms and suggestions.

R. Bruce Douglass

Henry S. Richardson

Gerald M. Mara

Washington, D.C.

September 1989