Liberalism and the Defence of Political Constructivism

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction: The Practice of Political Justification

   • Catriona McKinnon

   Pages 1-28

3. Constructivism in Rawls

   • Catriona McKinnon

   Pages 29-56

4. Self-Respect

   • Catriona McKinnon

   Pages 57-81

5. Reasoning about Justice

   • Catriona McKinnon

   Pages 83-121

6. The Social Bases of Self-Respect

   • Catriona McKinnon

   Pages 123-145

7. Concluding Review

   • Catriona McKinnon

   Pages 147-149

8. Back Matter

   Pages 151-188

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Contemporary liberal political justification is often accused of preaching to the converted: liberal principles are acceptable only to people already committed to liberal values. Catriona McKinnon addresses this important criticism by arguing that self-respect and its social conditions should be placed at the heart of the liberal approach to justification. A commitment to self-respect delivers a commitment to the liberal values of toleration and public reason, but self-respect itself is not an exclusively liberal value.

• criticism
• Defence
• John Rawls

• University of York, UK

  Catriona McKinnon

CATRIONA MCKINNON is Lecturer in Political Philosophy at the University of York. She is the co-editor of The Demands of Citizenship and The Culture of Toleration in Diverse Societies: Reasonable Tolerance, and is the editor of the journal Imprints: A Journal of Analytical Socialism.

Policies and ethics