The Cambridge Companion to Liberalism

Front Cover
Steven Wall
Cambridge University Press, Feb 19, 2015 - Philosophy - 459 pages
The political philosophy of liberalism was first formulated during the Enlightenment in response to the growth of the modern nation-state and its authority and power over the individuals living within its boundaries. Liberalism is now the dominant ideology in the Western world, but it covers a broad swathe of different (and sometimes rival) ideas and traditions and its essential features can be hard to define. The Cambridge Companion to Liberalism offers a rich and accessible exploration of liberalism as a tradition of political thought. It includes chapters on the historical development of liberalism, its normative foundations, and its core philosophical concepts, as well as a survey of liberal approaches and responses to a range of important topics including freedom, equality, toleration, religion, and nationalism. The volume will be valuable for students and scholars in political philosophy, political theory, and the history of political thought.
 

Contents

American liberalism from colonialism to the Civil
21
Liberalism and the morality of commercial society
42
Liberalism 19001940
59
Liberalism contractarianism and the problem
87
Public reason liberalism
112
a troubled marriage?
141
Liberalism neutrality and democracy
163
Contemporary liberalism and toleration
189
Liberalism and religion
282
Liberalism and multiculturalism
305
Liberalism and nationalism
329
Feminist critiques of liberalism
355
The republican critique of liberalism
381
The conservative critique of liberalism
401
Bibliography
423
Index
451

Disagreement and the justification of democracy
237
Liberalism and economic liberty
261

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About the author (2015)

Steven Wall is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona. He has published widely on topics in contemporary political philosophy. He is the author of Liberalism, Perfectionism and Restraint (1998), editor (with George Klosko) of Perfectionism and Neutrality: Essays in Liberal Theory (2003) and (with David Sobel) of Reasons for Action (2009).

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