Communitarianism: A Liberal Response

“The only way to identify the requirements of justice is to see how each particular community understands the value of social goods”(Kymlicka 211). This is the approach to justice from the communitarian. Communitarianism in the last few decades has sparked in popularity among political philosophers. Communitarians believe that political theories, such as classic liberalism, leaves out the importance and significance of the community. The communitarian respects and upholds social practices and traditions as a way of governing, and as a way of justice. Because of the importance of the cultural aspect, this political current is thought of as a cultural relativist approach to justice. The communitarian does not accept the notion of being able to detach the self from roles of society. While communitarianism shows a great respect for cultural practices and tradition, it is an incomplete theory on the notion of being able to protect individual citizens from social institutions, like the community itself.

For the communitarian, the liberal approach is inadequate because of its insistence on a universal and ahistorical approach to justice. According to Waltzer, there is no way to step outside history or culture(211). People, as much as they would like to believe otherwise, are bound, and somewhat controlled by society's norms and behaviours. For the communitarian, there is no way to detach people from the social realm because it is apart of who we are as humans. We are shaped by the events of history, and shown how to behave within our culture. There is no way to externalize ourselves from the community because of how embedded it is in our psyche(221). With this notion, if a community can have a shared understanding of what the common go...

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...aditions of certain cultural practices, but not to the extent of making it a political theory. In todays world, we need a solid foundation to each individual in order to have a working, non-oppressive, self-respecting society. The liberal approach respects the ideals of certain cultures, but not to the extent of the communitarian. Overall, the liberal theory of justice is a more relevant political theory in our globalized world.

Works Cited

Kymlicka, Will. "Communitarianism." Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002. 208-83. Print.

Mackrael, Kim. "Ottawa's Elimination of CIDA Brand Signals End of a Foreign-aid Era." The Globe and Mail. N.p., 27 June 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.

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