Liberalism, Community and Culture

Author: [Canada] Will Kymlicka
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: Liberalism, Community, and Culture is Kymlicka's major work defending and refining the Western liberal tradition. The content is divided into three parts:
1. A theoretical (comprehension) of the spirit of the liberal tradition (e.g., from Mill to Rawls), and an examination of the main debates within the liberal tradition (e.g., Rawls's critique of utilitarianism, disagreements between Nozick, Dworkin, and Rawls, etc.).
2. Framed by the discussion of the fundamental relationships between individuals, communities, and the state, it introduces various criticisms from liberalism's main opponents, the communitarians (such as Taylor, Marx, etc.), clarifies and distinguishes them, and thereby defends the core of liberal thought within the scope of political moral philosophy.
3. Placing this political moral philosophical debate in a specific historical context—the contemporary multicultural society and the nation-state—to examine the political status and legal status of marginalized minority cultural groups (specifically analyzing the policies toward indigenous peoples in the U.S. and Canada and the apartheid policies in South Africa). This leads to the introduction of the new concept and perspective of "cultural membership," adjusting and supplementing previous liberal theories to address the moral philosophical challenges posed by political practice.
Will Kymlicka is a renowned Canadian philosopher. He received his BA in philosophy and political science from Queen's University in 1984 and his PhD in philosophy from the University of Oxford in 1987. He is currently a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Queen's University in Canada. Kymlicka is a prolific author, with major works including: Liberalism, Community, and Culture (1989), Contemporary Political Philosophy (1990), Multicultural Citizenship (1995), Finding Our Way: Reflections on Ethnocultural Relations in Canada (1998), and Minority Rights (2001). Additionally, he has edited several works, such as The Fairness of Political Philosophy (1992) and The Rights of Minority Cultural Groups (1995). Some of his books have been translated into 21 languages.
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