Beyond Contractual Morality

"In recent years, in the context of pluralistic democracies, liberal political theory has come under attack from all sides. Feminists, radicals, communitarians, and conservatives alike have been critical of liberalism, particularly in the area of moral life. In defense of liberalism, thinkers such as John Rawls, Jurgen Habermas and Ronald Dworkin have reformulated classical political theory to meet the needs of contemporary pluralistic democratic societies. The debate over liberalism has revolved around several important issues, among them: multi-culturalism, public education, questions of tolerance, and the rights of women and members of minority groups. The debate has also focused attention on the drawing of the boundary that separates the public and private spheres, a boundary on which liberalism depends in order to protect the private sphere from government intervention." "In light of these contemporary debates over liberalism, and informed by the problems of contemporary democratic, pluralistic culture, Beyond Contractual Morality reexamines the roots of these current discussions in eighteenth-century texts."--Jacket.