The Republican Dilemma: Promoting Freedom in a Modern Society

"Freedom" is a central concept in contemporary political philosophy and the history of political thought. Liberals tend to see freedom as the absence of any kind of interference, while republicans understand freedom as the absence of domination, by which they mean the absence of interference you, as a free person, have not yourself instructed. These two concepts inform a debate over the extent to which the republican freedom illuminates shortcomings in prominent liberal theories. Author Lars Moen claims that not only do we need more precise definitions of freedom, but that the republican critique of liberalism ironically promotes a liberal theory, giving us the same prescriptions for how institutions ought to promote freedom. While republicans can maintain that freedom as non-domination is an attractive ideal for a modern society, they cannot claim that it provides insight not found in liberalism and its focus on freedom from interference. Republicans can avoid this conclusion, however, by tying their freedom concept closer to civic virtue and political participation. But republican freedom then becomes an unsuitable ideal for a modern society. This is the republican dilemma. Moen shows, however, that while a distinctly republican view of freedom is too demanding to serve as a guiding ideal for a modern society, it can form the basis for a critique of liberalism. In particular, it can offer a critical perspective on a liberal acceptance of politically inactive citizens. The book thus points toward a distinctly republican position in contemporary political philosophy.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Scope Chapter 3: Robustness Chapter 4: Public reason Chapter 5: Ethos Chapter 6: Pluralism Chapter 7: Ideal Chapter 8: Conclusion Bibliography

About the Author :
Lars J. K. Moen is an award-winning political philosopher at the University of Vienna. His research focuses especially on concepts of freedom, liberalism, and republicanism. He also works on democratic theory, collective decision-making, and collective agency.

Review :
Lars Moen has made a significant, original contribution to contemporary theorizing about freedom. Most importantly, his rigorous, incisive analysis points to a striking dilemma for republicans: either there is nothing distinctive about 'freedom as non-domination', or else republican freedom is incompatible with liberal pluralism and therefore amounts to an unattractive and unfeasible political project. Interestingly, Moen also argues that the republican conception of freedom can be made sense of as an ideal even if we consider it inapplicable to contemporary liberal societies." Ian Carter, The University of Pavia I normally frown upon endorsements for books, but I am making an exception in this case because this volume by Lars Moen is so deserving of an endorsement. Moen is among the foremost challengers to the republican conception of freedom that has become dismayingly widespread among political philosophers and political theorists. His championing of the negative-liberty conception of freedom in opposition to republicanism should go a long way toward discrediting the latter and bolstering the former." Matthew Kramer, The University of Cambridge Touching on a wide variety of thinkers, this book is a challenging read, often providing useful insights into the philosophy of freedom.