Civic Liberalism: Reflections on Our Democratic Ideals

By Thomas A. Spragens Jr.

Book Overview

In Civic Liberalism: Reflections on Our Democratic Ideals, prominent political theorist Thomas A. Spragens, Jr. asserts that most versions of democratic ideals-libertarianism, liberal egalitarianism, difference liberalism, and the liberalism of fear-lead our polity significantly astray. Spragens offers another alternative. He argues that we should recover the multiple and complex aspirations found within the tradition of democratic liberalism and integrate them into a more compelling public philosophy for our time-or what he calls civic liberalism.
Civic liberalism, Spragens contends, endorses both liberty and equality although neither can properly be understood as a maximizing principle. Instead, liberty should be seen as the constitutive threshold good of autonomy; and equality should be seen as a moral postulate and instrumental good. Moreover, civic liberalism explicitly embraces forms of 'fraternity, ' civic friendship, and civic virtue consistent with respect for social pluralism.
Therefore, a better understanding of our democratic ideals will free us from the constrictive orthodoxies of the left and right, lead us toward better public policy, and help us become a well ordered society of flourishing, self-governing civic equals.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0847696111
• ISBN13: 9780847696116
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Just read the review

Professor Spragens deals incitefully with the various forms of modern liberalism. His chapters about Libertarianism and Civic Liberalism are particularly cunning and thought provoking. Although the style is at times dry and thick, any reader who sits down with this in mind will be able to get through it. If anything, the style of writing might leave a reader too tired from the reading to have any of the complex thought the book evokes.