The Myth of Liberal Individualism

"This book challenges us to look at liberal political ideas in a new way. Colin Bird examines the assumption, held both by liberals and by their strongest critics, that the values and ideals of the liberal political tradition cohere around a distinctively 'individualist' conception of the relation between individuals, society and the state. He concludes that the formula of 'liberal individualism' conceals fundamental conflicts between liberal views of these relations, conflicts that neither liberals nor their critics have adequately recognized. His original and provocative study develops a powerful criticism of the libertarian forms of 'liberal individualism' which have recently risen to prominence, and suggests that by taking this term for granted, theorists have exaggerated the unity and integrity of liberal political ideals and limited our perception of the issues they raise."--BOOK JACKET.

First sentence: In the introduction, I suggested that the network of ideas that constitutes the received view of 'liberal individualism' is organized around a dual conception of 'individualism'.

Year

1999

Language

English

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Editions

3

Pages

234

ISBN

9780521041942

Data source: Wikidata