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Single Idea 20557

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 7. Communitarianism / b. Against communitarianism ]

Full Idea

Community is about membership and inclusion. But that means it is also about non-membership and exclusion.

Gist of Idea

Membership and inclusion in a community implies non-membership and exclusion

Source

Adam Swift (Political Philosophy (3rd ed) [2014], 4 'Conc')

Book Ref

Swift,Adam: 'Political Philosophy (3rd edn)' [Polity 2014], p.184


A Reaction

I'm a fan of communitarianism (focused on Aristotle's life of individual virtue for each citizen), but I'm beginning to see that it has a poisonous cousin travelling under the same name. The cousin's rallying cries focus on aliens and enemies.


The 13 ideas with the same theme [reasons against over-emphasis of community]:

Kierkegaard prioritises the inward individual, rather than community [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
Our reliance on other people close to us does not imply any political obligations [Taylor,C]
In a pluralist society we can't expect a community united around one conception of the good [Rawls]
Feminism has shown that social roles are far from fixed (as communitarians tend to see them) [Kymlicka]
Communitarianism struggles with excluded marginalised groups [Kymlicka]
Participation aids the quest for the good life, but why should that be a state activity? [Kymlicka]
Communitarian states only encourage fairly orthodox ideas of the good life [Kymlicka]
If our values are given to us by society then we have no grounds to criticise them [Avineri/De-Shalit]
I can't defend the view that the majority values of a community are thereby right [Sandel]
Membership and inclusion in a community implies non-membership and exclusion [Swift]
Liberals are concerned to protect individuals from too much community [Swift]
For communitarians it seems that you must accept the culture you are born into [Charvet]
Community is now a nostalgic memory, which no longer exists [Berardi]