Moral Universalism and Pluralism

Download Moral Universalism and Pluralism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 0814794483
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (147 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Moral Universalism and Pluralism by : American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. Meeting

Download or read book Moral Universalism and Pluralism written by American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. Meeting and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moral universalism, or the idea that some system of ethics applies to all people regardless of race, color, nationality, religion, or culture, must have a plurality over which to range. This book investigates the idea that, far from denying the existence of such pluralities, moral universalism presupposes it.

Moral Universalism and Pluralism

Download Moral Universalism and Pluralism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780814794487
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (944 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Moral Universalism and Pluralism by : Melissa S. Williams

Download or read book Moral Universalism and Pluralism written by Melissa S. Williams and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moral universalism, or the idea that some system of ethics applies to all people regardless of race, color, nationality, religion, or culture, must have a plurality over which to range—a plurality of diverse persons, nations, jurisdictions, or localities over which morality asserts a universal authority. The contributors to Moral Universalism and Pluralism, the latest volume in the NOMOS series, investigate the idea that, far from denying the existence of such pluralities, moral universalism presupposes it. At the same time, the search for universally valid principles of morality is deeply challenged by diversity. The fact of pluralism presses us to explore how universalist principles interact with ethical, political, and social particularisms. These important essays refuse the answer that particularisms should simply be made to conform to universal principles, as if morality were a mold into which the diverse matter of human society and culture could be pressed. Rather, the authors bring philosophical, legal and political perspectives to bear on the core questions: Which forms of pluralism are conceptually compatible with moral universalism, and which ones can be accommodated in a politically stable way? Can pluralism generate innovations in understandings of moral duty? How is convergence on the validity of legal and moral authority possible in circumstances of pluralism? As the contributors to the book demonstrate in a wide variety of ways, these normative, conceptual, and political questions deeply intertwine. Contributors: Kenneth Baynes, William A. Galston, Barbara Herman, F. M. Kamm, Benedict Kingsbury, Frank I. Michelman, William E. Scheuerman, Gopal Sreenivasan, Daniel Weinstock, and Robin West.

Relativism and Human Rights

Download Relativism and Human Rights PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 140209986X
Total Pages : 181 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (2 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Relativism and Human Rights by : Claudio Corradetti

Download or read book Relativism and Human Rights written by Claudio Corradetti and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-04-15 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When he nished writing, he raised his eyes and looked at me. From that day I have thought about Doktor Pannwitz many times and in many ways. I have asked myself how he really functioned as a man; how he lled his time, outside of the Polymerization and the Indo- Germanic conscience; above all when I was once more a free man, I wanted to meet him again, not from a spirit of revenge, but merely from a personal curiosity about the human soul. Because that look was not one between two men; and if I had known how completely to explain the nature of that look, which came as if across the glass window of an aquarium between two beings who live in different worlds, I would also have explained the essence of the great insanity of the third Germany. PRIMO LEVI [If this is a man, pp. 111–112, in, If this is a man and The truce, trans. S. Woolf, Abacus, London, 1987] If all propositions, even the contingent ones, are resolved into identical propositions, are they not all necessary? My answer is: certainly not. For even if it is certain that what is more perfect is what will exist, the less perfect is nevertheless still possible. In propositions of fact, existence is involved. LEIBNIZ [Samtlic ̈ he schriften und briefe vol VI pt 4 Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1449A VI 4] We live in a rule-constrained world.

Natural Moralities

Download Natural Moralities PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199724849
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Natural Moralities by : David B Wong

Download or read book Natural Moralities written by David B Wong and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-03 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, David B. Wong defends an ambitious and important new version of moral relativism. He does not espouse the type of relativism that says anything goes, but he does start with a relativist stance against alternative theories such that there need not be only one universal truth. Wong proposes that there can be a plurality of true moralities existing across different traditions and cultures, all with one core human question as to how we can all live together.

Moral Universalism and Pluralism

Download Moral Universalism and Pluralism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780814794487
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (944 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Moral Universalism and Pluralism by : Melissa S. Williams

Download or read book Moral Universalism and Pluralism written by Melissa S. Williams and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moral universalism, or the idea that some system of ethics applies to all people regardless of race, color, nationality, religion, or culture, must have a plurality over which to range—a plurality of diverse persons, nations, jurisdictions, or localities over which morality asserts a universal authority. The contributors to Moral Universalism and Pluralism, the latest volume in the NOMOS series, investigate the idea that, far from denying the existence of such pluralities, moral universalism presupposes it. At the same time, the search for universally valid principles of morality is deeply challenged by diversity. The fact of pluralism presses us to explore how universalist principles interact with ethical, political, and social particularisms. These important essays refuse the answer that particularisms should simply be made to conform to universal principles, as if morality were a mold into which the diverse matter of human society and culture could be pressed. Rather, the authors bring philosophical, legal and political perspectives to bear on the core questions: Which forms of pluralism are conceptually compatible with moral universalism, and which ones can be accommodated in a politically stable way? Can pluralism generate innovations in understandings of moral duty? How is convergence on the validity of legal and moral authority possible in circumstances of pluralism? As the contributors to the book demonstrate in a wide variety of ways, these normative, conceptual, and political questions deeply intertwine. Contributors: Kenneth Baynes, William A. Galston, Barbara Herman, F. M. Kamm, Benedict Kingsbury, Frank I. Michelman, William E. Scheuerman, Gopal Sreenivasan, Daniel Weinstock, and Robin West.

Universalism Vs. Relativism

Download Universalism Vs. Relativism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780742550902
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (59 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Universalism Vs. Relativism by : Don S. Browning

Download or read book Universalism Vs. Relativism written by Don S. Browning and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Has moral relativism run its course? The threat of 9/11, terrorism, reproductive technology, and globalization has forced us to ask anew whether there are universal moral truths upon which to base ethical and political judgments. In this timely edited collection, distinguished scholars present and test the best answers to this question. These insightful responses temper the strong antithesis between universalism and relativism and retain sensitivity to how language and history shape the context of our moral decisions. This important and relevant work of contemporary political and social thought is ideal for use in the classroom across many disciplines, including political science, philosophy, ethics, law, and theology.

Pluralism Or Universalism in International Copyright Law

Download Pluralism Or Universalism in International Copyright Law PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9789403503554
Total Pages : 744 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (35 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Pluralism Or Universalism in International Copyright Law by : Tatiana Eleni Synodinou

Download or read book Pluralism Or Universalism in International Copyright Law written by Tatiana Eleni Synodinou and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-24 with total page 744 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world where powerful intermediaries like Google and Facebook are de facto regulators of the communication of copyright-protected works, the democratization of access to content has both substantially expanded the availability of new markets and dramatically increased copyright infringements. Does this mean that the long-sought ideal of a "universal" copyright regulation, which would harmoniously combine effective protection of intellectual creations with public interest goals, is a lost cause? Taken together, the contributions to this insightful and thoroughly researched book suggest that despite the prevailing labyrinthine mosaic of divergent national responses to fragmentation at international level, the foundations of a universal approach can be found in the interaction of regional, national and international copyright law instruments when responding to current and emerging technologies. Emphasizing the adaptation of copyright law to the needs of the information society, this volume provides critical approaches by leading copyright scholars on whether pluralism or universalism is the appropriate path to follow for the development of international copyright law. The authors deal with such issues and topics as the following: the application of core copyright law principles worldwide; authorship, rights and exceptions in the international copyright acquis; Internet copyright enforcement; global collective management of copyright; copyright contracts; database and design rights; intermediary liability; the global reach of the U.S. Fair Use doctrine; World Intellectual Property Organization's role and strategy in international copyright lawmaking; and bilateral trade and investment agreements involving copyright. Specific evolutions and emerging trends in national and regional digital copyright laws are analyzed and assessed as they have developed in the European Union, the United States, Canada and Australia, as well as in several Asian and African countries. Throughout, attention is paid to compatibility with the Berne Convention, the perceived core of copyright law in the international copyright acquis, and the key question of the balancing of copyright law with fundamental rights from an international and comparative law perspective. As a comprehensive analysis of how core copyright law concepts and principles function in today's fragmented copyright legal system, this book has no peers. Its detailed treatment of numerous specific instruments and regimes, as well as its insightful approaches to the future of international copyright lawmaking, will prove of immeasurable value to lawyers, judges, policy makers, academics and researchers working in the field of copyright law.

Relativism and Human Rights

Download Relativism and Human Rights PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 9402421300
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (24 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Relativism and Human Rights by : Claudio Corradetti

Download or read book Relativism and Human Rights written by Claudio Corradetti and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-11-08 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an innovative contribution to the philosophy of human rights. Considering both legal and philosophical scholarship, the views here bear an importance on the legitimacy of international politics and international law. As a result of more than 10 years of research, this revised edition engages with current debates through the help of new sections. Pluralistic universalism considers that, while formal filtering criteria constitute unavoidable requirements for the production of potentially valid arguments, the exemplarity of judgmental activity, in its turn, provides a pluralistic and retrospective reinterpretation for the fixity of such criteria. While speech formal standards grounds the thinnest possible presuppositions we can make as humans, the discursive exemplarity of judgments defends a notion of validity which is both contextually dependent and "subjectively universal". According to this approach, human rights principles are embedded within our linguistic argumentative practice. It is precisely from the intersubjective and dialogical relation among speakers that we come to reflect upon those same conditions of validity of our arguments. Once translated into national and regional constitutional norms, the discursive validity of exemplar judgments postulates the philosophical necessity for an ideal of legal-constitutional pluralism, challenging all those attempts trying to frustrate both horizontal (state to state) and vertical (supra-national-state-social) on-going debates on human rights. On the first edition of this book: “Claudio Corradetti’s book is a thoughtful attempt to find an adequate theoretical foundation for human rights. Its approach is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on issues in analytical philosophy as well as contemporary political theorists, and the result is a densely argued text aimed at scholars ... .” (Andrew Lambert, Metapsychology Online Reviews, Vol. 14 (3), January, 2010) "Charting a clear course through a vast landscape of theories, Claudio Corradetti develops an original and profound account of human rights beyond objectivism and relativism. A remarkable achievement." (Rainer Forst, Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy, Goethe University Frankfurt/Main)

Relativism and Human Rights: A Theory of Pluralist Universalism

Download Relativism and Human Rights: A Theory of Pluralist Universalism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9789402421323
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (213 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Relativism and Human Rights: A Theory of Pluralist Universalism by : Claudio Corradetti

Download or read book Relativism and Human Rights: A Theory of Pluralist Universalism written by Claudio Corradetti and published by Springer. This book was released on 2022-11-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preface second edition.- Introduction second edition.- Part I.- 1 Cognitive Relativism and Experiential Rationality.- 1.1 Beyond Cognitive and Linguistic Relativism.- 1.2 Epistemic Relativism Refuted.- 1.3 The Experiential Validity of the Cognitive System.- 1.3.1 Judgement and Truth.- 2 Beyond Moral Relativism and Objectivism.- 2.1 Forms of Moral Relativism.- 2.2 The Two Horns of the Dilemma: Relativism versus Objectivism.- 2.2.1 Harman's Inner-Judgments Relativism.- 2.2.2 The Limits of Nagel's Objectivism in Morality.- 2.3 Wong's Mixed Position: the Idea of Pluralistic Relativism.- 2.4 Discursive Dialectic of Recognition.- Part II.- 3 Human Rights and Pluralisitc Universalism.- 3.1 From Purposive Action to Communicative Action.- 3.1.1 Discursive dialectics and the processes of subjectivization.- 3.2 The Priority of Recognition and the Formal System of Basic Liberties .- 3.3 Human Dignity as an orienting principle of the universal system of human rights.- 3.3.1 Human Dignity as a Juridical Principle.- 3.3 The Exemplar Validity of Human Rights.- 3.4 Deliberative Constraints and Pluralistic Universalism.- 4 The Legal Dimensions of Human Rights.- 4.1 The Source and the Content Validity of Law.- 4.2 The Structure and Function of Human Rights.- 4.3 Transplantability and Legal Commensurability.- 4.4 What is Wrong in the Democratic Peace Theory.- Bibliography.- Index of names.- Index of topics.

Moral Pluralism and Legal Neutrality

Download Moral Pluralism and Legal Neutrality PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9780792305651
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (56 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Moral Pluralism and Legal Neutrality by : Wojciech Sadurski

Download or read book Moral Pluralism and Legal Neutrality written by Wojciech Sadurski and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1989-12-31 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: lt is a commonplace that law and morality intersect and interpenetrate in all the areas of legal decision-making; that in order to make sense of constitutional, statutory or common-law questions, judges and other legal decision-makers must first resolve certain philosophical issues which include moral judgments of right and wrang_ This is particularly evident with regard to constitutional interpretation, especially when constitutions give a mandate for the protection of the substantive norms and values entrenched as constitutional rights. In these Situations, as a leading contemporary legal philosopher observed, the "Constitution fuses legal and moral issues, by making the validity of a law depend on an answer to complex moral 1 problems". But the need for substantive value elucidation is not confined, of course, only to constitutional interpretation under Bills of Rights. This, however, immediately raises a dilemma stemming from the moral diversity and pluralism of modern liberal societies. How can law remain sensitive to this pluralism and yet provide clear answers to the problems which call for a legal resolution? Sharply conflicting values in modern societies clash in the debates over the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, separation of state and religion, the scope of the freedom of the press, or affirmative action. lt would often be difficult to discern a broader consensus within which these clashes of values operate, unless this consensus were described in such vague terms as to render it practically meaningless.

Moral Value and Human Diversity

Download Moral Value and Human Diversity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195374118
Total Pages : 159 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Moral Value and Human Diversity by : Robert Audi

Download or read book Moral Value and Human Diversity written by Robert Audi and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert Audi looks at four previous major attempts to codify ethical behaviour: the virtue ethics of Aristotle, the rule-based ethics of Kant; J.S. Mill's utilitarianism; and the movement known as 'common-sense' ethics associated with W.D. Ross.

Natural Moralities : A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism

Download Natural Moralities : A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 019804156X
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Natural Moralities : A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism by : Department of Philosophy Duke University David B. Wong Professor and Chair

Download or read book Natural Moralities : A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism written by Department of Philosophy Duke University David B. Wong Professor and Chair and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2006-09-07 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David B. Wong proposes that there can be a plurality of true moralities, moralities that exist across different traditions and cultures, all of which address facets of the same problem: how we are to live well together. Wong examines a wide array of positions and texts within the Western canon as well as in Chinese philosophy, and draws on philosophy, psychology, evolutionary theory, history, and literature, to make a case for the importance of pluralism in moral life, and to establish the virtues of acceptance and accommodation. Wong's point is that there is no single value or principle or ordering of values and principles that offers a uniquely true path for human living, but variations according to different contexts that carry within them a common core of human values. We should thus be modest about our own morality, learn from other approaches, and accommodate different practices in our pluralistic society.

Pragmatic Fashions

Download Pragmatic Fashions PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 0253018978
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (53 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Pragmatic Fashions by : John J. Stuhr

Download or read book Pragmatic Fashions written by John J. Stuhr and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John J. Stuhr, a leading voice in American philosophy, sets forth a view of pragmatism as a personal work of art or fashion. Stuhr develops his pragmatism by putting pluralism forward, setting aside absolutism and nihilism, opening new perspectives on democracy, and focusing on love. He creates a space for a philosophy that is liable to failure and that is experimental, pluralist, relativist, radically empirical, radically democratic, and absurd. Full color illustrations enhance this lyrical commitment to a new version of pragmatism.

Liberals and Cannibals

Download Liberals and Cannibals PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Verso Books
ISBN 13 : 1784786497
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (847 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Liberals and Cannibals by : Steven Lukes

Download or read book Liberals and Cannibals written by Steven Lukes and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With debates on the meaning of “liberal society” more heated than ever, this is a timely re-issue of a classic text Can the tension between relativism and the moral universalism current in contemporary politics be resolved within the framework of liberalism? How is liberal society to interpret the diversity of morals? Is pluralism the appropriate response? How does pluralism differ from the widely condemned ethnocentric relativism—“liberalism for the Liberals, cannibalism for the cannibals”? Confronting liberal thought with its own limitations, Steven Lukes’ work is more relevant than ever. While recognizing the dangers of moral imperialism, Lukes argues that a relativist position based on identifying clearly distinct cultural and moral communities is incoherent. Drawing on work in anthropology and philosophy, he examines the nature of social justice, the politics of identity and human rights theory.

Civil Society, Pluralism, and Universalism

Download Civil Society, Pluralism, and Universalism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : CRVP
ISBN 13 : 1565182413
Total Pages : 271 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (651 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Civil Society, Pluralism, and Universalism by : Eugeniusz Górski

Download or read book Civil Society, Pluralism, and Universalism written by Eugeniusz Górski and published by CRVP. This book was released on 2007 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

To Re-Enchant the World

Download To Re-Enchant the World PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1469104512
Total Pages : 110 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (691 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis To Re-Enchant the World by : Richard Grigg

Download or read book To Re-Enchant the World written by Richard Grigg and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2004-12-20 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the seventeenth century, Western culture has been undergoing what historians and sociologists call secularization, the process via which religious institutions lose more and more of their power in society. Whereas Western society was once held together by the Christian Church, it is now held together by the rational procedures dictated by modern capitalism. But the rules of capitalism, whether ultimately helpful or harmful to our society’s development, are not values or spiritual principles. Instead, they are simply technical dicta about the most efficient means to an economic end. One visible aspect of the process of secularization is the weakening, and perhaps eventual withering away, of traditional religious institutions. This process is already fully visible in Western Europe, and is evident, on a more subterranean level, in American society as well. Secularization threatens to “disenchant” the world (Max Weber), to cut us off from the sense of the sacred and of Mystery. But the withering of the old religious institutions does not mean that religion and spirituality themselves will simply disappear. Rather, they can take on new forms, as is evident in the New Age movement in American society. Yet, there is a difficulty with New Age sorts of spiritualities when compared with the old-time religion: these new spiritualities tend to be very individualistic, if not idiosyncratic. Sociologists point out that our spiritual practices will never appear fully real to us unless they have inter-subjective validity, unless they are supported by a social “plausibility structure” (Peter Berger). That is, my view of the world has the aura of reality as long as most of the people around me acknowledge that view and reinforce it. But individualistic New Age pieties seem to have no such social reinforcement underpinning them. Hence the central argument of To Re-Enchant the World: the Unitarian Universalist community accomplishes the unique task of re-enchanting the world by bringing a host of individual spiritualities into a single community where all of them are affirmed and thus granted social plausibility. The U.U. community, then, is a particularly powerful site for the re-enchantment of the world: it puts us back in touch with the sacred and with what the book labels the Mysterious Depth of reality. While Unitarian Universalists can bring many different spiritual ways into the U.U. community, five are analyzed in depth in the book, namely, humanism, a focus on nature, engagement with the arts, commitment to social justice, and devotion to a Source/Creative Abyss of the universe. The book also considers rituals common to the U.U. community and the experience of sacred space, sacred time, and sacred word in that community. Finally, To Re-Enchant the World makes some predictions about the future of Unitarian Universalism and even touches on the delicate issue of U.U. proselytizing. The book as a whole attempts to present a philosophical analysis of Unitarian Universalism that draws upon the most important intellectual currents in contemporary Western culture. The book operates with the conviction that while other American religious denominations can have their “systematic theologies,” there is no reason why Unitarian Universalists cannot have philosophies of U.U. pluralism.

Liberalism and Value Pluralism

Download Liberalism and Value Pluralism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 144118807X
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (411 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Liberalism and Value Pluralism by : George Crowder

Download or read book Liberalism and Value Pluralism written by George Crowder and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2002-05-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Value pluralism is the idea, associated with the late Isaiah Berlin, that fundamental human values are irreducibly plural and incommensurable. Ends like liberty, equality and community are intrinsic goods which can neither be ranked in an absolute hierarchy nor translated into units of a common denominator. If that is true, how can we choose among such values when they come into conflict in particular cases? In particular, what reason is there to justify the value ranking characteristic of liberal democracy, favouring personal autonomy and toleration? Recent commentators have seen value pluralism as undermining the traditional claims of liberalism to universal authority, rendering it at best no more than one political form among others with no greater claim to legitimacy. Against that view, George Crowder argues that a strong distinctive case for liberalism as a universal project is implied by value pluralism itself. Reflection on the elements of value pluralism yields a set of ethical principles, including respect for universal values, rejection of political utopianism, promotion of value diversity, accommodation of reasonable disagreement, and cultivation of civic virtues. Those principles are best satisfied by a liberal form of politics characterised by a strong commitment to personal autonomy, by policies of moderate redistribution and multiculturalism, and by constitutional restraints on democractic politics. This is the first book-length defence of liberalism on the basis of value pluralism, complementing and extending the work of Berlin and others.