The Path Between Value Pluralism and Liberal Political Order: Questioning the Connection

Authors

Patrick Neal

Library of Congress Authority File

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79122466

Document Type

Article

Abstract

After a few terminological preliminaries in Part II, I turn to two primary tasks. First, in Part III, I raise questions that seem to me to confront the basic logic of the connection between value pluralism and liberalism. Second, in Part IV, I discuss at length the "argument from diversity" articulated by George Crowder in support of the view that value pluralism supports liberalism. This line of argument is only one of a number that Crowder advances in support of that view, and so doubts about its success do not necessarily implicate the other lines of argument he pursues. However, the argument from diversity is a particularly interesting and prevalent form of argument in defense of liberalism - in the form of the "spatial" argument referred to later - and hence, I trust, worth the extensive and exclusive attention given it here.

Recommended Citation

Patrick Neal, The Path Between Value Pluralism and Liberal Political Order: Questioning the Connection, 46 San Diego L. Rev. 859 (2009).
Available at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/sdlr/vol46/iss4/8