San Diego Law Review
Document Type
Law & Religion
Abstract
Liberalism is the view that the state should not, except on mutually justifiable grounds, coerce a society’s citizens to adopt, support, or follow some particular comprehensive conception of the good. So understood, a liberal state, by definition, permits each citizen a zone of freedom delimited by her own understanding of the ingredients of a happy life. Liberalism, as a normative theory governing state–citizen (and, indirectly, citizen–citizen) relations, is opposed by various forms of totalitarianism, including theocracy and communism. A theocratic state is one that imposes a particular religious form of life on its citizens, and thereby restricts their freedom to act in ways that the state considers heretical. A communist state is one that imposes a particular economic form of life on its citizens, and thereby restricts their freedom to engage in economic activity that the state considers exploitative or alienating.
Recommended Citation
Samuel C. Rickless,
A Transcendental Argument for Liberalism,
54
San Diego L. Rev.
273
(2017).
Available at:
https://digital.sandiego.edu/sdlr/vol54/iss2/5