Liberalism and the Limits of Justice

Author: Michael J. Sandel

Sandel traces the limits of liberalism to the conception of the person that underlies it, and argues for a deeper understanding of community than liberalism allows.

Michael Sandel traces the limits of liberalism to the conception of the person that underlies it, and urges for a deeper understanding of community than liberalism allows.

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Summary

Sandel traces the limits of liberalism to the conception of the person that underlies it, and argues for a deeper understanding of community than liberalism allows.

Michael Sandel traces the limits of liberalism to the conception of the person that underlies it, and urges for a deeper understanding of community than liberalism allows.

Description

A liberal society seeks not to impose a single way of life, but to leave its citizens as free as possible to choose their own values and ends. It therefore must govern by principles of justice that do not presuppose any particular vision of the good life. But can any such principles be found? And if not, what are the consequences for justice as a moral and political ideal? These are the questions Michael Sandel takes up in this penetrating critique of contemporary liberalism. This new edition includes a new introduction and a new final chapter in which Professor Sandel responds to the later work of John Rawls.

Critic Reviews

“'His is a new and authentic philosophical voice ... Michael Sandel's elegantly argued book ... describes what I take to be the reality of moral experience.' Michael Walzer, The New Republic”

"Michael Sandel's Liberalism and the Limits of Justice was instrumental in Launching the debate between liberalism and communitarianism which has dominated political theory for almost two decades..." Canadian Journal of Philosophy

About the Author

Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, Harvard University, and the author most recently of "Public Philosophy" (Harvard).