Civic Liberalism: Reflections on Our Democratic Ideals

292 Pages·1999·18.741 MB·English

by  Thomas A. Spragens Jr.

More Praise for: Civic Liberalism
"Spragens'vision of civic liberalism is marked by the same qualities which char
acterize his defense of it in this wise and important book; reflective awareness,
critical intelligence, and a spirit of generosity toward those with whom he dis
agrees that is truly liberal:'-Patrick Neal, University of Vermont
"Thomas Spragens is committed to an idea of political theory as dialectic in an
ancient and illustrious sense of that term, namely refining his own understand
ing of political ideals through reasoned conversation with leading alternatives
that currently contend with each other. Recently, some of the most thoughtful lib
eral thinkers have tried to address the civic dimension of liberalism, and to artic
ulate theoretically what conditions must be met in order for liberal society to pro
vide a richer sense of common citizenship. Spragens, with his calm reflectiveness
and accessible prose, makes an important contribution to these efforts:'-Ronald
Beiner, University of Toronto
"The vexing problem is that liberal political theory does not yield an image of
humanity that has real moral meaning. Herein, Thomas Spragens, with his usual
good sense and fine scholarship, shows how a subtle reweaving of liberal demo
cratic political theory can provide us with a moral message we might actually
want to encourage one another to live by. His book is literate and thoughtful, the
product of a lifetime of reflection on these problems. His critique of the domi
nant liberal democratic theorists and theories is fresh, wise, and often surprising."
-Charles W. Anderson, University of Wisconsin, Madison
"Civic Liberalism: Reflections on Our Democratic Ideals is a stimulating work, break
ing new ground in drawing together both liberal and democratic thought and
ideals. Spragens does this in working with very familiar materials from both the
canon as well as contemporary political theory, reading them in a fresh thought
provoking way ... Furthermore, Spragens introduces exciting concepts to liberal
democratic theory that have received little or no attention in the current debates
. . . This is a welcome addition to the literature on liberal democratic theory."
-Ronald Terchek, University of Maryland

CIVIC LIBERALISM
Reflections on Our Democratic Ideals
Thomas A. Spragens, Jr.
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INe.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Oxford
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com
12 Hid's Copse Road
Cumnor Hill, Oxford 0X2 9JJ, England
Copyright © 1999 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloging in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Spragens, Thomas A.
Civic liberalism reflections on our democratic ideals I Thomas
A. Spragens, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-8476-9610-9
1. Liberalism. 2. Democracy. I. Title.
JC574.S6 1999
320'.01'I-dc21 99-15040
CIP
Printed in the United States of America
eN
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials,ANSIINISO Z39.48-1992.
For my students

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Preface
For several years, I have taught courses at Duke University in which the students
are expected to understand and are invited to assess some of the leading accounts
of democratic ideals that currently contend for our allegiance. Because I want my
students to appreciate the power of these competing theories and because I don't
want their assessments to be biased or short-circuited by attempts to please or
placate the professor, my pedagogical strategy has been to defend each of the the
ories in turn and largely to suppress my own judgments about them. Perhaps I
have succeeded too well in my effort to referee rather than to participate in the
classroom contestations, for one of my classes presented me at semester's end with
a "where does he stand?" citation. Apparently, they felt curious but clueless about
my own views and they had diverged in their speculations about them.
This book is intended, then, to answer their plaintive query, and I have accord
ingly dedicated it to them. I focus here upon those recent accounts of democratic
ideals that seem most directly pertinent to our practices and policies. I try to ac
knowledge their strengths but also to identify the ways in which they arguably
lead us in the wrong direction. And I offer my own constructive interpretations
of the democratic ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity, and civic virtue-interpre
tations that shape and inform my own political judgments and allegiances.
Besides my puzzled students, I seek here to address two audiences. The first of
these are my fellow political theorists. I want to share with them my own worries
about some of the normative theories we discuss and debate in order to spur and
sharpen their own critical assessments of these theories. And I also want to offer
them another target to shoot at with my conception of civic liberalism. The other
audience are my fellow democratic citizens-or at least the informed and con
cerned public among them, those who think about what our democratic ideals
should be. I particularly want to address those who believe democracy is a moral
enterprise rather than a mere pact of convenience, but who have serious doubts
about the interpretations of that moral enterprise provided by the stylized and
polarized ideological right and left in today's public discourse. To them I offer a
morally robust and practically challenging democratic idealism of the middle
way-a conception of the good society as composed of self-governing civic
equals, sustained by an enabling state-that I hope will resonate with their own
moral intuitions and political hopes.
Speaking to a dual audience unavoidably creates certain expository problems.
Political theorists will find some inclusions and explanations jejune and my wider
audience may find some sections too academic. I can only plead for tolerance
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