The Liberal Predicament: Historical and Logical

Abstract

There are two distinct accounts of the inner weakness of contemporary liberalism: a historical account, which emphasizes the extent to which liberal societies have changed, making liberal arguments seem less and less relevant; and a logical account, which emphasizes the extent to which liberal arguments themselves have changed, abandoning their original conceptual foundations. This article summarizes these two accounts, and then argues that liberalism might be more defensible if these two accounts can work in combination rather than antagonistically. The strength of such a combination is briefly illustrated by sketching its possible implications for two important liberal debates: markets and multiculturalism.