Both liberals and communitarians grant normative weight to equality. To adjudicate their on-going debate, we need to clarify the meanings they attribute to that ambiguous concept. This paper analyzes a communitar ian conception of equality, and criticizes its practical implications. At the bottom of this account, we find a virtue-centered ethical theory that assumes citizens are equally interested in true human "flourishing." Communitarians define that flourishing as living virtuously within a community committed to participatory democracy and a substantive conception of the common good. This conception of equality shapes their account of legitimate politics, including the denial of a strong right of privacy. Thus, the communitarians' occasionally troubling policy stands are not simply specific and eliminable errors. They are, instead, deeply rooted in the structure of their theory, and, absent serious modifications, a reconsideration of liberal alternatives is in order.
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