Between Individual and Community. On the Uniqueness of the British Idealists’ Vision of Politics

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to the subject of the relations binding British idealists’ thought to nineteenth and twentieth century disputes in political philosophy. The two of them are taken into consideration: liberal-conservative and liberal-communitarian. The Author follows through the nuances of idealist thought in search of those of its elements, that weight in favour of its conciliatory, individualist-communitarian character. The first step of the argument is the characterization of liberal-conservative/liberal-communitarian standpoints. Then some of the fundamental elements of idealists’ social and political thought are analyzed: the social recognition thesis, the concepts of common good and positive liberty. On this basis the following features are pointed to as crucial to accepting liberal-communitarian/conservative character of the idealists’ theories: teleology; metaphysical foundation of politics; contextualism; a tension between ethical relativism and universalism; the criticism of the concept of negative freedom; and individualism.