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Douglas Casson
Proseminar:
Liberty and Civility: Tensions in the Liberal Tradition from
Thomas Hobbes to John Stuart Mill
(BA: Modul Pol 2 / LAGY II / LARS II)
Mittwoch, 18:15 - 19:45 Uhr, Kochstr. 6a, R. 00.6 PSG
Beginn: 17.04.2013
In recent years, social scientists such as Robert Putnam, Francis Fukuyama, Benjamin
Barber, Jean Elshtain, and Amitai Etzioni have embraced “civic associations”, “pluralism” and
“civil society” as remedies to the shortcomings of liberal democratic institutions. These
authors, who otherwise differ in significant ways, seem to agree that intermediate
institutions such as families, religious communities, political parties, and other civil
associations are necessary to moderate the self-interest and atomism of an essentially
soulless liberalism. Their position rests on portrayal of civil society as fundamentally
cooperative and communal, a portrayal that contrasts sharply with classical liberal concerns
with group conflict. In recent years this tension is especially evident in debates over free
speech and respect for religious believers.
In this course, we will return to classical liberal thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Hume,
Smith, Burke, Mill, and Tocqueville to reexamine their uneasy relationship to civil society.
We will engage these texts not only to understand them as historical documents, but also to
inform contemporary debates, recovering tensions in the concept of civil society that are
often overlooked in contemporary accounts. Along the way we will address the following
questions: Does liberalism tend to encourage or discourage the types of behavior most
conducive to civil society To what extent does civil society remain a realm of conflict To
what extent might group life challenge liberal commitments Is there an inescapable tension
between liberalism and pluralism And finally, how does the norm of civility relate to a
liberal recognition of the threat of /uncivil /society