


Hardcover
Published: 1st October 2004
ISBN: 9780199274666
Number Of Pages: 464
In Constitutional Goods, Alan Brudner distills the essentials of liberal constitutionalism from the jurisprudence and practice of contemporary liberal-democratic states, and argues that the model liberal-democratic constitution is best understood as a unity of three constitutional frameworks: libertarian, egalitarian, and communitarian. Each of these has a particular conception of public reason. Brudner criticizes each of these frameworks insofar as its organizing conception claims to be fundamental, and moves forward to suggest a Hegelian conception of public reason within which each framework is contained as a constituent element of a whole.
When viewed in this light, the liberal constitution embodies a surprising synthesis. It reconciles a commitment to individual liberty and freedom of conscience with the perfectionist idea that the state ought to cultivate a type of personality whose fundamental ends are the goods essential to dignity. Such a reconciliation, the author suggests, may attract competing liberalisms to a consensus on an inclusive conception of public reason under which political authority is validated for those who share a confidence in the individual's inviolable worth.
`Addressing fundamental issues in public law, it also engages with a host of questions in political philosophy and is not afraid to develop a sweeping and original line of argument that challenges current orthodoxy' N. E. Simmonds, The Cambridge Law Journal
ISBN: 9780199274666
ISBN-10: 0199274665
Audience:
Professional
Format:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 464
Published: 1st October 2004
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: GB
Dimensions (cm): 24.2 x 16.5
x 3.0
Weight (kg): 0.83