Political Republicanism and Perfectionist Republicanism

Abstract

In recent years, a number of political thinkers in philosophy, political theory and law have defended political theories which are deeply indebted to classical republicanism. Like classical republicans, these thinkers have claimed that a flourishing polity depends upon citizens' exercise of the civic virtues. Unlike classical republicans, some of these thinkers have defended what might be called “political republicanisms”—republicanisms which are also indebted to the methodological restraint of Rawls's political liberalism. The article argues that political republicanism suffers from a viability problem. Its list of civic virtues is too short. More worrisome, the public justifications that would be available to a political republican regime are not sufficient to motivate the development of the civic virtues. Therefore, if we are to be republicans, we should be “perfectionist republicans” instead.

In Defense of Public Reason Confucianism: Reply to Chan, Mang, Wong, and Angle

“…Nonetheless, Angle's core challenge still remains viable: don't Confucian civic virtues need a formidable moral ground such as humaneness? Interestingly, this is the very challenge that Paul Weithman (), a perfectionist republican, leveled against contemporary civic republicans and democrats who champion civic virtues without much concern for their profound moral roots in human excellence and flourishing…”

Ostentation and republican civility: Notes from the French face-veiling debates

“…These republican virtues may not necessarily correspond to any perfectionist vision of human flourishing: they might simply comprise of 'the traits citizens need to talk with one another as equals in the public fora of a contemporary pluralistic society'. 13 However, the fact that virtues might be valued instrumentally as skills of citizenship -rather than on perfectionist grounds -does not mean they can, or should be confined to the political domain. Weithman argues that republican virtues must be 'exercised in activities seemingly unrelated to citizenship', encompassing 'affective, intellective, and appetitive dispositions', 14 echoing John Adams' insistence that 'public virtue cannot exist .…”

Rawls’s notion of the political conception as educator

“…70 Rawls's distinction between classical republicanism and civic humanism is similar to Paul Weithman's distinction between political and perfectionist republicanism. 71 Classical republicanism says that it is necessary for liberal democracy that its citizens have the political virtues and actively take part in public life. Unlike Weithman, though, Rawls casts this more as a sociological claim than a normative philosophical one.…”