Liberalism and modern society : a historical argument /

Bellamy sets out to unveil the social and moral assumptions of modern liberalism and to challenge their continuing viability in modern society, with its erosion of the historical conditions that gave rise to them. He begins with an account of the emergence of liberalism in England and France in the works of J.S. Mill, T.H. Green, and Emile Durkheim. Next, Bellamy analyzes the transformation and disenchantment of liberalism in Italy and Germany with the works of Pareto, Croce, and Weber, and follows with a discussion of contemporary liberal theorists such as Nozick, Hayek, Dworkin, and Rawls, and their communitarian critics, Walzer and Raz. Bellamy concludes that contemporary theories of liberalism, like those of their predecessors, are ethical theories, far from universal in their application, that advocate an idealized form of a particular historical community. Such a community provided the social historical context for the birth of modern liberalism, but no longer exists in the pluralism of today's world. He suggests that a reappraisal of Weber can provide the basis for a reconception of liberalism in realist terms that eschews such ethical foundations. In their place, this reconception offers a set of procedures and institutions capable of giving expression to a plurality of competing values in society and allowing for an accommodation between them. The study is an impressive review and critique of the history of modern liberalism that overshadows Bellamy's own somewhat sketchy proposals. Advanced undergraduate; graduate; faculty. M. F. Keen; Indiana University at South Bend