Liberalitas for Modernity: From Revolution to Rawls

Abstract

In antiquity, to be liberal meant to be free and generous. It was considered good for the individual and good for society. When this ancient ethic was turned into a political ideal, it was deployed as a doctrine to mitigate the excesses of the Revolution, and later, the consequences of democracy. In the early 19th century, to be liberal meant to believe in a balanced union of rights and duties, to seek both the extension of liberty and the cultivation of liberality. In the course of its two hundred years, the liberal project has struggled to maintain this balance. John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice, however, articulates liberalitas for our times, offering a vision of statecraft and soulcraft for a people who are free and equal.