The purpose of this paper is to specify the character of later Dworkin's value integrative liberalism reformulated in his 1988 Tanner Lecture on ethical foundation of liberalism. I do this by comparing his new justificatory argument of liberalism with...
The purpose of this paper is to specify the character of later Dworkin's value integrative liberalism reformulated in his 1988 Tanner Lecture on ethical foundation of liberalism. I do this by comparing his new justificatory argument of liberalism with earlier one formulated in his famous 'liberalism' and Taking Rights Seriously, as well as with those of other liberals like Rawls and Raz and that of communitarian arguments. In pursuing this aim, a special emphasis is laid on the concept of integrity, which is here understood as a meta-ethical principle requiring liberalism as a comprehensive ethical system to be internally coherent and continuous, rather than a characteristics of a special concrete ethical view. I use this concept as a guide for interpreting his later liberal theory. Later Dworkin's liberalism is justified by an approach called continuous strategy, which emphasizes the importance and necessity of unity of liberal political principles and personal ethical viewpoints. And this justificatory method can be clearly distinguished from his early one which justified liberalism on an allegedly best or better interpretation of liberal public culture. Later Dworkin's value integrative justification of liberalism has some important implications for a new understanding of some conventional political categories and principles such as public/private division, neutrality, perfectionism, paternalism and the like.