자유주의 국가의 중립성과 시민교육 = The Neutrality of the Liberal State and Civic Education

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

We now live in the era of pluralism. Pluralism is neither the persisitent fundamentalism which admits only one conception of the good, nor the simple relativism which insists that all things are the matters of individual choice. Pluralism admits different values and pursues the consensus through the reasonable discussion. In order to build a stable and well-ordered society which respects individuals` liberties and rights as far as possible, we should not adhere to one particular conception of the good. But neither should we take an anarchist view. It would be a logical fallacy, that is to say `is-ought-fallacy`, that we should pursue pluralism only because we live in the era of pluralism. Pluralism respects the autonomy of the individuals and the groups, and for that reason it is worthy to be pursued. While liberals focus on liberty, right, and autonomy of individual, communitarians emphasize the value of the community. And while liberals support civic education in hopes of equipping students to become autonomous individuals, capable of choosing their own ends and pursuing them effectively, communitarians support civic education in hopes of equipping students to become good citizens, capable of contributing meaningfully to public deliberations and pursuits. But both recognize that civic education can contribute to the democratic citizenship and reflective forms of life. In that sense, they are not so much different each other as they appear. And we may say that the very distinction between anti-perfectionist liberalism and perfectionist liberalism threatens to break down. Much the same observation holds for the distinction between the political liberalism and the comprehensive liberalism. So, we need a conception that pursues the liberties of individuals and accepts some communitarian elements. We may call it communitarian liberalism. The civic education based on the communitarian liberalism can help the students to acquire such virtues as mutual trust, tolerance, sense of justice and solidarity.