The purpose of this thesis is to explore contemporary communitarian thinker Michael J. Sandel¡¦s political philosophy concerning one that realizes the importance of ¡§virtue¡¨ and ¡§ends¡¨ in citizenship and the state. I argue that although Sandel is often known as one of the most compelling critics of John Rawls¡¦ justice theory, his more ambitious commitment since 1984 is to provide a vision about the nature and aim of political life through insights of civic republicanism. The goal of this essay is to sort out Sandel¡¦s perspectives on these normative statements.
Introducing from the debates between justice and the good in ethics, I explain what motivates me to write this essay and briefly describe the framework and approach of the thesis. In the second chapter, I elaborate Sandel¡¦s philosophical anthropology. Different from Rawls¡¦ the conception of human, Sandel¡¦s version is one with moral disposition¡X¡Xthat is to say, at the moment when we ask ourselves ¡§ who am I¡H¡¨, it comes to the answer that we are constitutive beings, rather than unencumbered selves from nowhere. Only when an agent is capable of self-reflection and recognizing how self is situated can self-knowledge and political practices possible. In short, only in a political community can spirit of citizenship be realized. In chapter three, I trace Sandel¡¦s argument and point out the fact that the theory and practice of contemporary liberalism has practically become a synonym to procedural republic. It is presented not only the ideas of ¡§rights as trumps¡¨ and neutral state, but also revealed by the erosion of community and the loss of self-government. Therefore, how to rebuild moral life in modern democratic practices has become an important task for people of our time. Following the political tradition of republicanism in American history, Sandelian republicanism, inherence of Aristotlian perfectionism, stresses the importance of political community as a whole to cultivate civic virtue. So I discuss the meaning of freedom/liberty and self-government. Through above discussions, I try to reveal Sandel¡¦s idea of democracy that insists conserving certain conceptions of the good, common ends and substantial moral contents in political life. In chapter four, I deal with how Sandel respond to the tension between republicanism and liberalism. From communitarianism to republicanism, I am persuaded that the core of Sandel¡¦s philosophy lies in the idea of citizenship and the ends of state. Civic virtues are so intrinsic to political life and will help to lead us to a good life. State or government shouldn¡¦t just be neutral but should play a role in developing good citizens. In final chapter, I concluded that Sandel¡¦s concerns to community and citizen and his republican ideals revive an yet long forgotten tradition in democratic thoughts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0827103-165423 |
| Date | 27 August 2003 |
| Creators | Chen, Ming-Hsiang |
| Contributors | none, Chaur-Sen Yau, K.S.Roy Tseng |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0827103-165423 |
| Rights | unrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive |
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