Against Values: How to Talk About the Good in a Postliberal Era

Philip J. Harold's book explores the roots of liberalism's lack of trust in institutions and proposes a postliberal political philosophy that understands the common good as friendship and social trust built up by loyalty. He critiques values language, sovereignty, the distinction between the empirical and the transcendental, the secular and the sacred, the symbolic expression of the common good, and the false conceptualization of religion and politics.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 238 pages
Publication date: 22 March 2024
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Liberalism's current lack of trust in institutions is deeply rooted in its history and cannot be addressed by merely tweaking the liberal paradigm, which creates conflict between different conceptions of the good and resolves it through a sovereign state without reference to a nonexclusive common good. To address this problem, Philip J. Harold offers a comprehensive survey of liberalism's foundations, tracing its origins back to the early modern era. He challenges the traditional liberal denial of a good superior to individual interest and proposes a postliberal political philosophy that recognizes the common good as friendship and social trust built through loyalty. Harold critiques the language of values that serve as wedges to divide people and addresses the concept of sovereignty, the invention of morality as its supplement, the distinction between the empirical and the transcendental, the true nature of the secular and the sacred, the necessarily symbolic expression of the common good, and the false conceptualization of religion and politics.

Weight: 372g
Dimension: 227 x 150 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538174159