Boundaries and Allegiances

This exceptional work--a collection of eleven essays by one of the most fascinating moral philosophers currently writing--explores a perspective that is at once sympathetic towards and critical of liberal political philosophy. The essays address the capacity of liberal thought and of the moral traditions on which it draws to accommodate a variety of challenges posed by the changing circumstances of the modern world. They also consider how in an era of rapid globalization when our lives are structured by social arrangements and institutions of ever-increasing size complexity and scope we can best conceive of the responsibilities of individual agents and the normative significance of our diverse commitments and allegiances. Linked by common themes the volume examines the responsibilities we have in virtue of belonging to a community the compatibility of such obligations with equality the demands of distributive justice in general and liberalism's relationship to liberty community and equality.