The Meaningfulness of the Liberal Project

Abstract

AbstractChapter 11 concludes the book by arguing that Kantian liberalism is compelling because it engenders a sense of community and purpose much better than does communitarian liberal alternatives. This chapter takes up three particular problems facing contemporary liberalism. First, Kant’s conception of human dividedness captures the plight of contemporary liberal societies, divided as we are between community and individual, nation and cosmopolis, happiness and striving. Second, Kantian liberalism also addresses the “meaning deficit” in contemporary liberal communities. What our societies are lacking is not happiness, but a sense of meaning in life. Finally, in injecting meaning into liberalism, Kant’s political theory provides a centrist rival to populist illiberal politics that have commanded such political power recently because of its ability to supply its adherents with a sense of purpose and meaning. This centrism points toward a possible way to overcome the deep polarization besetting our age.