LIBERALISM, as a political philosophy, is often viewed as being
primarily concerned with the relationship between the individual
and the state, and with limiting state intrusions on the liberties
of citizens. But, implicitly or explicitly, liberalism also contains
a broader account of the relationship between the individual ar and
society—and, in particular, of the individual’s membership in a
community-and.a culture. These broader questions are the focus
‘of this book. In the following chapters I shall try to present the
liberal accounts of community and culture in a more explicit
and systematic way than is usually done, to evaluate their
strengths and weaknesses, and to link them to the more familiar
liberal views on individual rights and state neutrality.
There are two main motivations for undertaking this project.
One is my discomfort with recent communitarian discussions of
culture and community, and with the kinds of criticisms they
have brought against liberalism. The other is a discomfort with
the way liberals have responded with indifference or hostility to
the collective rights of minority cultures. In each case, the central
debates have suffered from the absence of a systematic discussion
of the liberal accounts of community and culture.