Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1994, Vol 39(2), 225. Reviews the book, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion by John Zaller (1992). The author's commendable effort to specify a model of mass opinion formation offers readers an introduction to the prevailing vi

The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion.

Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace

政治自由主义 = Political liberalism

The morality of freedom

The Law of Peoples John Rawls Harvard 1999 John Rawls, the great political philosopher, has turned his reflections to questions of international justice, much as his philosophical ancestor Kant did toward the end of his career. Indeed, Kant's conception of a "pacific federation" of states in Perpetual Peace is Rawls's acknowledged model for the "realistic utopia" sketched in The Law of Peoples, which expands upon his 1993 essay by the same title (without, however, revising its basic argument). Despite differing philosophical constraints and geopolitical conditions, both Kant and Rawls aim to develop an ideal normative framework for international law that accommodates a measure of realism and rejects the idea of a world-state. Unfortunately, in its uncritical acceptance of so-called "decent hierarchical societies" even at the level of ideal theory, the normative claim of Rawls's Law of Peoples is undermined. This philosophical appeasement, meant to secure perpetual peace in our time through a moderately demanding Law of Peoples that liberal and "decent" hierarchical societies alike can endorse, departs fundamentally from Kant's cosmopolitanism. For Kant, the "First Definitive Article of a Perpetual Peace-as opposed to a temporary interruption of hostilities-is that each member state of the foedus pacif cum must have a republican form of government, which is partly founded upon "the principle of legal equality for everyone (as citizens)." By contrast, Rawls weakens his ideal of international justice to buy the assent of hierarchical societies, which by definition lack equality among citizens, at the price of sacrificing a theoretical basis for justifying reforms of the practices and institutions of these hierarchical societies above a minimal level of decency. Rawls's complex argument begins by extending the original position, in which principles of justice for the basic structure of society are chosen under epistemic constraints that ensure fairness, from a single liberal society to what he calls the Society of Liberal Peoples. In a second step, though still within ideal theory, he argues that the substantive principles comprising the Law of Peoples are also acceptable to decent hierarchical societies, which possess decent consultation hierarchies and common good conceptions of justice. Despite being inegalitarian, decent hierarchical societies do respect basic human rights, allow some dissent, and at least consult with representatives of groups whose members are denied full citizenship rights. …

The Law of Peoples

The ideal of personal autonomy enjoys considerable support in educational theory, but close analysis reveals serious problems with its core analytical and psychological components. The core conception of autonomy authorizes individuals to employ their imaginations in troubling and unhealthy ways that clash with sound ideals of moral character. Lucas Swaine argues in this essay that this gives grounds to deny that the core conception of autonomy should be promoted in democratic education. What is more, according to Swaine, young citizens appear to have no right to be educated, in public schools, for the purpose of becoming autonomous individuals of the kind he describes and criticizes in this account.

The false right to autonomy in education

This article analyzes the moral and political implications of strong moral character for political action. The treatment provides reason to hold that strong moral character should play a role in a robust normative account of political leadership. The case is supported by empirical findings on character dispositions and the political viability of the account’s normative prescriptions.

Moral Character for Political Leaders: A Normative Account

ject of much interpretation and reinterpretation in recent history, and the Supreme Court's historically separationist approach has come under fire. This essay attempts to articulate and cfefend three princi ples which support the separationist position. These principles advance a kind of separationism defined as strong separation since the princi ples here proffered allow for the state to provide some funds, tax breaks, ana favors to religious organizations under certain conditions. As such, strong separation is distinct from strict separation, since the latter is a doctrine which requires a complete disjunction between church and state. Part I of the essay provides an analysis of the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses and examines some of their more notable and interesting interpretations. Part II argues that the First Amendment yields three principles for adjudicating on matters con cerning church and state, and it discusses the ways in which these prin ciples fit within the larger context of liberalism more generally. Part III consists of a definition and discussion of religion in modern democra cies; it distinguishes between religion and morality, suggesting both that liberal moral doctrines are distinct from religious doctrines and that these liberal doctrines provide an adequate basis to secure reli

Principled Separation: Liberal Governance and Religious Free Exercise

It is commonly believed that the idea of autonomy was originally restricted to the discourse of inter-state relations, even that autonomy 'belongs' to that vocabulary in a historical sense. This article brings both of those notions into question. Early understandings of autonomia were applied to a wide variety of entities, including those of a nonpolitical nature. Individual-level discussion of autonomy emerged in English prior to the work of Immanuel Kant, furthermore, foreshadowing contemporary theories of personal autonomy and casting new light on the development and proliferation of ideas of autonomy in democracy.

The origins of autonomy

(1998). A Paradox Reconsidered: written lessons from Plato's Phaedrus. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 259-273.

Lucas Swaine

Papers

The false right to autonomy in education

Moral Character for Political Leaders: A Normative Account

Principled Separation: Liberal Governance and Religious Free Exercise

The origins of autonomy

A Paradox Reconsidered: written lessons from Plato's Phaedrus