Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20901/pm.61.3.01
Is the cultural left liberal?
Zoran Kurelić
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb
Abstract
In this article, the author answers the question posed in the title: Is the cultural left liberal? In contemporary debates that flared up after Trump’s 2016 victory, the ideological position of Hillary Clinton was questioned by numerous writers. Mark Lilla refers to this position as identity liberalism. The author argues that the identity left should be distinguished from liberalism because it is, by its own self-understanding, illiberal. The argument in the paper is organized into four segments. After a brief presentation of the concepts of liberalism and the cultural left, the author focuses on Lilla’s criticism of identity liberalism and compares it with John Gray’s criticism of hyper-liberalism. These two writers are discussed in light of two classics of contemporary political thought: Richard Rorty and Brian Barry. In the concluding segment, the author argues that the postmodern identity left should never be called liberal because it is openly antiliberal, demonstrating how Barry’s 1989 prophecy and Rorty’s 1998 prediction have come true.
Keywords
Identity Liberalism; Hyper-Liberalism; John Gray; Mark Lilla; Cultural War
Hrčak ID:
323297
URI
Publication date:
10.12.2024.
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