An Approach to ‘Contemporary Communitarianism’ and a Reinterpretation of Its Distinctions from ‘Perfectionism’ in the Perspective on Individual Life

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, Farabi College, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Public Law, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

3 PhD Student in Public Law, Faculty of Law, Farabi College, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

In the final decades of the twentieth century, the emergence of various moral dilemmas and social disorders in Western societies led some contemporary thinkers to confront and oppose the dominant ideological current of these societies—individualist liberalism. Thinkers such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, and Michael Sandel, who traced the roots of these disorders to excessive individualism and neglect of spirituality and ethics, strongly advocated for a virtue-based, community-oriented ethics and a revival of local and religious traditions as the only path to salvation for Western liberal societies. Their emphasis on the community as the reference point for value determination, and their insistence on concepts such as responsibility and social obligations, led this emerging school of thought—sometimes referred to as “neo-Aristotelian” or “neo-virtue ethics” to be widely known as ‘communitarianism’. Nevertheless, certain conceptual overlaps between communitarianism and perfectionism have, at times, caused confusion or assumptions of equivalence between these two schools of thought. However, the outcomes and implications stemming from each indicate fundamental differences, particularly in how each school perceives the human being and the conditions of their life. Accordingly, this study seeks to answer the question: What differences in political and philosophical outlooks regarding the human condition do communitarianism and perfectionism create in terms of the state’s authority? In doing so, it aims to clarify each school’s view of the individual and their entitlement to a flourishing human life.

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References

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Journal of Comparative Public Law
Volume 1, Issue 4 - Serial Number 4
December 2024
Pages 49-72

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