"Shklar’s was a liberalism motivated not by a summum bonum, an ultimate good, but by a summum malum, an ultimate evil, something to be avoided: namely, cruelty and the fear it inspires. Liberalism’s emphasis on restraint, she argued, should be motivated by the distinctive political evil of living in fear of state violence and cruelty. This was how liberalism could ensure it remained anti-statist in the right way: focused on the most dangerous branches and uses of state power, without giving up on state authority to restrain private cruelty as well."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Philosophers from the United StatesJews from the United StatesPolitical scientists from the United StatesJewish atheistsJewish feminists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Judith N. Shklar
Judith Nisse Shklar (September 24, 1928 – September 17, 1992) was a philosopher and political theorist who studied the history of political thought, notably that of the Enlightenment period. She was appointed the John Cowles Professor of Government at Harvard University in 1980.
2 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Judith N. Shklar →
Related Quotes
"It is, however, not only undignified to idealize political victims; it is also very dangerous. One of our political a…"
"… Hassan promotes the BITE model as a scientific method for identifying “destructive cults,” claiming it can distingu…"
"Chinese-American political scientist Pei Minxin’s “The Broken China Dream: How Reform Revived Totalitarianism” (Princ…"
"The ability to imagine relations is one of the most indispensable conditions of all precise thinking. No subject can …"
"Man does not dwell at the centre of things, but is the denizen of an obscure and tiny speck of cosmical matter quite …"
"In a very deep sense all human science is but the increment of the power of the eye, and all human art is the increme…"
"The United States—bounded on the north by the Aurora Borealis, on the south by the precession of the equinoxes, on th…"
"When one appeals solely to the truth of a discourse to authorize it intellectually and socially, one represses reflec…"
"On the other hand, ... a pragmatic turn ... expands the number of parties who may participate more or less as equals …"
"Where a discourse is redeemed ultimately by metatheoretical appeals, experts step forward as the authorities. This si…"