The Republican Dilemma

“Freedom” is a central concept in contemporary political philosophy and the history of political thought. Liberals tend to see freedom as the absence of any kind of interference, while republicans understand freedom as the absence of domination, by which they mean the absence of interference you, as a free person, have not yourself instructed. These two concepts inform a debate over the extent to which the republican freedom illuminates shortcomings in prominent liberal theories. Author Lars Moen claims that not only do we need more precise definitions of freedom, but that the republican critique of liberalism ironically promotes a liberal theory, giving us the same prescriptions for how institutions ought to promote freedom. While republicans can maintain that freedom as non-domination is an attractive ideal for a modern society, they cannot claim that it provides insight not found in liberalism and its focus on freedom from interference. Republicans can avoid this conclusion, however, by tying their freedom concept closer to civic virtue and political participation. But republican freedom then becomes an unsuitable ideal for a modern society. This is the republican dilemma. Moen shows, however, that while a distinctly republican view of freedom is too demanding to serve as a guiding ideal for a modern society, it can form the basis for a critique of liberalism. In particular, it can offer a critical perspective on a liberal acceptance of politically inactive citizens. The book thus points toward a distinctly republican position in contemporary political philosophy.