Value pluralism is the idea, most prominently endorsed by Isaiah Berlin, that fundamental human values are universal, plural, conflicting, and incommensurable with one another. Incommensurability is the key component of pluralism, undermining familiar monist philosophies such as utilitarianism. But if values are incommensurable, how do we decide between them when they conflict?

George Crowder assesses a range of responses to this problem proposed by Berlin and developed by his successors. Three broad approaches are especially important: universalism, contextualism, and conceptualism. Crowder argues that the conceptual approach is the most fruitful, yielding norms of value diversity, personal autonomy, and inclusive democracy. Historical context must also be taken into account. Together these approaches indicate a liberal politics of redistribution, multiculturalism, and constitutionalism, and a public policy in which basic values are carefully balanced.

The Problem of Value Pluralism: Isaiah Berlin and Beyond is a uniquely comprehensive survey of the political theory of value pluralism and also an original contribution by a leading voice in the pluralist literature. Scholars and researchers interested in the work of Berlin, liberalism, value pluralism, and related ideas will find this a stimulating and valuable source.

About the Author

George Crowder is Professor in the College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University, Australia. His books include Liberalism and Value Pluralism (2002), Isaiah Berlin: Liberty and Pluralism (2004), The One and the Many: Reading Isaiah Berlin (co-edited with Henry Hardy, 2007), and Theories of Multiculturalism (2013).

Reviews

"George Crowder is an excellent writer who has not only mastered but arguably redefined the topic of value pluralism. [...] As a whole, the book offers the most thorough philosophical exploration of value pluralism and champions the institutions of egalitarian liberalism as the only ones capable of upholding pluralist diversity. It is a restatement of liberalism in the era of posttruth, populism, and hyperdemocracy: a liberalism that combines negative freedom as an endorsement of plurality with positive freedom as the capacity to utilise and maintain diverse options through the exercise of autonomy."

Maria Dimova-Cookson, Contemporary Political Theory

"He provides...a defense of liberal egalitarianism that is sensitive to democratic procedures, and thus greatly develops Berlin's basic ideas. The end result is a work that underscores Crowder's contribution to the literature on value pluralism, as he both displays a mastery of the debates and his own original views."

Jason Ferrell, The Review of Politics

"No one has explored the link between value pluralism and liberalism with more persistence and precision than George Crowder. The Problem of Value Pluralism is Crowder's best treatment of this issue, and it deserves a wide readership."

William A. Galston, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

"George Crowder's well-established reputation as an expert on Isaiah Berlin's value pluralism and its implications will be further burnished by this new volume. Once more he displays the clarity, thoroughness, coherence, ingenuity and command of the literature that characterise all his work. After helpfully recapitulating his view of Berlin's own seminal contribution, he turns to a critical examination of the work of Berlin's contemporaries and successors, most of it inspired or provoked by Berlin. The result is the most complete treatment of this crucial seam of moral and political thought that has yet been given to us, and required reading for all serious students of pluralism."

Henry Hardy, Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, Isaiah Berlin's principal editor, and author of In Search of Isaiah Berlin: A Literary Adventure

Book Information
ISBN 9781032085227
Author George Crowder
Format Paperback
Page Count 246
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 460g