Fulya Özlem

Liberal Culturalism and the Indiviual: an Alternative Account of Cultural Identities Fulya Özlem

This book intends to provide a philosophical basis to argue for a version of Pluralism which gives theoretical support for a form of Political Liberalism oriented towards enhancing communication among a diversity of cultures at the utmost level. The author argues that the basic commitments of Political Liberalism to egalitarianism and the autonomy of the individuals presuppose that the state be a pluralist one in which a diversity of cultures function to be the context of choice for the individuals. In order to argue for the philosophical position of Pluralism, the author introduces an alternative account of Autonomy in which an indiviudal's autonomy amounts to one's "capacity to choose". Hence,she shows that an individual's autonomy diminishes if his scope of choices is diminished arguing that the widest scope of choices can only be maintained in line with pluralism. The alternative account of autonomy and the anti-essentialist understanding of cultural identities provided here leads to the conclusion that diversity of cultures is the context of choice for an individual. Pluralism is hence the philosophical position most compatible with the new account of the autonomous individual.