Problem of Value Pluralism

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).

"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

• Introduction 1. Berlin and the Problem of Value Pluralism 2. The Great Goods 3. Agonism and Context 4. Realism and History 5. Diversity and Liberalism 6. Toleration and Autonomy 7. Democracy and Compromise 8. Constitutionalism and Public Policy 9. Conclusion