Communitarianism
Philosophers have normally
identified two features of human nature that seem to make special treatment of
human beings appropriate: their rationality and their sociality. By the latter is meant the fact that human beings do not merely live in
groups, as do many other animals, but they understand themselves in light of the
identities they share as members of groups and of course in light of the
attachments they have to friends and relatives and neighbors and coworkers. This had led to a position in moral philosophy called “communitarianism,”
which holds that morality is constituted by the ideals that define and hold
together real human groups.
However, while our social nature is
not to be ignored or underestimated, it should be clear that communitarianism
does not so much identify proper moral standards as accept the standards of
existing groups as definitive. The
problem with this is that it makes morality equivalent finally to the standards
that people actually endorse, some of which seem patently immoral. Thus, many
philosophers originally sympathetic to communitarianism have come to notice that
many communities are defined by moral standards that seem now oppressive. So, for example, traditional religious communities have often held sexist
views to the extent that they have taught that women are meant to serve and obey
men, and many small-town communities have held racist views or been intolerant
of homosexuals, or others who, though harmless, are different. And of course the daily newspapers are filled with the persecutions
carried out in the name of one ethnic group’s historical detestation of
another. Thus, in a way that is
parallel to virtue ethics, communitarianism points rather to where morality
should be found, than to what it consists of. It leaves us still in need of valid moral standards to distinguish moral
communities from oppressive ones.
The important truth in
communitarianism is that we are not separate atoms, but necessarily linked to
our fellows. This means that the
marks of morality--altruism, self-sacrifice, commitment beyond ourselves--are
part of ourselves because we ourselves are social in nature. Even when we think of our self-interest, it is defined by the
communities of which we are members. Moreover,
without going so far as to accept the moral principles that are endorsed in our
group simply because they are endorsed, we can recognize that the moral ideals
actually accepted by a community have a special standing. Inasmuch as they shape people’s identities, they are worthy of special
respect and ought not to be dismissed lightly, even if they should neither be
accepted uncritically.
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| We believe that individual liberties depend upon the bolstering of the foundations of civil society: our
families, schools, and neighborhoods. It is through these institutions that we acquire a sense of our
personal and civic responsibilities, an appreciation of our rights and the rights of others, and a commitment
to the welfare of the community and its members.
-The Communitarian
Network |
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