Notes on Contributors ix

Introduction: Social and Political Philosophy – Sorting Out the Issues 1
Robert L. Simon

Part I Core Principles and the Liberal Democratic State

1 Political Obligation and Authority 17
A. John Simmons

2 Liberty, Coercion, and the Limits of the State 38
Alan Wertheimer

3 Justice 60
Christopher Heath Wellman

4 Equality 85
Richard J. Arneson

5 Preference, Rationality, and Democratic Theory 106
Ann E. Cudd

Part II Liberalism, Its Critics, and Alternative Approaches

6 Marx’s Legacy 131
Richard W. Miller

7 Feminism and Political Theory 154
Virginia Held

8 Liberalism and the Challenge of Communitarianism 177
James P. Sterba

9 Liberal Theories and their Critics 197
William Nelson

Part III Pluralism, Diversity, and Deliberation

10 Deliberative Democracy 221
James S. Fishkin

11 Citizenship and Pluralism 239
Daniel M. Weinstock

12 The New Enlightenment: Critical Reflections on the Political Significance of Race 271
A. Todd Franklin

13 Religion and Liberal Democracy 292
Christopher J. Eberle

Select Bibliography 319

Index 321

Robert L. Simon is Professor of Philosophy at Hamilton College. He is author of numerous articles in social and political philosophy as well as Fair Play (1991) and Neutrality and the Academic Ethic (1994), and co-author of The Individual and the Political Order, (third edition, 1998). He is currently working on issues in discourse ethics and on the ethics of competition in athletics, and is a past president of the International Association of the Philosophy of Sport.