Liberal Education and Democratic Citizenship

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By Michael H. McCarthy

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In Liberal Education and Democratic Citizenship, Michael H. McCarthy carefully describes the many crises confronting American democracy and identifies their philosophical, cultural, and institutional origins. He argues that a liberal education, properly understood, can address several of these crises effectively. The book's successive chapters explore the sources, areas, and levels of division in contemporary America, and show how they have created important disagreements about the major challenges we presently face and the credible solutions they require. McCarthy articulates what a liberal education actually is and why it is vitally important for both our personal and civic lives. He also clarifies the critical contrast between effective freedom, the aim of a liberal education, and the concepts of freedom within economic and political liberalism. McCarthy addresses the distinctive educational challenges presented by modernity and post-modernity: their moral aspirations, acute historical consciousness, and passion for radical criticism, as well as the traditional (Tocqueville) and contemporary (William Galston and Charles Taylor) discontents of American democracy. A central part of the book's unfolding argument is the enduring cultural contrast between the principles and aspirations of civic republicanism and the imperial assumptions of economics. This juxtaposition helps us to understand the power and limitations of the "stories we Americans live by" as well as the civic virtues we commonly need to create a free, just, and multi-racial America. These critical virtues, McCarthy argues, are the specific goal of a liberal and democratic education

Résumé
Liberal Education and Democratic Citizenship carefully describes the crises confronting American democracy, identifying their philosophical, cultural, and institutional origins to show how liberal education, properly understood, can respond to these crises effectively.

Contenu

Preface

Introduction: American Democracy and Civic Education: Where are we now?

Chapter 1: "A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand"

Chapter 2: The Nature and Purpose of a Liberal Education

Chapter 3: Demystifying the L-Word: The Merits and Limitations of Modern Liberalism

Chapter 4: Effective Freedom: What it is and Why it Matters

Chapter 5: The Critical Appropriation of Traditions

Chapter 6: Democracy in America: The Sources of Our Discontent

Chapter 7: The Cultural Struggle for American Democracy

Chapter 8: Our Search for Wisdom: The Stories We Live By

Chapter 9: Our Common Struggle with Unwelcome Truths

Bibliography

About the Author