Morality and Responsibility

Abstract

Within a multicultural state, moral as well as cultural dimensions of both the majority and minorities are intertwined. As I pointed out in the previous chapter, both cultural and moral claims should be deliberated for claims for justice. I have argued that the minimal and common conditions are non-domination and social recognition along the three dimensions — acknowledgement, authorization and endorsement — for deliberation as citizens of equal status. In this chapter I shall explore morality and responsibility for deliberation by individuals and the external organizations of society, including the state, within the problematic social world. Individuals have various reasons for engaging in activities that are meaningful in accord with their convictions. Thus it is important to look for moral obligation on the part of individuals rather than representatives of cultural groups, and to show that individuals have responsibility for deliberating in claims for justice. I shall argue that any necessary parameters for meeting claims for intercultural justice and recognition should not undermine the minimal and common normative conditions required for deliberation, ensuring the egalitarian reciprocity of treating one another as citizens of equal status. I shall show that the above normative premise of multicultural social justice overcomes the deficiencies of the normative premises of Kymlicka’s theory of multiculturalism, which I described in Chapter 1, for integrating post-immigration minorities as citizens of equal status.