Revisionist Liberalism and the Decline of Culture

Abstract

In this article, I shall consider the question of state involvement in the subsidization of culture, that is to say, those items, such as the arts, the humanities, and higher education, which are intimately connected with a particular community's conception of the good life. The matter is a pressing concern in view of recent developments in political philosophy. What I have in mind are those liberal theories of justice which might be termed revisionist liberal. They are revisionist in the sense that they combine the traditional liberal emphasis on the preservation of individual rights to freedom with an egalitarian concern for the individual welfare rights of each member of society. These include the work of John Rawls and those who have fallen under his influence. With respect to the question of culture, the problem these theories raise is that they call into question the legitimacy of continuing state support or subsidization. First, liberals disagree even among themselves over the role the state should play in the cultural life of the political community. Second, while liberal theories do not necessarily rule out this support, they erect large obstacles in its path. In particular, revisionist liberalism seems to undermine current practices among Western societies where the level of state involvement in the arts is determined by majoritarian democratic political institutions. My principal intention is to dispel the confusion and ambiguity which surrounds the liberal position on culture. I shall begin by introducing the premises affirmed by liberals which bear most closely on the issue (Sec. I). I proceed to discuss Rawls's views on the support of culture and the considerable restrictions which he places on state involvement (Sec. II). I then show why a liberal argument tendered by Ronald Dworkin which foresees a far more robust role for the state