Date of Award
Summer 7-15-2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Andrew Altman
Second Advisor
Timothy Renick
Third Advisor
Sebastian Rand
Fourth Advisor
William Edmundson
Fifth Advisor
Vincent Lloyd
Abstract
In pursuit of a just political order, Will Kymlicka has defended a liberal conception of multiculturalism. The persuasive appeal of his argument, like that of secular-liberalism more generally, is due to presenting liberalism as a neutral and universal political project. Utilizing Charles Taylor’s genealogy of ‘exclusive humanism’ in A Secular Age, this thesis attempts to re-read Kymlicka in order to make certain theological commitments in his work explicit. Here I argue that Kymlicka, in order to make his conception of multiculturalism plausible, relies on a theologically-thick and controversial humanism operating under secular conditions of belief. By committing himself to a particular conception of the human and specific conditions of belief, Kymlicka’s liberal multiculturalism is rendered provincially incoherent because it fails to treat in a neutral manner certain theological commitments.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/2101886
Recommended Citation
Khan, Mohammad O., "Secular Foundations of Liberal Multiculturalism." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/2101886