Border or Horizon? Comparing the concept of "reason" in the liberal and republican traditions

Pensamento Plural

Rafael Mesquita¹ 

[1] Universidade Federal de Pernambuco;

关键词: Reason;    Political Philosophy;    Modernity;    Liberalism;    Republicanism;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The current article analyzes the expectations of modernity's political philosophy, in its liberal and republican traditions, towards reason: its conceptualization, prerogatives and normative implications. In order to do so, we highlight the role of this human faculty in the theses of seminal authors of modernity and its conjugation the concepts of liberty and equality. Taking social contract theory for a starting point, we contrast the concept of reason in liberalism and republicanism, and after we analyze the implications of the social features of modern democracy (massive and egalitarian) for the concept of the rational individual. In conclusion, it is argued that though reason is presented as the cornerstone of the political individual in modernity, locus of human autonomy and justification for its isonomy, its conceptualization varies according to the political tradition, with consequences for the legitimate limits of State action upon the citizen and for the expectations of moral progress of the population.

【 授权许可】

Unknown