Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 76

MODERN AGE

WINTER 2016

Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is
sovereign."21
Given the frequency with which states have been meddlesome,
repressive, and at times murderous toward their citizens, liberalism's defense of personal autonomy is intelligible; and arguably
the human need for privacy and, within limits, simply "to be left
alone" merits a place in the hierarchy of values greater than what
was articulated in classical political thought. But social conservatives will note the ways in which a radicalized idea of autonomy
has also been a keystone of modern cultural nihilism. Abortion
and euthanasia are defended precisely by the liberal notion
that "Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual
is sovereign."22 The idea of the sovereign individual leads almost
inexorably to the notion that individuals have the right to define
the Good for themselves, and consequently the view that any
notion of the universal Good that would bind human conduct is
an unacceptable constraint on autonomy.

T

his problem of the relationship between liberalism and moral
relativism has been a central issue to modern political thought
as witnessed in the work of Isaiah Berlin and Leo Strauss. Liberalism
wishes to defend the freedom of each individual to live according to his own values without external interference. As such, the
idea of a universal Good becomes suspect in liberal societies; for if
there is a good life, true and valid for all mankind, then the character of individual choices must be measured against the degree
to which they realize this universal Good. If Plato saw in the idea
of each man pursuing his own conception of good the seeds of
anarchy, modern liberals have instead argued that the idea of an
overarching universal Good contains the seeds of tyranny. The
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Modern Age - Winter 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Winter 2016

Contents
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Cover1
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Cover2
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Contents
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