Moral Justification for Group-Differentiated Rights－The Possibility of Will Kymlicka''s Liberal Multiculturalism

• Main Authors: PEI-LUN CHANG, 張培倫
• Other Authors: HUO-WANG LIN
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2002
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/22630723755758619260

博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 哲學研究所 === 90 === Facing the challenge from multiculturalism, especially the politics of difference and the politics recognition, Will Kymlicka attempts to reinterpret the implications of liberal principles to accommodate ethnocultural diversities. He argues that the exercise of individual autonomy presupposes a cultural context or structure one belonging to, therefore one’s culture or cultural membership can be recognized as one of primary goods in Rawlsian liberal scheme. And if one’s culture or cultural membership is unprivileged in social practice, in order to protect one’s access to his cultural context, a liberal society ought to provide certain necessary public measures, ie. group-differentiated rights, as possible. This dissertation summarizes the argument of Kymlicka’s liberal multiculturalism and the criticisms of his theory. The following three issues are discussed: firstly, the definition of his culture or cultural membership suffers from the fallacy of simplism in some cases, though his definition is useful in most cases. Secondly, his theory maybe face some problems in applying the principle of equality to ethnocultural issues. Shortly speaking, in practice level, his design of group-differentiated should be regulated by more concrete principles when there is conflict with other primary good, in logical level, his theory faces the the redistribution-recognition dilemma. Finally, whether group-differentiated rights in Kymlicka’s theory could provide sufficient protection for cultural survival, and whether group-differentiated rights could provide the most possible space for illiberal minorities who don’t cherish Kymlicka’s definition of individual autonomy. The above issues are discussed by turns, and some complements or even revisions are developed if necessary.