ABSTRACT
A liberal democracy is a pluralist democracy. Its novelty resides in its envisaging the diversity of conceptions of the good, not as something negative that should be suppressed, but as something to be valued and celebrated. In Slovakia, similar tendencies may be found, whereas if we turn to Czech discourse, it is rife with references to Czech European-ness and Slovak backwardness. Liberalism understands itself as the ideology which will free individuals to partake in free exchange and free enterprise. Richard Rorty's point of departure is that there is no extra-historical foundation from which to speak, no skyhook that may anchor our analysis beyond space and time, no Archimedean point from which to size up the world. The cultural problems created by enlargement of the European Union are real enough. A pluralist democracy needs also to make room for the expression of dissent and for conflicting interests and values.
