ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author compares autonomy liberalism and the liberalism of flourishing along several key traits: the view of the good life; ontology; the distinction between the right and the good; equality; respect; the view of the state, government, politics, and civil society; the attitude towards ideals, and the attitude towards religion. The author considers autonomy in the sense of first-order autonomy. The liberalism of flourishing offers an alternative liberal view of the good life. For intellectualist-moralist liberalism of flourishing, the good life consists in the ability of an individual to develop her intellectual and moral capabilities. A core principle of autonomy liberalism is that all human beings have equal moral worth. Discrimination, treating individuals differently without good reason, implies that some individuals have less moral worth than others. The relations between religion and the state were tense already in the biblical era of the ancient Israelites and remained so over many centuries in Christian Europe.
