ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we suggest that there is a great need for moral realism in contemporary political debates as well as in more personal realms of living. What Sugarman (2013) terms our “neoliberal condition” appears to be the source of considerable political dysfunction and individual malaise in today’s society. “Liberty” has come to mean primarily what Erich Fromm called a one-sided “freedom from” oppressive social ties that lacks a corresponding sense of “freedom for” giving some context and direction to our increased freedom and opportunity. The writings of Christopher Lasch and Patrick Deneen illuminate our need for a renewed democratic (as opposed to authoritarian) populism or an engaged democratic politics. The theory of hermeneutic moral realism helps clarify and ground the idea of such a politics in particular and human flourishing in general as involving both cultivating deep personal convictions about what makes for a good or worthwhile life and profound dependence on the different perspectives of others and continuing dialogue with them to identify our blind spots and correct our errors. In this way we might attain a greater sense of purpose in our common life and what Lasch called a needed “new wisdom of limits” in modern times.
