Realism, imagination and ontology: Human development and the post-liberal turn in contemporary political philosophy
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article expounds upon a salient theme of the contemporary post-/anti-liberal transformation, which is broadly conceived as an opposition to the agenda of social (human) development. The primary objective of this paper is to present an alternative theorization of the social (human) development approach proposed by C. B. Macpherson, as a response to the current crisis of liberalism (and the late-liberal democracy) and liberal political philosophy. The argument is articulated through the following four stages. The introduction maps out the problem and some aspects of the broader undertaking to which the current study belongs. The first main section of the text presents a map of positions and processes involved in invalidating the “meta-empire of late liberalism.” The second main part delineates Macpherson’s interpretation of the liberal political ontology as having the potential to reaffirm the concept of social (human) development and circumvent the repercussions (or alternatively reorient them) of the neorealist/anti-idealist wave of criticism currently confronting liberalism as a political system and the discipline of liberal political philosophy. The conclusion of the study discusses the anticipated consequences of Macpherson’s defense of developmental liberalism, especially in relation to a possible integration of two theoretical contexts: progressive/critical social philosophy and the tradition of positive-freedom liberalism.
Source: Analiza i Egzystencja
Author: Mariusz Turowski
Institution: University of Wrocław
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225374549