Communitarianism and liberalism: debate implications for the legal theory

Abstract

In this text, we intend to approach the debate of political philosophy between communitarians and liberals and its implications for the law theory. Using dialectical method, a synthesis of both positions will be carried out, not from the attempt to homogenize the different currents that constitute such a debate, but with the aim of, introductory exposing the distinct distribution of weight and priority of the just over the good (liberal) and their possible indifference to (communitarian) contexts, reveal the possibility of conciliation between liberal and communitarian concepts, bearing in mind the democratic principles that support them. Once distinctions have been made between the currents in the introduction, the possible relationship between pluralist theories of law and communitarian currents is established in the second topic. As synthesis, the third topic proposes a reinterpretation of the concept of legal pluralism detached from the concept of teleological justice related to the communitarians, but compatible with the theoretical assumptions of Ronald Dworkin’s political liberalism.