InConstitutional Goods, Alan Brudner distills the essentials of liberal constitutionalism from the jurisprudence and practice of contemporary liberal-democratic states, and argues that the model liberal-democratic constitution is best understood as a unity of three constitutional frameworks: libertarian, egalitarian, and communitarian. Each of these has a particular conception of public reason. Brudner criticizes each of these frameworks insofar as its organizing conception claims to be fundamental, and moves forward to suggest a Hegelian conception of public reason within which each framework is contained as a constituent element of a whole.
When viewed in this light, the liberal constitution embodies a surprising synthesis. It reconciles a commitment to individual liberty and freedom of conscience with the perfectionist idea that the state ought to cultivate a type of personality whose fundamental ends are the goods essential to dignity. Such a reconciliation, the author suggests, may attract competing liberalisms to a consensus on an inclusive conception of public reason under which political authority is validated for those who share a confidence in the individual's inviolable worth.
Preface Introduction: The Aim of Constitutional Theory Part One: Liberty 1. The Libertarian Conception of the Public 2. Constitutional Principles: Civil Rights 3. Constitutional Principles: Political Rights Part Two: Equality 4. The Egalitarian Principle of Justice 5. Self-authorship and Substantive Justice 6. Self-rule and Procedural Justice 7. Social and Economic Rights Part Three: Community 8. Hegel's Idea of Sittlichkeit 9. Sex, Family, and Self-Authorship 10. The Liberal Duty to Recognize Cultures 11. Consociationalism Conclusion
Brudner's book is an unqualified success. The author has admirably moved the discourse of constitutional thought to a hlsj
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