The Moral Revival of Communities: Possibilities and Problems. the Communitarian Approach

Communitarianism is a political philosophy and a social movement, which has been developing mostly in the United States since the 1980s. Locating itself between the traditional liberal and conservative approaches, communitarianism looks for a balance between what is individual, and what is communal; between individual freedom and social order.

One of the basic postulates of communitarianism is the revival of moral culture of communities. Communitarians advocate for a value-oriented organization of society, focused on the common good. Therefore, they strongly oppose the Kantian tradition of value-free, neutral perspective, as well as the vision of an unencumbered self freely deciding about his/her values.

In the paper, a critical analysis of the communitarian approach to moral culture will be presented. The following questions will be addressed: How to formulate and establish a moral culture within a community? Is it possible to reach an axiological consensus in a modern, pluralistic society? How to avoid community’s oppressiveness with regard to people’s values and behavior? What are the conflict-resolution procedures?