"rights-consciousness"

    <p class=default>
      
        Liberalism, crits
      
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        charge, produces a false vision of
      
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        "human sociability." n60 Compared to
      
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        the process of reification (in which
      
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        concepts are seen as having an
      
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        independent existence), n61 liberalism
      
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        "imagines society as a collection of
      
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        rights-bearing citizens, as if rights had
      
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        an independent existence 'out there.'"
      
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        n62 This "rights-consciousness" serves
      
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        to isolate individuals and to force us to
      
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        continually juxtapose our freedom and
      
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        existence with that of others. Moreover,
      
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        liberal theory is condemned for its vision
      
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        of the world as divided into dualities like
      
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        individualism/altruism,
      
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        subjectivity/objectivity, and
      
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        freedom/necessity. n63 These dualities,
      
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        it is argued, take the place of a consistent
      
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        normative theory and allow
      
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        decisionmakers to rationalize any result.
      
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        counter-restraints on the freedom of
      
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        others. 
      
    </p>