In episode two of this three-part series on the political theory of communitarianism, I will look at the communitarian critique of the liberal notion of the self. Things are about to get metaphysical. Communitarians argue that liberalism is based on a flawed metaphysical conception of the self - what they term the unencumbered self. Communitarians argue a flawed politics flows out of this flawed metaphysics that fails to account for the socially embodied nature of citizens as individuals. I also look at communitarian notions of justice with a brief comparison between the justice systems of Japan and America.
