Philosophical Methodology in Will Kymlicka's 'Multicultural Citizenship'

Abstract

Will Kymlicka's Multicultural Citizenship, from 1995, represents the opening salvo in an extensive debate regarding the legitimacy of collective rights for minority cultures. Against liberals who maintain that such rights run counter to liberalism, Kymlicka argues that groupdifferentiated rights are a valid extension of basic liberal values. The bulk of his book, then, is taken up with the task of demonstrating that liberalism is already heavily invested in the group; that despite its exaggerated fidelity to the autonomous individual, liberalism recognizes the centrality of group identification in social and political life. Insofar as he can make this recognition explicit, Kymlicka can clear away whatever obstacles prevent us from affirming the legitimacy, and indeed the necessity, of group-differentiated rights for minority cultures. (author's abstract)