Should All Freedom Be Basic?

Abstract

Rawls has been criticized by political philosophers from more right-leaning perspectives. John Tomasi and Jessica Flanigan, for example, have argued that the logic internal to his high liberalism requires expanding the list of basic rights. Flanigan argues that nearly any freedom should be basic. Her argument has significant implications for the viability of high liberalism and its commitment to many aspects of the common good. I offer several novel responses on behalf of high liberalism. I argue that the most effective response to her argument will require that high liberals abandon the commitment to the lexical priority of liberty. As a consequence, the common good will end up playing a more prominent role within the high liberal paradigm.