CONSTITUTIONAL GOODS: THE AIM OF CONSTITUTIONAL THEORY

Abstract

Constitutional Goods by Alan Brudner is a documented essay of constitutional theory that aims to develop the model of the ideal constitution of political liberalism capable of calling for the commitment of the various political-philosophical schools or traditions that are debating on the meaning of public reason in constitutional democracies and the basic principles that should inspire the action of their governments. Brudner aims to develop a model of public reason which gives rise to a convergent consensus of these schools (libertarianism, egalitarianism, liberal forms of communitarianism, etcetera), ie a kind of consensus that, unlike Rawls’ overlapping consensus, arises from each liberal school own philosophical commitments and that hence does not require to veil them when seeking consensus. Hence, he shows, through a refined dialectic procedure, how extreme versions of libertarianism, egalitarianism or communitarianism end up degenerating into political theories which shows despotic forms and inconsistent with its own fundamental principles. For this reason, all these theories should eventually converge on a model of inclusive constitution drawn up synthetically with the valuable and enduring elements of each tradition. The following text, in which details of the sifting method of the ideal principles of political liberalism, of the various theories called to participate in the construction of the ideal liberal constitution and other relevant aspects of the whole theory can be found, corresponds with the introductory chapter of that book.