Nonmeasure for Nonmeasure
Nomocratic Pluralism: Plural Values, Negative Liberty, and the Rule of Law
by Kenneth B. McIntyre
Palgrave Macmillan, 2021; xii 214 pp.
Kenneth McIntyre, a political theorist and historian who teaches at Sam Houston State University, addresses one of the most difficult questions in political philosophy in his excellent book. It is a question that should interest everyone who wants a free society. McIntyre sets forward his answer with an immense command of the scholarly literature and makes many acute remarks along the way. In what follows, I’ll comment on a few of the issues he discusses.
McIntyre’s basic argument is this. People have different values, and there is no procedure rationally compelling to everybody by which to show that there is one set of values that is best. It isn’t that values are just subjective preferences: some values really are objectively good and are better than others. But this fact doesn’t suffice to enable values to be arranged in a hierarchy. Many values are incommensurable. Because people are attracted to different values, they will pursue different projects; and, so long as they do not try to coerce others, they should be free to do so. McIntyre, following Isaiah Berlin, calls this the presumption of negative liberty; crudely put, “You leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.”
By no means does this presumption imply approval of other people’s values, but unless it interferes with the freedom of others, people’s pursuit of their projects should be tolerated. As you would expect, McIntyre sees only a very limited role for the state. It should provide a framework of rules within which people can peacefully interact as they carry out these projects. Private property and a free market are essen
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