The Turn Back from the Turn Inward: How Liberalism Lost Its Way and How It Can Find Its Way Back Again

Abstract

This paper digests some broad intellectual, social, and cultural trends over the last 100 years and discusses their effect on the promotion of the political theory broadly known as “liberalism.” While some of these trends have had a positive effect, I contend that they have mostly caused liberalism to turn in on itself, and this has made liberalism especially susceptible to attacks from the right. It has caused liberalism to become far too insular and utopian, distancing itself from the practical; to become far too close-minded, depriving itself of the intellectual energy and new ideas that it needs to move forward; to become far too factionalized, creating intellectual competition rather than intellectual cross-fertilization; and to become far too timid, alienating a large portion of its natural supporters by prizing caution and decorum over decisive action. As a result, liberalism is struggling today, and it cannot continue to be the operating system of a successful self-perpetuating pluralistic society unless it is prepared to turn outward once again. After describing the several facets of the turn inward and what motivated these, I shall describe how this contributed to the rise of identity politics as liberalism’s main argumentative idea. But I shall argue that while fully morally justified, as a tactical matter, this approach has proved more counterproductive than helpful. Finally, I shall argue that we live in a world where neither moral nor rational argument is available against firmly committed anti-liberals, and thus some alternative argumentative approaches are required. Two of the possibilities here are cultural and theological argument, and I shall describe how these might be used to refocus liberalism’s political energy outward and make its appeal more apparent again.