Adam Wilcox’s Reviews > The Politics of the Real > Status Update

Schindler now turns to arguing that because "the good" is universal, the liberal idea of a "private good" to be pursued by the individual in a sphere separate from the public is incoherent. Looking forward to seeing where he goes with this in the next chapter...

Chapter 4 is an interesting analysis of the basis of rights in liberal societies and the idea of natural rights. Schindler argues that the liberal conception of rights is fundamentally disconnected from the natural order (or in his terms, "the real") and proposes that "right" be defined as "the social extension of a natural power". A right is thus "the social transformation of naturally grounded realities."

This book is incredible. Schindler’s argument that philosophical and political liberalism are founded on a reversal of the classical Aristotelian and Thomistic priority of act over potency is especially fascinating.