Political Liberalism, Exclusion and Metapluralism: A Critical Analysis of John Tomasi’s Account of the Moral Powers of Citizenship

Abstract Upon reading Free Market Fairness , it is apparent that John Tomasi’s defence of market democracy relies on a certain conception of political personality qua citizenship in which the idea of self-authorship is afforded a primary role. With the goal of both clarifying and assessing the merits of said conception, this article begins with a delimitation of Rawls’s and John Tomasi’s account of political personhood qua citizenship. It then moves on to provide several interpretations of the central causality clause associated with Tomasi’s first moral power, favouring a so-called ontological interpretation. Building upon this, the article goes on to argue that Tomasi’s account brings to light problems of exclusivity and metapluralism which afflict, and cast doubt upon, the broader project of political liberalism.