Two Concepts of Plurality: Positive and Negative Pluralisms in Moral and Political Thought

This article argues that pluralism is a much more ambivalent idea than it is ordinarily thought to be, that there is more than one way of being more than one. In particular, it tries to show that plurality, like liberty, can be and has been imagined either negatively or positively: negatively, as the absence of some form of agreement or uniformity; positively, as engagement with competing qualities or commitments. In addition, it argues that the prominence of negative conceptions of pluralism, with their emphasis on difference and diversity, has made it hard to recognize and appreciate the important role that positive conceptions play in moral and political discourse.