Is communitarian thinking altruistic?

 

Tuija Takala1, Matti Häyry2

 

1University of Manchester and University of Helsinki

2Centre for Professional Ethics, University of Central Lancashire

 

 

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to expose the problematic nature of claims concerning the altruistic or egoistic foundations of popular theories of political philosophy. Altruism and egoism are complex psychological and ethical concepts, which cannot be straight­forwardly employed to defend or to attack equally complex doctrines like communitaria­nism and liberalism.