Abstract
Samuel Scheffler’s paper ‘Immigration and the Significance of Culture’ (Scheffler, 2007) is in my view one of the most cogent and helpful contributions to the debate on multiculturalism and justice in recent years. Although not at all unsympathetic to the claims of justice made by immigrants, it offers what I take to be one of the soundest arguments against the case for ‘multicultural’ theories of justice. As I am myself inclined to think that we should recognize that multiculturalism or, perhaps better, a principle of respect of reasonable cultural diversity, should and does play a role within our political morality, I want to question and amend his conclusion that we ought to ‘forswear any appeal to cultural rights or to the language of multiculturalism’ in thinking about the relationship between immigrants and host societies (Scheffler, 2007, p. 117).
I wish to thank Patrick Turmel, Chad Home, François Boucher and Jim Tully for enlightening comments on an earlier draft of this chapter.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Appiah, K. A. (2005) The Ethics of Identity, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.
Barry, B. (2001) Culture and Equality: An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
Brubaker, R. (2001) ‘The Return of Assimilation? Changing Perspectives on Immigration and its Sequels in France, Germany, and the United States’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 24, 531–48.
Department of Justice Canada (1982) The Constitution Act, section 35, <http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/const/annex_e.html>.
Glazer, N. (1997) We Are All Multiculturalists Now, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
Habermas, J. (1994) ‘Struggles for Recognition in Constitutional States’, in A. Gutmann (ed.), Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, Princeton, Princeton University Press, pp. 107–48.
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (1969) Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, <http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/pr/lib/phi/histlws/cp1969_e.html>.
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (1996) Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Volume 2: Restructuring the Relationship, <http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sgmm_e.html>.
Kymlicka, W. (1995) Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, New York, Oxford University Press.
Patten, A. and Kymlicka, W. (eds) (2003) Language Rights and Political Theory, New York, Oxford University Press.
Scheffler, S. (1994) Human Morality, New York, Oxford University Press.
Scheffler, S. (2007) ‘Immigration and the Significance of Culture’, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 35, 93–125.
Sen, A. (2006) Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny, New York, W. W. Norton & Company.
Taylor, C. (1994) ‘The Politics of Recognition’, in A. Gutmann (ed.), Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, Princeton, Princeton University Press, pp. 25–73.
Tully, J. (1995) Strange Multiplicity. Constitutionalism in an Age of Diversity, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Waldron, J. (1992) ‘Minority Cultures and the Cosmopolitan Alternative’, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, Vol. 25, 751–93.
Woehrling, J. (1998) ‘L’obligation d’accommodement raisonnable et l’adaptation de la société à la diversité religieuse’, Revue de droit de McGill/McGill Law Journal, Vol. 43, 325–401.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2010 Michel Seymour
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Maclure, J. (2010). Respect for Reasonable Cultural Diversity as a Principle of Political Morality. In: Seymour, M. (eds) The Plural States of Recognition. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230285569_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230285569_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-31228-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28556-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)