Communitarianism

The term communitarianism has different meanings, depending on one's philosophical worldview. In its basic form, the term is used to denote collective responsibility, particularly when used in reference to one's position in a community. Communitarianism is an oppositional viewpoint that rejects ideologies that encourage individualism largely based on market economy and that often come with oppressive power structures that subjugate people who are usually at the periphery of society. By rejecting both authoritarian and individualistic practices, proponents of the communitarian perspective espouse the kind of politics that adhere to the ideals of moral citizenship founded on principles of social, political, economic, and cultural inclusiveness.

Communitarian ideas have evolved over the years, informing modern ways of governance in both public and private spheres. Commentators in this field of scholarship identify four main phases.

The first phase, which began around the 4th century BC, was characterized by Aristotle's rejection of the argument by Plato that there are objects of higher power beyond reach. According to Aristotle, such an argument elevated people to superhumans whose claim to knowledge appropriation was without proper justification. In Aristotle's view, this line of argument perpetuated class;hence, he believed that knowledge can be generated from lived experience, cooperative inquiries, or both.

Aristotelian thought was further advanced by Francis Bacon, whose thinking constituted what is regarded as the second phase of the communitarian evolutionary process. Other thinkers resonated with Bacon in acknowledging that knowledge appropriation based on ancient authorities or particular individual claims is worthless. He argued against bias in such claims and proposed that any such knowledge can be regarded valid if positive results are subjected to practical experimentation. Bacon's argument emphasized what he called “organized research,”which allows for the participation of other people in cooperative ventures. In other words, Bacon's philosophical viewpoint aimed to guard against systematization of knowledge transfer, often done without proper security even when such knowledge claims come from powerful authorities.

The third phase in the evolution of communitarian thinking gained prominence in the mid-19th century. This time witnessed an amalgamation of two seemingly different but highly interrelated philosophies. The phase was characterized by the argument about how knowledge claims can be evaluated and how participatory decision-making processes are conducted. Proponents of these views, in particular, Robert Owen and John Mills, argued against market economy, which they believed was greed driven and alienating [Page 373]and caused communities to become powerless because the system seemed to advocate for centralized power and governance. As such, the main thrust during this period was a transformation of communities through participatory decision-making processes of issues that affected the communities themselves. Communitarian advocates argued that to achieve this, better provision of education as the main ingredient to awareness raising was necessary. In addition, communitarian thinkers believed that participatory democracy would provide power to both men and women to hire and fire any elected member of the chosen organizations as a means of improving efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.

The fourth phase of this process was advanced by four major figures: Thomas Grean, Leonard Hobhouse, John Dewey, and Émile Durkheim. The major concern that emanated from these communitarian thinkers was the issue of individual rights, which they argued had been misinterpreted and used to exploit the relevance of community. They argued that the liberalization of this discourse was a dangerous precedent for the cohesion of communities. According to Dewey and others, liberalism was to be understood as a building block to enhancing the freedom of association through establishment of inclusive communities founded largely on the fundamental belief of common good. It is this aspect of common good that these four communitarian advocates believed to be the cornerstone for creating checks and balances and also as an instrument in safeguarding themselves from oppressive regimes and dictatorial tendencies. Similarly, unlike misconstrued ideas of liberalism, communitarian liberalism (which is emancipatory) has a powerful and catalytic role to enable people to learn, question, and deliberate as a team with minimal intimidation.

...