Paper's abstract

Olivier Ruchet, Pluralism and the Uncertainties of Culture: The Justification of the Politics of Recognition in the Works of Will Kymlick
This paper presents and discusses the works of Canadian philosopher Will Kymlicka and his theses regarding the protection and promotion of minori-ties. Kymlicka draws a strong link between culture and autonomy, and claims that principles of justice in liberal democracies demand that special rights and privileges, including self-determination, be granted to national minori-ties. After a critical evaluation of the epistemological presuppositions struc-turing that scheme, the paper shows that the two main analytical dichotomies on which it rests, between national minorities and immigrant communities, and between internal and external restrictions, are either empirically unjusti-fied or logically flawed. While the claims presented by minorities may not be illegitimate, they are not matters of justice but of preferences, and should thus be governed by political arguments, rather than by ethical ones. Then, the paper analyzes the possible consequences of transferring high levels of self-government to national minorities. That transfer overlooks the power relations within groups, and seems to duplicate the framework of inter-national rela-tions among sovereign states. As such, it can hardly be defended in the name of liberalism, and constitutes a renouncement of political theory to actively em-brace pluralism. What is more, the administrative inscription of identities it maps out can be the source of serious infringements on autonomy. The paper concludes with a presentation of some alternative understandings of identities and pluralism, which bypass those limits and that renouncement to politics.

Key Words : Kimlicka, minority, culture, autonomy, identity
t. 49 : 2005, p. 213-234

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