Overview

Developing a political approach to culture that avoids both the pitfalls of neutralism and the perils of perfectionism is among the most urgent tasks facing contemporary liberal theory. Drawing on Rawls's political liberalism as well as recent work by capability theorists and major critics of liberalism, The Skillful Self makes the case for a liberal politics of skill in which the skillful self forms the focus of a nonperfectionist approach to culture and cultural policy.