Douglas B. Rasmussen is Professor of Philosophy at St. John's University in New York City. Douglas J. Den Uyl is Vice President of Educational Programs at Liberty Fund in Indianapolis.

• ContentsPrefacePart I: Liberalism and the Political Order1. Liberalism in Crisis2. Liberalism and Ethics3. Liberalism’s Past and Precedents4. Why Individual Rights? Rights as Metanormative Principles5. The Natural Right to Private PropertyPart II: A New Deep Structure for Liberalism6. Individualistic Perfectionism7. Defending Individualistic Perfectionism8. Natural Law and the Common Good9. Self-OwnershipPart III: Defending Liberalism10. Communitarian and Conservative Critics11. The Structure of the Argument for Individual Rights12. Defending Individualistic Non-Perfectionist PoliticsEpilogueIndex

“Norms of Liberty is one of the most important works on liberalism in recent years. The fact that individuals have different views of the good life poses a fundamental dilemma for modern political philosophy. Liberals frequently adopt a stance of moral neutrality, suggestive of relativism, subjectivism, or skepticism, while their opponents advocate a substantive moral view at the expense of individual freedom. Rasmussen and Den Uyl present a brilliant solution by distinguishing between normative principles guiding individual moral conduct and metanormative principles that concern legislation. They argue compellingly that neo-Aristotelian perfectionist ethics can support liberal non-perfectionist politics.”—Fred D. Miller Jr., Social Philosophy and Policy Center, Bowling Green State University