The Descent of Political Theory and the Limitations of Legal Tolerance

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For as long as anyone could remember, political theory had been "in the doldrums."'Everywhere, the general climate of opinion "seemed to have rendered hopeless the projects of political philosophers working in an older and grander tradition." 2 According to all the authoritative decrees, "avoiding the temptations of grand normative theory" was a philosophical duty. 3But then, suddenly, there emerged (out of nowhere) something that "[f] or many *.. marked the rebirth of the subject itself."'4 Fortunately, this phenomenon can readily be dated: it coincides closely with the appearance in 1971 of A Theory ofJustice by John Rawls."Suddenly everyone had a view about justice; everyone had a set of principles they wanted to defend; and a theoretical model on which to defend them." 5 Of course, a certain amount of academic folklore has always surrounded this telling of the tale.But to the extent that it captures something true, it also reveals important limitations of contemporary political the

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