Three cheers for liberal modesty

ABSTRACT

Many liberals have been immodest in postulating that their own progressive, secular liberalism is the only one that can be justified in public reason. In Liberalism’s Religion, I articulate a more modest theory of liberalism and religion. While I personally endorse progressive secular liberalism, I argue that it is only one of the reasonable conceptions of liberal justice. This liberal modesty has profound, hitherto unnoticed implications for (i) the role of religious arguments in the public sphere, (ii) the legitimacy of religious establishment, and (iii) the justifiability of religious exemptions. In this article, I defend these three claims by providing replies to my critics.     

第三人利益合同的变更和解除

建立第三人利益合同制度是完善我国合同法的迫切需要.其中一个重要的问题就是当事人是否可以像在两人合同中一样协议变更或解除第三人利益合同.在没有第三人同意的情况下,当事人行使变更权和解除权虽不应当完全否认,但是必须受到限制.具体标准取决于建立第三人利益合同制度的宗旨和该合同的特征.作为一般法规范的第三人利益合同的变更和解除制度将与我国现行合同法律法规共存,形成完整的体系.并在实践中按照特别法优于一般法的原则予以适用.     

市场行为的法制基础与伦理导向

市场主体的自由不是绝对的,必须接受法制的约束和伦理的引导,本文从自由放任的市场经济原则谈起,分析了法制和伦理对市场行为的调整作用,并试图通过比较说明二者之间的关系。     

关于马克思现代性理论的研究述评

现代性研究自上世纪90年代开始进入中国学术界的视野，马克思的现代性思想是这个领域研究不可绕开的重要话题。学者们围绕马克思是否研究过现代性、现代性的内涵与现代性的困境、马克思如何展开他的现代性理论以及马克思现代性思想的现实意义各抒己见，梳理这些问题的研究现状，可以看到当前马克思现代性理论这一课题的研究成果，也发现了其中存在的不足，明确了学界下一步的研究任务。     

Justice,Fairness, and World Ownership

It is a central tenet of most contemporarytheories of justice that the badly-off have aright to some of the resources of the well-off.In this paper, I take as my starting point twoprinciples of justice, to wit, the principle ofsufficiency, whereby individuals have a rightto the material resources they need in order tolead a decent life, and the principle ofautonomy, whereby once everybody has such alife, individuals should be allowed to pursuetheir conception of the good, and to enjoy thefruits of their labour in pursuit of suchconception. I also endorse the value offairness, whereby the right person orinstitution makes the decision as to whether tobring about justice.I show that justice and fairness can besatisfied only if we all enjoy a combination ofprivate and collective rights over the world.In making that case, I shall argue that the setof ownership rights I advocate differs fromreadily available conceptions of restrictedprivate ownership in two important respects.First, it is such that in some circumstances,two individuals or more can have control rightsover the same property at the same time, not,as is standardly the case in legal systems, bycontracting with one another (through gifts andjoint purchase), but simply on grounds ofjustice. Second, it allows that, if necessary,property-owners be expropriated from theirproperty without compensation.     

广西参与“两廊一圈”投资合作与融资对策研究

2004年10月8日,中国、越南发表联合公报,两国政府同意在中国—东盟自由贸易区合作框架下成立专家组,积极探讨组建“两廊一圈”经济合作区的可行性。“两廊一圈”即指“昆明—老街—河内—海防—广宁”、“南宁—谅山—河内—海防—广宁”两个经济走廊和“环北部湾经济圈”,其涉     

NGOs in Hong Kong: The present and the future

This study analyzes NGOs’ influence in Hong Kong's political, social, and economic life. It addresses three questions. Firstly, what are their major roles and how effectively can they play them in society? Secondly, how active are these organizations? Finally, how confident are the NGO leaders about their organizations’ future? Based on a telephone survey conducted in August 1996, it finds that NGOs in Hong Kong are characterized not only by common functions but also some unique ones created by the territory's special status. In general, Hong Kong's NGOs are fairly active, which has little to do with the specialization, financial resources, and geographical foci of the organizations. Despite Beijing's explicit guarantee of the freedom of NGO activities, this study reveals that a clear majority of the NGO leaders expressed doubts about their organizations’ future.