Liberal societies confront the challenge of cultural pluralism - From the politics of tolerance to multicultural politics

The classical liberal tradition responded to the challenge of religious plu ralism by defending the principle of tolerance. However, this principle enc ounters limitations when it comes to facing up to cultural pluralism. The a rticle shows these limitations and suggests that the idea of multicultural politics developed by Will Kymlicka makes it possible to go beyond them. Th is step can only be grounded in a conception of recognition which questions some of the normative premises of liberal political philosophy, particular ly the one-sided valorization of negative liberty and the opposition betwee n the politics of equality and the politics of difference.