Talk on pluralism from professor John Inazu

• Author: LI Guolin
• Pages: 496-497

FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA

VOL. 12 SEPTEMBER 2017 NO. 3

DOI 10.3868/s050-006-017-0026-1

ACADEMICS NEWS

TALK ON PLURALISM FROM PROFESSOR JOHN INAZU

On May 22, 2017, Professor John Inazu from Washington University in St. Louis

delivered an academic lecture in Renmin University of China. In this lecture, Professor

Inazu laid out the core ideas of his new book, Confident Pluralism: Surviving and

Thriving through Deep Difference.

Professor John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and

Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. His scholarship focuses on the First

Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly, religion, and related questions of legal and

political theory.

Professor Inazu thinks the tendency to shut down those who have different views with

us is ubiquitous in our society. It comes from our inability to deal with the reality of our

radical and irreconcilable differences. The philosopher John Rawls called these

differences the “fact of pluralism.” Professor Inazu defines pluralism based on two

understandings, which include the fact of our differences and the political response to our

differences. Professor Inazu calls it confident pluralism, “Instead of the elusive goal of

unity, confident pluralism suggests a more modest possibility that we can pursue a

common existence despite our deeply held difference. Confidence without pluralism

misses the reality of politics. It suppresses difference, sometimes violently. Pluralism

without confidence misses the reality of people. It ignores or trivializes our differences

for the sake of feigned agreement and false unity. Confident pluralism allows genuine

difference to coexist without suppressing or minimizing our firmly held convictions.”

Instead of trying to avoid those with whom we disagree, confident pluralism suggests that

we could provide space for rewarding difference and mutual opportunity for persuasion.

According to Professor Inazu, confident pluralism includes both a legal and a personal

dimension. The two are interrelated. From the perspective of constitutional dimension,

Professor Inazu illustrates two legal doctrines: the right of expressive association and

public forum. The basic idea underlying the right of association is that the private groups

formed in civil society are properly free from government interference absent an

extraordinarily compelling justification. The public forum provides constitutional

protection for citizens by facilitating them to gather in government provided spaces to

give their own views, which signify a willingness to tolerate dissent, discomfort and even

instability. From the perspective of the personal dimension, Professor Inazu considers that

confident pluralism through three aspirations: tolerance, humility and patience.

“Tolerance is the recognition that people are for the most part free to pursue their own