Judith N. Shklar’s Skeptical Liberalism and the Specter of Conservatism

How conservative is Judith Shklar’s skeptical liberalism? One interpretation views her “barebones” or “survivalist” approach as representative of a conservative liberalism typical of the Cold War era. Another interpretation stresses the progressive and even radical nature of her thought, with Shklar’s self-ascribed skepticism central to both strands. This paper analyzes Shklar’s writings between 1955 and the mid-1960s. It argues that the critical engagement with conservative liberalism indeed shaped Shklar’s skeptical political theory, especially in her first monograph After Utopia . It compares After Utopia , first, to Shklar’s doctoral thesis Fate and Futility , and second, to the so-called end-of-ideology debate. This double comparison carves out the reasons for the liberalism of fear’s resonance with conservative thought patterns, but also helps to better estimate Shklar’s distance from conservative liberalism. Finally, the paper questions the impression of a conservative turn from After Utopia to Legalism which recent interpreters have suggested.