Cultural Liberalism in Australia

This book reclaims Cultural Liberalism as an important part of Australian intellectual heritage. Arguing that the tradition is central to the Australian experience of modernity, Gregory Melleuish traces the impact of cultural liberalism from its emergence around the time of Federation to its demise during the 1960s. Part collective biography, part intellectual and cultural history, the book describes the development of cultural liberalism, founded on rationalism and humanism, by university-educated intellectuals. Dr Melleuish argues that a religious and spiritual dimension was also central to the tradition. He draws attention to the intellectual similarities of thinkers not usually grouped together, and also considers those who inherited the tradition but repudiated it. This provocative book will make an important contribution to debates about culture, identity and citizenship in post-modern Australia.

1. Introduction: culture, tradition and modernity; 2. Traditions of modernity in Australia; 3. Ethos and myth: the dynamics of Cultural Liberalism; 4. Ethos and myth: the humanities strike back; 5. Liberalism and its critics: the realists; 6. Liberalism and its critics: the idealists; Epilogue and conclusion: Cultural Liberalism spurned?