pposed to misrecognition, requires an acknowledgment of the way in which anothers identity is constituted within a single, distinct group cultural structure. As Taylor says, the universal demand of equal respect "powers an acknowledgment of specificity," where specificity refers to the distinct nature of different, specific cultural groups as the basis for individual identity. For Taylor, confusion comes from the inherently irresolvable tensions between conflicting views of human nature, each of which forms an indispensable foundation stone to contemporary liberal society:"With the politics of equal dignity, what is established is meant to be universally the same, an identical basket of rights and immunities; with the politics of difference, what we are asked to recognize is the unique identity of this individual or group, their distinctness from everything else. The idea is that it is precisely this distinctness that has been ignored, glossed over, assimilated to a dominant or majority identity. And this assimilation is the cardinal sin against the ideal of authenticity."There is a danger, however, that group rights will cater for people purely on the basis of their collective identities, rather than individual ideals. While group identities are constantly being defined and redefined by the groups experiences, I believe there is a fundamental level at which all humans within civil society need to operate. By encouraging the law not to be (for instance) colour blind, there is a risk that the problem of stereotyping and marginalisation will just continue, after all the message would be that black people were inherently different to others, and so deserve special treatment. Individual political and civil rights could be undermined by the blanket application of group rights.Macintyre has noted that, "The most striking feature of contemporary moral utterance, is that so much of it is used to express disagreements." This highlights the relat...
