accordingly,some form of differentiation of civil society, the state, and the economy is the basis for both modern democratic and liberal institutions. the latter presuppose neither atomistic nor communal but rather associated selves. moreover, on this conception the radical opposition between the philosophical foundations and societal presuppositions of rights-oriented liberalism and democratically oriented communitarian-ism dissolves. this conception of civil society does not, of course, solve the question of the relation between negative and positive liberty, but it does place this issue within a common societal and philosophical terrain. it is on this terrain that we learn how to compromise, take reflective distance from our own perspective so as to entertain others, learn to value difference,recognize or create anew what we have in common,and come to see which dimensions of our traditions are worth preserving and which ought to be abandoned or changed.