Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy
- ISBN-10
- 0674024923
- ISBN-13
- 9780674024922
- Category
- Political Science / History & Theory
- Pages
- 476
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2007-03-31
- Publisher
- Harvard University Press
- Authors
- John Rawls, Professor John Rawls
Description
This last book by the late John Rawls, derived from written lectures and notes for his long-running course on modern political philosophy, offers readers an account of the liberal political tradition from a scholar viewed by many as the greatest contemporary exponent of the philosophy behind that tradition.
Rawls's goal in the lectures was, he wrote, "to identify the more central features of liberalism as expressing a political conception of justice when liberalism is viewed from within the tradition of democratic constitutionalism." He does this by looking at several strands that make up the liberal and democratic constitutional traditions, and at the historical figures who best represent these strands--among them the contractarians Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau; the utilitarians Hume, Sidgwick, and J. S. Mill; and Marx regarded as a critic of liberalism. Rawls's lectures on Bishop Joseph Butler also are included in an appendix. Constantly revised and refined over three decades, Rawls's lectures on these figures reflect his developing and changing views on the history of liberalism and democracy--as well as how he saw his own work in relation to those traditions.
With its clear and careful analyses of the doctrine of the social contract, utilitarianism, and socialism--and of their most influential proponents--this volume has a critical place in the traditions it expounds. Marked by Rawls's characteristic patience and curiosity, and scrupulously edited by his student and teaching assistant, Samuel Freeman, these lectures are a fitting final addition to his oeuvre, and to the history of political philosophy as well.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Lectures in the History of Political Thought
By Michael OakeshottOakeshott's memorable lectures on the history of political thought, delivered each year at the London School of Economics, will now be available in print for the first time as Volume II of his Selected Writings.
-
Lectures on the History of Moral and Political Philosophy
By Jonathan Wolff, G. A. CohenHowever, throughout his career he regularly lectured on a wide range of moral and political philosophers of the past. This volume collects these previously unpublished lectures.
-
Lectures on the History of Moral and Political Philosophy
By Jonathan Wolff, G. A. CohenBut Peters's conviction that actions are uncaused is not founded on a distinction between phenomenon and noumenon, but on a distinction between cases where causal explanations are in order and cases where they are out of order. he works ...
-
Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy
By John Rawls, Barbara HermanThis book brings together the lectures that inspired a generation of students--and a regeneration of moral philosophy.
-
Natural Right and History
By Leo StraussIn this classic work, Leo Strauss examines the problem of natural right and argues that there is a firm foundation in reality for the distinction between right and wrong in ethics and politics.
-
Toward "Natural Right and History": Lectures and Essays by Leo Strauss, 1937–1946
By Leo StraussRounding out the book are copious annotations and notes to facilitate further study.
-
History of Political Philosophy
By Leo Strauss, Joseph CropseyThis volume provides an unequaled introduction to the thought of chief contributors to the Western tradition of political philosophy from classical Greek antiquity to the twentieth century.
-
History of Political Philosophy
By Leo Strauss, Joseph CropseyThis volume provides an unequaled introduction to the thought of chief contributors to the Western tradition of political philosophy from classical Greek antiquity to the twentieth century. Written by specialists...
-
What is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies
By Leo StraussThe matter collected in this volume has all been published before, but not all of it in the English original.
-
Churchill's Political Philosophy
By Martin GilbertChurchill's Political Philosophy