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Abandoned to Ourselves

Peter A. Meyers

This book shows how the centerpiece of the Enlightenment—society as the symbol of collective human life and as the fundamental domain of human practice—was primarily composed and animated by its most ... More

This book shows how the centerpiece of the Enlightenment—society as the symbol of collective human life and as the fundamental domain of human practice—was primarily composed and animated by its most ambivalent figure: Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Displaying this new society as an evolving field of interdependence, the book traces the emergence and moral significance of dependence itself within Rousseau's encounters with a variety of discourses of order, including theology, natural philosophy, and music. Underpinning this whole scene we discover a modernizing conception of the human Will, one that runs far deeper than Rousseau's most famous trope, the “general Will.”Less

Adam Smith and Rousseau: Ethics, Politics, Economics

Maria Pia Paganelli, Dennis C. Rasmussen, and Craig Smith (eds)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith are two of the foremost thinkers of the European Enlightenment, thinkers who made seminal contributions to moral and political philosophy and who shaped some of ... More

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith are two of the foremost thinkers of the European Enlightenment, thinkers who made seminal contributions to moral and political philosophy and who shaped some of the key concepts of modern political economy. Among Smith’s first published works was a letter to the Edinburgh Review where he discusses Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Smith continued to engage with Rousseau’s work and to explore many shared themes such as sympathy, political economy, sentiment, and inequality. This collection brings together an international and interdisciplinary group of Adam Smith and Rousseau scholars to provide an exploration of the key shared concerns of these two great thinkers in politics, philosophy, economics, history, and literature.Less

Adam Smith's Pluralism: Rationality, Education, and the Moral Sentiments

Jack Russell Weinstein

This book suggests that the foundations of liberalism can be found in the writings of Adam Smith (1723–1790), a pioneer of modern economic theory and a major figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. ... More

This book suggests that the foundations of liberalism can be found in the writings of Adam Smith (1723–1790), a pioneer of modern economic theory and a major figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. While offering an interpretive methodology for approaching Smith's two major works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations, the book argues against the libertarian interpretation of Smith, emphasizing his philosophies of education and rationality. The book also demonstrates that Smith should be recognized for a prescient theory of pluralism that prefigures current theories of cultural diversity.Less

Adventures of the Symbolic: Post-marxism and Radical Democracy

Warren Breckman

This book critically revisits the reassessment of philosophical Marxism that took place in the middle of the twentieth century. It explores the efforts that were made to reconcile a radical and ... More

This book critically revisits the reassessment of philosophical Marxism that took place in the middle of the twentieth century. It explores the efforts that were made to reconcile a radical and democratic political agenda with a politics that did not privilege materialist understandings of the social. It describes how Marxism's collapse in the twentieth century profoundly altered the style and substance of Western European radical thought. It explains how, in order to build a more robust form of democratic theory and action, prominent theorists moved to reject revolution, abandon class for more fragmented models of social action, and elevate the political over the social. Acknowledging the “constructedness” of society and politics, these theorists chose the “symbolic” as a concept powerful enough to reinvent leftist thought outside a Marxist framework. The book goes on to explain how the post-Marxist idea of the symbolic is dynamic and complex, and that it uncannily echoes the early German Romantics, who first advanced a modern conception of symbolism and the symbolic. It explains how post-Marxist thinkers appreciated the rich potential of the ambiguities and paradoxes that the Romantics first recognized. Mapping different ideas of the symbolic among contemporary thinkers, the book engages with the work of important theorists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss, Cornelius Castoriadis, and Claude Lefort and uniquely situates them within two hundred years of European thought, showing their profound relevance to today's political activism.Less

After Fukushima: The Equivalence of Catastrophes

Jean-Luc Nancy

This book examines the nature of catastrophes in the era of globalization and technology. Can a catastrophe be an isolated occurrence? Is there such a thing as a “natural” catastrophe when all of our ... More

This book examines the nature of catastrophes in the era of globalization and technology. Can a catastrophe be an isolated occurrence? Is there such a thing as a “natural” catastrophe when all of our technologies nuclear energy, power supply, water supply are necessarily implicated, drawing together the biological, social, economic, and political? The book examines these questions and more. Included in this edition are two interviews.Less

After Utopia: The Decline of Political Faith

Judith N. Shklar

After Utopia was the author's first book, a harbinger of her renowned career in political philosophy. Throughout the many changes in political thought during the last half century, this important ... More

After Utopia was the author's first book, a harbinger of her renowned career in political philosophy. Throughout the many changes in political thought during the last half century, this important work has withstood the test of time. The book explores the decline of political philosophy, from Enlightenment optimism to modern cultural despair, and offers a critical, creative analysis of this downward trend. It looks at Romantic and Christian social thought, and shows that while the present political fatalism may be unavoidable, the prophets of despair have failed to explain the world they so dislike, leaving the possibility of a new and vigorous political philosophy. With a foreword examining the book's continued relevance, this current edition introduces a remarkable synthesis of ideas to a new generation of readers.Less

Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defense of the Marriage-Free State

Clare Chambers

Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defence of the Marriage-Free State is a critique of the state recognition of marriage and a proposal for an alternative form of regulation. Part One, ‘Against ... More

Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defence of the Marriage-Free State is a critique of the state recognition of marriage and a proposal for an alternative form of regulation. Part One, ‘Against Marriage’, sets out the critique. State-recognized marriage is unjust as it violates two fundamental values: equality and freedom. Marriage has historically been an instrument for maintaining inequality between men and women both practically, through laws, and symbolically, through norms. Marriage also violates equality between same-sex and different-sex couples. Reform can remove some of these inequalities, but marriage inevitably involves inequality between married and unmarried people. Moreover, state-recognized marriage threatens liberty since it involves the state endorsing a particular way of life. Various arguments have been offered in favour of this state promotion, but none of them adequately support the state recognition of marriage as opposed to other, more inclusive measures. Part Two, ‘The Marriage-Free State’, sets out the alternative. Most feminist and egalitarian critics of state-recognized marriage advocate replacing it with either relationship contracts or alternative statuses such as civil or care-based unions. Neither option is ideal, particularly since both contracts and alternative statuses leave vulnerable people unprotected. Instead, the book proposes a piecemeal, practice-based model of regulation, applying to all people who are engaging in relationship practices that should justly be regulated. In this model, equality is secured by the regulations themselves and liberty is secured by opting out. Finally, the book considers how the state should act to ensure equality in private marriages, be they religious or secular.Less

Against Political Equality: The Confucian Case

Tongdong Bai

This book argues that domestic governance influenced by Confucianism can embrace the liberal aspects of democracy along with the democratic ideas of equal opportunities and governmental ... More

This book argues that domestic governance influenced by Confucianism can embrace the liberal aspects of democracy along with the democratic ideas of equal opportunities and governmental accountability to the people. But Confucianism would give more political decision-making power to those with the moral, practical, and intellectual capabilities of caring for the people. While most democratic thinkers still focus on strengthening equality to cure the ills of democracy, the proposed hybrid regime—made up of Confucian-inspired meritocratic characteristics combined with democratic elements and a quasi-liberal system of laws and rights—recognizes that egalitarian qualities sometimes conflict with good governance and the protection of liberties, and defends liberal aspects by restricting democratic ones. The author applies his view to the international realm by supporting a hierarchical order based on how humane each state is toward its own and other peoples, and on the principle of international interventions whereby humane responsibilities override sovereignty. The book presents a novel Confucian-engendered alternative for solving today’s political problems.Less

Against the Death Penalty: Writings from the First Abolitionists-Giuseppe Pelli and Cesare Beccaria

Giuseppe Pelli

In 1764, a Milanese aristocrat named Cesare Beccaria created a sensation when he published On Crimes and Punishments. At its centre is a rejection of the death penalty as excessive, unnecessary, and ... More

In 1764, a Milanese aristocrat named Cesare Beccaria created a sensation when he published On Crimes and Punishments. At its centre is a rejection of the death penalty as excessive, unnecessary, and pointless. Beccaria is deservedly regarded as the founding father of modern criminal law reform, yet he was not the first to argue for the abolition of the death penalty. This book presents the first English translation of the Florentine aristocrat Giuseppe Pelli's critique of capital punishment, written three years before Beccaria's treatise, but lost for more than two centuries in the Pelli family archives. The book examines the contrasting arguments of the two abolitionists, who drew from different intellectual traditions. Pelli was a devout Catholic influenced by the writings of natural jurists such as Hugo Grotius, whereas Beccaria was inspired by the French Enlightenment philosophers. While Beccaria attacked the criminal justice system as a whole, Pelli focused on the death penalty, composing a critique of considerable depth and sophistication. The book explores how Beccaria's alternative penalty of forced labour, and its conceptualisation as servitude, were embraced in Britain and America, and delves into Pelli's voluminous diaries, shedding light on Pelli's intellectual development and painting a vivid portrait of an Enlightenment man of letters and of conscience. With translations of letters exchanged by the two abolitionists and selections from Beccaria's writings, the book provides new insights into eighteenth-century debates about capital punishment and offers vital historical perspectives on one of the most pressing questions of our own time.Less

Agamben and Radical Politics

Daniel McLoughlin (ed.)

Giorgio Agamben’s analysis of sovereignty was profoundly influential for critical theory as it grappled with issues of security and state violence in the wake of September 11 2001. Yet his work was ... More

Giorgio Agamben’s analysis of sovereignty was profoundly influential for critical theory as it grappled with issues of security and state violence in the wake of September 11 2001. Yet his work was criticised for its lack of attention to capitalism and liberal governmentality, and it was argued that he ignored the problem of political action. Issues of economy and political praxis have become even more urgent for critical theory over the past decade as it has confronted the crisis of neoliberal capitalism and an increasingly turbulent and populist politics. Agamben and Radical Politics suggests that Agamben’s work retains its urgency for understanding the issues that underpin the politics of our time. It does so by focusing on his recent work on the theological history of economy, his account of a non-sovereign politics, and his longstanding engagement with the revolutionary tradition. The book includes a newly translated essay by Agamben, entitled ‘Capitalism as Religion,’ and ten chapters that critically engage with him on issues including the genealogy of economy, the practices of monasticism and use, temporality and historical method, and his relationship to Marxism and anarchism. The volume sheds new light on Agamben’s work by focusing on his treatment of economy and poitical action and, through this, opens up new ways of thinking about politics and critical theory in an age of financial crisis and political revolts.Less

Agamben's Philosophical Lineage

Adam Kotsko and Carlo Salzani (eds)

One of the greatest challenges Agamben presents to his readers is the vast and often bewildering range of sources he draws upon in his work. This volume is a one-stop reference for clarifying ... More

One of the greatest challenges Agamben presents to his readers is the vast and often bewildering range of sources he draws upon in his work. This volume is a one-stop reference for clarifying Agamben’s relationship to the many figures he engages with, providing a wide range of articles by scholars with special expertise in Agamben and the figure in question. It covers his primary interlocutors, his more occasional and secondary points of reference as well as figures who are often lurking in the background of his arguments but are seldom directly mentioned. The result is a thorough overview of Agamben’s philosophy, as illuminated by his practices of reading.Less

The Age of Culpability: Children and the Nature of Criminal Responsibility

Gideon Yaffe

Reflection on the grounds for leniency towards children who commit crimes is the entry point into the development, in this book, of a theory of the nature of criminal responsibility and desert of ... More

Reflection on the grounds for leniency towards children who commit crimes is the entry point into the development, in this book, of a theory of the nature of criminal responsibility and desert of punishment for crime. The book argues that child criminals are owed lesser punishments than adults thanks not to their psychological, behavioral, or neural immaturity but, instead, because they are denied the vote. This conclusion is reached through the development of theories of the nature of criminal culpability, desert for wrongdoing, strength of legal reasons, and what it is to have a say over the law, theories that produce a bridge between limited participation in government and criminal culpability. The cornerstone of this discussion is the proposed theory of criminal culpability. To be criminally culpable is for one’s criminal act to manifest a failure to grant sufficient weight to the legal reasons to refrain. The stronger the legal reasons, then, the greater the criminal culpability. Those who lack a say over the law, it is argued, have weaker legal reasons to refrain from crime than those who have a say. They are therefore reduced in criminal culpability and deserve lesser punishment for their crimes. Children are owed leniency, then, because of the political meaning of age rather than because of its psychological meaning. This position has implications for criminal justice policy, with respect to, among other things, the interrogation of children suspected of crimes and the enfranchisement of adult felons.Less

An Age of Risk: Politics and Economy in Early Modern Britain

Emily C. Nacol

This book shows that risk, now treated as a permanent feature of our lives, did not always govern understandings of the future. Focusing on the epistemological, political, and economic writings of ... More

This book shows that risk, now treated as a permanent feature of our lives, did not always govern understandings of the future. Focusing on the epistemological, political, and economic writings of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, and Adam Smith, the book explains that in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Britain, political and economic thinkers reimagined the future as a terrain of risk, characterized by probabilistic calculation, prediction, and control. In these early modern sources, the book contends, we see three crucial developments in thought on risk and politics. While early modern thinkers differentiated uncertainty about the future from probabilistic calculations of risk, they remained attentive to the ways uncertainty and risk remained in a conceptual tangle, a problem that constrained good decision making. They developed sophisticated theories of trust and credit as crucial background conditions for prudent risk-taking, and offered complex depictions of the relationships and behaviors that would make risk-taking more palatable. They also developed two narratives that persist in subsequent accounts of risk—risk as a threat to security, and risk as an opportunity for profit. Looking at how these narratives are entwined in early modern thought, the book locates the origins of our own ambivalence about risk-taking. By the end of the eighteenth century, a new type of political actor would emerge from this ambivalence, one who approached risk with fear rather than hope. By placing a fresh lens on early modern writing, the book demonstrates how new and evolving orientations toward risk influenced approaches to politics and commerce that continue to this day.Less

American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory

Gary Dorrien

The USA has a rich tradition of democratic socialism despite its long tradition of denigrating democratic socialism as un-American. The former American tradition has sought to Americanize democratic ... More

The USA has a rich tradition of democratic socialism despite its long tradition of denigrating democratic socialism as un-American. The former American tradition has sought to Americanize democratic socialism by speaking the language of individual liberty, trying to build a coalition party of the democratic left, and grappling with American racism, cultural diversity, exceptionalist mythology, and activist religion. Democratic socialists founded the nation’s first industrial unions, proposed every plank of what became the New Deal, and played leading roles in the civil rights movement. Today democratic socialists are leading the struggles for economic equality and the Green New Deal, unsettling the convention that democratic socialism is un-American.Less

Analyzing Oppression

Ann E. Cudd

This book presents a new, integrated theory of social oppression, which tackles the fundamental question that no theory of oppression has satisfactorily answered: if there is no natural hierarchy ... More

This book presents a new, integrated theory of social oppression, which tackles the fundamental question that no theory of oppression has satisfactorily answered: if there is no natural hierarchy among humans, why are some cases of oppression so persistent? The book argues that the explanation lies in the coercive co-opting of the oppressed to join in their own oppression. This answer sets the stage for analysis throughout the book, as it explores the questions of how and why the oppressed join in their oppression. The book argues that oppression is an institutionally structured harm perpetrated on social groups by other groups using direct and indirect material, economic, and psychological force. Among the most important and insidious of the indirect forces is an economic force that operates through oppressed persons' own rational choices. This force constitutes the central feature of analysis, and the book argues that this force is especially insidious because it conceals the fact of oppression from the oppressed and from others who would be sympathetic to their plight. The oppressed come to believe that they suffer personal failings and this belief appears to absolve society from responsibility. While in the book's view oppression is grounded in material exploitation and physical deprivation, it cannot be long sustained without corresponding psychological forces. The book examines the direct and indirect psychological forces that generate and sustain oppression. It discusses strategies that groups have used to resist oppression and argues that all persons have a moral responsibility to resist in some way. The concluding chapter proposes a concept of freedom that would be possible for humans in a world that is actively opposing oppression, arguing that freedom for each individual is only possible when we achieve freedom for all others.Less

Another Cosmopolitanism

Seyla Benhabib

Robert Post (ed.)

In these two lectures, the author argues that since the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, we have entered a phase of global civil society that is governed by cosmopolitan norms of ... More

In these two lectures, the author argues that since the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, we have entered a phase of global civil society that is governed by cosmopolitan norms of universal justice—norms which are difficult for some to accept as legitimate since they are sometimes in conflict with democratic ideals. In her first lecture, the author argues that although this tension can never be fully resolved, it can be mitigated through the renegotiation of the dual commitments to human rights and sovereign self-determination. Her second lecture develops this idea in detail, with special reference to recent developments in Europe (for example, the banning of Muslim head scarves in France). The European Union has seen the replacement of the traditional unitary model of citizenship with a new model that disaggregates the components of traditional citizenship, making it possible to be a citizen of multiple entities at the same time. The volume also contains an introduction by the editor, and contributions by Bonnie Honig (Northwestern University), Will Kymlicka (Queens University), and Jeremy Waldron (Columbia School of Law).Less

The Art of Creating Power: Freedman on Strategy

Benedict Wilkinson and James Gow (eds)

The Art of Creating Power explores the intellectual thought and wider impact — on military affairs, politics and the universities — of Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world’s leading ... More

The Art of Creating Power explores the intellectual thought and wider impact — on military affairs, politics and the universities — of Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world’s leading authorities on strategy, conflict and international politics. Freedman’s oeuvre is vast and his legacy, from nuclear strategy to US foreign policy via humanitarian intervention, terrorism, the Falklands and Iraq, has already been recognized around the world. Some of that work is considered in the present volume, although by no means all of it. The contributions to this volume address some of the highlights in the Freedman canon, as well as casting light into some of the less well-known corners of his thought and work. In this volume, senior scholars who have crossed the academic-practitioner boundary, and former students and colleagues in international and strategic studies who have been influenced by, and who have influenced, Freedman, trace the long trajectory of his career, examining his scholarly contribution to a whole host of areas - the book has five sections, reflecting Freedman’s different realms of scholarship: strategy, policy and history, ethics and intervention, theory and, lastly, practice. Recognizing that the importance of social context and constitutive interaction is vital to Freedman’s approach and, in practice, to research at the frontiers of knowledge, but with deep relevance, often, to the ‘real world’, the book as a whole provides signposts to, and markers of, a distinctive approach and a elements of a nascent school of thought — all testimony to a distinguished intellectual figure.Less

The Autonomous Animal: Self-Governance and the Modern Subject

Claire E. Rasmussen

Autonomy is a vital concept in much of modern theory, defining the Subject as capable of self-governance. Democratic theory relies on the concept of autonomy to provide justification for ... More

Autonomy is a vital concept in much of modern theory, defining the Subject as capable of self-governance. Democratic theory relies on the concept of autonomy to provide justification for participatory government and the normative goal of democratic governance, which is to protect the ability of the individual to self-govern. Offering an examination of the concept of autonomy from a postfoundationalist perspective, the book analyzes how the ideal of self-governance has shaped everyday life. The text begins by considering the academic terrain of autonomy, then it focuses on specific examples of political behavior that allow for these theories to be investigated. The book demonstrates how the adolescent—a not-yet-autonomous subject—highlights how the ideal of self-governance generates practices intended to cultivate autonomy by forming the individual’s relationship to his or her body. The book points up how the war on drugs rests on the perception that drug addicts are the antithesis of autonomy and thus must be regulated for their own good. Showing that the animal rights movement may challenge the distinction between human and animal, the book also examines the place of the endurance athlete in fitness culture, where self-management of the body is the exemplar of autonomous subjectivity.Less

Becoming Political: Spinoza's Vital Republicanism and the Democratic Power of Judgment

Christopher Skeaff

Becoming Political argues that a profoundly democratic conception of judgment is at the heart of Spinoza’s thought. By recuperating in Spinoza’s writings a “vital republicanism,” the book illuminates ... More

Becoming Political argues that a profoundly democratic conception of judgment is at the heart of Spinoza’s thought. By recuperating in Spinoza’s writings a “vital republicanism,” the book illuminates a line of political thinking that decouples democracy from the majoritarian aspiration to rule and aligns it instead with the project of becoming free and equal judges of common affairs. On this view, judgment furnishes the communal element by which people generate power to resist domination and reconfigure the terms of their political association. Each chapter of the book offers a different perspective on the political meaning of judgment as the concept operates and evolves in Spinoza’s texts. The resulting interpretations of Spinoza’s vital republicanism analyze judgment in relation to an array of other key concepts, including freedom, affect, community, constitution, law, state, religion, and, above all, democracy. In addition to providing an interpretive key for understanding Spinoza, the book’s organizing idea of “vital republicanism” puts Spinoza’s thought in critical dialogue with various strains of contemporary political theory, from neorepublicanism to Italian biopolitics.Less