Political Philosophy

Politicians invoke grand ideas: social justice, democracy, community, liberty, equality. But what do these ideas really mean? How can politicians across the political spectrum appeal to the same values? This fourth edition of Adam Swift's highly readable introduction to political philosophy answers these important questions, and includes new material on issues such as nationalism, immigration and multiculturalism, as well as updated guides to further reading. This lively and accessible book is ideal for students, but it also brings the insights of the world's leading political philosophers to a wide general audience. Using plenty of examples, it equips readers to think for themselves about the ideas that shape political life. Democracy works best when both politicians and voters move beyond rhetoric to think clearly and carefully about the values and principles that should govern their society. But clear thinking is difficult in an age when established orthodoxies have fallen by the wayside and political debate is becoming increasingly tribal and raucous. Bringing political philosophy out of the ivory tower and within the reach of all, this book provides us with tools to cut through the complexities and penetrate the smokescreens of modern politics. In so doing, it makes a valuable contribution to the democratic process and this new edition will continue to be essential reading for students of political philosophy and theory.

Politicians invoke grand ideas: social justice, democracy, community, liberty, equality. But what do these ideas really mean? How can politicians across the political spectrum appeal to the same values? This fourth edition of Adam Swift's highly readable introduction to political philosophy answers these important questions, and includes new material on issues such as nationalism, immigration and multiculturalism, as well as updated guides to further reading. This lively and accessible book is ideal for students, but it also brings the insights of the world's leading political philosophers to a wide general audience. Using plenty of examples, it equips readers to think for themselves about the ideas that shape political life. Democracy works best when both politicians and voters move beyond rhetoric to think clearly and carefully about the values and principles that should govern their society. But clear thinking is difficult in an age when established orthodoxies have fallen by the wayside and political debate is becoming increasingly tribal and raucous. Bringing political philosophy out of the ivory tower and within the reach of all, this book provides us with tools to cut through the complexities and penetrate the smokescreens of modern politics. In so doing, it makes a valuable contribution to the democratic process and this new edition will continue to be essential reading for students of political philosophy and theory.

How to understand a long-standing puzzle in political philosophy: the relationship between justice and legitimacy Can laws be unjust and yet remain, in some sense, morally legitimate? In this book, Jonathan Quong considers central issues in political philosophy through the lens of this single question. He explores and evaluates recent influential work on this topic and then proposes a novel approach of his own. The puzzle at the heart of his account is the phenomenon of legitimate injustice—laws and policies that are substantively unjust yet may be legitimately imposed by government officials. How can such laws be legitimate if, as some have argued, justice is the first virtue of social institutions? Quong analyzes the work of those who deny that injustice committed by states can be legitimate simply by virtue of its democratic or procedural pedigree; the Kantian account of legitimate institutions and justice; instrumental approaches to political legitimacy; and the recent wave of work in democratic theory focused on its egalitarian character. Arguing that these analyses do not offer an adequate solution to the puzzle and that there are compelling reasons to revise or reject them, Quong lays out his view and explains the implications for more general theories of political morality. He argues that we can explain legitimate injustice by appeal to distributive justice. If political disagreement is inevitable, then unjust legislation is largely unavoidable; it constitutes a burden that must be distributed according to just principles. Quong’s novel and illuminating framework offers a unique introduction to crucial questions in political philosophy.

How to understand a long-standing puzzle in political philosophy: the relationship between justice and legitimacy Can laws be unjust and yet remain, in some sense, morally legitimate? In this book, Jonathan Quong considers central issues in political philosophy through the lens of this single question. He explores and evaluates recent influential work on this topic and then proposes a novel approach of his own. The puzzle at the heart of his account is the phenomenon of legitimate injustice—laws and policies that are substantively unjust yet may be legitimately imposed by government officials. How can such laws be legitimate if, as some have argued, justice is the first virtue of social institutions? Quong analyzes the work of those who deny that injustice committed by states can be legitimate simply by virtue of its democratic or procedural pedigree; the Kantian account of legitimate institutions and justice; instrumental approaches to political legitimacy; and the recent wave of work in democratic theory focused on its egalitarian character. Arguing that these analyses do not offer an adequate solution to the puzzle and that there are compelling reasons to revise or reject them, Quong lays out his view and explains the implications for more general theories of political morality. He argues that we can explain legitimate injustice by appeal to distributive justice. If political disagreement is inevitable, then unjust legislation is largely unavoidable; it constitutes a burden that must be distributed according to just principles. Quong’s novel and illuminating framework offers a unique introduction to crucial questions in political philosophy.

Now greatly expanded in its third edition, Political Philosophy: The Essential Texts is ideal for survey courses in political philosophy. Offering unprecedented coverage from antiquity to the present, this historically organized collection presents the most significant works from nearly 2,500 years of political philosophy. The readings are substantial or complete texts, not fragments. An especially valuable feature of this volume is that the works of each author are introduced with an engaging essay by a leading contemporary authority. Political Philosophy moves from classical thought (Plato, Aristotle, Cicero) through the medieval period (Augustine, Aquinas) to modern perspectives (Machiavelli, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Hume, Adam Smith, Kant, Hamilton and Madison, Burke, Bentham, Tocqueville). The book includes work from major nineteenth-century thinkers (Hegel, Marx and Engels, Mill, Nietzsche) and twentieth-century theorists (Arendt, Hayek, Berlin, Taylor, Rawls, Sandel, Nozick, Foucault, Habermas, Held, Nussbaum, Young, Appiah) and also presents a variety of notable documents and addresses, including The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and speeches by Abraham Lincoln, John Dewey, and Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition to the new selections noted above in bold, the third edition also includes the complete text of Mill's On Liberty, an excerpt from Rawls's Political Liberalism, and expanded selections from Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and The Federalist Papers.

Now greatly expanded in its third edition, Political Philosophy: The Essential Texts is ideal for survey courses in political philosophy. Offering unprecedented coverage from antiquity to the present, this historically organized collection presents the most significant works from nearly 2,500 years of political philosophy. The readings are substantial or complete texts, not fragments. An especially valuable feature of this volume is that the works of each author are introduced with an engaging essay by a leading contemporary authority. Political Philosophy moves from classical thought (Plato, Aristotle, Cicero) through the medieval period (Augustine, Aquinas) to modern perspectives (Machiavelli, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Hume, Adam Smith, Kant, Hamilton and Madison, Burke, Bentham, Tocqueville). The book includes work from major nineteenth-century thinkers (Hegel, Marx and Engels, Mill, Nietzsche) and twentieth-century theorists (Arendt, Hayek, Berlin, Taylor, Rawls, Sandel, Nozick, Foucault, Habermas, Held, Nussbaum, Young, Appiah) and also presents a variety of notable documents and addresses, including The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and speeches by Abraham Lincoln, John Dewey, and Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition to the new selections noted above in bold, the third edition also includes the complete text of Mill's On Liberty, an excerpt from Rawls's Political Liberalism, and expanded selections from Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and The Federalist Papers.