Political Philosophy

Description

Who ought to govern? Why should I obey the law? How should conflict be controlled? What is the proper education for a citizen and a statesman? These questions probe some of the deepest and most enduring problems that every society confronts, regardless of time and place. Today we ask the same crucial questions about law, authority, justice, and freedom that Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Tocqueville faced in previous centuries. In this lively and enlightening book, Professor Steven B. Smith introduces the wide terrain of political philosophy through the classic texts of the discipline. Works by the greatest thinkers illuminate the permanent problems of political life, Smith shows, and while we may not accept all their conclusions, it would be a mistake to overlook the relevance of their insights. Contents Preface Texts 1. Why Political Philosophy? 2. Antigone and the Politics of Conflict 3. Socrates and the Examined Life 4. Plato on Justice and the Human Good 5. Aristotle’s Science of Regime Politics 6. The Politics of the Bible 7. Machiavelli and the Art of Political Founding 8. Hobbes’s New Science of Politics 9. Locke and the Art of Constitutional Government 10. Rousseau on Civilization and Its Discontents 11. Tocqueville and the Dilemmas of Democracy 12. In Defense of Patriotism Notes Index