ENGLISH

The General Will: Rousseau, Marx, Communism

By Andrew Levine

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
1993
ISBN
0521443229, 9780521443227, 0521062284, 9780521062282, 0511527489, 9780511527487
DOI
10.1017/CBO9780511527487
LCC
JC328.2 .L48 1993
Google Books ID
E4kEyBcz4KYC
Open Library ID
OL1395443M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
12 MB (12834608 bytes)
Pages
xiii, 222\239
Scanned
yes
Time added
2024-05-24 12:19:30

Description

This bold and unabashedly utopian book advances the thesis that Marx's notion of communism is a defensible, normative ideal. However, unlike many others who have written in this area, Levine applies the tools and techniques of analytic philosophy to formulate and defend his radical, political programme. The argument proceeds by filtering the ideals and institutions of Marxism through Rousseau's notion of the 'general will'. Once Rousseau's ideas are properly understood it is possible to construct a community of equals who share some vision of a common good that can be achieved and maintained through cooperation or coordination that is at once both voluntary and authoritative. The book engages with liberal theory in order to establish its differences from Rousseauean-Marxian political theory. This provocative book will be of particular interest to political philosophers and political scientists concerned with Marxism, socialist theory and democratic theory.

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