Liberalism and the Politics of Compulsion

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARC STEARS
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Coercive Power ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Critical Account ◽  
Contemporary Liberalism

This review presents a critical account of the most powerful critique of liberal political thought to have emerged in recent years: a critique it calls the ‘politics of compulsion’. Drawing on the work of a wide range of critics of contemporary liberalism, this article contends that although those who advance this critique are divided in many ways they are nonetheless held together by a series of powerful descriptive and normative challenges to liberal political philosophy as it has developed since the publication of John Rawls's Political Liberalism. The article further demonstrates that most of these challenges centre on the place of coercive power in modern political life and suggests that, although these challenges should not undermine liberals' commitment to their central normative claims, they do nonetheless provide an essential rejoinder to some of liberalism's more complacent assumptions.

scholarly journals Ontology and political theory: A critical encounter between Rawls and Foucault

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-258
Author(s):  
Irena Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Critical Methodology ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Ontological Turn

Contemporary political thought is deeply divided about the role of ontology in political thinking. Famously, political liberal John Rawls has argued that ontological claims are best to be avoided in political thought. In recent years, however, a number of theorists have claimed that ontology is essential to political philosophy. According to the contributors to this ‘ontological turn’, ontological investigations may foster the politicisation of hegemonic political theories and can highlight new possibilities for political life. This essay aims to contribute to the debate about ontology in political philosophy by arguing that a compelling case for ontology can also be made in light of Rawls’ political liberalism itself, in particular, by taking seriously Rawls’ commitment to the politicisation of justice and the task of orientation of political philosophy. To make this case, the paper brings Rawls' perspective in conversation with the critical methodology and the ontology of agonism and reflections on parrhesia or frank truth-telling of Michel Foucault.

Greek and Roman Political Philosophy

Classics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jed W. Atkins
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Literary Forms ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Ancient Political Philosophy

In this bibliography “Greek and Roman political philosophy” is taken to mean philosophical reflection on politics in the Greco-Roman world from the 5th century bce to the 5th century ce. More particularly, ancient political philosophy involves reflection on the establishment of political institutions and laws; the nature of political rule; central social and political concepts such as liberty, justice, and equality; the rights and duties of citizenship and its relationship to a flourishing human life; civic education; and the different possible forms of constitutions or regimes. Scholars frequently distinguish political philosophy from political thought. Political thought encompasses any thinking about politics at all and may be expressed through a wide range of media and literary forms, from epistles to comedy to inscriptions. Political philosophy represents thinking about politics that is more specifically theoretical and systematic in nature. Thus, political philosophy may be seen as a subset of political thought. Because this bibliography is concerned with the narrower of the two categories, it focuses primarily on philosophers and theoretical discourse. This focus also informs the general organization of this entry, which adopts a chronological, author-by-author approach rather than the thematic approach sometimes utilized by historians of political thought. This bibliography covers Early Greek, Athenian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Early Christian political philosophy, extending from the Presocratics to St. Augustine.

Book Reviews: Philosophy and the Historical Understanding, Transcendent Justice: The Religious Dimension of Constitutionalism, Papist Pamphleteers: The Allen-Persons Party and the Political Thought of the Counter-Reformation in England, 1572–1615, The Moral and Political Philosophy of David Hume, Statesmanship and Party Government, Readings from Liberal Writers: English and French, Middlingness: Juste Milieu Political Theory in England and France, 1815–1848, Intellectuals in Politics, Herder's Social and Political Thought: From Enlightenment to Nationalism, Karl Marx and the British Labour Movement, before the Socialists, Marx, Engels and Australia, The Basic Writings of Trotsky, Equality and Power, Equality in Political Philosophy, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, Human Law and Human Justice, Labourrelations and the Law, Human Freedom and Responsibility, Politik Und Praktische Philosophie, Theorie Und Praxis, Democracy in a Changing Society, A Framework for Political Analysis, A Systems Analysis of Political Life, The Science and Method of Politics, The Future of Political Science, Introduction to Politics, Political and Sociological Theory and its Applications, The Laws of War in the Late Middle Ages, A Study of War, A Dictionary of the Social Sciences, Modern British Politics, Politics in England, The British Political Fringe, Les Partis Politiques En Grande Bretagne, The Conservative Party in Opposition 1945–51, The Liberal Party, The British General Election of 1964, Colour and the British Electorate, Immigration and Race in British Politics, Power in Co-Operatives, Constituency Politics, Town Councillors: A Study of Barking

1966 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 380-414
Author(s):  
Peter Munz ◽  
W. H. Greenleaf ◽  
John Day ◽  
T. D. Campbell ◽  
Morton R. Davies ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Political Life ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Juste Milieu

In What Sense must Socialism be Communitarian?

1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Miller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Robert Nozick ◽  
Ronald Dworkin ◽  
The Social ◽  
Contemporary Liberalism ◽  
Liberal Thought

This paper stands at the confluence of two streams in contemporary political thought. One stream is composed of those critics of liberal political philosophy who are often described collectively as ‘communitarians’. What unites these critics (we shall later want to investigate how deep their collegiality goes) is a belief that contemporary liberalism rests on an impoverished and inadequate view of the human subject. Liberal political thought – as manifested, for instance, in the writings of John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and Ronald Dworkin – claims centrally to do justice to individuality: to specify the conditions under which distinct individuals, each with his own view about how life should be lived, can pursue these visions to the best of their ability. But, the critics claim, liberalism is blind to the social origins of individuality itself. A person comes by his identity through participating in social practices and through his affiliation to collectivities like family and nation. An adequate political philosophy must attend to the conditions under which people can develop the capacity for autonomy that liberals value. This, however, means abandoning familiar preoccupations of liberal thought – especially the centrality it gives to individual rights – and looking instead at how social relationships of the desired kind can be created and preserved. It means, in short, looking at communities – their nature and preconditions.

What Is Political Philosophy?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Larmore
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Classical Liberalism ◽  
Political Realism ◽  
Political Philosopher ◽  
Definition Of

What is political philosophy? What are its fundamental problems? And how should it be distinguished from moral philosophy? This book redefines the distinctive aims of political philosophy, reformulating in this light the basis of a liberal understanding of politics. Because political life is characterized by deep and enduring conflict between rival interests and differing moral ideals, the core problems of political philosophy are the regulation of conflict and the conditions under which the members of society may thus be made subject to political authority. We cannot assume that reason will lead to unanimity about these matters because individuals hold different moral convictions. The book therefore analyzes the concept of reasonable disagreement and investigates the ways we can adjudicate conflicts among people who reasonably disagree about the nature of the human good and the proper basis of political society. Challenging both the classical liberalism of Locke, Kant, and Mill, and more recent theories of political realism proposed by Bernard Williams and others, the book argues for a version of political liberalism that is centered on political legitimacy rather than on social justice, and that aims to be well suited to our times rather than universally valid. It proposes a new definition of political philosophy and demonstrates the profound implications of that definition. The result is a compelling and distinctive intervention from a major political philosopher.

Realism and Idealism in Avicenna's Political Philosophy

1979 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-577
Author(s):  
Miriam Galston
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Complete Form ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Political Decisionmaking

The legitimate goals of political communities and the proper objectives of law have been themes of political philosophy since its inception. Philosophers' disagreements about the nature of political life and law have occasioned divergent accounts of the best or ideal government and have generated an even deeper controversy as to whether the best case should be the measure of political phenomena in the first place. For the purpose of analysis, three kinds of political theories can be distinguished. Characteristic of the first kind is the belief that people can attain a wide range of excellences and that the function of a political community is to foster in a direct manner the best or most complete form of human excellence, regardless of how rare the individuals who profit from this guidance. Accordingly, a central concern of “idealistic” or “utopian” political philosophy is elaborating the nature of the absolutely best political order and the conditions of its emergence. Among the central activities of governments so conceived are moral and intellectual education, as presented, for example, in the works of Plato and Aristotle. A second kind of political theory shares the belief in a multiplicity of hierarchically ranked human ends but denies that the highest possibility for human development should serve as the foremost principle determining political institutions and governing political decisionmaking.

Contemporary Continental Political Thought

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen K. White
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Continental Philosophy ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Western Society ◽  
The Common ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Relationship

“Continental philosophy” is generally understood as a contrast term for “Anglo-American analytic philosophy.” On its face, we seem to have a distinction rooted in geography, the continent in question being Europe. What is the relationship between Continental philosophy and Continental political philosophy—more frequently called Continental political thought (CPT)? There is the common postulation that modern Western social life, despite its many achievements, carries within it a certain “malignancy.” A tool frequently used by CPT is a skepticism of Enlightenment universalism in relation to ethical and political life. Given CPT's postulation of some sort of malignancy in modern Western society, it is hardly surprising that there is usually also sustained attention given to the possibility of some transformation that will overcome or at least combat more effectively the danger or harm that malignancy carries with it.

scholarly journals Rawls's Teaching and the “Tradition” of Political Philosophy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Teresa M. Bejan
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insight Into

This article explores Rawls's evolving orientation to “the tradition of political philosophy” over the course of his academic career, culminating in Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001). Drawing on archival material, it argues that Rawls's fascination with tradition arose out of his own pedagogical engagement with the debate around the “death of political philosophy” in the 1950s. Throughout, I highlight the significance of Rawls's teaching—beginning with his earliest lectures on social and political philosophy at Cornell, to his shifting views on “the tradition” in his published works, culminating in the increasingly contextually minded and irenic approach on display in Political Liberalism (1993) and Justice as Fairness. This neglected aspect of the “historical Rawls” offers insight into how Rawls himself might have read “John Rawls” as a figure in the history of political thought—and reveals that he spent a lot more time contemplating that question than one might think.

Process Philosophy and Political Liberalism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Dombrowski
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
Process Philosophy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Static View ◽  
Process Oriented ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Right

In this work two key theses are defended: political liberalism is a processual (rather than a static) view and process thinkers should be political liberals. Three major figures are considered (Rawls, Whitehead, Hartshorne) in the effort to show the superiority of political liberalism to its illiberal alternatives on the political right and left. Further, a politically liberal stance regarding nonhuman animals and the environment is articulated. It is typical for debates in political philosophy to be adrift regarding the concept of method, but from start to finish this book relies on the processual method of reflective equilibrium or dialectic at its best. This is the first extended effort to argue for both political liberalism as a process-oriented view and process philosophy/theology as a politically liberal view. It is also a timely defense of political liberalism against illiberal tendencies on both the right and the left.

Utopophobia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Estlund
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Sound Theory ◽  
Theory Versus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practical Guidance

Throughout the history of political philosophy and politics, there has been continual debate about the roles of idealism versus realism. For contemporary political philosophy, this debate manifests in notions of ideal theory versus nonideal theory. Nonideal thinkers shift their focus from theorizing about full social justice, asking instead which feasible institutional and political changes would make a society more just. Ideal thinkers, on the other hand, question whether full justice is a standard that any society is likely ever to satisfy. And, if social justice is unrealistic, are attempts to understand it without value or importance, and merely utopian? This book argues against thinking that justice must be realistic, or that understanding justice is only valuable if it can be realized. The book does not offer a particular theory of justice, nor does it assert that justice is indeed unrealizable—only that it could be, and this possibility upsets common ways of proceeding in political thought. The book's author engages critically with important strands in traditional and contemporary political philosophy that assume a sound theory of justice has the overriding, defining task of contributing practical guidance toward greater social justice. Along the way, it counters several tempting perspectives, including the view that inquiry in political philosophy could have significant value only as a guide to practical political action, and that understanding true justice would necessarily have practical value, at least as an ideal arrangement to be approximated. Demonstrating that unrealistic standards of justice can be both sound and valuable to understand, the book stands as a trenchant defense of ideal theory in political philosophy.

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