Inheritance in Early Liberal Writings

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Halliday
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
John Stuart Mill ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Historical Survey ◽  
Gradual Evolution ◽  
Inherited Wealth ◽  
History Of

This chapter surveys discussions of inherited wealth from John Locke to John Stuart Mill. Attention is paid to the gradual evolution of argument, driven in part by the way in which successive thinkers were able to take into account the emerging effects of the Industrial Revolution. Themes in early liberal perspectives on inheritance include concerns about the inefficiency of dynastic wealth concentrations, social hierarchy, and idleness. In addition to providing a historical survey that will be of interest to readers wishing to study the history of political philosophy, the chapter also seeks to identify which elements of the views expressed retain philosophical force and which have become outdated in view of changes in economic conditions and the nature of capital.

Life and Works

2019 ◽  
pp. 3-27
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
David Hume ◽  
John Locke ◽  
George Washington ◽  
John Adams ◽  
James I ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of

This biographical introduction begins with the formation of Catharine Macaulay’s political ideas from when, as Catharine Sawbridge, she lived at the family estate. It follows her through her mature development as the celebrated female historian, to her death in 1791, as Mrs. Macaulay Graham. It notes the influence on her of writings of John Milton, Algernon Sidney, and John Locke as well as other republican works. It covers her marriage to the physician and midwife George Macaulay, and sets out the circumstances which led to the composition, and influence of, her History of England from the Accession of James I (HEAJ). The content of her histories, political philosophy, ethical and educational views, and criticisms of the philosophers David Hume, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Edmund Burke are sketched, and it is argued that her enlightenment radicalism was grounded in Christian eudaimonism, resulting in a form of rational altruism, according to which human happiness depends on the cultivation of the self as a moral individual. It deals with her engagement with individuals in North America before and after the American Revolution, in particular her exchanges with, John Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Benjamin Rush, and George Washington, and also recounts her contacts with influential players in the French Revolution, in particular, Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville and Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti count of Mirabeau. The introduction concludes with her influence on Mary Wollstonecraft and an overview of her mature political philosophy as summarized in her response to Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France.

The Making of Modern Liberalism

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Liberal Tradition ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
History Of

This book is a deep and wide-ranging exploration of the origins and nature of liberalism from the Enlightenment through its triumphs and setbacks in the twentieth century and beyond. The book is the fruit of more than four decades during which the author reflected on the past of the liberal tradition—and worried about its future. This is essential reading for anyone interested in political theory or the history of liberalism. The book consists of five parts. It covers subjects such as liberalism, freedom, the liberal community and the death penalty, Thomas Hobbes's political philosophy, individualism, human nature, John Locke on freedom, John Stuart Mill's political thought, utilitarianism and bureaucracy, pragmatism, social identity, patriotism, self-criticism, and more.

Political Authority, Self-Defense, And Pre-Emptive War

1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marvin Schiller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Systematic Fashion ◽  
History Of ◽  
Central Purpose

The central purpose of this paper is to examine the case for political authority, i.e., the argument for having political authority rather than for having none. Thus, the case for political authority is the case against anarchism. My construction of that case owes much, no doubt, to observations made long ago by Thomas Hobbes and john locke. Nevertheless, these observations have never been stated in a satisfactory and systematic fashion, not even by Hobbes and locke themselves. Hobbes’ observations have, more often than not, been misunderstood, and those of locke have generally been overlooked. However, this paper is not intended to be an exercise in the history of political philosophy. Rather, it is an assessment of a philosophical thesis, namely, that political authority is essential to man's survival and well-being. Although this thesis is rarely contested and, in fact, borders on the commonplace, it is contestable. Moreover, since disenchantment with authority and how it is exercised is growing, an examination of how men are likely to fare in its absence is appropriate. Such an examination is complex, but it is not impossible.

scholarly journals Historia de la filosofía política: tres tipos de análisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-124
Author(s):  
Luciano Venezia
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
History Of

In this paper I outline three kinds of analysis of classical texts in the history of political philosophy, which I call “Reconstruction”, “Illustration” and “Use”. I briefly develop each of these methodologies, relying especially on my own work on John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. Finally, I put forward some thoughts about the value of the different kinds of approach.

Preamble

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
John Stuart Mill ◽  
Bertrand Russell ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
Isaiah Berlin

This book explores the history and nature of liberalism and includes the views of political thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Isaiah Berlin, Alexis de Tocqueville, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and G.W.F. Hegel. Part 1 of the book deals with conceptual and practical issues and covers topics ranging from liberalism and freedom to culture, and death penalty. Part 2 deals with liberty and security and includes Hobbes's political philosophy as well as Locke's thoughts on freedom. Part 3 examines liberty and progress and includes topics such as Mill's political thought, utilitarianism and bureaucracy, democracy, and Berlin's political theory. Part 4 focuses on liberalism in America, and Part 5 is concerned with work, ownership, freedom, and self-realization.

Lectures on the History of Moral and Political Philosophy

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Wolff ◽  
G. A. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
David Hume ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Volume Editor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theory Of History

G. A. Cohen was one of the leading political philosophers of recent times. He first came to wide attention in 1978 with the prize-winning book Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence. In subsequent decades his published writings largely turned away from the history of philosophy, focusing instead on equality, freedom, and justice. However, throughout his career he regularly lectured on a wide range of moral and political philosophers of the past. This volume collects these previously unpublished lectures. Starting with a chapter centered on Plato, but also discussing the pre-Socratics as well as Aristotle, the book moves to social contract theory as discussed by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and David Hume, and then continues with chapters on Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel, and Friedrich Nietzsche. The book also contains some previously published but uncollected papers on Marx, Hobbes, and Kant, among other figures. The collection concludes with a memoir of Cohen written by the volume editor who was a student of Cohen's. A hallmark of the lectures is Cohen's engagement with the thinkers he discusses. Rather than simply trying to render their thought accessible to the modern reader, he tests whether their arguments and positions are clear, sound, and free from contradiction. Ultimately, his lectures teach us not only about some of the great thinkers in the history of moral and political philosophy, but also about one of the great thinkers of our time: Cohen himself.

IV. George Lawson and John Locke

1947 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. MacLean
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Locke ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Revolution ◽  
Transient Nature ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Full Expression ◽  
The Press ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Thinker

In the year of 1657, a Shropshire clergyman, George Lawson by name, followed a prevailing fashion among English moralists and political writers of the day in publishing a formal refutation of Hobbes' then notorious Leviathan. Three years later, he further provided a positive and complete enunciation of his principles of civil and ecclesiastical polity in a work which he entitled Politica Sacra et Civilis. While it is perfectly evident that neither of these works attracted anything like that degree of contemporary attention which was aroused by the Leviathan of Hobbes or the Oceana of Harrington, it is no less evident, on the other hand, that they did not fall stillborn from the press. Not only are they to be found listed, with a fair measure of frequency, in extant catalogues of private libraries of the period, but in the critical year 1689—eleven years after the death of Lawson—Politica Sacra et Civilis was well recognized by certain ardent supporters of the revolution then in progress in England to be sufficiently timely to warrant its republication, and was palpably considered by at least one Whig pamphleteer to be well worth the trouble of plagiarizing. The popularity of the work was, however, of the most transient nature. The truth would seem to be that those principles of civil government which were maintained by Lawson were some three decades in advance of the age for which he wrote them; and that when, at length, the circumstances attending the English Revolution rendered them particularly appropriate, a greater political thinker, John Locke, was at hand to give them full expression in a form which, for clarity and fidelity to the spirit of the audience to which they were addressed, has rarely been equalled, and never surpassed. In all probability it is chiefly owing to this fact that the name of Lawson has been almost completely forgotten even by students of the history of English political philosophy, while Locke, for more than two centuries, has been regarded as one of the greatest political philosophers of all time.

“Through a Glass Darkly”

1998 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-130
Author(s):  
Roger Schofield
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Research Training ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
The World ◽  
English Society ◽  
History Of

The question that springs to mind at the start of this brief résumé of my career is, how did I come to be employed by the British Economic and Social Research Council, when my research training seemed so much against it? Memory is at best a fallible guide, but, as I remember, 1965 saw the appearance of The World We Have Lost, by Peter Laslett, which sought to describe the structure of English society before the Industrial Revolution. I had known Laslett as a lecturer in the Cambridge History Faculty who gave a course of general lectures on the history of political thought in the ancient world; he was also more generally known as the man who had researched the late-seventeenth-century philosopher John Locke. But here he was, writing a different kind of book altogether, with a first chapter called “The Passing of the Patriarchal Household: Parents and Children, Masters and Servants,” and further chapters on such topics as whether the peasants really starved. What was this political analyst up to? Not to anything good, or so I was told in a leading article in the Times Literary Supplement for 9 December 1965. In a scabrous attack entitled “The Book of Numbers,” E. P. Thompson (for it was he, hiding behind the cloak of anonymity that was generally assumed by the authors of leading articles) did everything to undermine Laslett’s version of the new history. “It is to be hoped that the cause will survive Mr Laslett’s advocacy,” he concluded. He succeeded with me; I let the book pass me by on the other side.

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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