Blackwell Guide to Social and Political Philosophy

Robert L. Simon is Professor of Philosophy at Hamilton College. He is author of numerous articles in social and political philosophy as well as Fair Play (1991) and Neutrality and the Academic Ethic (1994), and co-author of The Individual and the Political Order, (third edition, 1998). He is currently working on issues in discourse ethics and on the ethics of competition in athletics, and is a past president of the International Association of the Philosophy of Sport.

"Robert Simon has assembled a strong, well-organized collection. The volume's contributors are distinguished and the essays have been chosen to convey a balanced picture of the field." George Sher, Rice University "This superbly edited volume addresses central questions surrounding the liberal democratic theory of the state. Both the advocates of contemporary expressions of liberal democratic theory and critics of those formulations receive a fair hearing. Excellent discussions of the values of liberty, justice, equality, individual rights, and democratic choice are included as well as timely discussions of pluralism and the treatment of groups in democratic theory." Norman E. Bowie, University of Minnesota

• Notes on Contributors ixIntroduction: Social and Political Philosophy – Sorting Out the Issues 1Robert L. SimonPart I Core Principles and the Liberal Democratic State1 Political Obligation and Authority 17A. John Simmons2 Liberty, Coercion, and the Limits of the State 38Alan Wertheimer3 Justice 60Christopher Heath Wellman4 Equality 85Richard J. Arneson5 Preference, Rationality, and Democratic Theory 106Ann E. CuddPart II Liberalism, Its Critics, and Alternative Approaches6 Marx’s Legacy 131Richard W. Miller7 Feminism and Political Theory 154Virginia Held8 Liberalism and the Challenge of Communitarianism 177James P. Sterba9 Liberal Theories and their Critics 197William NelsonPart III Pluralism, Diversity, and Deliberation10 Deliberative Democracy 221James S. Fishkin11 Citizenship and Pluralism 239Daniel M. Weinstock12 The New Enlightenment: Critical Reflections on the Political Significance of Race 271A. Todd Franklin13 Religion and Liberal Democracy 292Christopher J. EberleSelect Bibliography 319Index 321