Political Philosophy

Thom Brooks is Professor of Law and Government at Durham University and Visiting Fellow at Yale Law School. His edited publications include Global Justice: An Introduction, Climate Change for an Endangered World, Rawls’s Political Liberalism and The Global Justice Reader, Revised Edition.

"[T]his slender and skilful volume ... would perform admirably as a textbook in an introductory course at the undergraduate level. Each chapter draws on a variety of perspectives within these traditions, and public-policy examples are used to good effect to illuminate theoretical points. All of this is well done. It’s no mean feat to shift between abstract political theory and the minutiae of contemporary climate policy."— Simone Gubler, NDPR, 2026.

• Acknowledgments xIntroduction 1I. 1 What Is Philosophy? 1I. 2 What Is Political Philosophy? 2I. 3 Making Political Thought Coherent 9I. 4 This Book 10I. 5 Conclusion 121 Freedom 141.1 Introduction 141.2 Knowing Freedom 151.3 Contemporary Freedom 201.4 Choices and Options 211.5 Theories of Freedom 231.6 Are Different Theories About Freedom Compatible? 301.7 Paternalism 341.8 Conclusion 37Further Reading 372 Rights 382.1 Introduction 382.2 The Divine Right of Kings 392.3 Natural Rights 412.4 What Are Rights? 442.5 A Taxonomy of Rights 492.6 Human Rights 512.7 Capabilities and Human Rights 552.8 Group Rights and Mutual Recognition 592.9 Animal Rights 622.10 Conclusion 65Further Reading 663 Equality 673.1 Introduction 673.2 Formal Equality 683.3 Legal Equality 703.4 Political and Social Equality 753.5 Economic Equality 843.6 Conclusion 91Further Reading 924 Justice 934.1 Introduction 934.2 Deontology 944.3 Consequentialism 974.4 Moral Sentiments 1014.5 The Idea of a Social Contract 1054.6 Rawls’s Theory of Justice 1094.7 Rawls’s Political Liberalism 1164.8 The Capabilities Approach 1194.9 Feminist Justice 1224.10 The Stakeholder Society 1254.11 Conclusion 128Further Reading 1285 Democracy 1295.1 Introduction 1295.2 Why Democracy? 1305.3 Democratic Models 1355.4 A Role for Experts? 1505.5 Conclusion 154Further Reading 1546 Punishment 1556.1 Introduction 1556.2 Defining Punishment 1566.3 Retribution 1586.4 Deterrence 1676.5 Rehabilitation and Restoration 1706.6 Unified Theory of Punishment 1756.7 Conclusion 180Further Reading 1807 Global Justice 1817.1 Introduction 1817.2 Liberal Nationalism 1827.3 Cosmopolitanism 1857.4 Tackling Severe Poverty 1907.5 Conclusion 200Further Reading 2018 Climate Change 2028.1 Introduction 2028.2 Mitigation 2048.3 Adaptation 2118.4 Rethinking Sustainability 2148.5 Conclusion 216Further Reading 217Conclusion 218References 220Index 233