Anatomy of Failure

Oliver Feltham is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the American University of Paris, France.

Staged with theatrical flair, Oliver Feltham's new book about the relation between principled ideals and political realities avoids the twin perils of 'angelic critique or servile apology', and finds in the fragile but revolutionary alliance of the Levellers and the New Model Army some answers to perennial questions about the relation between right and might. -- Peter Hallward, Professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University London, UK and author of The Will of the People (2013) Feltham's analysis...is by turns illuminating and breath-taking. His erudition ranges effortlessly over the complete works of Hobbes, Locke and Spinoza. He reconstructs, with economy and accuracy, the de-substantialisation of classical conceptions of action and the modern transfer of the ability to act to judicial and political institutions... This is a book that is materialist and rationalist--an enlightenment work--yet refreshingly original and strikingly assured... It is sharply written--concise and accessible, yet without condescension, sometimes personal, never scholastic--because it is conscious of being the start of something important. This is a new approach within political philosophy to the imbrication of historical action and philosophical conceptuality, one that refuses the "siren's lure" of the concept of practice, yet responds to some of the same imperatives as the philosophy of praxis. Perhaps it should be described as a cetology of the Leviathan, written from the perspective of sympathy for the harpooner. -- Geoff Boucher, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia Anatomy of Failure is an intriguing philosophical inquiry. It pursues an ambitious methodological approach that avoids the idealism, or transcendentalism, of the political philosophy that philosophers like Raymond Geuss and Amartya Sen have criticized recently. Its reconstructive method is closely attuned to actual political practice, but strives to refrain from vindicating the status quo. Therefore it focuses on those moments of political rupture in which many sorts of political practice represent themselves as forms of critique of the dominant political order. This is an appealing approach, and Feltham shows how well it works for "unveiling the forgotten model" (p. 251) of joint action. -- Julian Culp, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main (Germany) Notre Dame Philosophical Review

• Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations 1. Thrasymachus versus Socrates on Philosophy and Political Action 2. 1647 - the History of the Leveller-Agitators and the New Model Army 3. Hobbes' and Locke's Metaphysics: Substances No Longer Act, Institutions Act 4. Hobbes and Locke on Religious Conflict: When Institutions Act, Subjects Act 5. Hobbes and Locke on Politics: Sovereign Action and Contractual Action 6. Unveiling the Forgotten Model: the Leveller-Agitators on Joint Action Notes Bibliography Index