20th Century Political Thinkers – serie

More than any other public figure, Václav Havel has reflected on the opportunities and dilemmas facing humankind as a result of the Communism's collapse. His life serves as an example of responsible and moral action, even at the cost of much personal suffering.In the first book to bring together Havel's life and work, James Pontuso examines the Czech president's political philosophy. Pontuso argues that Havel's life as a dissident and political leader, his political writings, and his plays are part of a whole and must be understood as intimately connected to one another. In this engaging work, Pontuso skillfully explores these connections and explains Havel's prescriptions for political life.

This philosophical-political profile offers the first of its kind intellectual reconstruction of Habermas’s defining existential and historical situations, his generational profile and interventions, his impact on as well as the discontents that his life work generates in others. Written as a lively dramatic engagement with major themes of Habermas’s adult life in postwar Germany, the entire study occupies a unique place between the standard genres of a biography and a theoretical commentary on the oeuvre. In this work the reader is taken on a journey with Habermas through the 20th-century intellectual and political history from the defeat of Nazism, to the Cold War restoration of the '50s, the student movement of the '60s, the historical revisions of the '70s and '80s, the hope of the post-Wall era after 1989, all the way to the controversies surrounding the allied wars of intervention against Iraq and Serbia in the 1990s. Both beginning and advanced readers of 20th century socio-political thought gain greater insight into the existential, political, and philosophical influences that proved to be formative of Habermas’s writing and activism in the public sphere. The first part of the study emphasizes the unfolding, linear view of Habermas’s postwar history, punctuated by the major existential and political situations of his young adult life from 1945 to 2000. The second part returns to the same time-span in order to reconstruct Habermas’s mature post-Wall intellectual profile in contrast to the profiles of the preceding generation of 1945 and the later protesting generation of 1968. The third part examines the tremendous Habermas-effect exercised on 20th-century thought and public policy. The concluding chapters discuss critically the lasting place as well as the limits of Habermas’s achievement in contribution to a development of new critical theory. The book is enhanced by an introduction that provides a historical and conceptual background to the major themes discussed, twelve helpful thematic table

This philosophical-political profile offers the first of its kind intellectual reconstruction of Habermas’s defining existential and historical situations, his generational profile and interventions, his impact on as well as the discontents that his life work generates in others. Written as a lively dramatic engagement with major themes of Habermas’s adult life in postwar Germany, the entire study occupies a unique place between the standard genres of a biography and a theoretical commentary on the oeuvre. In this work the reader is taken on a journey with Habermas through the 20th-century intellectual and political history from the defeat of Nazism, to the Cold War restoration of the '50s, the student movement of the '60s, the historical revisions of the '70s and '80s, the hope of the post-Wall era after 1989, all the way to the controversies surrounding the allied wars of intervention against Iraq and Serbia in the 1990s. Both beginning and advanced readers of 20th century socio-political thought gain greater insight into the existential, political, and philosophical influences that proved to be formative of Habermas’s writing and activism in the public sphere. The first part of the study emphasizes the unfolding, linear view of Habermas’s postwar history, punctuated by the major existential and political situations of his young adult life from 1945 to 2000. The second part returns to the same time-span in order to reconstruct Habermas’s mature post-Wall intellectual profile in contrast to the profiles of the preceding generation of 1945 and the later protesting generation of 1968. The third part examines the tremendous Habermas-effect exercised on 20th-century thought and public policy. The concluding chapters discuss critically the lasting place as well as the limits of Habermas’s achievement in contribution to a development of new critical theory. The book is enhanced by an introduction that provides a historical and conceptual background to the major themes discussed, twelve helpful thematic table

In Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Daniel Mahoney presents a philosophical perspective on the political condition of modern man through an exegesis and analysis of Solzhenitsyn's work. Mahoney demonstrates the tremendous, yet often unappreciated, impact of Solzhenitsyn's writing on twentieth century thinking through an examination of the writer's profoundly important critique of communist totalitarianism in a judicious and original mix of western and Russian, Christian and classical wisdom.

Over the past four decades, Charles Taylor's work as an intellectual historian, epistemologist, and normative political theorist has made him a leading figure in contemporary social philosophy. In Charles Taylor: Thinking and Living Deep Diversity, Mark Redhead examines the problem of political fragmentation, the problem of how to accommodate narrowly defined groups while promoting allegiance to a larger polity, through an analysis of Taylor's thought and politics. Redhead argues that Taylor's work evinces a gallant, though unsucessful confrontation with fragmentation that dramatically illuminates the politcal, moral and epistemological tensions at play in a problem of political fragmentation. Charles Taylor is both a major contribution to contemporary debates about liberalism, group rights, and multiculturalism as well as a path breaking study of the politics, life, and thought of Charles Taylor.

Scottish philosopher John Macmurray's intriguing career makes the job of classifying his work difficult by contemporary academic modes of categorization. Despite his extensive writings on political principles and politics and significant influence on numerous British politicians, he never regarded the political sphere as an end in itself. Above all, he was a political philosopher determined to place politics into a wider, more comprehensive, metaphysical and religious framework. In this long-overdue analysis of Macmurray, Frank Kirkpatrick traces the development of Macmurray's thought with its roots in the Bible, Hegel and the democratic liberal tradition of the west. Kirkpatrick contends that Macmurray's most important contribution to the field is his development of a philosophical understanding of what constitutes an authentic community. Through this analysis, Kirkpatrick explores the extraordinary resonances of Macmurray's political thought in other modern philosophers and reveals his enduring significance.

Scottish philosopher John Macmurray's intriguing career makes the job of classifying his work difficult by contemporary academic modes of categorization. Despite his extensive writings on political principles and politics and significant influence on numerous British politicians, he never regarded the political sphere as an end in itself. Above all, he was a political philosopher determined to place politics into a wider, more comprehensive, metaphysical and religious framework. In this long-overdue analysis of Macmurray, Frank Kirkpatrick traces the development of Macmurray's thought with its roots in the Bible, Hegel and the democratic liberal tradition of the west. Kirkpatrick contends that Macmurray's most important contribution to the field is his development of a philosophical understanding of what constitutes an authentic community. Through this analysis, Kirkpatrick explores the extraordinary resonances of Macmurray's political thought in other modern philosophers and reveals his enduring significance.

Emma Goldman has often been read for her colorful life story, her lively if troubled sex life, and her wide-ranging political activism. Few have taken her seriously as a political thinker, even though in her lifetime she was a vigorous public intellectual within a global network of progressive politics. Engaging Goldman as a political thinker allows us to rethink the common dualism between theory and practice, scrutinize stereotypes of anarchism by placing Goldman within a fuller historical context, recognize the remarkable contributions of anarchism in creating public life, and open up contemporary politics to the possibilities of transformative feminism.

Emma Goldman has often been read for her colorful life story, her lively if troubled sex life, and her wide-ranging political activism. Few have taken her seriously as a political thinker, even though in her lifetime she was a vigorous public intellectual within a global network of progressive politics. Engaging Goldman as a political thinker allows us to rethink the common dualism between theory and practice, scrutinize stereotypes of anarchism by placing Goldman within a fuller historical context, recognize the remarkable contributions of anarchism in creating public life, and open up contemporary politics to the possibilities of transformative feminism.

Nichols examines the major writings of Alexandre Kojève, and clarifies the character and brings to light the importance of his political philosophy. While emphasizing the political dimension of Kojève's thought, Nichols treats all his major published writings and shows how the remarkably varied parts of Kojève's intellectual endeavor go together. This is an essential assessment of Kojève which considers the works that preceded his turn to Hegel, seeks to articulate the character of his Hegelianism, and reflects in detail on the two different meanings that the end of history had in two different periods of his thought.

Nichols examines the major writings of Alexandre Kojève, and clarifies the character and brings to light the importance of his political philosophy. While emphasizing the political dimension of Kojève's thought, Nichols treats all his major published writings and shows how the remarkably varied parts of Kojève's intellectual endeavor go together. This is an essential assessment of Kojève which considers the works that preceded his turn to Hegel, seeks to articulate the character of his Hegelianism, and reflects in detail on the two different meanings that the end of history had in two different periods of his thought.

John Kenneth Galbraith: The Economist as Political Theorist is a comprehensive analysis of John Kenneth Galbraith's political economy, placing him within the development and evolution of twentieth century American liberalism. This book examines the continuing link between politics and economics in American political discourse by locating Galbraith in a framework of liberal and conservative theory, controversy, alternatives, and policy. By analyzing Galbraith's complex arguments, Waligorski addresses important issues about the content and nature of American political thought and policy conflict—including freedom, equality, inequality, individualism, democracy, the legitimate role of government, the nature of a good society, the structure of modern capitalism, and the failure of contemporary economic theory to serve as a guide to a better life. Many of the issues that drive contemporary politics today are simultaneously political, economic, and ideological. As an economist, political theorist, and cultural critic, Galbraith epitomizes this interconnection.

John Kenneth Galbraith: The Economist as Political Theorist is a comprehensive analysis of John Kenneth Galbraith's political economy, placing him within the development and evolution of twentieth century American liberalism. This book examines the continuing link between politics and economics in American political discourse by locating Galbraith in a framework of liberal and conservative theory, controversy, alternatives, and policy. By analyzing Galbraith's complex arguments, Waligorski addresses important issues about the content and nature of American political thought and policy conflict—including freedom, equality, inequality, individualism, democracy, the legitimate role of government, the nature of a good society, the structure of modern capitalism, and the failure of contemporary economic theory to serve as a guide to a better life. Many of the issues that drive contemporary politics today are simultaneously political, economic, and ideological. As an economist, political theorist, and cultural critic, Galbraith epitomizes this interconnection.

The first full-length work devoted to Richard Rorty from the perspective of political theory, this book offers a fresh assessment of the promise of the renowned pragmatist's project. Framing Rorty's discourse as one of meaning and persuasion rather than truth and accuracy of representation, Voparil sheds new light on many of Rorty's most misunderstood and maligned stances, including his practice of 'redescription' and disavowal of 'getting it right,' as well as his embrace of the novel and 'sentimental education.' As political theory, Rorty's perspective, not unlike Sheldon Wolin's, values the imagination, the ability to come up with new metaphors and angles of vision, and is driven by a deep desire to reinvigorate a moribund and detached contemporary left. Voparil's account engages the full range of Rorty's intellectual forebears, grounding his thought in an American tradition that extends beyond the classical pragmatists to include Emerson, Whitman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and James Baldwin, in addition to chapters that trace Rorty's connection to such diverse figures as Marx, Mill, Dickens, Isaiah Berlin, and Milan Kundera.

The first full-length work devoted to Richard Rorty from the perspective of political theory, this book offers a fresh assessment of the promise of the renowned pragmatist's project. Framing Rorty's discourse as one of meaning and persuasion rather than truth and accuracy of representation, Voparil sheds new light on many of Rorty's most misunderstood and maligned stances, including his practice of 'redescription' and disavowal of 'getting it right,' as well as his embrace of the novel and 'sentimental education.' As political theory, Rorty's perspective, not unlike Sheldon Wolin's, values the imagination, the ability to come up with new metaphors and angles of vision, and is driven by a deep desire to reinvigorate a moribund and detached contemporary left. Voparil's account engages the full range of Rorty's intellectual forebears, grounding his thought in an American tradition that extends beyond the classical pragmatists to include Emerson, Whitman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and James Baldwin, in addition to chapters that trace Rorty's connection to such diverse figures as Marx, Mill, Dickens, Isaiah Berlin, and Milan Kundera.

Since the publication of Victor Farias's Heidegger and Nazism, the discussion about the political significance of Martin Heidegger's thinking has been distorted. Because of his association with the Third Reich, some have dismissed Heidegger out of hand while others have sought to explain away certain connections. What is often lost in the writing of critics and advocates alike is an honest assessment of Heidegger as a political thinker and a frank interest in understanding his work.Martin Heidegger: Paths Taken, Paths Opened takes Heidegger's philosophy on its own terms and explores the pivotal significance of his phenomenology for political theory. Heidegger opposed, at the deepest level, everything that informs the global, technological civilization that seems to be the fate of humanity. Yet even in the liberal and technologically oriented West we cannot proceed without a confrontation with his thought. In this timely addition to the 20th Century Political Thinkers series, Gregory Bruce Smith shows Heidegger's thought to be an inescapable challenge to our current ethical habits and contemporary political institutions.In this path-breaking work, Smith establishes the centrality of Heidegger's thought, even to those who would claim to be his most ardent critics. Smith also addresses difficult interpretative questions regarding the relationship of Heidegger's early and later work and the status of political ideas with respect to Heidegger's phenomenological project. A work of broad interpretative breadth and keen political insight, Martin Heidegger: Paths Taken, Paths Opened establishes the undeniable importance of Heidegger's thought for the future of the tradition of political philosophy.

Since the publication of Victor Farias's Heidegger and Nazism, the discussion about the political significance of Martin Heidegger's thinking has been distorted. Because of his association with the Third Reich, some have dismissed Heidegger out of hand while others have sought to explain away certain connections. What is often lost in the writing of critics and advocates alike is an honest assessment of Heidegger as a political thinker and a frank interest in understanding his work.Martin Heidegger: Paths Taken, Paths Opened takes Heidegger's philosophy on its own terms and explores the pivotal significance of his phenomenology for political theory. Heidegger opposed, at the deepest level, everything that informs the global, technological civilization that seems to be the fate of humanity. Yet even in the liberal and technologically oriented West we cannot proceed without a confrontation with his thought. In this timely addition to the 20th Century Political Thinkers series, Gregory Bruce Smith shows Heidegger's thought to be an inescapable challenge to our current ethical habits and contemporary political institutions.In this path-breaking work, Smith establishes the centrality of Heidegger's thought, even to those who would claim to be his most ardent critics. Smith also addresses difficult interpretative questions regarding the relationship of Heidegger's early and later work and the status of political ideas with respect to Heidegger's phenomenological project. A work of broad interpretative breadth and keen political insight, Martin Heidegger: Paths Taken, Paths Opened establishes the undeniable importance of Heidegger's thought for the future of the tradition of political philosophy.

The engaging and inquiring mind of French philosopher Jacques Maritain reflected on subjects as varied as art and ethics, theology and psychology, and history and metaphysics. Maritain's work on the theoretical groundings of politics arose from his diverse studies. In this book, distinguished theologian and political scientist James V. Schall explores Maritain's political philosophy, demonstrating that Maritain understood society, state, and government in the tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas, of natural law and human rights and duties. Schall pays particular attention to the ways in which evil appears in political forms, and how this evil can be morally dealt with. Schall's study will be of great importance to students and scholars of political science, philosophy, and theology.

In Martin Buber: The Hidden Dialogue, Dan Avnon analyzes and reconstructs Buber's corpus of mature writings. Avnon's novel reading of Buber's diverse writings on the Bible, Christianity, Judaism, philosophy, socialism, Zionism, and the Jewish-Arab conflict is based on his discovery of a "hidden" code of writing that grants Buber's apparently eclectic works and literary styles a coherent and unifying hermeneutic center. The term "hidden dialogue" refers to the dialogue that takes place between reader and text, between diverse communities, and between humanity and creation. An essential introduction to Buber's work and his unique approach to writing, this book's solution to "the Buber enigma" is fascinating reading and a valuable addition to scholarship on Buber, political philosophy, hermeneutics, and biblical interpretation.

This concise and penetrating analysis introduces students to the life and thought of one of the giants of twentieth- century French intellectual life. Portraying Raymond Aron as a great defender of reason, moderation, and political sobriety in an era dominated by ideological fervor and philosophical fashion, Brian Anderson demonstrates the centrality of political reason to Aron's philosophy of history, his critique of ideological thinking, his meditations on the perennial problems of peace and war, and the nature of conservative liberalism. This accessible study of Aron's thought and the thought of his contemporaries will enhance any syllabus for classes on modern and contemporary political thought.

Richard H. Bell analyzes the social and political thought of Simone Weil, paying particular attention to Weil's concept of justice as compassion. Bell describes the ways in which Weil's concept of justice stands in contrast with liberal 'rights-based' views of justice, and focuses upon central aspects of Weil's thought, including 'attention,' human suffering and 'affliction,' and the importance of 'a spiritual way of life' in reshaping the individual's role in civic life. Simone Weil: The Way of Justice as Compassion is a valuable addition to the scholarship on this important thinker and a necessary book for students and scholars of political theory and philosophical moral thought.

Paul Ricoeur, with Rawls, Walzer, and Habermas as some of his main interlocutors, has developed a substantial and distinctive body of political thought. On the one hand, it articulates a rich conception of the paradoxical character of the domain of politics. On the other, it provides a fresh approach to such major topics as the relationship among politics, economics, and ethics and between concern for universal human rights and respect for cultural plurality. His work, rooted as it is in Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel, also provides resources for a fruitful rethinking of the issues at stake in the liberal-communitarian debate.

During his distinguished academic career, Eric Voegelin was described as the most important philosopher of history and consciousness since Toynbee; a political theorist of exceptional scope and erudition; a theologian with profound insights into the nature of religious experience. Similarly, Voegelin has been interpreted by his critics using virtually every ideological label available: fascist, communist, liberal, conservative, existentialist, fideist, socialist, reactionary, Jew, Catholic, and Protestant. Regardless of such efforts to characterize his writings using such neat categories, Voegelin has been celebrated by intellectuals of all stripes for the fresh new light he has cast on the modern predicament. Widely recognized political theorist Thomas Heilke contends that while some of these appellations may have elements of truth, none of these labels are ultimately capable of properly representing the essence of Voegelin's work. With startling new insights into the theoretical foundations of Voegelin's writings, Heilke's gripping analysis and compelling conclusions demonstrate how his subject was primarily a philosopher in quest of reality, and why no ideological category can grasp the core of such an intellectual journey. This book will be of interest to political theorists, theologians, philosophers, and intellectual historians.

Examining Dewey's evolving conception of liberalism, David Fott illuminates his subject's belief in democracy more fully than has ever been before. By comparing and contrasting Dewey's thought with that of Socrates, Fott convincingly casts doubt on claims that Dewey offers a defensible middle ground between moral absolutism and moral relativism.

Examining Dewey's evolving conception of liberalism, David Fott illuminates his subject's belief in democracy more fully than has ever been before. By comparing and contrasting Dewey's thought with that of Socrates, Fott convincingly casts doubt on claims that Dewey offers a defensible middle ground between moral absolutism and moral relativism.

Richard H. Bell analyzes the social and political thought of Simone Weil, paying particular attention to Weil's concept of justice as compassion. Bell describes the ways in which Weil's concept of justice stands in contrast with liberal "rights-based" views of justice, and focuses upon central aspects of Weil's thought, including "attention," human suffering and "affliction," and the importance of "a spiritual way of life" in reshaping the individual's role in civic life. Simone Weil: The Way of Justice as Compassion is a valuable addition to the scholarship on this important thinker and a necessary book for students and scholars of political theory and philosophical moral thought.