Pride and Solace: The Functions and Limits of Political Theory

In Pride and Solace, Norman Jacobson presents a novel perspective on the history of politcal theory. He sees an implicit conspiracy between political thinkers and their audience, in which theory feeds the common longing for solace, while the conversion of the audience to the thinker’s truth gratifies a craving for immortality, the thinker’s pride.

In each age since the birth of the modern state, political theorists have found new forms of solace to meet the needs and character of their tim...