How to Think Politically: Sages, Scholars and Statesmen Whose Ideas Have Shaped the World

by Graeme Garrard, James Bernard Murphy

Overview

"A wonderful introduction to history's most influential scribblers."—Steven Pinker

What is truly at stake in politics? Nothing less than how we should live, as individuals and as communities. This book goes beyond the surface headlines, the fake news and the hysteria to explore the timeless questions posed and answers offered by a diverse group of the 30 greatest political thinkers who have ever lived.

Are we political, economic, or religious animals? Should we live in small city-states, nations, or multinational empires? What values should politics promote? Should wealth be owned privately or in common? Do animals also have rights? There is no idea too radical for this global assortment of thinkers, which includes: Confucius; Plato; Augustine; Machiavelli; Burke; Wollstonecraft; Marx; Nietzsche; Gandhi; Qutb; Arendt; Nussbaum, Naess and Rawls.

In each brief chapter, the authors paint a vivid portrait of these often prescient, always compelling political thinkers, showing how their ideas grew out of their own dramatic lives and times and evolved beyond them. Now more than ever we need to be reminded that politics can be a noble, inspiring and civilising art. And if we want to understand today's political world, we need to understand the foundations of politics and its architects. This is the perfect guide to both.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472961785
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	08/20/2019
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	245,094
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Graeme Garrard has taught political thought at Cardiff University, UK since 1995 and at the Harvard Summer School, USA since 2006. He has lectured at colleges and universities in Canada, the United States, Britain and France for 25 years. He is the author of two books: Rousseau's Counter-Enlightenment (2000) and Counter-
Enlightenments: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present (2006).

James Bernard Murphy is Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA where he has taught since 1990. His next book is entitled Your Whole Life: Beyond Childhood and Adulthood (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020).

Table of Contents

Thinker Dates ix

Introduction: Politics - Might Made Right 1

Ancients 11

1 Confucius: The Sage 13

2 Plato: The Dramatist 21

3 Aristotle: The Biologist 29

4 Augustine: The Realist 37

Medievals 45

5 Al-Farabi: The Imam 47

6 Maimonides: The Lawgiver 57

7 Thomas Aquinas: The Harmonizer 67

Moderns 75

8 Niccolò Machiavelli: The Patriot 77

9 Thomas Hobbes: The Absolutist 85

10 John Locke: The Puritan 93

11 David Hume: The Sceptic 101

12 Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Citizen 109

13 Edmund Burke: The Counter-Revolutionary 119

14 Mary Wollstonecraft: The Feminist 127

15 Immanuel Kant: The Purist 135

16 Thomas Paine: The Firebrand 143

17 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: The Mystic 151

18 James Madison: The Founder 159

19 Alexis de Tocqueville: The Prophet 169

20 John Stuart Mill: The Individualist 177

21 Karl Marx: The Revolutionary 185

22 Friedrich Nietzsche: The Psychologist 193

Contemporaries 203

23 Mohandas Gandhi: The Warrior 205

24 Sayyid Qutb: The Jihadist 215

25 Hannah Arendt: The Pariah 223

26 Mao Zedong: The Chairman 231

27 Friedrich Hayek: The Libertarian 239

28 John Rawls: The Liberal 247

29 Martha Nussbaum: The Self-Developer 255

30 Arne Naess: The Mountaineer 263

Conclusion: The Unhappy Marriage of Politics and Philosophy 271

Suggested Further Reading 279

Acknowledgements 285

Index 287

Editorial Reviews

“A wonderful introduction to history's most influential scribblers, filled with clear explanations and engaging detail” —Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

“The authors have written a kind of Plutarch's Lives of the great political philosophers. Their lively and engaging style make even the most abstract ideas come alive. This is a book that can be read and enjoyed by all.” —Steven B. Smith, Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science, Yale University, author of Political Philosophy

“An elegant meditation on political power … Garrard and Murphy take a self-critical view of citizenship, insisting that "you may not care about politics, but politics cares about you" —Eric Beerbohm, Professor of Government, Harvard University

“This book offers an excellent preparation for those who seek to distinguish the best from the worst in political life” —Michael D. Gillespie, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Duke University

From the Publisher