The Primacy of the Political: A History of Political Thought from the Greeks to the French and American Revolutions

by Dick Howard

Overview

The conflict between politics and antipolitics has replayed throughout Western history and philosophical thought. From the beginning, Plato's quest for absolute certainty led him to denounce democracy, an anti-political position challenged by Aristotle. In his wide-ranging narrative, Dick Howard puts this dilemma into fresh perspective, proving our contemporary political problems are not as unique as we think.

Howard begins with democracy in ancient Greece and the rise and fall of republican politics in Rome. In the wake of Rome's collapse, political thought searched for a new medium, and the conflict between politics and antipolitics reemerged through the contrasting theories of Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas. Durgaing the Renaissance and Reformation, the emergence of the modern individual again transformed the terrain of the political. Even so, politics vs. antipolitics dominated the period, frustrating even Machiavelli, who sought to reconceptualize the nature of political thought. Hobbes and Locke, theorists of the social contract, then reenacted the conflict, which Rousseau sought (in vain) to overcome. Adam Smith and the growth of modern economic liberalism, the radicalism of the French revolution, and the conservative reaction of Edmund Burke subsequently marked the triumph of antipolitics, while the American Revolution momentarily offered the potential for a renewal of politics. Taken together, these historical examples, viewed through the prism of philosophy, reveal the roots of today's political climate and the trajectory of battles yet to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231135955
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	09/30/2010
Series:	Columbia Studies in Political Thought / Political History
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dick Howard is distinguished professor of philosophy at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He is the author of numerous books in French and English, including The Specter of Democracy: What Marx and Marxists Haven't Understood and Why, From Marx to Kant, Defining the Political, and The Birth of American Political Thought.

Table of Contents

A Note to the Reader VII

Acknowledgments XV

Introduction 1

Democracy and the Renewal of Political Thought

1 The Rise and Fall of Athenian Democracy 21

The Origins of Athenian Democracy 24

The Ideal and the Reality of Athenian Democracy: Pericles' Funeral Oration 32

Plato's Philosophical Antipolitics 35

Aristotle and the Property Political 59

Philosophy Goes Private 79

2 The Rise and Fall of Roman Republicanism 86

Livy and the Origin of the Republican Spirit 91

Polybius and the Structure of Republican Institutions 101

Cicero and the Moral Theory of Republican Politics 110

The Empire Turns Inward: The Emergence of Pauline Christianity 117

3 The Conflict of the Sacred and the Secular 125

The Two Cities in Theory and Practice 126

The Conflict of the Two Cities Becomes a Reality 137

Natural Law and the Dynamic Integration of the Two Cities 144

Piety, Theology, and the Birth of Modern Man 155

Part 4 Facing the Challenge of Modernity 162

Luther's Soteriological Politics: Spiritual Democracy or Political Servitude 166

Calvin's Political Ecclesiology: Conservative Republicanism 180

Machiavelli's Political Realism: The Illusions of the Republican Prince 189

Part 5 Modern Individualism and Political Obligation 208

Hobbes's Liberal Absolutism 210

Locke's Constitutional Liberalism 227

Rousseau's Defensive Republicanism 245

6 The End of Political Philosophy? 270

A Political Economy? 274

The French Revolution and the Ambiguities of a Democratic Republic 289

The Legitimacy of Conservatism? 302

The United States as a Republican Democracy 312

Conclusion 327

Elements for a Democratic Renewal

Notes 335

Glossary 355

Index 377

What People are Saying About This

David Carr

A survey of Western political thought from the Greeks to the threshold of the present, this book fulfills its aims successfully and admirably. It is clearly written and thematically unified in spite of its huge terrain. One thing it does very well is link political theories to the historical, political, and religious circumstances in which they are embedded, providing the lay reader, serious student of political philosophy, and political philosopher with a road-map and orientation in the history of political thought. A significant contribution.

— David Carr, Emory University

Editorial Reviews

I would recommend his book for the serious reader of history who wants to have a comprehensive picture of political thought.

Essays in Philosophy - Monica Greenwell Janzen

I would recommend his book for the serious reader of history who wants to have a comprehensive picture of political thought.

— Monica Greenwell Janzen

Essays in Philosophy

The book gives a very clear and readable introduction to the whole history of political ideas.

— Hauke Brunkhorst

Perspectives on Politics

The book gives a very clear and readable introduction to the whole history of political ideas.

Hauke Brunkhorst

The analytical distinction of plurality, diversity, and unity is a good way to think about the common themes of these political thinkers in different social and historical contexts. Explaining several texts across different periods is a daunting task, and Dick Howard should be commended for the work he has done.

R. Claire Snyder-Hall