Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction

Further reading

For readers who want to explore the topics covered in this book in greater depth, several textbooks on political philosophy can be recommended:

Jonathan Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1996).

Adam Swift, Political Philosophy: A Beginners’ Guide for Students and Politicians (Polity Press, 2001).

Will Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy, 2nd edn. (Oxford University Press, 2002).

Dudley Knowles, Political Philosophy (Routledge, 2001).

Gerald Gaus, Political Concepts and Political Theories (Westview Press, 2000).

Robert Goodin and Philip Pettit, A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (Blackwell, 1993).

The history of political philosophy poses greater problems. Perhaps because of the huge weight of historical scholarship that has accumulated, academics today are deterred from writing single-author overviews of the subject. Two introductory multi-author books are David Muschamp (ed.), Political Thinkers (Macmillan, 1986) and Brian Redhead (ed.), Political Thought from Plato to Nato (Penguin, 1995); these treat individual political philosophers in historical sequence. Two studies which use historical figures to illustrate general themes in political philosophy are Jonathan Wolff’s book referred to above and John Morrow, History of Political Thought (Macmillan 1998). For an in-depth treatment of political thought from Hobbes onwards, see Iain Hampsher-Monk, A History of Modern Political Thought (Blackwell, 1992). For short accounts of both major and minor figures in the history of political thought, see my Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought, co-edited with Janet Coleman, William Connolly, and Alan Ryan (Blackwell, 1987).

Lorenzetti’s frescos are reproduced and discussed in Randolph Starn, Ambrogio Lorenzetti: The Palazzo Pubblico, Siena (Braziller, 1994). They can also be viewed on the internet at http://www.kfki.hu/arthp/html/l/lorenzet/ambrogio/governme/index.html. In interpreting the frescos, I have been much helped by Quentin Skinner’s essays on Lorenzetti, which are reproduced in his Visions of Politics, ii (Cambridge University Press, 2002).

Marx’s theory that politics is largely determined by a society’s form of material production can be found in The Communist Manifesto and the preface to A Critique of Political Economy, both of which are reproduced in standard selections from Marx such as Karl Marx: Selected Writings, ed. D. McLellan (Oxford University Press, 1977). The ‘end of history’ thesis was popularized in Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (Hamish Hamilton, 1992).

For Hobbes and Plato, see respectively Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, ed. R. Tuck (Cambridge University Press, 1991) and Plato, The Republic, available in many translations including that of H. D. P. Lee (Penguin, 1955) — the simile of the cave can be found in book 7.

For the contrast between ancient and modern forms of democracy, see Sanford Lakoff, Democracy: History, Theory, Practice (Westview Press, 1996).

The most accessible discussion of political authority that I know of is April Carter, Authority and Democracy (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979). More advanced is Leslie Green, The Authority of the State (Clarendon Press, 1998).

Hobbes’s description of life without political authority is in his Leviathan, ed. Richard Tuck (Cambridge University Press, 1991), ch. 13; the passage cited occurs on p. 89. A good introduction to his thought is Richard Tuck, Hobbes (Oxford University Press, 1989).

I have discussed anarchism at greater length in Anarchism (Dent, 1984). The best known communitarian anarchist was the Russian Prince Peter Kropotkin — see for instance his The Conquest of Bread and Other Writings, ed. M. Shatz (Cambridge University Press, 1995). The most important work of libertarian political philosophy is Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia (Blackwell, 1974), though note that Nozick ends up by defending the minimal state rather than anarchy. For a good discussion see Jonathan Wolff, Robert Nozick (Polity Press, 1991).

On public goods, and the question whether political authority is needed to provide them, see David Schmidtz, The Limits of Government (Westview Press, 1991).

The problem of political obligation is discussed by John Horton in Political Obligation (Macmillan, 1992). The most persuasive case for the fair-play argument is to be found in G. Klosko, The Principle of Fairness and Political Obligation (Rowman & Littlefield, 1992); it is criticized, along with the consent argument, in A. John Simmons, Moral Principles and Political Obligations (Princeton University Press, 1979).

The grounds for civil disobedience are discussed in Peter Singer, Democracy and Disobedience (Oxford University Press, 1973).

John Locke’s critique of Hobbes can be found in his Two Treatises of Government, ed. P. Laslett (Cambridge University Press, 1988). The quotation is from the Second Treatise, ch. 7, p. 328.

The Schumpeter quotation comes from Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, ed. T. Bottomore (Allen & Unwin, 1976), p. 262.

The Rousseau quotation comes from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, ed. C. Frankel (Hafner, 1947), p. 85.

On democracy in general, see Ross Harrison, Democracy (Routledge, 1993) and Albert Weale, Democracy (Macmillan, 1999). For the pluralist approach, see Robert Dahl, Democracy and its Critics (Yale University Press, 1989). For a defence of popular participation in politics, see Benjamin Barber, Strong Democracy (University of California Press, 1984) and John Burnheim, Is Democracy Possible? (Polity Press, 1985).

For evidence about how ordinary citizens might perform if asked to make political decisions, see Anna Coote and Jo Lenaghan, Citizens’ Juries (IPPR, 1997) and James Fishkin, The Voice of the People (Yale University Press, 1995).

On the role of constitutions, see Geoffrey Marshall, Constitutional Theory (Clarendon Press, 1971).

John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty is included in Utilitarianism; On Liberty; Considerations on Representative Government, ed. A. D. Lindsay (Dent, 1964). The quotations in this chapter are from pp. 125 and 138.

I have collected together what I regard as the best essays on the concept of liberty, including Isaiah Berlin’s, in Liberty (Oxford University Press, 1991). Other good treatments are Tim Gray, Freedom (Macmillan, 1991) and Adam Swift, Political Philosophy (Polity Press, 2001), part 2.

Mill’s principle of liberty has been much discussed. Recommended books include C. L. Ten, Mill on Liberty (Clarendon Press, 1980) and Joel Feinberg, Harm to Others (Oxford University Press, 1984).

For discussion of the issues of free speech raised by the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, see Bhikhu Parekh (ed.), Free Speech (Commission for Racial Equality, 1990) and Bhikhu Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism (Macmillan, 2000), ch. 10.

The development of the idea of natural rights is traced in Richard Tuck, Natural Rights Theories: Their Origins and Development (Cambridge University Press, 1979). For analysis of the more recent idea of human rights, see James Nickel, Making Sense of Human Rights (University of California Press, 1987) and Henry Shue, Basic Rights (Princeton University Press, 1996).

St Augustine’s remark about justice comes from The City of God against the Pagans, ed. R. W. Dyson (Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 139.

I have analysed the idea of justice at greater length in Principles of Social Justice (Harvard University Press, 1999) — this focuses on the principles of equality, desert, and need. A good discussion of different theories of justice can be found in Tom Campbell, Justice, 2nd edn. (Macmillan, 2001), as well as in the general textbooks by Kymlicka and Swift listed above. For the idea that different principles of justice apply in different contexts, see especially Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice: A Defence of Pluralism and Equality (Basic Books, 1983).

A good selection of recent writing by political philosophers on equality is Matthew Clayton and Andrew Williams (eds.), The Ideal of Equality (Macmillan, 2000).

Hayek’s critique of social justice can be found in Friedrich Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty, vol. ii. The Mirage of Social Justice (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976).

Evidence about communities and societies that have tried to dispense with material incentives is presented in Charles Erasmus, In Search of the Common Good: Utopian Experiments Past and Future (Free Press, 1977).

John Rawls’s masterwork is A Theory of Justice, first published in 1971 (revised edn., Harvard University Press, 1999), but a shorter and more accessible version of his theory can be found in Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, ed. E Kelly (Harvard University Press, 2001).

For an accessible introduction to the idea of market socialism, see Julian Le Grand and Saul Estrin (eds.), Market Socialism (Clarendon Press, 1989).

Both feminism and multiculturalism are discussed at length in Will Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy, 2nd edn. (Oxford University Press, 2002). There are many anthologies of feminist political thought, including Alison Jaggar and Iris Marion Young (eds.), A Companion to Feminist Philosophy (Blackwell, 1998) and Anne Phillips (ed.), Feminism and Politics (Oxford University Press, 1998). On multiculturalism, see Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Clarendon Press, 1995), Bhikhu Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism (Macmillan, 2000), and for a critique, Brian Barry, Culture and Equality (Polity Press, 2001).

For the claim that in debates about political power and authority, the power of men over women has remained unacknowledged, see especially Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract (Polity Press, 1988). For analysis of how political philosophers have regarded women in the past, see Susan Okin, Women in Western Political Thought (Virago, 1980).

The quotation from John Stuart Mill comes from The Subjection of Women in John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor, Essays on Sex Equality, ed. A Rossi (University of Chicago Press, 1970), p. 148. The question whether there are essential differences between men’s and women’s nature is discussed in Deborah Rhode (ed.), Theoretical Perspectives on Sexual Difference (Yale University Press, 1990).

The feminist case against pornography is powerfully stated in Catherine MacKinnon, Only Words (Harper Collins, 1994).

For discussion about why and how women and cultural minorities should be included in democratic politics, see Anne Phillips, The Politics of Presence (Clarendon Press, 1995) and Iris Marion Young, Inclusion and Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2000).

On justice within the family, see especially Susan Moller Okin, Justice, Gender and the Family (Basic Books, 1989).

For those wanting to investigate the philosophical issues posed by affirmative action policies, a good place to start is Stephen Cahn, The Affirmative Action Debate, 2nd edn. (Routledge, 2002). See also Ronald Dworkin’s essays collected in A Matter of Principle (Clarendon Press, 1986), part v.

Benedict Anderson’s influential idea of nations as imagined communities is developed in Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism, revised edn. (Verso, 1991). For contrasting interpretations of nationalism as a sociological phenomenon, see Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Blackwell, 1983) and Anthony Smith, National Identity (Penguin, 1991).

My claim that national identity supports democracy and social justice is spelt out at greater length in On Nationality (Clarendon Press, 1995). For the argument that nationalism need not be detrimental to liberal values, see Yael Tamir, Liberal Nationalism (Princeton University Press, 1993).

Cosmopolitan political ideas are defended by David Held in Democracy and the Global Order (Polity, 1995). Cosmopolitan principles of justice are advocated in Charles Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations (new edn., Princeton University Press, 1999), Thomas Pogge, Realizing Rawls (Cornell University Press, 1989), and Charles Jones, Global Justice: Defending Cosmopolitanism (Oxford University Press, 1999).

Michael Walzer defends the view that ‘thicker’ principles of justice apply within national communities than across the world as a whole in Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad (University of Notre Dame Press, 1994).

Immanuel Kant’s essay ‘Perpetual Peace’ is included in Kant’s Political Writings, ed. H. Reiss (Cambridge University Press, 1971). The quoted sentence in on p. 114.

For John Rawls’s vision of a just world order as a ‘realistic utopia’ see The Law of Peoples (Harvard University Press, 1999).