The Political Theory of Modus Vivendi

The Political Theory of Modus Vivendi PDF

Author: John Horton

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-07-10

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 3319790781

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book focuses on the idea of a modus vivendi as a way of governing political life and addressing problems characterized by pluralism or deep-rooted diversity. The individual essays illustrate both the merits and the limitations of a political theory of modus vivendi; how it might be interpreted and developed; specific challenges entailed by articulating it in a convincing form; what its institutional implications might be; and how it relates to other seminal issues and concepts in political theory; such as legitimacy, toleration, the social contract, etc. The book makes a significant contribution to the discussion on the scope and limits of liberal political theory, and on how to deal politically with deep-rooted diversity.

Modus Vivendi Liberalism

Modus Vivendi Liberalism PDF

Author: David McCabe

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-02-25

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1139484028

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A central task in contemporary political philosophy is to identify principles governing political life where citizens disagree deeply on important questions of value and, more generally, about the proper ends of life. The distinctively liberal response to this challenge insists that the state should as far as possible avoid relying on such contested issues in its basic structure and deliberations. David McCabe critically surveys influential defenses of the liberal solution and advocates modus vivendi liberalism as an alternative defense of the liberal state. Acknowledging that the modus vivendi approach does not provide the deep moral consensus that many liberals demand, he defends the liberal state as an acceptable compromise among citizens who will continue to see it as less than ideal. His book will interest a wide range of readers in political philosophy and political theory.

Between Form and Event: Machiavelli's Theory of Political Freedom

Between Form and Event: Machiavelli's Theory of Political Freedom PDF

Author: M. Vatter

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-04-17

Total Pages: 569

ISBN-13: 940159337X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Before Machiavelli, political freedom was approached as a problem of the best distribution of the functions of ruler and ruled. Machiavelli changed the terms of freedom, requiring that its discourse address the demand for no-rule or non-domination. Political freedom would then develop only through a strategy of antagonism to every form of legitimate domination. This leads to the emergence of modern political life: any institution that wishes to rule legitimately must simultaneously be inscribed with its immanent critique and imminent subversion. For Machiavelli, the possibility of instituting the political form is conditioned by the possibility of changing it in an event of political revolution. This book shows Machiavelli as a philosopher of the modern condition. For him, politics exists in the absence of those absolute moral standards that are called upon to legitimate the domination of man over man. If this understanding lies open to relativism and historicism, it does so in order to render effective the project of reinventing the sense of human freedom. Machiavelli's legacy to modernity is the recognition of an irreconcilable tension between the demands of freedom and the imperatives of morality.

Realism in Political Theory

Realism in Political Theory PDF

Author: Rahul Sagar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-08

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 1351168754

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Over the past decade, an intellectual movement known as "realism" has challenged the reigning orthodoxy in political theory and political philosophy. Realists take issue with what they see as the excessive moralism and utopianism associated with prominent philosophers like John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, and G.A. Cohen; but what they would put in its place has not always been clear. The contributors to this volume seek to bring realism into a new phase, constructive rather than merely combative. To this end they examine three distinct kinds of realism. The first seeks to place questions of feasibility at the center of political theory and philosophy; the second seeks to reorient our interpretations of key works in the canon; the third seeks new interpretations or specifications of prominent ideologies such as liberalism, radicalism, and republicanism such that they no longer rely on abstract or systematic philosophic systems. Contributors include: David Estlund, Edward Hall, Alison McQueen, Terry Nardin, Philip Pettit, Janosch Prinz, Enzo Rossi, Andrew Sabl, Rahul Sagar, and Matt Sleat. The chapters originally published as a special issue of Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

The Liberal Archipelago

The Liberal Archipelago PDF

Author: Chandran Kukathas

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2003-06-05

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0191531502

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In his major new work Chandran Kukathas offers, for the first time, a book-length treatment of this controversial and influential theory of minority rights. The work is a defence of a form of liberalism and multiculturalism. The general question it tries to answer is: what is the principled basis of a free society marked by cultural diversity and group loyalties? More particularly, it explains whether such a society requires political institutions which recognize minorities; how far it should tolerate such minorities when their ways differ from those of the mainstream community; to what extent political institutions should address injustices suffered by minorities at the hands of the wider society, and also at the hands of the powerful within their own communities; what role, if any, the state should play in the shaping of a society's (national) identity; and what fundamental values should guide our reflections on these matters. Its main contention is that a free society is an open society whose fundamental principle is the principle of freedom of association. A society is free to the extent that it is prepared to tolerate in its midst associations which differ or dissent from its standards or practices. An implication of these principles is that political society is also no more than one among other associations; its basis is the willingness of its members to continue to associate under the terms which define it. While it is an 'association of associations', it is not the only such association; it does not subsume all other associations. The principles of a free society describe not a hierarchy of superior and subordinate authorities but an archipelago of competing and overlapping jurisdictions. The idea of a liberal archipelago is defended as one which supplies us with a better metaphor of the free society than do older notions such as the body politic, or the ship of state. This work presents a challenge, and an alternative, to other contemporary liberal theories of multiculturalism.

Two Faces of Liberalism (Large Print 16pt)

Two Faces of Liberalism (Large Print 16pt) PDF

Author: John Gray

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com

Published: 2010-10

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1459604679

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Like its widely praised predecessor False Dawn, Two Faces of Liberalism, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as ''elegant and powerful,'' offers a thoughtful and provocative analysis of the liberal tradition in politics. John Gray, an eminent professor at the London School of Economics, ''picks large and interesting topics and says arresting things about them,'' according to the New York Review of Books. Two Faces of Liberalism argues that, in its beginning, liberalism contained two contradictory philosophies of tolerance. In one, it put forward the enlightenment vision of a universal civilization. In the other, it framed terms for peaceful coexistence between warring communities and between different ways of life. In this major contribution to political theory, Gray's new book ''takes us beyond the current debate''(The New York Times Book Review) of traditional liberalism to keep up with the complex political realities of today's increasingly divided world.

Contexts of Justice

Contexts of Justice PDF

Author: Rainer Forst

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2002-02-27

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 0520232259

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This text offers an intervention into the debate between communitarianism and liberalism. It argues for a theory of "contexts of justice" that leads beyond the confines of the debate as it has been understood and posits the possibility of a new conception of social and political justice.

Nomocratic Pluralism

Nomocratic Pluralism PDF

Author: Kenneth B. McIntyre

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-09-21

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 3030533905

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book is a contribution to the ongoing conversation about value pluralism and its relation to political life. Its uniqueness lies in its insistence that the acceptance of value pluralism involves placing certain limitations on what is an acceptable form of government and what functions governments ought to be legitimately performing. In a new approach coined “nomocratic pluralism,” this volume argues that liberty under the rule of law, which is not merely liberty where the law is silent, is a key concept of liberty and cannot be subsumed by the other primary implications of the acceptance of value pluralism: that political communities must reject positive liberty as a political value, and place a high, but not absolute, priority on negative liberty as a political value. The concept of liberty under the rule of law is particularly suited to accommodate a great variety of individual and group conceptions of value and the moral good, and thus, along with negative liberty, should be a primary value for those who accept value pluralism.

The Political Theory of John Gray

The Political Theory of John Gray PDF

Author: John Horton

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 9780415366472

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

John Gray is one of today's most controversial political thinkers. This new collection examines him from a variety of stimulating angles.

Liberal Realism

Liberal Realism PDF

Author: Matt Sleat

Publisher:

Published: 2017-10

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9781526122810

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Political realism has recently moved to the centre of debates in contemporary political theory. In this monograph, Matt Sleat presents the first comprehensive overview of the resurgence of interest in realist political theory and develops a unique and original defence of liberal politics in realist terms. Through explorations of the work of a diverse range of thinkers, including Bernard Williams, John Rawls, Raymond Geuss, Judith Shklar, John Gray, Carl Schmitt and Max Weber, the author advances a theory of liberal realism that is consistent with the realist emphasis on disagreement and conflict yet still recognisably liberal in its concern with respecting individuals' freedom and constraining political power. The result is a unique contribution to the ongoing debates surrounding realism and an original and timely re-imagining of liberal theory for the twenty-first century.