The Family and the Political Self

The Family and the Political Self explores insights on the human desire to have children.

Laurence Thomas (Author)

9780521854177, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 February 2006

200 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.6 cm, 0.41 kg

"Laurence Thomas's new book, The Family and the Political Self is a highly original, thought provoking, and movingly written meditation on the proposition that human beings are capable of and very frequently demonstrate that they actually have considerable altruism." - Bernard R. Boxill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Having children is the most common aim among human beings. The Family and the Political Self aims to capture the insights that can be gleaned from taking this truth seriously. One truth is that human beings may not be as self-interested as is commonly supposed. In this book Laurence Thomas argues that the best construal of the political self reflects this truth.

Introduction
1. Uniquely valued
2. Reconceptualizing the moral self
3. The family as a model for society
4. From family to E Pluribus Unum
Epilogue: the liberty between Plato and modern liberalism.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], Social & political philosophy [HPS]