The Key Texts of Political Philosophy
An Introduction

This book introduces readers to analytical interpretation of seminal writings and thinkers in the history of political thought.

Thomas L. Pangle (Author), Timothy W. Burns (Author)

9781107006072, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 October 2014

450 pages
23.1 x 15 x 3 cm, 0.74 kg

'This remarkable work somehow combines staggering erudition with great clarity and indeed beauty. Each chapter treats a single author or text and can stand on its own. But the chapters taken together constitute a grand tour through the history of political thought - classical Greek, Biblical, early modern, and modern, from Plato to Genesis to Machiavelli to Nietzsche and much else besides. A book to return to again and again.' Robert C. Bartlett, Boston College

This book introduces readers to analytical interpretation of seminal writings and thinkers in the history of political thought, including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, Thomas Aquinas, Machiavelli, Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, Marx, and Nietzsche. Chronologically arranged, each chapter in the book is devoted to the work of a single thinker. The selected texts together engage with 2000 years of debate on fundamental questions including: what is the purpose of political life? What is justice? What is a right? Do human beings have rights? What kinds of human virtues are there and which regimes best promote them? The difficulty of accessing the texts included in this volume is the result not only of their subtlety but also of the dramatic change in everyday life. The authors shed light on the texts' vocabulary and complexities of thought and help students understand and weigh the various interpretations of each philosopher's thought.

Part I. Classical Political Philosophy: 1. Plato's Apology of Socrates
2. Plato's Republic, book one
3. Aristotle's Politics
Part II. Biblical Political Theology: 4. The Bible
5. St Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Law
Part III. Modern Political Philosophy: 6. Machiavelli's Discourses and Prince
7. Bacon's New Atlantis
8. Hobbes's Leviathan
9. Locke's Second Treatise of Government
10. Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws
Part IV. Modernity in Question: 11. Rousseau's First and Second Discourses
12. Marx and Engels: The Communist Manifesto
13. Tocqueville's Democracy in America
14. Nietzsche and his Zarathustra.

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