Social and political philosophy Books

Book SynopsisAvramenko contends that courage is the primary means for humans to raise themselves out of their individualistic, isolated, and materialistic existence.Trade Review"In this engaging book, written with a sharp eye and keen sensibilities, Richard Avramenko traces the multifaceted history of courage from its Homeric manifestations to the modern day. Through creative and subtle readings of important texts, both ancient and modern, Avramenko chronicles the transformation of courage from its association with the manly violence of an Achilles or the Spartan three hundred into a virtue that, while still entailing an ever-essential care for others, sheds its connection with manliness and becomes compatible with the equality that is so much a part of today's democratic regimes." —Arlene Saxonhouse, University of Michigan"In his ambitious book, Richard Avramenko has given us a profound and rigorous treatment of four important phases in the self-understanding of courage. Avramenko has done much more than provide a snapshot of the 'red badge of courage'; he has taken courage as a prism through which the history of political thought can be viewed. As a consequence, he has also shown that courage is not a one-dimensional invocation but a many-faceted virtue whose meaning is inexhaustible. He has mapped the terrain with a mastery that will be difficult to surpass." —David John Walsh, The Catholic University of America"Avramenko’s rich and lucid study of the principal modes of courage manifest in Western thought deploys impressive learning in an undertaking that transcends conventional scholarship. Guided by the insight that every human community and thus all truly human existence arises from some fundamental care that must be esteemed beyond mere material existence, the author is able to demonstrate the singular originary quality of the virtue of courage, in all its various manifestations, from Homer through the classical Greeks to Rousseau and Tocqueville. Avramenko understands that this 'beyond' can never be fully grasped or mastered by reason, and he proves himself fully aware that one cannot study courage truly without praising and emulating it, that is, without exposing oneself to the still recognizable call of authentic human existence that underlies the various forms courage may take." —Ralph C. Hancock, Brigham Young University“. . . Richard Avramenko’s Courage: The Politics of Life and Limb [is] his veritable history of the ‘existential virtue par excellence’ from ancient Greece to modern times. . . . Subsequent chapters deal with martial courage and honor, political courage, moral courage, and economic courage. The last chapter, ‘The Aftermath,’ is Avramenko’s delightful effort to come to terms with his obvious reverence for courage’s lofty role in human affairs.” —Foreword"Courage, properly understood, requires deep commitment or 'care' on the part of the individual to a communally defined value. Avramenko traces these commitments in five chapters on Herodotus, Plato, Rousseau, and Tocqueville. . . Avramenko clearly seems nostalgic for an older sense of courage—one retaining some links with honor and martial prowess. In addition, Avramenko sees the lens of courage as a means of understanding traditions profoundly different from liberalism, some of which have been closely engaged in recent history." —Choice“[W]hen confronted with questions of, ‘What precisely does this courage entail and in what does it consist?’ or ‘What does it mean to be courageous and honorable and to be a man or woman of character?’, then we withdraw into platitudes, slogans, and clichés—anything except meaningful engagement with questions that demand substantive answers. It is precisely this need for meaningful engagement that makes Richard Avramenko’s study, Courage: The Politics of Life and Limb such a compelling read.” —VoegelinView.com"Courage has come into disrepute, most often on display as the last refuge of nostalgics, reactionaries, and jingoists. This book is a welcome reminder, and a compelling demonstration, that courage is too powerful and too useful to leave to them. . . . Courage opens a worthwhile discussion, and is itself a worthwhile contribution. Anyone who is interested in the political cultures of the societies he treats will benefit from reading it." —Bryn Mawr Classical Review“This is a valuable book that can be read not just by social scientists, but ethicists, and indeed, any scholar interested in society and the political. Indeed, Avramenko ends by making a good case for courage as a social scientific virtue, pushing scholars to see the care and legitimate courage at work in honor cultures that are still present in our politics. Only then might we be able to dig deeper and see a sense of value that we missed in those we fear.” —Journal for Peace and Justice Studies

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Book SynopsisThe essays in Virtue and Politics explore the influences of Marx on Alasdair MacIntyre. They show his political theory is a form of revolutionary Aristotelianism.Trade Review"This is an excellent collection. Its particular strength is its sustained focus on Alasdair MacIntyre's political thought, in particular MacIntyre's complicated relation and indebtedness to Marxism. In their introduction, the co-editors say that the reception of MacIntyre within political philosophy has largely been reductive and one-sided, namely, that he is simply viewed as a conservative communitarian. In focusing on MacIntyre's radical heritage, this volume helps correct that simplistic misperception." —Keith Breen, Queen's University Belfast"In this learned and elegant volume, Paul Blackledge, Kelvin Knight, and their roster of noteworthy contributors—including Alasdair MacIntyre himself—strive with considerable success to explore the core ideas of MacIntyre’s ethics and politics in order to present a coherent vision of his intellectual and practical project. The reader will discover how the evolution of MacIntyre’s teachings has led him to a position that the authors convincingly label 'Revolutionary Aristotelianism,' a doctrine that unites the many concerns and interests evinced by him over a half-century or more. This book is required reading for political theorists, philosophers, sociologists, and anyone else who has ever struggled to make sense of MacIntyre’s large, always challenging, and sometimes provocative body of work." —Cary J. Nederman, Texas A&M University“Alasdair MacIntyre is perhaps the greatest moral philosopher alive today. . . . Blackledge and Knight have assembled this fascinating set of papers addressing what his politics are and/or should be. . . . MacIntyre, as is clear from this volume, makes no secret of the fact both that he takes Marxism as a political programme to be unsalvageable and that he still feels entitled to call his Thomist Aristotelianism ‘revolutionary.’” —Marx and Philosophy Review of Books“Virtue and Politics offers a collection of essays that address the political trajectories of [Alasdair MacIntyre's] . . . early and more recent work. Whereas countless books and articles have been written on the significance of MacIntyre’s contributions to moral philosophy, Virtue and Politics is distinctive in its decidedly political focus.” —International Socialist Review“A superb academic trajectory, an indictment of modernity and a witness to the power of Christian tradition. . . . MacIntyre’s insights transcend party politics, and all readers will benefit from continuing reflections on their applicability to contemporary Western society.” —The Living Church“If there are two people fitted for the task of assembling papers to critically explore the sources, structure, implications and limitation of MacIntyre’s social, political and ethical philosophy, Knight and Blackledge are them. . . . readers looking for wide-ranging, incisive, original and charitably critical evaluations of MacIntyre’s work can do no better than . . . [this volume].” —Journal of Critical Realism“This point leads to a final question: in what way (if at all) can we describe MacIntyre’s political thought as revolutionary? Virtue and Politics explores all these questions from a variety of perspectives. It also contains MacIntyre’s illuminating response to the volume’s essays, which helps us understand his own sense of these questions. It is difficult to give an adequate sense of the richness and diversity of the essays in this volume, which wrestle with all of these questions.” —The Thomist

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Book SynopsisAn innovative exploration of “modern evil” in works of early- and late-modern theatre, focusing on ethics, religion, and aesthetics that speak to our present condition.Trade Review“Corey’s lucid, compelling treatise argues for a radical reconsideration of the role of tragedy in dealing with the shifting metaphysical and metatheatrical sands of the contemporary era. While the study begins with an examination of mid-20th Century French existentialism—and the dramatic work of Beckett and Camus in particular—the book soon takes the reader on a fascinating voyage back into the ‘problem’ comedies of the Italian and English Renaissance theatre, and beyond that, into Greek tragedy to understand the evolving concept of ‘evil’ in the Western philosophical, theological, and dramatic tradition. Ending with a reflection on the new ‘theatre’ of terrorism entering the 21st Century, Corey poses the intriguing suggestion, that far from being irrelevant to the post-modern era, a ‘new tragic sensibility’ may become key to our gaining a ‘lucid awareness of our current situation […] the limits of politics, the indelible nature of violence, our inescapable mortality, and a need for prudence’” —Moira Day, University of Saskatchewan“A sensitive examination of the problem of evil in Renaissance and 20th century drama. Corey provides fascinating analyses of individual plays, and makes a compelling argument for restoring a tragic vision of good and evil in the face of modern expediency and utopianism.” —Mary P. Nichols, Baylor University“In Messiahs and Machiavellians, Paul Corey delivers insights both numerous and profound. His work is a serious and important contribution to contemporary political science while also offering analyses of interest to scholars in literature, religious studies, theology, and ethics.” —Barry Cooper, University of Calgary“Corey's engaging book centers on the close analysis of four plays, each one depicting evil in a particular light: Albert Camus' Caligula, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Machiavelli's Mandragola, and Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Corey carefully distinguishes between endeavors that might achieve temporary success within definite limits and those that claim a boundless victory that will destroy evil forever.” —First Principles

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Book SynopsisThe twentieth-century Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd (18941977) left behind an impressive canon of philosophical works and has continued to influence a scholarly community in Europe and North America, which has extended, critiqued, and applied his thought in many academic fields. Jonathan Chaplin introduces Dooyeweerd for the first time to many English readers by critically expounding Dooyeweerd's social and political thought and by exhibiting its pertinence to contemporary civil society debates. Chaplin begins by contextualizing Dooyeweerd's thought, first in relation to present-day debates and then in relation to the work of the Dutch philosopher Abraham Kuyper (18371920). Chaplin outlines the distinctive theory of historical and cultural development that serves as an essential backdrop to Dooyeweerd's substantive social philosophy; examines Dooyeweerd's notion of societal structural principles; and sets forth his complex classification of particular types of social stTrade Review"Finally, an authoritative book that brings to brilliant light and life Herman Dooyeweerd’s Christian philosophy of law, politics, and society. For the past half century, the profound and original teachings of this prolific Dutch sage have been lost on most readers. Jonathan Chaplin has rescued Dooyeweerd from his own obscure prose, poor translations, and cultic mystique to reveal his astonishing and engaging insights into our lives as persons and peoples, rulers and citizens, preachers and parishioners, parents and children. This will be the go-to book on Dooyeweerd for many years to come." —John Witte, Jr., Emory University“Herman Dooyeweerd was both deep and original. Much of his writing is an articulation of rather undeveloped lines of thought in his Dutch predecessor, Abraham Kuyper. In the course of his exposition, Chaplin effectively highlights Dooyeweerd's significance for a theory of civil society and for present-day social theory in general." —Nicholas Wolterstorff, Yale University and the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Virginia“Given the challenge of such an undertaking, one can appreciate Chaplin’s cumulative exposition of Dooyeweerd’s thought; his skillful development provides an effortless transition from Chaplain’s unique philosophy to his distinct political and social thought to the application of both in contemporary issues . . . . More sophisticated readers will appreciate the realistic portrait Chaplin paints of Dooyeweerd’s thought, one that rescues Dooyeweerd’s important contribution to political and social theory from its obtuse philosophical husk and places it back into the center of the contemporary debate.” —Journal of State and Religion“Jonathan Chaplin offers us a thorough, lucid, widely accessible, and reliable guide (critical but deeply sympathetic), to the philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd, especially his philosophy of law, society, and politics in a way that should surely bring illumination to the uninitiated and perplexed reader of this undoubtedly important but neglected Christian (Reformed Protestant) thinker of the twentieth century.” —Journal of Markets and Morality“As intellectual heir to Abraham Kuyper . . . Dooyeweerd might seem to belong to an earlier generation of Christian political thought, amongst the Christian Democrat thinkers who opposed Nazism and contributed to the post-war reconstruction of Europe . . . Chapin situates him in more contemporary debates by drawing attention to his critique of liberalism, or the ‘humanistic ground motive’ as he calls it, and his account of ‘Christian pluralism’ and how this might contribute to recent debates about Civil Society.” —Modern Theology"To unpack Dooyeweerd is no small task, especially given his penchant for neologisms and a highly nuanced use of common vernacular. Given the challenge of such an undertaking, one can appreciate Chaplin's cumulative exposition of Dooyeweerd's thought; his skillful development provides an effortless transition from Chaplin's unique philosophy to his distinct political and social thought to the application of both in contemporary issues." —Journal of Church and State". . . if you are working in social theory or political philosophy—actually, if you have any personal or professional interest in reading philosophy—or if you are intrigued by ways in which the ideas of Abraham Kuyper can be nuanced and brought to bear on the social and political questions of the 21st century, I recommend this book to you with unbridled enthusiasm." —Books and Culture“Chaplin has written a masterful book. He has partaken deeply of a profoundly Christian theorist, and the fruit of his reflection is an incisive text written in a palatable idiom that is (largely) free of the original Dutch Reformed dialect and convoluted linguistic inventions. More importantly, it is a rare author who can, in one book, introduce and summarise the work of a great thinker, critically assess the value of that thinking, and then utilize it in fashioning his own constructive proposal—and do all that in a clear and engaging manner.” —Studies in Christian Ethics“[Chaplin’s book] will provide those new to Dooyeweerd studies with an introduction that is both accessible and competent. . . . A clear strength of this book is that it does not assume any detailed prior understanding of Dooyeweerd’s systematic philosophy.” —Pro Rege“[Herman Dooyeweerd] is loaded with provocative ideas, arguments, questions, and proposed revisions to Dooyeweerd’s philosophy. Those who know the work of Dooyeweerd will find the book illuminating and thought provoking. Those who are new to Dooyeweerd will find the book a helpful introduction, though it cannot make Dooyeweerd’s difficult and complex philosophy less difficult and complex than it is. The book is an important step forward in Dooyeweerd studies.” —Philosophia Reformata

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Book SynopsisIn René Girard and Secular Modernity, Scott Cowdell provides the first systematic interpretation of René Girard’s controversial approach to secular modernity.Trade Review"Scott Cowdell is one of the most interesting theological voices of his generation. The themes in Cowdell's work are always cosmic and vast in scope. This is a remarkable reading of our contemporary situation through the lens of René Girard. Accurate, informed, and illuminating, Cowdell has written a fabulous book. For the person needing a way into Girard and for the person who is already using Girard's work, Cowdell brings out the implications of Girard for the moment in which we live. An absolutely essential addition to your personal library." —The Very Rev Dr. Ian Markham, Virginia Theological Seminary"The strength of this book is the chilling clarity with which it explains the origins and the dynamic operations of human civilization as we know it, and the profound internal threats to that civilization that have been developing in secular modernity. . . . This is a good book on a very, indeed vitally important subject." —America“More than any other study devoted to Girard, Cowdell incorporated Girard’s more recent writings and interviews into a total picture of mimetic theory and brings it into conversation with modern secularism. . . . [His] book deserves a place among the pantheon of works that show the importance of mimetic theory for Christian theology.” —Theological Studies“Everything is completed by the fact that the three terms of the subtitle interact one with another in an exciting way. This gives the main flavor of the book and, at the same time, its power. . . . Everything is done ably and efficiently, and Cowdell’s text is adorned with strategic references and quotations: key passages and conclusions are provided with the strongest statements by Girard himself.” —Ecclesia orans“The book has thirty-eight pages of notes, a bibliography and index. It belongs in every library that studies peace, war, and violence.” —Catholic Library World“Cowdell here continues his exploration of the work of Girard as a resource for Christian theology and for its relevance to the current cultural crisis. . . . This is a serious study in terms of content and a reliable and patient exposition of the basic terms and ideas found in Girard’s long life of writing. For the more advanced Girardian student, Cowdell is not afraid to extend the master’s method and illustrate it in new ways in a rapidly changing world.” —Australian eJournal of Theology“Cowdell is a flag-waving disciple who really does believe that Girard has found the ‘key’ to unify the human sciences in a way similar to how Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundational key for the modern life sciences. He explains clearly, simply, and with apposite examples the elements of Girard’s theory, and brings it up-to-date with an emphasis on Girard’s last work.” —The Heythrop Journal“The work of René Girard would not seem all that relevant to Thomists. . . However, in my estimation, Girard’s thought is not just important to Thomists, it is indispensable. Scott Cowdell’s book is a persuasive and erudite argument for why this is the case. It is not only a masterful synthesis of Girard’s entire corpus and intellectual genealogy of his thought, but it is also itself a profound analysis of the genealogy and trajectory of secular modernity in the light of Girard’s work. It brings to bear upon this analysis numerous citations of Girardian scholars, the authors and works most influential upon Girard, and his own voice as an eminent Anglican theologian. Dr. Cowdell’s book is now the standard treatment of Girard’s thought on secular modernity.” —The Imaginative Conservative“Drawing upon a large and at times daunting pantheon of notable modern figures, Cowdell focuses attention upon a Girardian reading of modernity—specifically, the freedom and autonomy offered by modernity and the process of secularization that are actually a further entrenching of the perils of mimetic desire. . . . Putting Girardian theories in dialogue with recent developments in cognition, neuroscience, developmental psychology, and behavioural studies of animals, Cowdell draws our attention to the way in which Girard’s theories are less individualistic than modern psychological theories.” —International Journals of Public Theology“In this very-well-researched book, one is introduced to the basics of the Girardian theory, which provides the basis for Girard’s insights on secularism and modernity. . . . Overall, Cowdell’s book is an enlightening, enticing read and will most likely become a must read for those studying, or interested in, theology.” —Journal of Ecumenical StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. Overture to Mimetic Theory 2. From Violence to Divinity 3. From Hominization to Apocalypse 4. Girard Among the Theologians 5. A Divine-Human Drama 6. The Shadow Side of Finitude 7. Divine Overaccepting 8. Christ, the Nonviolence of God Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisMost moral philosophers and psychologists have missed something crucial in the work of Lawrence Kohlberg (192787), best known for his theory of stages of moral development. In Following Kohlberg: Liberalism and the Practice of Democratic Community, Donald R.C. Reed clearly illustrates how the Kohlbergian project has much to offer the crucial debate about moral psychology and how to revivify our society''s jaded sense of fairness and responsibility. Psychologists, philosophers, theologians, educators, and therapists will find here a comprehensive guide to Kohlberg''s life work, a clear presentation of both theory and practice, and an understanding of moral maturity which encompasses both justice and responsiveness. All who care about nurturing and preserving a democratic community are well-advised to read this book.Trade Review“Reed’s most original contribution resides in his articulation of distinct conceptions of liberal and democratic thinking.” —Philosophy in Review

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Book SynopsisIn the 1940s and 1950s ""The Review of Politics"", emerged as one of the leading journals of political and social theory in the United States. This work celebrates that legacy by bringing together essays by a group of American and European emigre intellectuals, among them Jacques Maritain, Hannah Arendt, Josef Pieper, Eric Voegelin, and Yves Simon.Trade Review“The Review of Politics, founded in 1939 by Waldemar Gurian, soon emerged as one of the leading U.S. journals of political and social theory. These collected essays from the journal's beginning years showcase the critical thought of such distinguished authors as Hannah Arendt, Jacques Maritain, Leo Strauss, and Yves Simon.” —Notre Dame Magazine“The essays contained in this volume demonstrate why the Review of Politics is a national treasure. From Jacques Maritain and Yves Simon to Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, it has consistently attracted writers of the highest quality to think about the deepest problems of politics and the twentieth century. The themes covered in this collection range from totalitarianism and nihilism to the value of education and the dignity of the individual. Their probity and intelligence show why the Review of Politics has remained the premier journal for serious students of political philosophy.” —Steven B. Smith, Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science, Yale University“The Review of Politics has been essential reading for students of political philosophy and politics for more than two generations, including among its contributors internationally renowned scholars whose works are both enormously influential and increasingly look to be contemporary expressions of perennial wisdom. To make seminal essays of this remarkable journal easily accessible, with more to come in future volumes, is a great service to students of political science at every level.” —Timothy Fuller, Lloyd E. Worner Distinguished Service Professor, Colorado College"McAdams is to be lauded not only for the selection of these essays but for his admirable introductory essay that for its insight and judgment establishes him with the authors presented." —Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly“An exceptional collection of essays from the University of Notre Dame's Review of Politics. Almost any one of the essays selected is worth the price of the volume. McAdams is to be lauded not only for the selection of these essays but for his admirable introductory essay that for its insight and judgment establishes him as a peer with the authors presented.” —The Review of Metaphysics“These essays from The Review of Politics have a common purpose: confronting the major political, cultural and other problems of Western nations. . . . The book’s 22 articles, of which several were written by European émigrés in the United States, are about their times—the mid-twentieth-century decades—not ours. Nevertheless, few are dated. One reason is that most deal not just with immediate concerns but with permanent questions. What, for example, constitutes a virtuous life and a just society, and how should politics be organized and conducted?” —Political Studies Review

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Book SynopsisWhat Happened in and to Moral Philosophy in the Twentieth Century? is a volume of essays that examine the various positions of contemporary moral philosophyTrade Review"This is a wide-ranging collection of articles, written by some of the most interesting and significant figures in contemporary philosophy. The authors discuss MacIntyre’s thought from the very earliest days to the present time, and they cover both themes in his work (Marxism, Emotivism, Thomism) and detailed interpretations of it. MacIntyre offers an Epilogue which is characteristically sensitive and nuanced. No-one with an interest in MacIntyre or recent moral philosophy will wish to be without a copy of this excellent collection." —Sue Mendus, Morrell Professor Emerita of Political Philosophy, University of York"This is an impressive collection of essays, which deserves a wide audience. The book makes an original contribution to the field, since its retrospective of twentieth-century moral philosophy goes beyond the Anglophone mainstream, tackling Catholic and continental as well as Anglophone analytical thought. Given this and given its dedication to Alasdair MacIntyre, it should appeal to philosophers, sociologists, historians, and cultural theorists." —Tom Angier, University of Kent“This collection of essays in honor of Alasdair MacIntyre provides the means to engage with century-long theories of moral philosophy in a positive and interesting way. And, more importantly, it allows the reader to be a part of a debate between ethical theories that are usually presented as completely different and incapable of arguing with one another.” —Marx and Philosophy online“This Festschrift brings together the majority of those papers presented at a conference held in Dublin in March 2009 to honour Alasdair MacIntyre. The tribute is richly deserved, for throughout his career Macintyre’s work has displayed, not only formidable powers of analysis and wide ranging intellectual curiosity, but also an uncommon readiness to defy the philosophical fashions of his age.” —Philosophical Investigations“A newly published volume of essays edited by Fran O’Rourke marks the most recent attempt to grapple with the complex ramifications of MacIntyre’s thought. . . . O’Rourke has . . . gathered a number of truly excellent and thought provoking pieces that move the discussion on MacIntyre and philosophical issues in political theory, ethics, and philosophy of social science further.” —Philosophy in Review

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Book SynopsisA formidable number of societies all over the world have sought to confront past evil. This volume features a conversation about reconciliation whose common denominator is theology. Theologians, philosophers, and political scientists explore the meaning of reconciliation for the politics of transition.Trade Review“The Politics of Past Evil sheds light on an important question: How do newly established democratic governments – in countries that previously lived under Communism, military dictatorship, or apartheid – address the crimes and injustices committed by the previous regime?... The book as a whole is both innovative and provocative. It enriches the literature on democratization by introducing theological as well as political and philosophical reasoning into the transitional logic.” — Journal of Cold War Studies" 'Truth and reconciliation commissions’ have been used in countries as various as South Africa, El Salvador, Chile, and Guatemala in order to deal, personally and politically, with great crimes and injustices. The thoughtful essays in this book effectively make the case that the choice is not, or not always, between justice and reconciliation. Rather, the authors argue from various perspectives, reconciliation is an essential ingredient of justice.” —First Things“The essays . . . collected here offer a comprehensive, as well as an immensely timely and instructive, account of the role that Christian theological insights can play in generating genuine political reconciliation in divided societies.” —Choice“Philpott's collection offers excellent multidisciplinary approaches that are concretized in case studies. It is an ideal text for teaching, whether in politics or social ethics.” —Theological Studies"The purpose of this book is to consider a number of political questions about reconciliation from a theological standpoint. . . . The contributions to this book are well thought-out and well edited, and successfully tie themes together across chapters. One common thread in several chapters is the idea that societies must consider and deal with the past to move on to a positive and successful future." —PsycCRITIQUES“The volume takes up the pressing legal, political, and moral problems that face societies in their attempt to move from violent civil discord to civil stability, from brutally repressive regimes to functioning free societies. . . . The book brings together political scientists, theologians, and historians and gives each contributor ample latitude to pursue the questions that emerge in transitioning nations-whether a state can extend forgiveness, how to treat perpetrators of past injustice, how to help victims heal, how to minimize violent recriminations and maximize chances for a just and stable future society.” —Journal of Church and State"Sentimentality threatens and undermines the work of reconciliation. So thank God we have this book of extraordinary essays on reconciliation and forgiveness. These essays show at once the hard yet crucial work that is reconciliation. Moreover, it is not work that simply takes place between people, but as these essays show, it can be the heart of politics. Indeed, these essays demonstrate that reconciliation is a politic that we cannot live without. The philosophical, theological, and political sophistication of these essays will make this book the book of record on issues of reconciliation and forgiveness." —Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity School

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Book SynopsisA collection of late 20th-century scholarship devoted to Thomas Jefferson as a politician, writer, philosopher, Christian and economist.Trade Review“A symposium in print illuminating the soul of the American political tradition, Thomas Jefferson and the Politics of Nature brings a group of outstanding Jefferson scholars to explore, test and supplement Michael Zuckert's well-argued defense of Jefferson and the natural rights republic that his thought inspired. And Zuckert responds!” —Walter Nicgorski, Editor, The Review of Politics“Thomas Jefferson and the Politics of Nature is a lively and illuminating symposium on the most perplexing and fascinating of the founding fathers. These essays demonstrate why Jefferson now, as in the past, and as in the future, will engage the most thoughtful and talented of philosophic scholars.” —Harry Jaffa, Professor of Government, Claremont McKenna College“This volume brings together major new Jeffersonian studies by some of the greatest living Jefferson scholars. The collection is distinguished by its unity of focus, the high level of the discussion, and the lucidity and attractiveness of the writing.” —Thomas Pangle, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada“Thomas Engeman has assembled a model symposium that amounts to a comprehensive treatment of Jefferson as a thinker and writer, in a lively exchange between ranking scholars that is both learned and readable. It will be invaluable for students of American political thought and history.”—Wilson Carey McWilliams, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers

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Book SynopsisReaders expecting a traditional philosophical work will be surprised and delighted by David Walsh's Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being, his highly original reflection on the transcendental nature of the person. A specialist in political theory, Walsh breaks new ground in this volume, arguing, as he says in the introduction, that the person is transcendence, not only as an aspiration, but as his or her very reality. Nothing is higher. That is what Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being strives to acknowledge. The analysis of the person is the foundation for thinking about political community and human dignity and rights. Walsh establishes his notion of the person in the first four chapters. He begins with the question as to whether science can in any sense talk about persons. He then examines the person's core activities, free choice and knowledge, and reassesses the claims of the natural sciences. He considers the ground of the person and oTrade Review"Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being is a brilliant, eloquent, and luminous meditative study, filled necessarily with paradox, owing to the limitations of analysis and of language, of which Walsh is fully cognizant, on the meaning of the person. This is an outstanding piece of work by one of the foremost scholars of his generation." —Barry Cooper, University of Calgary "Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being is a magisterial book in the line of Gilson’s Unity of Philosophical Experience, that is, it is a book that sees where ideas go in the light of the being in which all things are grounded. Walsh brings his previous searching reflections on the direction and content of philosophy to a brilliant conclusion in these memorable pages. This is a work of original intellect that serves to illuminate what a person is, how it is grounded in reality, how it relates to both God and to the political order." —James V. Schall, S.J., emeritus, Georgetown University"Rare, indeed, is the book that discusses the human soul in all its amplitude with grace, discernment, and penetration. David Walsh’s new book allows us to see that the relational human person is the alpha and omega of all philosophical and political reflection. David Walsh’s post-metaphysical reflection, a luminous exercise in philosophical Christianity, has nothing to do with fashionable academic nihilism. And his treatments of art and 'God as the seal of the personal' are alone worth the price of admission." —Daniel J. Mahoney, Augustine Chair in Distinguished Scholarship, Assumption College"In reading Walsh, one gets the sense that, in its logic, thought is going somewhere, whether it likes it or not. What Walsh has spent his life seeking to accomplish is a coherent, thorough, and valid understanding of the relationship of God, man, nature, and politics in light of what it is to be a person. . . . Almost every page contains passages and considerations that took me back to almost everything I had ever read before. . . . Continually I found understandings that so struck me that I simply had to let them sink in. This was a book that I did not want to end, even though somehow I was in a hurry to finish it to see if its conclusion would be what I suspected all along that it might be. . . . The greatness of Walsh’s book, following on his previous ones, is that it sees that persons bear reality and give it its meaning and purpose." —New Oxford Review"Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being is a dense and difficult read, but also very rewarding. In trying to describe the indescribable astonishment that each person is, Walsh keeps alive the idea of philosophy not only as linguistic analysis but also as the seeking of wisdom and truth." —America“David Walsh has written a wonderful book. Because it studies the person in the context of Eric Voegelin’s project in Order and History, it will be of great interest to Veogelin readers who have followed his search for order. . . . Walsh’s book is uniquely and creatively a work of original thinking. He expertly situates his ideas within modern philosophical and political thought, as well as within several Voegelinian perspectives.” —Voegelin View“No philosopher, theologian, or political scientist will want to miss Walsh’s beautiful, philosophic meditation on personhood. Walsh’s achievement is not simply that his arguments clarify the paradoxes and insufficiencies within various attempts to capture and define the human person but also that his own searching lines of inquiry invite readers to experience with him the transcendental, grounding character of personhood.” —Choice"David Walsh's new study is a tour de force in terms of its contribution to modern philosophy, politics, and culture and clearly shows that Walsh is a world-class philosopher. Politics of the Person is quite simply unique and groundbreaking in philosophical significance. . . . Everyone who joins in the adventure of reading this volume becomes a candidate for the disclosure of the beauty, height, breadth, and depth of the truth of the human person." —Claritas: Journal of Dialogue and Culture“David Walsh’s argument in the Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being . . . looks first to nineteenth- and twentieth-century Continental philosophy, and then to Christian theology, for a better understanding of ourselves.” —The Review of Politics

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Book SynopsisBlakely argues that the resources for overcoming the divide between the empirical and the normative of society are available in the intellectual developments of Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre.Trade Review"Jason Blakeley writes a well-researched, well-argued manifesto for a new social science. The power of the analysis is that this new social science need not be revolutionary, since Macintyre and Taylor have already paved the way. Will others follow? Will political science and the other social sciences follow? Only time will tell. I’d encourage social scientists and philosophers of all stripes to pick up this helpful volume." —voeglinview"Although a number of other scholars have at least considered writing on this subject over the past decade and more, I am not aware of any book-length treatment of it or of any treatment that is so well informed or so well judged. Jason Blakely's account might well prove definitive." —Kelvin Knight, London Metropolitan University"Jason Blakely skillfully uses the writings of Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor as his interpretive lens for observing how the naturalist /antinaturalist debate develops in the philosophy of the social sciences over the second half of the twentieth century. Blakely does this, moreover, with great clarity and economy. His book thus offers a philosophical and historical perspective on an important debate that is both intellectually substantive and highly readable." —Paul A. Roth, University of California-Santa Cruz"This book, containing many original contributions to the field, does an excellent job in identifying a real problem in mainstream political theory—its overly normative character and its separation from social science. It contains many original contributions to the field. I particularly liked the way in which the problems of naturalism are presented as institutional, cultural, and political as well as philosophical. The historical background to these problems is also interesting and sheds fresh light on the issues." —Nicholas Smith, Macquarie University

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"In this pathbreaking book, Grant Kaplan provides a theoretical framework for understanding René Girard as a particular kind of theologian, a Christian apologist in an age of unbelief whose anthropological explorations necessarily entail a theological horizon and verge upon fundamental theological questions. Reading the Girardian literary corpus broadly, Kaplan calls attention to modifications of, and developments within, Girard’s mimetic theory across time, as the French thinker attended to the constructive critiques of such theologians as Raymund Schwager and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Girard’s apologetic response to theologians and his appeal to them as co-investigators, Kaplan argues, have had a transformative effect upon theology itself as a discipline, reminding it of its own most fundamental concerns: sin, grace, conversion, revelation. Highly recommended." —Ann W. Astell, University of Notre Dame"This is a promising and original book advancing the discussion of Girard and theology. It exemplifies today's growing appreciation of Girard's work as having become more intentionally theological, rather than purely social scientific and objective. The discussion of reason and revelation cast in a hermeneutical key is perhaps the book's strongest exploration of this complementarity in Girard, between rational objectivity and the necessity of conversion." —Scott Cowdell, author of René Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis"With clarity and erudition, Grant Kaplan has demonstrated the theological fecundity of Girard’s thought. Kaplan opens up the dialogue to include major themes in fundamental theology, attending to how Girard’s insights into mimesis and the scapegoat mechanism shed new light on traditional questions. A welcome addition to a growing body of Girardian theological literature." —Neil Ormerod, Australian Catholic University"There are many reasons why this book comes to us not a moment too soon. First among these must be the fact that, despite the almost ever-present violence that takes place on our streets and in our world today, we are seemingly as incapable of effectively dealing with violence and scapegoating as ever, and the reason for this failure seems to be a structural one as much as it is also, always, personal in nature. Girard’s work offers theologians the chance to say something significant to this perpetually frustrating context in a way that can be permanently transformative, renewing hearts and minds through faith in a source of grace that lies beyond the mechanisms and oppressive institutions that continue to shape how a politics of scapegoating carries on most days. . . . It is an immense gift that Kaplan has given us with his latest work." —America"One key aspect of [Girard’s] thought that is clearly ambiguous is the sense of whether he writes, or does not write, as a Christian thinker. Author Grant Kaplan wades directly into this thicket of claims and attempts to sort out the issues involved more clearly than Girard ever did himself. He succeeds admirably, writing a thorough and engaging book that treats the question of Girard’s religious presuppositions, and many other topics related to Kaplan’s own area of expertise: Catholic fundamental theology." —Reading Religion“Kaplan . . . argues that Girard was a Christian theologian, in the broad sense, and that through a careful examination of his writings one can understand him as a contributor to fundamental theology and an effective apologist or defender of the faith. Specifically, his mimetic theory successfully refutes many of the arguments against Christianity from such figures as Nietzsche and the new atheists. This is a helpful addition to the literature on Girard,.” —Choice“The real gift of Kaplan’s book consists in showing that, with man’s enlarged brain, reciprocity (rather than autonomy) and ‘mind melding’ became exponentially more advanced in humans over animals – especially in the initial oral cultures. This means all learning involves a ‘conversion,’ and that the disinterested Enlightenment variation (based on print) is a late development and aberrant ideal.” —The Heythrop Journal"Grant Kaplan has done the field a great service by systematizing the often nonsystematic thought of René Girard and deftly answering critiques of Girard's work (from John Milbank to Sarah Coakley) along the way." —Horizons"The most comprehensive overview yet of Girard’s theory, as it relates to philosophical or fundamental theology." —Irish Theological Quarterly"This book is a welcome, intelligent engagement with the work of René Girard and the Catholic discipline of fundamental theology. The author also brings in a plethora of other interlocuters, thus further enriching the study." —Pro Ecclesia

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Book SynopsisThis volume is the third in the Perspectives from The Review of Politics series, following The Crisis of Modern Times, edited by A. James McAdams (2007), and War, Peace, and International Political Realism, edited by Keir Lieber (2009). In A Liberalism Safe for Catholicism?, editors Daniel Philpott and Ryan Anderson chronicle the relationship between the Catholic Church and American liberalism as told through twenty-seven essays selected from the history of the Review of Politics, dating back to the journal's founding in 1939. The primary subject addressed in these essays is the development of a Catholic political liberalism in response to the democratic environment of nineteenth- and twentieth-century America. Works by Jacques Maritain, Heinrich Rommen, and Yves R. Simon forge the case for the compatibility of Catholicism and American liberal institutions, including the civic right of religious freedom. The conversation continues through recent deTrade Review"Over the decades, the Review of Politics has published some of the finest scholarly work on Catholicism’s engagement with liberalism, democracy, and human rights. Daniel Philpott and Ryan T. Anderson have selected “the best of the best” of these writings to include in their volume A Liberalism Safe for Catholicism. The book is a virtual graduate seminar on a subject that has increased in interest and importance as time has gone on—and promises to continue increasing as the Catholic Church, which was once deeply suspicious of liberalism, democracy, and human rights, has become their greatest defender against those who claim their mantle but who consistently undermine them in both theory and practice." —Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University"An important contribution to twenty-first-century debates and a reminder that, for more than seven decades, The Review of Politics has been one of the English-speaking world's premier journals of political theory." —George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, Ethics and Public Policy Center“The pages of the Review of Politics since its founding in 1939 can be read as a chronicle of this partnership between the Catholic Church and liberal institutions—its development, its heyday, its encounter of travails, its ongoing virtues, and its persistent flaws. Indeed, the partnership has been fraught with controversy over its true extent, its robustness, and its desirability.” —from the introduction, A Liberalism Safe for Catholicism?"One needn't be a fan of liberal theory to value this superb collection of writings from The Review of Politics. Editors Daniel Philpott and Ryan T. Anderson have created a resource of enduring importance; a compendium of the best defenders and critics of the liberal state's compatibility with Catholic faith and life. It is vital reading for anyone interested in the future of the Church in American culture." —Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia

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Book SynopsisHas Hobbesian moral and political theory been fundamentally misinterpreted by most of his readers? Since the criticism of John Bramhall, Hobbes has generally been regarded as advancing a moral and political theory that is antithetical to classical natural law theory. Kody W. Cooper challenges this traditional interpretation of Hobbes in Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law. Hobbes affirms two essential theses of classical natural law theory: the capacity of practical reason to grasp intelligible goods or reasons for action and the legally binding character of the practical requirements essential to the pursuit of human flourishing. Hobbes's novel contribution lies principally in his formulation of a thin theory of the good. This book seeks to prove that Hobbes has more in common with the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of natural law philosophy than has been recognized. According to Cooper, Hobbes affirms a realistic philosophy as well as biblical revelation as the ground of hiTrade Review"Kody Cooper’s reinterpretation of Hobbes is original and persuasive. It effectively upends most received opinions about Hobbes’s philosophy, political doctrines, relationship to preceding thought, and relevance to contemporary liberal democracies. This is a new and improved Hobbes—one sure to inspire new and improved inquiry into the natural law foundations of liberalism." —S. Adam Seagrave, University of Missouri“Kody W. Cooper’s thesis is that Thomas Hobbes’s moral and civil philosophy sits squarely within the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of natural law theorizing. . . . His is that sort of ‘Empire Strikes Back’ book that . . . seeks to contain the damage of the rebel by recasting him as no rebel at all.” —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews“Kody W. Cooper’s book, Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law, provides a clear, scholarly account of the relationship between Hobbes’s natural law and the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of the theory of good. A brilliantly lucid work of analysis, the book introduces Hobbes’s ideas and his concern throughout his life with the traditional natural law theory.” —Reading Religion"Cooper has made an admirable contribution to understanding better what Hobbes intended, but also to the debates in modern legal and moral philosophy." —The Review of Politics"Cooper offers his take on Hobbes as belonging to, though an internal critic of, the scholastic natural law tradition. What follows is a dazzling read into the mind of one of England’s greatest political thinkers." —VoegelinView

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Book SynopsisAre we moving inevitably into an irreversible era of postnationalism and globalism? In Political Philosophy and the Republican Future, Gregory Bruce Smith asks, if participation in self-government is not central to citizens' vision of the political good, is despotism inevitable? Smith''s study evolves around reconciling the early republican tradition in Greece and Rome as set out by authors such as Aristotle and Cicero, and a more recent tradition shaped by thinkers such as Machiavelli, Locke, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Madison, and Rousseau. Gregory Smith adds a further layer of complexity by analyzing how the republican and the larger philosophical tradition have been called into question by the critiques of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and their various followers.For Smith, the republican future rests on the future of the tradition of political philosophy. In this book he explores the nature of political philosophy and the assumptions under which that tradition can be an ongTrade Review"The fragmentation of knowledge among competing schools in our time is not unlike the competing schools of philosophy confronting Cicero. This fragmentation—in his time and ours—manifests itself in the loss of public space. Without a public space—rooted in the phenomena of a shared public life—there can be no genuine knowledge and no free and active political life. In penetrating analysis, Gregory Bruce Smith engages Cicero as a master of the phenomenological method presented here and as a republican statesman opening opportunities for citizens—not subjects—to shape their own future." —Christopher A. Colmo, Dominican University“Gregory Bruce Smith’s book is significant as scholarship because there is no other comprehensive presentation that is more thorough or intelligent. Smith is especially effective in his presentation of Cicero as a kind of phenomenologist who does not forget the source of philosophy in everyday discourse, or ‘public space.’ He usefully argues that for Cicero the combination of rhetoric, public speaking, statesmanship, and philosophy is more worthwhile and significant than merely contemplative philosophy on its own.” —Mark Blitz, Claremont McKenna College“Gregory Smith presents a thoughtful and expansive study of Cicero the republican. It is also an argument for Cicero’s relevance today that becomes a rescue operation for him from modern neglect and postmodern levity. The book explores Cicero and his surroundings through the lens of political philosophy to illuminate our present situation.” —Harvey Mansfield, Harvard University; senior fellow, Hoover Institution“Throughout his presentation, Smith makes clear that Cicero always begins with what is given, and seeks to weave strands together, to open the space necessary for a republican future. This book is highly recommended for scholars interested in phenomenology, as well as for undergraduates looking for an introduction to Cicero’s political philosophy.” —Choice“Smith’s burning care for future generations’ possession of republican liberty makes this an important piece of political writing that reflects on the life well lived and exhorts us toward it.” —The Review of PoliticsTable of ContentsPreface 1. Reflections on the Tradition of Republicanism 2. Initial Reflections on Political Philosophy 3. Who Was Cicero? 4. Cicero on the Nature of Philosophy 5. Cicero on Cosmology and Natural Philosophy 6. Cicero on Natural Theology 7. Cicero on Ethics 8. Cicero on Oratory and the Language Arts 9. Cicero on Politics 10. A Brief Reflection on Nietzsche 11. Conclusion: Political Philosophy and the Republican Future Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis collection presents Brownson's developed political theory, in which he devotes central attention to connecting Catholicism to American politics.Trade Review"Orestes Brownson was one of the most prolific political philosophers in American history and one of the most brilliant. To summarize the philosophy of such a productive, complex, and sometimes contradictory figure is a daunting task, which Michael Federici nevertheless accomplishes surprisingly well in the introduction to this volume. Federici has a gift for synthesis and a clear expository style that renders deep philosophical issues accessible to nonspecialists, not to mention undergraduates." —Walter A. McDougall, Alloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations and professor of history, University of Pennsylvania"Michael Federici has perceptively put his finger on what is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Orestes Brownson's thinking—the paradoxical combination of conservative and radical impulses. Brownson combines the chastened view of human nature derived from a belief in man's fallenness with the zeal of a meliorist humanitarianism." —Ryan Robert Holston, Virginia Military Institute"Brownson's argument is compelling on two grounds: first, for how it interprets the federal system itself, refusing to see the states as merely subordinate to the federal government . . . and, second, and more importantly, for Brownson's refusal of the contract or compact theory that is the foundational error of all modern political thinking. Brownson returns to Aristotle, understanding the state as a natural eventuation and means to the fulfillment of man's political nature. . . . [Brownson's thinking] serves as a wonderful and generous guide for those modern political philosophers who have returned to ancient and medieval theories of political life." —James Matthew Wilson, Villanova University"Reading Brownson is indeed bracing, and Federici’s volume is well worth the time, if only to remember a day when intellectual life in America grappled with our deepest moral, intellectual, and theological questions with an optimism, indeed faith, that the American project had much to offer both its own inhabitants and the world." —The Review of Politics“Michael P. Federici’s detailed introduction and selections reveal Brownson’s most important Catholic writings, including long excerpts from Brownson’s own conversion narrative. . . . Brownson’s contributions to American political thought are significant because he raised essential questions regarding political order and provided insights into the United States’ spiritual foundations.” —Reading Religion“Federici’s thoughtful introduction and his wise selections make available Brownson’s thoughts on religious freedom, America’s purpose, the role of Catholics in America, American constitutionalism, the Civil War and the Reconstruction Amendments, as well as his conversion to Catholicism and his incisive critique of humanitarianism.” —University Bookman“The Catholic Writings of Orestes Brownson is a collection of thirteen essays that articulate the political and religious thoughts of a pioneer thinker. . . . Michael P. Federici has carefully selected and edited these classic Brownson texts as a brilliant general introduction to the material.” —Catholic Library WorldTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreviations Editor’s Introduction 1. The Day-Star of Freedom (April 1856) 2. The Church and the Republic (July 1856) 3. Mission of America (October 1856) 4. The Convert (September 1857) 5. The Great Rebellion (July 1861) 6. State Rebellion, State Suicide (April 1862) 7. The Federal Constitution (January 1864) 8. The President’s Message and Proclamation (January 1864) 9. Liberalism and Progress (October 1864) 10. Beecherism and its Tendencies (January 1871) 11. The Papacy and the Republic (January 1873) 12. The Democratic Principle (April 1873) 13. Constitutional Guaranties (April 1874) Index

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Book SynopsisIn his first book composed in English, Rémi Brague maintains that there is a fundamental problem with modernity: we no longer consider the created world and humanity as intrinsically valuable. Curing Mad Truths, based on a number of Brague''s lectures to English-speaking audiences, explores the idea that humanity must return to the Middle Ages. Not the Middle Ages of purported backwardness and barbarism, but rather a Middle Ages that understood creationincluding human beingsas the product of an intelligent and benevolent God. The positive developments that have come about due to the modern project, be they health, knowledge, freedom, or peace, are not grounded in a rational project because human existence itself is no longer the good that it once was. Brague turns to our intellectual forebears of the medieval world to present a reasoned argument as to why humanity and civilizations are goods worth promoting and preserving.Curing Mad Truths will be of interest toTrade Review“Rémi Brague is a most singular polyglot and polymath, not to mention one of Europe’s wisest and wittiest Christian intellectuals. Curing Mad Truths is an impressive collection of his addresses to English-speaking audiences. As with all of Brague’s work, the volume uniquely combines cleverness and profound insight.” —Douglas Kries, Gonzaga University "With his distinctive combination of philological, philosophical, and historical erudition that ranges from the ancient world to our present moment, Rémi Brague poses more to ponder in each of these essays—about God and the good, creation and culture, virtues and values, modernity and meaning—than most writers manage to convey in a book. At issue, ultimately, is whether human beings have the will and wherewithal to go on living in a humane manner. Curing Mad Truths is a gem, and the stakes couldn’t be higher." —Brad Gregory, University of Notre Dame “Brague's Curing Mad Truths is a radical assault on many of the things taken for granted in modern liberal societies… It calls us to reconnect the branches of truth upon which modernity sits to the metaphysical trunk from which they have been severed. It's a provocative, convincing, and accessible little book by an important scholar, and it deserves wide attention.” —Faith and Theology"Brague argues that the modern world is dying because it cannot answer the question of why it should live. To answer that question will require humility, according to Brague, because it is medieval truths about God, man, reason, and nature that are necessary for renewal." —The Catholic World Report"Rémi Brague argues that the modern project has failed, and that the source of the failure is a kind of heresy. To be sure, he does not himself use that word. But it is an apt label for what he describes. Modernity, on Brague’s account, is defined by several ideas it borrowed from Christianity, while at the same time it rejects the larger conceptual context that made those ideas intelligible." —Catholic Herald"Remi Brague this month releases a new book arguing for a reevaluation of medieval thought. . . . It’s Brague’s first book in English. . . . Curing Mad Truths will be of interest to a learned audience of philosophers, historians, and medievalists." —Law and Religion Forum“The brevity of this anthology... does not prevent the careful reader from gazing beyond its idealism. Like many thinkers, Brague may be less useful in directing us away from our predicament to our fulfillment. But he does restore a wise insight into a conservative approach... which treasures aesthetic and nourishing measures to bring back to life deadened sensibilities of billions who seek, deep down, lasting meaning.” —Spectrum Culture Magazine"While he argues convincingly for the superiority of abandoned ways of thinking, Brague is not a ‘restorationist’ seeking to return us to an idealized past, his concern is to point out the weaknesses in the conversations we are having and so to improve them and our chances of a better future. He is a delightful, witty, interlocutor. He makes his vast learning accessible and relevant, providing a master-class in critical thinking all can attend." —Irish Catholic"Culture and politics are different, but they are not separate. They influence one another in unpredictable ways. Rémi Brague has given us a most insightful analysis of one half, perhaps more than a half, of the pairing that encompasses our human experience." —Society“Should humanity survive and adapt itself to the modern project? More specifically, now that humanity has commodified its existence (being) . . . is its existence better than its nonexistence? . . . These are the questions at the center of . . . Rémi Brague‘s . . . short collection of essays consisting primarily of unpublished lectures given in Europe and North America.” —The Review of Politics“Brague proposes that the medieval Christian view demonstrates the good of man’s existence by reorienting him to God and Creation.” —Catholic Social Science Review“This intriguing cultural critique will prove useful to anyone exploring how the modern world came to be and how a disciple of a more classical tradition might respond to the decadence of society in the modern period.” —Homiletic and Pastoral Review"Curing Mad Truths, a short collection of essays and lectures, is Rémi Brague’s plea for ‘some sort of return to the Middle Ages’...in the teeth of the ideology of Modernity which, he posits, threatens human flourishing and even survival.... Although many will reject his assessment, few philosophers are better placed to handle these matters than Brague, professor emeritus at the Sorbonne, a noted multi-disciplinary intellectual." —The New Bioethics"Curing Mad Truths might, from the title, look like just one more expression of Catholic nostalgia for a bygone age that the secular world has dismissed as the Dark Ages. But Brague has in mind quite specific and sophisticated points of medieval wisdom that need to be recovered, even as he would want to reform or reject other parts of that heritage." —The Catholic Thing

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Book SynopsisAmerican society is often described as one that celebrates self-reliance and personal responsibility. However, abolitionists, progressive reformers, civil rights activists, and numerous others often held their fellow citizens responsible for shared problems such as economic exploitation and white supremacy. Moreover, they viewed recognizing and responding to shared problems as essential to achieving democratic ideals. In Democratic Responsibility, Nora Hanagan examines American thinkers and activists who offered an alternative to individualistic conceptions of responsibility and puts them in dialogue with contemporary philosophers who write about shared responsibility. Drawing on the political theory and practice of Henry David Thoreau, Jane Addams, Martin Luther King Jr., and Audre Lorde, Hanagan develops a distinctly democratic approach to shared responsibility. Cooperative democracy is especially relevant in an age of globalization and hyperconnectivity, where societies arTrade Review"I expect students of democratic theory and of American political thought to be very interested in Nora Hanagan's work; I have every reason to believe that her discussions of each of the historical figures she evaluates will become recognized as significant contributions to the secondary literature. All students of democratic theory should be stimulated by her political theory and its relationship to a moral theory of responsibility." —Bob Pepperman Taylor, University of Vermont -- Bob Pepperman Taylor, University of Vermont"While 'responsibility' is a hot topic in the field, I do not know of anyone else who has explored it in terms of the tradition of American political thought. This book is well written, and Hanagan's argument for the particularity (and import) of a specifically democratic form of responsibility (as opposed to collective or individual), that is itself integral to democratic governance, is novel, as well as interesting and productive." —Lida Maxwell, Boston University"Democratic Responsibility: The Politics of Many Hands in America is a powerful and persuasive analysis of ‘the many hands problem,’ the tremendous theoretical and practical difficulty of holding individuals accountable for harms produced by the cumulative effect of the interactions of many persons and institutions—harms such as climate change, global sweatshop labor, and group oppression. Hanagan depicts how four strikingly original thinkers and activists from the nineteenth century to today—H. D. Thoreau, Jane Addams, M. L. King, Jr. and Audre Lorde—grappled with the problem of many hands. She illuminates the historical contexts that shaped their ideas, the continuities and differences among them, and their relevance for our time. Hanagan’s analysis of discursive and cultural practices that sustain privilege, and how cooperative and collective action can combat oppression and inequality, could not be more timely. This clearly argued and superbly written book is a ‘must read’ for intellectual historians, political theorists, and activists alike." —Mary Shanley, Professor of Political Science on the Margaret Stiles Halleck Chair, Vassar CollegeTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Problem of Many Hands in American Life 1. Resisting the Machine: Thoreau on Responsibility and Individual Autonomy 2. Democratizing Responsibility: Jane Addams’s Social Ethics 3. Preferring Justice to Order: Martin Luther King on Responsibility, Extremism and Democratic Politics 4. Transforming Silence: Audre Lorde on Responsibility, Self-Expression and Bearing Witness to One Another 5. Democratic Responsibility in the Twenty-First Century Bibliography

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Book SynopsisIn this learned and wide-ranging book, Trevor Shelley engages the controversial topic of globalization through philosophical exegesis of great texts. Globalization and Liberalism illustrates and defends the idea that at the heart of the human world is the antinomy of the universal and the particular. Various thinkers have emphasized one aspect of this tension over the other. Some, such as Rousseau and Schmitt, have defended pure particularity. Others, such as Habermas, have uncritically welcomed the intimations of the world state. Against these twin extremes of radical nationalism and antipolitical universalism, this book seeks to recover a middle or moderate positionthe liberal position. To find this via media, Shelley traces a tradition of French liberal political thinkers who take account of both sides of the antinomy: Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and Manent. As Shelley argues, each of these thinkers defends the integrity of political bodies, denies that the universal perspecTrade Review“I have been reading Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and Manent for more than thirty years, but I have never encountered such a penetrating treatment of them taken together; and with his treatment of Manent, Trevor Shelley has gone further than anyone else, French or American, in grasping and laying out Manent’s distinctive political science.” —Paul Seaton, author of On Religion“Trevor Shelley thoughtfully illumines the place and limits of globalization in a democratic age.” —Daniel J. Mahoney, author of The Conservative Foundations of Liberal Order“Trevor Shelley’s elegantly written book succeeds in recovering a noble and humane political perspective within the horizons of modern liberty and modern politics. . . . By combining thoughtful analysis of certain germane texts of political philosophy with attentiveness to the pressing issues of the age, Shelley has enriched the civic conversation in a spirit indebted to his three great inspirations in this worthy book.“ —Law and Liberty"Trevor Shelley has written a work in the tradition of History of Ideas on a hot button political issue. At issue is whether the most appropriate political form for us today is the nation-state or some form of a world-state." —Global Intellectual History"Shelley takes on the challenging task of explaining the concept of globalization by engaging with great texts. At the root of globalization is a fundamental tension between those who emphasize the universal and those who identify with the particular in human life. Shelley tries to parse this distinction by looking through the lens of seminal authors and texts, and he ends up trying to find some middle ground between the two extremes." —Choice"This is a tribute to the dynamism of constitutional government, but it also reveals that ethnic hostilities in America were not different from those in Europe, even if in America they were directed inward and in Europe outward." —The Review of Politics

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Book SynopsisThroughout this original and passionate book, Bob Pepperman Taylor presents a wide-ranging inquiry into the nature and implications of Henry David Thoreau's thought in Walden and Civil Disobedience. Taylor pursues this inquiry in three chapters, each focusing on a single theme: chapter 1 examines simplicity and the ethics of voluntary poverty, chapter 2 looks at civil disobedience and the role of conscience in democratic politics, and chapter 3 concentrates on what nature means to us today and whether we can truly learn from nature. Taylor considers Thoreau's philosophy, and the philosophical problems he raises, from the perspective of a wide range of thinkers and commentators drawn from history, philosophy, the social sciences, and popular media, breathing new life into Walden and asking how it is alive for us today.In Lessons from Walden, Taylor allows all sides to have their say, even as he persistently steers the discussion back to a nuanced reading oTrade Review“Bob Taylor’s Lessons from Walden brings Thoreau’s classic text to bear on the present moment, into Trump’s America, into an age of environmental degradation, into a time of cultural self-absorption, instrumental rationality, and neoliberal indifference to what is local, communal, and particular.” —Shannon Mariotti, author of Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal“Lessons from Walden allows Thoreau to enter today’s conversation in a way that seldom happens: Bob Taylor's measured and fair-minded mediation allows the fullness of Thoreau’s stance to appear to the reader with all his contradictions intact. The result is a true conversation in which Thoreau becomes the springboard to further deliberation. Time and again, Taylor returns to Thoreau as to a moral lodestone, bringing the discussion to a reasoned conclusion that still leaves one thinking.” —Laura Dassow Walls, author of Henry David Thoreau: A Life“A reading of Thoreau for the age of Trump—and really for any moment when our courage as individuals and as a polity seems to be flagging. This is a book that will make you think, and perhaps even act!” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Falter“Lessons from Walden delivers exactly what its title promises—an educational guide for an individual life committed to simplicity, moral responsibility, and ethical integrity. Like Thoreau, Taylor's goal is to wake us up.” —Sandra Harbert Petrulionis, author of Thoreau in His Own Time“Lessons from Walden is a welcome tonic in this moment of political and environmental crisis. Bob Pepperman Taylor’s always-trenchant and insightful analysis reveals Thoreau’s enduring relevance for modern democracies. His lessons are both important and timely.” —Kimberly Smith, author of The Conservation Constitution"What would Thoreau say about the latest rise of populism and threats to the environment? 'One of the points I make is that Walden doesn’t provide prescriptions for political crisis,' Taylor said. 'Thoreau's . . . contribution helps us think beyond the immediate crisis, to how we can each live as more responsible citizens.” —EurekAlert.org"The year of a presidential election seems like a particularly good time to revisit the qualities necessary for American self-governance. Bob Pepperman Taylor’s book, Lessons from Walden: Thoreau and the Crisis of American Democracy attempts to do just that. Reaching back to Jacksonian democracy, Taylor uses Henry David Thoreau as a tour guide to reveal the threats and temptations in the contemporary American landscape." —Law and Liberty"Lessons from Walden [is] an extraordinary book. . . . It offers a compelling, well-thought out argument about the relevance of Thoreau in our political time.” —Perspectives on Politics

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Book SynopsisIn The Priority of the Person, world-class philosopher David Walsh advances the argument set forth in his highly original philosophic meditation Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being (2015), that person is the central category of modern political thought and philosophy. The present volume is divided into three main parts. It begins with the political discovery of the inexhaustibility of persons, explores the philosophic differentiation of the idea of the person, and finally traces the historical emergence of the concept through art, science, and faith. Walsh argues that, although the roots of the idea of person are found in the Greek concept of the mind and in the Christian conception of the soul, this notion is ultimately a distinctly modern achievement, because it is only the modern turn toward interiority that illuminated the unique nature of persons as each being a world unto him- or herself. As Walsh shows, it is precisely this feature of persons that maTrade Review“The reader can trace David Walsh’s own personal turn(s) as he participates in the conversation that Kant, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, and others conduct. This is an intensely personal book about the person." —John von Heyking, author of The Form of Politics"With each new book, David Walsh’s formidable project broadens and deepens. His is a rare and elegant meditative reflection, grounded in a luminous appreciation of the inexhaustible dignity of the human person, and in the priority of practice, of lived experience, to all intellectual and theoretical abstractions. All in all, an intellectual gem not to be missed." —Daniel J. Mahoney, author of The Conservative Foundations of Liberal Order“Walsh brings his previous searching reflections on the direction and content of philosophy to a brilliant conclusion in these memorable pages. This is a work of original intellect that serves to illuminate what a person is, how it is grounded in reality, and how it relates both to God and to the political order.” —James V. Schall, S.J., author of The Modern Age“These essays broach the topic of the person within diverse fields of academic expertise: the political, philosophical, historical, and literary disciplines. It is a comprehensive study of the person that does indeed both unfold and clarify Professor Walsh’s creative grounding of the inviolability of personhood. The book is also exceptionally informative about these fields of study. The second volume on the person as ‘beyond being’ thus is well worth the read.” —VoegelinView"[Walsh's] core contention is profound. It is an application of Voegelin's theory of the differentiation of consciousness, the idea that the more a civilization plays with complex distinctions, the greater the likelihood of its framing a humane politics. . . . The Priority of the Person is a significant challenge to Catholic integralism, and any variety of conservatism that would think to forsake modern liberty." —Law and Liberty"[The Priority of the Person] is united around Walsh’s ambitious philosophical project, into which he hopes this volume will provide an entry. He succeeds in this endeavor. Although the book may still sometimes challenge lay readers, it is more accessible than its predecessors. It is therefore essential reading, as Walsh’s attempted vindication of modern philosophy and political liberalism demands engagement from those debating the merits and future of liberalism." —Public Discourse"Walsh, then, not Kierkegaard, is the culminating figure in this modern philosophical revolution. The Priority of the Person shores up an original project worth contemplating as such." —The Review of Politics“In sixteen intellectually scintillating chapters . . . [Walsh] outlines how if you want to address different questions like liberalism, the common good, the work of Eric Voegelin, or reflect on Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Benedict XVI or the great financial crisis of 2008, the most accessible way is to inquire into 'what it means to be a person.' . . . To Walsh the answer is not a definition but is constituted as an ‘imperative of living.'” —Claritas"Our ethics today plainly needs more reason, not less. So does our politics. And among the great contributions of Walsh’s book is to show how Christianity not only can but also must find its way home to liberalism, not the reverse." —Perspectives on Politics"In this wide-ranging, densely written text, David Walsh captures the importance of person. . . . Though many of the chapters are drawn from previously published essays, each section of the book adds new context or clarity regarding key aspects of this central component of human thought." —Choice

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“The reader can trace David Walsh’s own personal turn(s) as he participates in the conversation that Kant, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, and others conduct. This is an intensely personal book about the person." —John von Heyking, author of The Form of Politics"With each new book, David Walsh’s formidable project broadens and deepens. His is a rare and elegant meditative reflection, grounded in a luminous appreciation of the inexhaustible dignity of the human person, and in the priority of practice, of lived experience, to all intellectual and theoretical abstractions. All in all, an intellectual gem not to be missed." —Daniel J. Mahoney, author of The Conservative Foundations of Liberal Order“Walsh brings his previous searching reflections on the direction and content of philosophy to a brilliant conclusion in these memorable pages. This is a work of original intellect that serves to illuminate what a person is, how it is grounded in reality, and how it relates both to God and to the political order.” —James V. Schall, S.J., author of The Modern Age“These essays broach the topic of the person within diverse fields of academic expertise: the political, philosophical, historical, and literary disciplines. It is a comprehensive study of the person that does indeed both unfold and clarify Professor Walsh’s creative grounding of the inviolability of personhood. The book is also exceptionally informative about these fields of study. The second volume on the person as ‘beyond being’ thus is well worth the read.” —VoegelinView"[Walsh's] core contention is profound. It is an application of Voegelin's theory of the differentiation of consciousness, the idea that the more a civilization plays with complex distinctions, the greater the likelihood of its framing a humane politics. . . . The Priority of the Person is a significant challenge to Catholic integralism, and any variety of conservatism that would think to forsake modern liberty." —Law and Liberty"[The Priority of the Person] is united around Walsh’s ambitious philosophical project, into which he hopes this volume will provide an entry. He succeeds in this endeavor. Although the book may still sometimes challenge lay readers, it is more accessible than its predecessors. It is therefore essential reading, as Walsh’s attempted vindication of modern philosophy and political liberalism demands engagement from those debating the merits and future of liberalism." —Public Discourse"Walsh, then, not Kierkegaard, is the culminating figure in this modern philosophical revolution. The Priority of the Person shores up an original project worth contemplating as such." —The Review of Politics“In sixteen intellectually scintillating chapters . . . [Walsh] outlines how if you want to address different questions like liberalism, the common good, the work of Eric Voegelin, or reflect on Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Benedict XVI or the great financial crisis of 2008, the most accessible way is to inquire into 'what it means to be a person.' . . . To Walsh the answer is not a definition but is constituted as an ‘imperative of living.'” —Claritas"Our ethics today plainly needs more reason, not less. So does our politics. And among the great contributions of Walsh’s book is to show how Christianity not only can but also must find its way home to liberalism, not the reverse." —Perspectives on Politics"In this wide-ranging, densely written text, David Walsh captures the importance of person. . . . Though many of the chapters are drawn from previously published essays, each section of the book adds new context or clarity regarding key aspects of this central component of human thought." —Choice

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This is a highly accessible introduction to the profound thought of a first-class mind. Anyone interested in Thomism or the subjects treated by Simon, including freedom, authority, and the common good, will find it very readable.” —Giuseppe Butera, editor of Reading the CosmosTable of ContentsAn Account of the Reader, by Way of Acknowledgment Simon’s Works In The Reader: Summary And Guide Part I. Introduction 1. The Philosophy of Yves R. Simon Introduction by Michael D. Torre 2. Method in Philosophy by Jude P. Dougherty Part II. Knowledge 3. Knowledge as Immanent Action Introduction by Raymond Dennehy 4. The Distinction of Thing and Object Introduction by John C. Cahalan 5. Analogy and Metaphysical Knowledge Introduction by Steven A. Long 6. Sensation and Physical Knowledge Introduction by Ralph Nelson 7. Knowledge of Persons and Society Introduction by John P. Hittinger Jr. 8. Moral Knowledge Introduction by Ralph McInerny Part III. Freedom 9. Human Freedom Introduction by David B. Burrell, CSC 10. Human Reason and Will Introduction by Laurence Berns 11. Good Use and Habitus Introduction by Catherine Green 12. The Definition of Moral Virtue Introduction by W. David Solomon 13. Freedom of Intellect Introduction by V. Bradley Lewis 14. Society and the Formation of Free Persons Introduction by Joseph W. Koterski, SJ Part IV. Community 15. Political Society Introduction by James V. Schall, SJ 16. The Definition of Law Introduction by George Anastaplo viii Contents 17. The Common Good and Authority Introduction by Walter J. Nicgorski 18. Work and Society Introduction by John A. Gueguen Jr. 19. Economic Justice Introduction by Thomas R. Rourke 20. Community, Truth, and Culture Introduction by Jeanne Heffernan Schindler Epilogue: Problems in International Order Introduction by Robert Royal Select Bibliography Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This is a highly accessible introduction to the profound thought of a first-class mind. Anyone interested in Thomism or the subjects treated by Simon, including freedom, authority, and the common good, will find it very readable.” —Giuseppe Butera, editor of Reading the CosmosTable of ContentsAn Account of the Reader, by Way of Acknowledgment Simon’s Works In The Reader: Summary And Guide Part I. Introduction 1. The Philosophy of Yves R. Simon Introduction by Michael D. Torre 2. Method in Philosophy by Jude P. Dougherty Part II. Knowledge 3. Knowledge as Immanent Action Introduction by Raymond Dennehy 4. The Distinction of Thing and Object Introduction by John C. Cahalan 5. Analogy and Metaphysical Knowledge Introduction by Steven A. Long 6. Sensation and Physical Knowledge Introduction by Ralph Nelson 7. Knowledge of Persons and Society Introduction by John P. Hittinger Jr. 8. Moral Knowledge Introduction by Ralph McInerny Part III. Freedom 9. Human Freedom Introduction by David B. Burrell, CSC 10. Human Reason and Will Introduction by Laurence Berns 11. Good Use and Habitus Introduction by Catherine Green 12. The Definition of Moral Virtue Introduction by W. David Solomon 13. Freedom of Intellect Introduction by V. Bradley Lewis 14. Society and the Formation of Free Persons Introduction by Joseph W. Koterski, SJ Part IV. Community 15. Political Society Introduction by James V. Schall, SJ 16. The Definition of Law Introduction by George Anastaplo viii Contents 17. The Common Good and Authority Introduction by Walter J. Nicgorski 18. Work and Society Introduction by John A. Gueguen Jr. 19. Economic Justice Introduction by Thomas R. Rourke 20. Community, Truth, and Culture Introduction by Jeanne Heffernan Schindler Epilogue: Problems in International Order Introduction by Robert Royal Select Bibliography Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Horizons of Difference is a probing study of the crisis of our time, revolving around scientific, technological, economic, political, and cultural globalization. Many studies have focused on one or more of these dimensions, but only Dallmayr’s approach dives deeply into the cultural roots of ‘Western’ modernity and its alleged clash with ‘non-Western’ traditions.” —David Ingram, author of World Crisis and Underdevelopment“This book is a must-read for advanced interdisciplinary classes of religion, philosophy, ethics, and peace/justice studies.” —Religious Studies Review

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Book SynopsisThe Person and the Common Good, originally published in 1947, presents Jacques Maritain''s clearest and most sustained treatment of the person. He asks whether the person is simply the self and nothing more. After more than half a century, Maritain''s question still has great validity, given the current inordinate preoccupation with individualism.Presenting with moving insight the relations between man, as a person and as an individual, and the society of which he is a part, Maritain''s treatment of a lasting topic speaks to this generation as well as those to come.He makes clear the personalism rooted in the doctrine of St. Thomas and separates the social philosophy centered in the dignity of the human person from every social philosophy centered in the primacy of the individual and the private good.

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Book SynopsisWhat is civility, and why has it disappeared? Ann Hartle analyzes the origins of the modern project and the Essays of Michel de Montaigne to discuss why civility is failing in our own time.In this bold book, Ann Hartle, one of the most important interpreters of sixteenth-century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, explores the modern notion of civilitythe social bond that makes it possible for individuals to live in peace in the political and social structures of the Western worldand asks, why has it disappeared? Concerned with the deepening cultural divisions in our postmodern, post-Christian world, she traces their roots back to the Reformation and Montaigne's Essays. Montaigne's philosophical project of drawing on ancient philosophy and Christianity to create a new social bond to reform the mores of his culture is perhaps the first act of self-conscious civility. After tracing Montaigne's thought, Hartle returns to our modern society and argues thaTrade Review“The insistent point of What Happened to Civility—that civility is collapsing as enlightenment ideology’s relentless advance swamps the premodern, traditional sources of nobility and mercy that Montaigne relied upon to create civility in the first place—is new, true, and significant.” —Benjamin Storey, co-author of Why We Are Restless“No other book-length treatment of Montaigne’s notion of civility exists. Hartle succeeds admirably well in showing that Montaigne’s conception of civility helped to shape modern self-understanding in significant ways.” —John C. McCarthy, editor of Modern Enlightenment and the Rule of Reason"Time spent with this book will be rewarded, both with a heightened sense of the importance of civility to human happiness and wonder for the artistry of a great essayist like Montaigne." —The American Conservative"The book is a good contribution to a troubling debate, and one with which Montaigne himself would have been pleased." —Church Times“Ann Hartle analyzes the reasons for the contemporary decay of civility, which was given its modern formulation 'out of the fragments of the shattered classical-Christian tradition' in Montaigne’s Essays. She goes on to consider 'what has been lost in the movement from sacred tradition as the social bond' to its secular form, notably a 'public standard of moral virtue.'" —ChoiceAnn Hartle’s What Happened to Civility offers an inviting proposition: civility should be understood as a human invention and therefore is ultimately doomed to failure. -Perspectives on PoliticsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The New Adam: The Philosopher’s Sleight-of-Hand 2. The New Order: Hidden Mastery 3. Authenticity: The Greatest Thing in the World 4. Civility: Suppressing the Human Self 5. The Deterioration of Civility: When Everything Becomes Political 6. Living among the Ruins: The Disintegration of the Social Bond Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWhat is civility, and why has it disappeared? Ann Hartle analyzes the origins of the modern project and the Essays of Michel de Montaigne to discuss why civility is failing in our own time.In this bold book, Ann Hartle, one of the most important interpreters of sixteenth-century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, explores the modern notion of civilitythe social bond that makes it possible for individuals to live in peace in the political and social structures of the Western worldand asks, why has it disappeared? Concerned with the deepening cultural divisions in our postmodern, post-Christian world, she traces their roots back to the Reformation and Montaigne's Essays. Montaigne's philosophical project of drawing on ancient philosophy and Christianity to create a new social bond to reform the mores of his culture is perhaps the first act of self-conscious civility. After tracing Montaigne's thought, Hartle returns to our modern society and argues thaTrade Review“The insistent point of What Happened to Civility—that civility is collapsing as enlightenment ideology’s relentless advance swamps the premodern, traditional sources of nobility and mercy that Montaigne relied upon to create civility in the first place—is new, true, and significant.” —Benjamin Storey, co-author of Why We Are Restless“No other book-length treatment of Montaigne’s notion of civility exists. Hartle succeeds admirably well in showing that Montaigne’s conception of civility helped to shape modern self-understanding in significant ways.” —John C. McCarthy, editor of Modern Enlightenment and the Rule of Reason"Time spent with this book will be rewarded, both with a heightened sense of the importance of civility to human happiness and wonder for the artistry of a great essayist like Montaigne." —The American Conservative"The book is a good contribution to a troubling debate, and one with which Montaigne himself would have been pleased." —Church Times“Ann Hartle analyzes the reasons for the contemporary decay of civility, which was given its modern formulation 'out of the fragments of the shattered classical-Christian tradition' in Montaigne’s Essays. She goes on to consider 'what has been lost in the movement from sacred tradition as the social bond' to its secular form, notably a 'public standard of moral virtue.'" —ChoiceAnn Hartle’s What Happened to Civility offers an inviting proposition: civility should be understood as a human invention and therefore is ultimately doomed to failure. -Perspectives on PoliticsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The New Adam: The Philosopher’s Sleight-of-Hand 2. The New Order: Hidden Mastery 3. Authenticity: The Greatest Thing in the World 4. Civility: Suppressing the Human Self 5. The Deterioration of Civility: When Everything Becomes Political 6. Living among the Ruins: The Disintegration of the Social Bond Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThis book offers a holistic account of the problems posed by freedom of expression in our current times and offers corrective measures to allow for a more genuine exchange of ideas within the global society.The topic of free speech is rarely addressed from a historical, philosophical, or theological perspective. In The Collapse of Freedom of Expression, Jordi Pujol explores both the modern concept of the freedom of expression based on the European Enlightenment and the deficiencies inherent in this framework. Modernity has disregarded the traditional roots of the freedom of expression drawn from Christianity, Greek philosophy, and Roman law, which has left the door open to the various forms of abuse, censorship, and restrictions seen in contemporary public discourse. Pujol proposes that we rebuild the foundations of the freedom of expression by returning to older traditions and incorporating both the field of pragmatics of language and theological and ethical coTrade Review“Freedom of speech is under siege today. Unless we relearn its foundations, there is a serious risk that we will lose it. Jordi Pujol reminds us of these foundations and their crucial role in rehabilitating free speech in an age of official and unofficial censorship.” —Samuel Gregg, author of Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization“Firmly rooted in venerable, even ancient, schools of philosophical and moral thought, The Collapse of Freedom of Expression looks to the future without nostalgia for what is irrevocably in the past. Jordi Pujol is fully open to the unprecedented newness of the historical and social context in which we find ourselves but remains confident that addressing these developments requires a renewal of foundational questions and principles. His book is well worth the attention of all of us who care about the past and the future of freedom of expression, and about the fundamental human goods that it aims to secure." —Paolo Carozza, co-editor of The Practice of Human Development and DignityTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Foreword by John D. Peters, Yale University Introduction Part I – Freedom of Expression under Threat: Emblematic Cases 1. I am not Charlie Hebdo. Defending Freedom of Expression but Not Its Content 2. The Paradox of Freedom of Expression on Campus 3. The Threat of Religious Fanaticism: Jyllands Posten and the Regensburg Address 4. The Rise of a New Orthodoxy: The Intolerance of Secular Relativism 5. Facebook’s Content Moderation Rule: Private Censorship of Public Discourse PART II – The Liberal Tradition of Freedom of Expression and Its Contradictions 6. The Sustainability of the Liberal Rationale: Main Critiques 7. A Fabricated Notion of Tolerance 8. The Epistemological Shortfall: A Homogenous Concept of Discourse 9. The Anthropological Shortfall: Modernity’s Idea of Mankind 10. The Neutrality of the Public Space: A Useful Fiction PART III – Historical and Philosophical Development of Freedom of Expression 11. The Origins of Freedom of Expression 12. Old-School and New-School Censorship 13. The Classical Tradition of the Founding Fathers of The United States 14. The Contemporary Tradition in the United States: Holmes and Harvard 15. The European Tradition: Hate Speech Laws PART IV – Reconstructing the Foundations of Freedom of Expression 16. Reframing Freedom of Expression as a Human Good 17. Reconsidering the Legal Grounds 18. Reshaping the Harm Principle. Pragmatics of Language and Natural Ethics 19. Repairing the Relationship Between Secular and Sacred 20. Revisiting the Limits of Freedom of Expression

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Book SynopsisTracing the shifts within Nietzsche’s understanding of the human condition, Alejandro offers an original interpretation of his philosophy, arguing that it was a philosophy of reconciliation.Trade Review"I am confident that this book will be considered essential reading for any scholar doing serious research into Nietzsche's thought and its implications. . . . The author carefully traces the shifts and turns and occasionally the contradictions and dead-ends in the development of Nietzsche's major themes. I have never read an account of Nietzsche's thought as fully and convincingly supported by textual reference as this book. Others will disagree with the author's readings of Nietzsche, that is the nature of scholarship, but I cannot see how they could be ignored." —Edward Portis, Texas A & M University"This is a major work on Nietzsche. Roberto Alejandro offers us a reading of Nietzsche's herculean efforts that Nietzsche scholars and scholars who write about modernity and postmodernity will be unable to ignore. This wide ranging and deep book addresses major issues in cultural history, psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, and the vast literature on modernity and secularization. I expect this to be a book that generates debate and discussion for years to come." —Robert Hollinger, Iowa State University"Roberto Alejandro delivers a rich, lively account of Nietzsche's quest for meaning. By focusing on the theme of historiobiography, Alejandro illuminates Nietzsche's bold attempt to place himself at the center of a comprehensive account of the rise and fall of Western civilization. A thoughtful, well-crafted book, written very much in the spirit of Nietzsche himself." —Daniel Conway, Texas A & M University“Alejandro may have put his finger on the secret to Nietzsche’s appeal by emphasizing the redemptive motif in Nietzsche’s writings. Nietzsche saw humans as ‘religious animals’—unique among living creatures in demanding meaning for their lives. And he presents himself as a redeemer (ecce homo) who offers meaning. . . . The three major metaphors of Nietzsche’s story are the will to power, the overman, and eternal recurrence. Taken together they enable Nietzsche ‘to relate the real story of Christianity’ and make him, as Erich Heller has pointed out, one of the most radical religious writers of the 19th century.” —Choice"In Nietzsche and the Drama of Historiobiography, Roberto Alejandro challenges this tradition and attempts to redefine the meaning of Nietzsche's entire corpus, offering an interpretation that integrates man and work, and highlights parallel tensions in both. His book offers a fresh and thoughtful reconsideration of Nietzsche's lifelong project. . . . Ultimately, this book records a unified vision of Nietzsche's work that is stimulating, fresh, and valuable." —Dialogue“Alejandro’s critical reflections cut to the core of Nietzsche’s arguments for constructing a healthy culture, and his prescriptions for becoming an authentic thinker.” —Foucault Studies

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A symposium in print illuminating the soul of the American political tradition, Thomas Jefferson and the Politics of Nature brings a group of outstanding Jefferson scholars to explore, test and supplement Michael Zuckert's well-argued defense of Jefferson and the natural rights republic that his thought inspired. And Zuckert responds!” —Walter Nicgorski, Editor, The Review of Politics“Thomas Jefferson and the Politics of Nature is a lively and illuminating symposium on the most perplexing and fascinating of the founding fathers. These essays demonstrate why Jefferson now, as in the past, and as in the future, will engage the most thoughtful and talented of philosophic scholars.” —Harry Jaffa, Professor of Government, Claremont McKenna College“This volume brings together major new Jeffersonian studies by some of the greatest living Jefferson scholars. The collection is distinguished by its unity of focus, the high level of the discussion, and the lucidity and attractiveness of the writing.” —Thomas Pangle, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada“Thomas Engeman has assembled a model symposium that amounts to a comprehensive treatment of Jefferson as a thinker and writer, in a lively exchange between ranking scholars that is both learned and readable. It will be invaluable for students of American political thought and history.”—Wilson Carey McWilliams, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“James Greenaway’s A Philosophy of Belonging is a major philosophical achievement.” —Barry Cooper, author of Paleolithic Politics"In an age of social media isolation and “bowling alone,” A Philosophy of Belonging is a welcome antidote to our condition of alienation, angst, and solipsism. A book not only for today but for anytime, it proposes a pathway out of our condition of nihilism, despair, and the absurd." —Lee Trepanier, author of Eric Voegelin’s Asian Political Thought"James Greenaway's A Philosophy of Belonging not only brings together a wide range of sometimes contrasting thinkers, but provides the reader with an interpretative vision successfully uniting philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology, politics and history. Academics and graduate students alike will never see their topics in quite the same way again." —Brendan Purcell, author of Where is God in Suffering?"At last, the theme of belonging has its philosophical champion. James Greenaway explores the topic of human belonging on a scale appropriate to its existential importance, ranging from the intimate issue of how one belongs to oneself to the comprehensive issue of how we belong to the cosmos. Greenaway’s book brings a rare nobility of reflection to political philosophy." —Glenn Hughes, author of From Dickinson to Dylan: Visions of Transcendence in Modernist LiteratureTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Philosophy and Belonging 2. A Hermeneutic of Belonging Presence 3. Of the Cosmos 4. By Way of Consciousness and the Flesh 5. In Love Communion 6. Communitas 7. Political Goods, Political Communitas 8. Sacramentality Epilogue: Unbelonging: The Refusal of Presence and Communion

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive treatment from an Orthodox theological perspective of the issue of the compatibility between Orthodoxy and liberal democracy.Trade Review“Papanikolaou’s The Mystical as Political is a welcome addition to current debates in political theology. His emphasis on the importance of theosis or divine-human communion marks a distinct contribution that should appeal to students and researchers interested in the relationship between theology and politics and the role that Orthodox thought can and should play in current and future discussions.” —Religion and Theology“Historically informed, critically agile, and most likely bar-setting for future treatments of what a twenty-first century Orthodox political theology may look like.” —Sobornost“It is, indeed, essential reading and puts forward a challenging and uncompromising affirmation of human dignity, personhood, and politics colored by the light of the Orthodox concept of divine-human communion, while admirably endeavoring not to confuse the ecclesial with the political nor neglect the ascetic and relational reality of human community and love.” —Journal of Markets and Morality“The Mystical as Political is an important contribution to conversations on Orthodoxy, theology, and politics, written in response to the underdeveloped voice of Orthodoxy in law and politics. . . . This timely, constructive book will generate much reflection, discussion, and debate in Orthodox circles. For those interested in the intrinsic connections between mystical theology and politics, this book is essential reading.” —Anglican Theological Review“The Mystical as Political may be the theological equivalent of a venus flytrap. It has the potential to draw multiple interests and points of view into a conversation about the kinds of politics theosis demands. So rather than an indestructible apologia for liberal democracy, Papanikolaou has given us something more engaging, and thus, according to his own stated intentions, more successful.” —Modern Theology“Papanikolaou has written an excellent and timely book. . . . [His] narrative is fascinating and his argumentation sharp and carefully balanced. Well versed in both Eastern and Western theology, he is therefore able to bring together insights from both traditions into fruitful dialogue.” —Theology“This recent work by Aristotle Papanikolaou . . . is a profound achievement in political theology. Papanikolaou’s work fills a great void in Orthodox Christian studies as well as political theology. . . . What I find particularly helpful in this work is his positive appreciation of liberal democracy and human rights from an Orthodox Christian perspective, which many Orthodox prelates and theologians simply find incompatible with their faith tradition.” —Journal of Church and State“Aristotle Papanikolaou’s The Mystical as Political is a welcome contribution to discussions concerning Christian political theology in particular and the role of religion in the contemporary context more generally. His ‘non-radical Orthodoxy’ supports critical engagement with modern liberal democracies on the basis of the church’s mission to persuade human beings to enter freely into communion with God.” —Journal of Religion“Drawing on a wide range of historical source and contemporary political theology, [Papanikolaou] offers a fresh and constructive overview of the relationship between Orthodox Christianity and the political realm. Papanikolaou’s book makes a welcome contribution to the debate on the significance of symphonia in contemporary politics.” —Religion, State and Society“. . . Aristotle Papanikolaou engages Orthodox tradition, a persistent Eastern suspicion of Western values, and contemporary Western theological assertions that liberal democracy is anathema to a eucharistic understanding of church. . . This book is a model for how a scholar can be critical, careful, and even generous in his disagreements.” —Horizons

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Book SynopsisNicholas addresses the failure of reason in modernity to bring about a just society, a society in which people can attain fulfillment. Trade Review"Habermas moved beyond the limitations of earlier Frankfurt School theorists in order to preserve an account of reason as emancipatory. Nicholas uses a conception of reason as tradition-constituted to move beyond Habermas, while still preserving an account of reason as emancipatory. This is a book of the highest interest." —Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame"Jeffery Nicholas has written an important and valuable book that invites its readers to discover the difficulties of late modern Western thought from the perspective of twentieth-century critical theory, and to consider a response to those difficulties drawn from the work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor." —Christopher S. Lutz, Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology"Jeffery Nicholas's book is an important and much needed contribution to the development of a critical theory of society. What may surprise some is that he does this not only by developing the work of the Frankfurt School theorists but also by bringing their analysis into a fruitful dialogue with the vital work of a scholar who is often thought of as their opponent: Alasdair MacIntyre. What results is a fascinating study that finds some common ground between MacIntyre and the Frankfurt School and shows the resources each give us for a renewal of critical thought." —Peter McMylor, University of Manchester“Jeffery L. Nicholas is interested in what he calls a substantive conception of reason that is tradition-based, non-formal, non-instrumental and capable of undoing modernity’s differentiation of scientific, moral and aesthetic spheres of rationality. . . . Nicholas’s elucidation and defense of his view comprises a critique of subjective reason that relies on Max Horkheimer’s work, a criticism of Jurgen Habermas’s communicative reason, and an explanation of substantive reason that looks to Alasdair MacIntyre.” —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews“If you are looking for a ‘safe’ read, a book that will not force you to question your own presuppositions, this is not the book for you. If, however, you are looking to be challenged and entertained, I suggest you pick up a copy of this dangerous tome and be prepared to change the way you think about reason, philosophy, and the world.” —Marx & Philosophy Review of Books“In this impressive and ambitious book Jeffery Nicholas argues that modernity is ‘infected’ by a conception of reason that has been stripped of its ability to raise ethical questions and to discuss important moral issues. . . . For Nicholas, the trouble is not simply that we refuse to examine the policies and positions of our own society or of other cultures. It is rather that even when we do engage in evaluation and critique, our critiques inevitably come up short.” —International Philosophical Quarterly“Nicholas’s approach to these general theses is both interesting and promising.” —Journal of Moral Philosophy

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Book SynopsisReconsiders the negative status attributed to forgetting in both academic and popular discussions of public memory. Demonstrates how a community may adopt idioms of forgetting in order to create new and beneficial standards of public judgment concerning the lessons and responsibilities of its shared past.Trade Review“Public Forgetting offers readers a new conceptual approach, analytical vocabulary, and evaluative framework with which to recast forgetting in [a] more favorable light. . . . [The book] ably tackles more than two millennia of bias against forgetting. This study of a neglected and constitutive dimension of memory suggests new directions for research in the interdisciplinary field of memory studies. The signal contribution of Public Forgetting is its reminder of the intimate relationship of remembrance and forgetting. Appeals to remember are simultaneously, implicitly or explicitly, appeals to forget (and vice versa). By inviting readers to adopt this more complex appreciation of their interplay, Vivian sets a new critical standard for future scholarship in the field.”—Katherine E. Mack Rhetoric and Public Affairs“Vivian’s first two chapters fill a gaping hole in contemporary theories of public memory and as such should be required reading in all graduate seminars on the subject. The concluding chapter, furthermore, is highly valuable as a theoretical guide to discerning the possibilities and limits of forgetting as a rhetorical strategy. . . . Vivian’s study provides an original and well-argued scholarly challenge to both academic and public understandings of memory as a cultural master term. As such, it is likely to provoke a new line of thinking on the virtues of public forgetting and engender many more theoretically and critically sophisticated accounts of it.”—Ekaterina V. Haskins The Quarterly Journal of Speech“Vivian’s attention to the historical understandings of the relations of memory and forgetting ground his study while his astute textual readings of instances of public forgetting offer nuanced and textured elaborations of his theoretical concerns.”—Greg Dickinson Rhetoric Society Quarterly“In his sustained meditation on forgetting, Bradford Vivian makes a singular and extremely valuable contribution to the field of memory studies. He substantially advances the theoretical discussion of memory and forgetting with his extended critiques (rhetorical analyses, really) of both ancient and recent formulations of collective public memory and forgetting. The conclusion is almost poetic in its lightness of touch. It pulls all the strands of the book into a single compelling case for forgetting as part of memory.”—James E. Young,University of Massachusetts Amherst, author of The Texture of Memory and At Memory's Edge.“Bradford Vivian’s Public Forgetting: The Rhetoric and Politics of Beginning Again is a critical and provocative contribution to rhetorical inquiry, communication studies, and memory studies. Considering the ever-expanding inquiry into the nature of memory across various disciplines and areas of study, Vivian presents a challenge to memory studies by centering forgetting as a co-constitutive factor in the act of remembering a communal and public past. . . . Offering an engaging and complex discussion about the relationship between memory and forgetting, as well as a convincing presentation of historical and contemporary examples of forgetting the past, Public Forgetting will be valuable to scholars studying memory, rhetoric, and history—especially scholars interested in exploring rhetorics of difference.”—Hector Carbajal JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and PoliticsTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart 1. Forgetting in Public Life: An Idiomatic History of the Present1. The Two Rivers, Past and Present2. Forgetting Without OblivionPart 2. Public Forgetting: Alternate Histories, New Heuristics3. Hallowed Ground, Hollow Memory: Rhetorical Form and Commemorative Politics on September 11, 20024. Historical Forgetting: John W. Draper and the Rhetorical Dimensions of History5. Cultural Forgetting: The “Timeless Now” of Nomadic Memories6. Moral and Political Forgetting: Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Second InauguralConclusionNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisExamines the problem of social change in a modern, mediated democracy. Argues that civility is not simply a virtue but a functional set of tools that must be adapted to specific situations.Trade Review“In a much needed and thought-provoking study, William Keith and Robert Danisch examine the concepts of civility and incivility, offering both critique and justification for civility as a norm of political discourse. They reconceive civility as a kind of discourse that can help us solve political problems in a way that is more equal, less conditioned by economic, political, or social power, and more respectful of mutual humanity. This study offers a timely assessment of our broken public sphere.”—Jennifer Mercieca,coeditor of The Rhetoric of Heroic Expectations: Establishing the Obama Presidency“One consequence of the current challenges to democracy is reconsideration of democratic institutions, norms, and habits. Beyond Civility is a model for how that can be done. While engaging strong critiques of the concept, Keith and Danisch demonstrate why [civility] remains an important commitment for both political sustainability and progressive change. By focusing on its paradoxical character, they show how civility and incivility negotiate deep problems of relationality. This is a thoughtful study of public communication for this turbulent time.”—Robert Hariman,author of Political Style: The Artistry of Power “William Keith and Robert Danisch offer a provocative and interesting take on democracy as a ‘wicked problem.’”—Mary E. Stuckey,author of Voting Deliberatively: FDR and the 1936 Presidential Campaign“Beyond Civility is a defense of civility and an argument for its centrality to democratic culture. It engages in topics that will be of great interest to rhetorical scholars. The authors’ breakdown of civility into weak/strong/pseudo and the argument stances in the ‘theater’ of public discourse are novel and important.”—Jeremy Engels,author of The Politics of Resentment: A Genealogy“Challenging the regular hand-wringing over a decline of civility in public discourse, William Keith and Robert Danisch take political divisiveness as a given in Beyond Civility: The Competing Obligations of Citizenship.”—Scott McLemee Inside Higher EdTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Why Civility Matters1. Civility as a Moral Quandary and a Political Necessity2. Imagining the Politics of Civility3. Civility in the Discursive Public Sphere4. The Structure, Uses, and Limitations of Incivility5. Strong Civility for Social JusticeNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisStephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, John Oliver, and Jimmy Kimmelthese comedians are household names whose satirical takes on politics, the news, and current events receive some of the highest ratings on television. In this book, James E. Caron examines these and other satirists through the lenses of humor studies, cultural theory, and rhetorical and social philosophy, arriving at a new definition of the comic art form. Tracing the history of modern satire from its roots in the Enlightenment values of rational debate, evidence, facts, accountability, and transparency, Caron identifies a new genre: truthiness satire. He shows how satirists such as Colbert, Bee, Oliver, and Kimmelalong with writers like Charles Pierce and Jack Shaferrely on shared values and on the postmodern aesthetics of irony and affect to foster engagement within the comic public sphere that satire creates. Using case studies of bits, parodies, and routines, Caron reveals a remarkable process: when evidence-based news repTrade Review“Those engaged in research and thinking on “the comic” will find this book a valuable aid.”—J. C. Jaffe Choice“Should endure as an important, discerning account of the paradoxical nature of satire, especially in our postmodern media environment.”—Brian P. O’Sullivan Studies in American Humor“The book is masterful at bringing together a wide range of thinkers and using their insights to construct an account of satire that allows us to see its new roles and, as Bill Maher might put it, its new rules.”—Steven Gimbel Philosophy of Humor Yearbook“Any scholar or student interested in the roles of comic and satiric discourse in twenty-first-century culture will benefit from reading this book. In my own engagements with satire, I will turn to this book first as an authoritative sorting-out of where we are and where we are going.”—Bruce Michelson,author of Mark Twain on the Loose: A Comic Writer and the American Self

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Book SynopsisThe first English anthology of this major German social-political philosopher's most important writings.Trade ReviewKellner introduces an important Marxist thinker for the first time to an American readership. * Choice *Table of Contents Acknowledgments Korsch’s Revolutionary Marxism 1. Korsch’s Road To Marxian Socialism Korsch’s Practical Socialism Korsch and the Workers’ Councils Movement 2. Korsch and Communism Korsch’s Revolutionary Historicism Korsch and the Comintern Korsch in the Left Opposition The Expulsion from the Party The Rejection of Leninism 3. The Crisis of Marxism Critique of Orthodox Marxism Critique of the Marxian Theory of Revolution New Forms of Revolutionary Struggle in Spain Korsch Analyzes the Counterrevolution Korsch and Marxism Korsch in Exile Political Writings of Karl Korsch 4. Marxism and Socialization Introduction Fundamentals of Socialization The Marxist Dialectic On Materialist Dialectic 5. Lenin and The Soviet Union Introduction Lenin and the Comintern The Marxist Ideology in Russia Position on Russia and the Communist Party 6. The Crisis of Marxism Introduction The Crisis of Marxism The Passing of Marxian Orthodoxy Some Fundamental Presuppositions for a Materialist Discussion of Crisis Theory Marxism and the Present Task of the Proletarian Class Struggle 7. Models of Revolutionary Practice Introduction Revolutionary Commune The Spanish Revolution Economics and Politics in Revolutionary Spain 8. Fascism and Counterrevolution Introduction Theses toward a Critique of the Fascist Conception of the State State and Counterrevolution The Fascist Counterrevolution The Workers’ Fight against Fascism 9. Korsch and Marxism Introduction A Non-Dogmatic Approach to Marxism Ten Theses on Marxism Today Letter to Paul Mattick Letter to Bertolt Brecht Letter to J. A. Dawson Letter to Erich Gerlach Index

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Book SynopsisBest known for his two-year sojourn at Walden Pond in Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau is often considered a recluse who emerged from solitude only occasionally to take a stand on the issues of his day. This book explores Thoreau's nature writings to offer a way of understanding the unique politics of the so-called hermit of Walden Pond.Trade ReviewBeautifully analyzes the implications of Thoreauvian withdrawal for modern politics and reminds us that the construction of the democratic city requires the cultivation of intellectually critical yet spiritually self-trusting democratic souls. - Jack Turner, University of Washington

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Book SynopsisCicero is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western political thought, and interest in his work has been undergoing a renaissance in recent years. The Ciceronian Tradition in Political Theory focuses entirely on Cicero's influence and reception in the realm of political thought.Trade ReviewKapust and Remer have collected a set of essays that justify the current revival of philosophical interest in Cicero by demonstrating his importance to major medieval and modern political thinkers. The comprehensive nature of Cicero's political philosophy is manifest in this fine book."" - David Fott, University of Nevada, Las Vegas""This collection offers its readers substantive and incisive essays about the complicated topic of the reception of Cicero by the subsequent tradition of political theory. Taken singly, the essays give us profound introductions to how the greatest individual authors in the tradition struggled with the massive shadow cast by Cicero on the politics of the Western world. Taken as a whole, the collection gives us a profound introduction to Cicero's extensive legacy within the Western political experience."" - Douglas Kries, Gonzaga University

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Book SynopsisExplores political thinking in Europe from the Renaissance to the early Enlightenment, the late fifteenth to the end of the seventeenth century. This work gives an account of European political thought in the early modern period; and pays due regard to Hungary, and to the Scandinavian kingdoms; and further embraces the political thought of Islam.Trade Review"The authors demonstrate how the differing understandings of the relationship between the divine and the human underpin the perceptions of the nature of the state. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice * Choice *

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