Description
Book SynopsisExplores the concept of the social contract and how it shapes citizenship. Argues that the modern social contract is an account of the ethical and cultural conditions upon which modern citizenship depends.
Trade Review“Button argues that ‘contract makes citizens,’ rather than vice versa. He provides no less than a reexamination of the major texts in social contract theory—including those of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau—emphasizing the importance within this tradition of a ‘transformative’ and deeply educative project. An excellent book: fresh, original, clearly written and cogently argued, and based on an impressively wide array of sources. This book deserves a wide readership.”
—Stephen Macedo,Princeton University
“In a beautifully written, persuasively argued book, Button offers a new account of the modern liberal tradition of political thought.”
—D. Casson Choice
“Button’s book remains an original and important investigation into the history of civic education in the social contract tradition. Political theorists will find much that is of interest here.”
—Anna Stilz Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. “Where Justice Is Called a Virtue”: Public Reason and Civic Formation in Thomas Hobbes
2. Compact Before Liberal Constructivism: The Divine Politics of John Locke
3. Governing Subjects and Breeding Citizens: Dilemmas of Public Reasoning and Public Judgment in Locke
4. Rousseau’s Contractarian Republic: The Culture of Constitutional Self-Government
5. John Rawls, Public Reason, and Transformative Liberalism Today
Conclusion: The Politics of Not Settling Down
Bibliography
Index
