Description
Book SynopsisExamining the social and political upheavals that characterized the collapse of public judgment in early modern Europe, this book offers a different account of the achievement of liberal democracy and self-government.
Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2011: Top 25 Books "Casson has written a superb treatment of John Locke... Casson's writing is clear and accessible, and thus appropriate for any level of student already familiar with Locke's work. The book is an excellent contribution to Locke scholarship."--Choice "This is an attractive book, well printed, well bound, and well designed. Its arguments are always interesting, indeed fascinating, its scholarship is often admirable... Professor Casson [has written an] intelligent, ingenious, stimulating, searching and provocative ... piece of work."--Locke Studies
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: The Great Recoinage 1 Chapter I: Unsettling Judgment: Knowledge, Belief, and the Crisis of Authority 23 Certain Knowledge and Probable Belief 25 Unsettling Knowledge 34 Unsettling Belief 41 Chapter II: Abandoning Judgment: Montaignian Skeptics and Cartesian Fanatics 53 Montaigne and the Politics of Skepticism 54 Descartes and the Rationalist Dream 63 Young Locke as Skeptic and Absolutist 75 Chapter III: Reworking Reasonableness: The Authoritative Testimony of Nature 92 The Transformation of a Skeptic 97 Precursors to Lockean Reasonableness 103 From Lecture Halls to Laboratories 114 Chapter IV: Forming Judgment: The Transformation of Knowledge and Belief 126 Locke's Political Pedagogy 129 Fanatics and Philosophizers 136 Defining and Redefining Knowledge and Belief 143 Chapter V: Liberating Judgment: Freedom, Happiness, and the Reasonable Self 159 Unrestrained and Restrained Freedoms 160 The Pursuit of True and Solid Happiness 168 The Formation of the Reasonable Self 178 Chapter VI: Enacting Judgment: Dismantling the Divine Certainty of Sir Robert Filmer 185 Preaching Patriarcha from the Pulpit 188 Probable Judgment and the Authority of Scripture 192 The Slavishness of Systems 205 Chapter VII: Authorizing Judgment: Consensual Government and the Politics of Probability 219 The State of Nature as a Realm of Virtue and Convenience 223 From Moral Clarity to Epistemological Confusion 233 Entrusting Judgment to a Shared Authority 238 Prerogative, Public Good, and the Judgment of the People 244 Conclusion: The Great Recoinage Revisited 253 References 263 Index 279
