P. J. Paul Joseph Kelly Livres

A comprehensive introduction to the history of Western political thought written by a line-up of internationally renowned scholars from four continents. This definitive collection provides an overview of the canon of great theorists from Socrates and the Sophists to contemporary thinkers suchas Habermas and Foucault. Each contributor critically discusses the ideas and significance of each thinker and gives a summation of the best contemporary scholarship in the area. This volume will become the major resource for all students of political thought over the next generation.

Learning about the vast concept of politics can be daunting, this book makes it easier than ever by giving you all the big ideas, simply explained. It includes more than 100 ideas in the history of politics that are helpfully broken down so that abstract topics, such as theoretical foundations and practical applications become real.

First published in 2004. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT IN MODERN POLITICAL THOUGHT? The concept of a social contract has been central to political thought since the seventeenth century. Contract theory has been used to justify political authority, to account for the origins of the state, and to provide foundations for moral values and the creation of a just society. In The Social Contract from Hobbes to Rawls, leading scholars from Britain and America survey the history of contractarian thought and the major debates in political theory which surround the notion of the social contract. The book examines the critical reception to the ideas of thinkers including Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel and Marx, and includes the more contemporary ideas of John Rawls and David Gauthier. It also incorporates discussions of international relations theory and feminist responses to contractarianism. Together, the essays provide a comprehensive introduction to theories and critiques of the social contract within a broad political theoretical framework.