Philip J. Kain deftly demonstrates the historical antecedents to and continuing relevance of Karl Marx's thought. Kain reveals the unappreciated pluralism of Marx, how it has endured and how it will continue to adapt to the challenges of modern day thought such as feminist theory.

Iain Hampsher-Monk’s lucid and accessible history of modern political thought is the introduction which many have been waiting for, providing a thorough guide to the ideas and writings of major political thinkers from Hobbes to Marx (including a full account of The Federalist papers). The author’s aim throughout is to incorporate the benefits of modern scholarship of the historical school, with its emphasis on historical and political circumstances as a key to meaning. Recognizing that for most students time will not allow detailed study of the historical and political contexts of particular works, Hampsher-Monk provides here the background necessary for the reader to situate the writings of key thinkers in relation to wider currents in intellectual and political history. A History of Modern Political Thought will meet the needs of both general readers and students of political theory and philosophy. It is an indispensable secondary source which aims to situate, explain, and provoke thought about the major works of political theory likely to be encountered by students of modern political thought.

"Germino examines the scholars of this period whose works he feels have made significant new approaches to the critical understanding of our world and, consequently, to the problems of our time. He discusses utilitarianism, lieberalism, scientism, and messianic nationalism"--Back cover

Classics of Modern Political Theory: Machiavelli to Mill brings together the complete texts or substantial selections from the masterpieces of modern political theory. The most comprehensive anthology of its kind, this volume includes well-known works by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, and Marx, and significant contributions from Spinoza, Montesquieu, Hume, Adam Smith, Kant, Burke, Bentham, and Tocqueville. A distinctive feature of this collection is the inclusion of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and numerous papers from The Federalist. An extended introduction to each author's writings, provided by a renowned authority on the subject, features biographical data, philosophical commentary, and bibliographical guides. Ideal for courses in political philosophy and intellectual history, as well as surveys of Western Civilization, this book presents influential authors and ideas that have shaped modern political thought.

Presents unabridged works and substantive abridgments in preeminent translations, along with balanced, lucid, sophisticated introductions. This book includes a wide and balanced selection of many of the more important texts of modern political thought. To its great credit, it provides pertinent excerpts from frequently neglected authors, such as Calvin and Hume, which it nicely juxtaposes appear to be good, and the introductions to each section help to situate the writers in their historical and intellectual context and to alert students to some of the central issues that arise in the texts. This book offers an economical and useful approach to modern political thought.

How are we to understand past political thinkers? Is it a matter simply of reading their texts again and again? Do we have to relate past texts of political thought to the contexts in which ideas were composed and in which the aims of past thinkers were formulated? Or should past political theories be deconstructed so as to uncover not what their authors maintain, but what the texts reveal? In this book, theories of interpreting past political thinkers are examined and the interpretive methods of a range of theories are reviewed, including those of Hegel, Marx, Oakeshott, Collingwood, the Cambridge School, Foucault, Derrida and Gadamer. The application of these theories of interpretation to notable modern political theorists, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Bentham, Mill, Nietzsche and Beauvoir is then used as a way of understanding modern political thought and of assessing interpretive theories of past political thought. The result is a book which sees the history of modern political thought as more than a procession of political theories but rather as a reflection on the meaning of past political thought and its interpretation. It provides a way of reading the history of modern political thought, in which the question of interpretation matters both for understanding how we interpret the past but also for considering what it means to undertake political thinking.

This book contains studies of four of the most influential political theorists in the Western tradition: Machiavelli, whose name is a byword for duplicity, Hobbes, the first great English political philosopher, Mill, liberal thinker and champion of individual liberty, and Marx, whose legacy has affected the lives of millions.