An Approach to Political Philosophy: Locke in Context brings together Professor Tully's most important and innovative statements on Locke in a systematic treatment of the latter's thought that is at once contextual and critical. Each essay has been rewritten and expanded for this volume, and each seeks to understand a theme of Locke's political philosophy by interpreting it in light of the complex contexts of early modern European political thought and practice. These historical studies are then used in a variety of ways to gain critical perspectives on the assumptions underlying current debates in political philosophy and the history of political thought. The themes treated include government, toleration, discipline, property, aboriginal rights, individualism, power, labour, self-ownership, community, progress, liberty, participation, and revolution.

A guide to methods in analytical political theory, offering concrete advice and clear examples of good and bad practice.

Political Theory: Methods and Approaches is one of the first books to analyze research methods in political theory and political philosophy. Drawing together a distinguished set of contributors, the book asks how political theory should be conducted today and examines the connections between political theory and a range of adjacent disciplines - including moral philosophy, the empirical social sciences, the history of political thought, the world of 'real' politics, critical social theory, and ideology.

Bringing political philosophy out of the ivory tower and within the reach of all, this book provides us with the tools to cut through the complexity of modern politics.

Past interpreters of Kant’s thought seldom viewed his writings on politics as having much importance, especially in comparison with his writings on ethics, which (along with his major works, such as the Critique of Pure Reason) received the lion’s share of attention. But in recent years a new generation of scholars has revived interest in what Kant had to say about politics. From a position of engagement with today’s most pressing questions, this volume of essays offers a comprehensive introduction to Kant’s often misunderstood political thought. Covering the full range of sources of Kant’s political theory—including not only the Doctrine of Right, the Critiques, and the political essays but also Kant’s lectures and minor writings—the volume’s distinguished contributors demonstrate that Kant’s philosophy offers compelling positions that continue to inspire the best thinking on politics today. Aside from the editor, the contributors are Michaele Ferguson, Louis-Philippe Hodgson, Ian Hunter, John Christian Laursen, Mika LaVaque-Manty, Onora O’Neill, Thomas W. Pogge, Arthur Ripstein, and Robert S. Taylor.

Social and political philosophy, unlike other fields and disciplines, involves conflict, disagreement, deliberation, and action. This text takes a new approach and understands philosophy not so much as a story of great thinkers or as a collection of philosophical positions but as a series of debates and disagreements in which students must participate. Adopting what may be called an 'active learning' method, Richard Schmitt, who has long taught social and political philosophy in the Ivy Leagues as well at state colleges, presents a range of problems and debates which engage the core question of freedom. Too often, students are bewildered, and then bored, by highly abstract philosophical questions because they are unable to connect those abstract issues to their own life experiences. This text immediately connects issues and experiences, and provides integrated, on-going questions to spark dialogue, whether in class settings or in the reader's own mind, and to help students form strong arguments with good reasons for their positions. In the course of examining different current controversies, the book develops theories of democracy, equality, the state, property, autonomy, and the role of morality in politics, all of which are standard for courses in social and political philosophy.

This book demonstrates the rich diversity and depth of political philosophy in the twentieth century. Catherine H. Zuckert has compiled a collection of essays recounting the lives of political theorists, connecting each biography with the theorist's life work and explaining the significance of the contribution to modern political thought. The essays are organized to highlight the major political alternatives and approaches. Beginning with essays on John Dewey, Carl Schmitt and Antonio Gramsci, representing the three main political alternatives - liberal, fascist and communist - at mid-century, the book proceeds to consider the lives and works of émigrés such as Hannah Arendt, Eric Voegelin, and Leo Strauss, who brought a continental perspective to the United States after World War II. The second half of the collection contains essays on recent defenders of liberalism, such as Friedrich Hayek, Isaiah Berlin and John Rawls and liberalism's many critics, including Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas and Alasdair MacIntyre.