Fifty Major Political Thinkers, Second Edition - klasrum

264 Pages·2007·1.23 MB·English

FIFTY MAJOR POLITICAL THINKERS
SECOND EDITION
Now in its second edition, Fifty Major Political Thinkers introduces the
lives and ideas of some of the theorists who have shaped Western political
thought, from the ancient world to the present day.
Alongside new entries on such figures as Cicero, Frantz Fanon and
Carl Schmitt, other thinkers covered include:
Hannah Arendt
Simone de Beauvoir
Mohandas Gandhi
Machiavelli
Karl Marx
John Stuart Mill
Thomas Paine
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Fully cross-referenced and including a glossary of theoretical terms, this
wide-ranging and accessible book is essential reading for anyone with an
interest in the evolution and history of political thought across the ages.
Ian Adams is formerly a Lecturer in Politics and Honorary Fellow at
the University of Durham.
R.W. Dyson is a Lecturer in the School of Government and International
Affairs at the University of Durham.
Also available from Routledge
Politics: the Basics
(Third edition)
Stephen Tansey
978-0-415-30329-3
The Routledge Dictionary of Politics
David Robertson
978-0-415-32377-2
Fifty Key Figures in Twentieth Century British Politics
Keith Laybourn
978-0-415-22677-6
Fifty Key Thinkers in International Relations
Martin Griffiths
978-0-415-16228-9
International Relations: the Key Concepts
Martin Griffiths and Terry O’Callaghan
978-0-415-22883-1
The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right
Peter Davies and Derek Lynch
978-0-415-21495-7
FIFTY MAJOR
POLITICAL THINKERS
Second Edition
Ian Adams and R.W. Dyson
First published 2003
by Routledge
This edition published 2007
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2003, 2007 Ian Adams and R.W. Dyson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Adams, Ian, 1943–
Fifty major political thinkers / Ian Adams and R.W. Dyson. -- 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Political science. 2. Political scientists. I. Dyson, R.W. II. Title.
JA66.A314 2007
320.092'2--dc22
2007007656
ISBN 0-203-96116-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-40098-8 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415-40099-6 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-40098-5 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-40099-2 (pbk)
CONTENTS
Alphabetical list of contents vii
Preface ix
Plato (427–347 BCE) 3
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) 11
Cicero (106–43 BCE) 19
St Augustine of Hippo (354–430) 23
St Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) 29
Nicolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) 35
Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) 43
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) 46
James Harrington (1611–77) 54
John Locke (1632–1704) 57
Montesquieu (1689–1755) 64
David Hume (1711–76) 68
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) 73
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) 80
Edmund Burke (1729–97) 83
Tom Paine (1737–1809) 87
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) 90
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) 93
William Godwin (1756–1836) 96
G.W.F. Hegel (1770–1831) 99
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) 106
‘Publius’ and The Federalist Papers 111
Charles Fourier (1772–1837) and Utopian Socialism 118
Karl Marx (1818–83) 122
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) 131
John Stuart Mill (1806–73) 135
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) 140
T.H. Green (1836–82) 143
v
CONTENTS
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) 146
Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921) and Anarchism 151
Georges Sorel (1847–1922) 155
Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932) 158
Max Weber (1864–1920) 164
Vladimir Ilich Lenin (1870–1924) 170
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) and Fascism 174
Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) 180
Hannah Arendt (1906–75) 184
Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909–97) 187
Friedrich von Hayek (1899–1992) 190
Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) 193
Sir Karl Popper (1902–94) 195
Michael Oakeshott (1901–90) 199
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) and Second Wave Feminism 202
Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) and the Frankfurt School 206
Frantz Fanon (1925–61) 211
Michel Foucault (1926–84) 217
John Rawls (1921–2002) 221
Robert Nozick (1938–2002) 225
Jürgen Habermas (1929–) 228
Jean-François Lyotard (1924–98) 234
Glossary 239
Index 250
vi
ALPHABETICAL LIST
OF CONTENTS
St Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) 29
Hannah Arendt (1906–75) 184
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) 11
St Augustine of Hippo (354–430) 23
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) and Second Wave Feminism 202
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) 106
Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909–97) 187
Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932) 158
Edmund Burke (1729–97) 83
Cicero (106–43 BCE) 19
Frantz Fanon (1925–61) 211
Michel Foucault (1926–84) 217
Charles Fourier (1772–1837) and Utopian Socialism 118
Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) 193
William Godwin (1756–1836) 96
T.H. Green (1836–82) 143
Jürgen Habermas (1929–) 228
James Harrington (1611–77) 54
Friedrich von Hayek (1899–1992) 190
G.W.F. Hegel (1770–1831) 99
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) 90
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) 46
David Hume (1711–76) 68
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) 80
Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921) and Anarchism 151
Vladimir Ilich Lenin (1870–1924) 170
John Locke (1632–1704) 57
Jean-François Lyotard (1924–98) 234
Nicolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) 35
Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) and the Frankfurt School 206
vii
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTENTS
Karl Marx (1818–83) 122
John Stuart Mill (1806–73) 135
Montesquieu (1689–1755) 64
Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) 43
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) and Fascism 174
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) 146
Robert Nozick (1938–2002) 225
Michael Oakeshott (1901–90) 199
Tom Paine (1737–1809) 87
Plato (427–347 BCE) 3
Sir Karl Popper (1902–94) 195
‘Publius’ and The Federalist Papers 111
John Rawls (1921–2002) 221
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) 73
Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) 180
Georges Sorel (1847–1922) 155
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) 140
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) 131
Max Weber (1864–1920) 164
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) 93
viii
PREFACE
The nature of political activity and how it may best be conducted is
one of the perennial questions of human existence. In the West alone
these matters have been the subject of philosophical discussion for more
than 2,000 years, and the discussion is one to which many more than
fifty thinkers have contributed. In choosing our fifty we have confined
ourselves to Western political thought (with the exception of Mohandas
Gandhi, whose ideas were influenced by the West). We have little expertise
outside this field, and, besides, non-Western traditions are represented in
other volumes in this series. Nor have we been concerned with theoretical
debates concerning the ‘scientific’ study of politics. Even so, the business
of choosing the best or most appropriate fifty was a difficult one.
Any shortlist of ‘greats’ compiled from such a wide and varied field will
contain entries of three kinds. First, there will be those names it would
be impossible to exclude: in this case Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke and
so on. This part of the list almost compiles itself. Then there will be a
penumbra of cases that, though discussable, would probably be included
by most knowledgeable people. Finally, there will be a class of substan-
tially controversial entries, where the choice really is a matter of editorial
discretion. Anyone who undertakes to draw up such a list will therefore
face some difficult decisions, and it is inevitable that the final selection
will not be agreeable to everyone. Selection is particularly difficult when
we come to the era after the French Revolution: the age of mass politics
in which so many movements of political significance have emerged.
The Routledge Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Political Thinkers (1998) has
178 entries and does not claim to be exhaustive. It is unavoidable that
a volume purporting to deal with major political theorists will be ‘thin’
at its modern end, quite simply because, with some few distinguished
exceptions, it is not possible to predict which very recent theorists will
come to be regarded as ‘major’ by posterity.
A thinker may be ‘major’ on a number of grounds: power of reasoning,
originality, extent of influence and so on. Choices are inevitably based
ix