Political Philosophy: An Introduction

333 Pages·2010·1.34 MB·English

by  Richard G. Stevens

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PoliticalPhilosophy
AnIntroduction
ThisbookbyRichardG.Stevensisacomprehensiveintroductionto
thenatureofpoliticalphilosophy.Itoffersdefinitionsofphilosophy
andpolitics,showingthetensionbetweenthetwoandtheoriginof
political philosophy as a means of resolution of that tension. Plato
and Aristotle are examined to see the search for the best political
order.Inquiryisthenmadeintopoliticalphilosophy’snewtension,
broughtaboutbythegrowthofrevealedreligionintheMiddleAges.
It then examines the changes introduced by modernity and gives
an overview of postmodern political thought. The book covers the
most influential philosophers and directs readers to the classics of
politicalphilosophy,guidingtheminstudyingthesekeytexts.Itisan
approachableintroductiontoacomplexsubject,notjustahistoryof
it.Itisapointofentryintothesubjectforstudentsandforothersas
well.
Since his retirement from National Defense University in 1994,
RichardG.StevenshastaughtasAdjunctProfessorofGovernmentat
AmericanUniversity.HepreviouslytaughtattheUniversityofWash-
ingtonandatGeorgetownUniversity.Heistheauthor,mostrecently,
of Reason and History in Judicial Judgment (2008) and The American
Constitution and Its Provenance (1997) and is the editor of the third
editionofAmericanP oliticalThought(2010),aswellastheauthorof
numerous journal articles in the fields of political philosophy and
constitutionallaw.

Political Philosophy
An Introduction
ICHARD TEVENS
R G. S
AmericanUniversity
cambridgeuniversitypress
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(cid:2)C RichardG.Stevens2011
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Firstpublished2011
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
Stevens,RichardG.,1925–
Politicalphilosophy:anintroduction/RichardG.Stevens.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-00043-8(hardback)–isbn978-0-521-16901-1(pbk.)
1.Politicalscience–Philosophy. I.Title.
ja71.s788 2010

320.01–dc22 2010024895
isbn978-1-107-00043-8Hardback
isbn978-0-521-16901-1Paperback
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LEOSTRAUSS

Contents
Acknowledgments pageix
Prologue xi
parti: thenatureandoriginofpoliticalphilosophy
1 WhatPhilosophyIs 3
2 TheOriginofPhilosophy 19
3 TheNatureofPolitics 52
4 TheOriginofPoliticalPhilosophy 78
partii: theproblemofpoliticalphilosophy
IntroductiontoPartII 100
5 TheBestCity 105
6 Moderation 129
partiii: thep ermutationsofpoliticalphilosophy
7 AncientandMedievalPoliticalPhilosophy 151
8 AKindofBetrayal 188
9 ModernPoliticalPhilosophyandPostmodernThought 212
10 AncientsandModerns 282
Epilogue 303
Index 307
vii