Political Philosophy and the Issues of Politics PDF
Preview Political Philosophy and the Issues of Politics
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Garrison LaKewxxJ, Colorado 80226 Political Philosophy and the Issues of Politics a ' ‘j* wa X ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp pppppppppppppppppppp pppppppppppppppp pppppppppppppppppppp pppppppppppppppp PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP pp ppppppppppppp ppppppp pp ppppppppp pp ppppppp ppppp ppppppp pp pppppp pp pp ppp ppp ppppp ppp ppp pp pppppp pp pp ppp ppp pp pp ppp ppp pp pp ppp pp pp ppp ppp pp pp ppp p p pp pp ppp pp pp ppp p p pp p ppp p p pp pp p p pp pp ppp p p pp p p p p p p pp p p pp pp p p p p p p ppp p p p p p pp p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p Joseph Cropsey Political Philosophy and the Issues of Politics The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London Joseph Cropsey is professor of political science at the University of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London ©1977 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 1977 Phoenix Edition 1980 Printed in the United States of America 81 80 98765432 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Cropsey, Joseph. Political philosophy and the issues of politics. 1. Political science—Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Title. JA71.C75 320.5 76-22960 ISBN 0-226-12124-0 (paper) Contents Preface vii Introduction: The United States as Regime and the Sources of the American Way of Life 1 Part One Part Two What Is Welfare “Capitalist” Liberalism 53 Economics? 19 The Invisible Hand: On the Relation of Political Moral and Political Science and Economics 32 Considerations 76 “Alienation” or Justice? 44 Modern Communism 90 Conservatism and Liberalism 116 Political Morality and Liberalism 131 Radicalism 140 Part Three Part Four Modernization: United Political Life and a Natural States Policy and the Order 221 Meaning of Modernity 157 Plato’s Phaedrus and The Moral Basis of Plato’s Socrates 231 International Action 172 Justice and Friendship in The Right of Foreign the Nicomachean Aid 189 Ethics 252 Toward Reflection on On Descartes’ Discourse Property and the on Method 274 Family 207 Hobbes and the Transition to Modernity 291 The Human Vision of Rousseau: Reflections on Emile 315 Preface This book consists of papers that were written during a period of almost twenty-five years. None of them was designed to be part of a book such as this; the book itself was envisioned after most of its parts already existed. Yet the parts have proved submissive to a simple arrangement that distributes them under the main headings of critical reflections on some social sciences, characterization of leading or conspicuous political positions, comment with a moral intention on certain issues of public policy, and interpretation of philosophic texts. This plan is heavily influ¬ enced by the fact that political philosophy as 1 first encountered it con¬ sisted in large measure of critique of modernity through and alongside interpretation of texts. The critique of modernity was partly critique of social science, partly critique of modern politics, and partly critique of the texts of political philosophy written in and since the fifteenth century. The other large component of political philosophy as I was introduced to it by my late teacher and lamented friend, Leo Strauss, was the relevant litera¬ ture of classical antiquity. In brief, the plan of this book resembles a sketch of political philosophy and its concerns as those have appeared to me during most of a working life. viii Preface The critique of modernity presupposes the significance of modernity, hence the significance of the distinction between modernity and the ages that preceded it. Since that presupposition is as indispensable to histori- cism as to the refutation of historicism, the terms on which it is being adopted need to be made clear. A lengthening experience with the texts persuades me that, however consequential the gap between antiquity and modernity may be, it is not so radical as to have made philosophy itself impossible. By philosophy, or at any rate political philosophy, I mean the benign, sober, incisive, and wise investigation of the problems of human life for which no age has found—and perhaps no age can find—unprob¬ lematic solutions. If I discover in Aristotle the terrestrialization of man’s existence that is supposed to be a mark of the modern understanding, I conjecture with more satisfaction that there is an enduring human scene which reveals itself to intelligence than that ancients anticipated or sur¬ passed every modern insight. The critique of modernity that rjins in these papers is to that extent in the interest of philosophy rather than of antiquity. Of the critique of social science, much the same can be said. A number of the essays consist of attempts to understand political issues and developments, as well as the important political alternatives, that have opened up in modern times. In every such case, I began by reminding myself that if a theme (for example liberal commercial society, or “modernization”) belongs seriously to modernity, then it should be thought about with a view to the meaning of modernity. Thus the notion behind the papers on practical matters corresponds to the perception of political philosophy itself as dominated by a distinction between antiquity and modernity. In contemplating that distinction, one soon rediscovers that neither antiquity nor modernity is homogeneous. Modernity is so far from homogeneous that some of its most striking features can be best explained as extrusions from the pressure of one element of our epoch against another, or by reference to what I have called modernity’s self¬ dissatisfaction. If, as I maintain, modernity has, in its thoughts and deeds in the practical realm, shown a disposition to cure itself by intensifying what may have been the original disorder, that fact would only verify the urgency of beginning with as clear a view as possible of the meaning, and thus the complexity, of modernity. Perhaps this sounds like an argument to the effect that in the essence itself of modernity there is prefigured a term to modernity’s existence. My argument does have that implication, but it should transpire as no surprise, for what comes into being has “always” been expected to pass away. The tendency of these papers as a whole is to view the relation between antiquity and modernity as a disjunction modified by continuity, and the internal constitution of each epoch as a heterogeneity in a state of tension. The complexity of the modern age is displayed in the wide literature of the
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