Social and political philosophy : a contemporary introduction / John Christman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Christman, John Philip.

Series:

Routledge contemporary introductions to philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Social sciences--Philosophy.

Social sciences.

Physical Description:

xiii, 248 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2002.

Contents:

The liberal democratic paradigm 6

Preliminaries II Moral theory and political philosophy 14

Part I Basic Issues Within the Liberal Paradigm 23

2 The Problem of Political Authority 25

The social contract tradition 26

Hobbes's social contract: Mechanism, egoism, and rationality 28

Locke: Reason, morality, and freedom 41

Lessons from Rousseau and Kant 48

From consent to legitimacy 52

3 Distributive Justice 60

Distributive justice and equality 61

Libertarianism 65

Rawlsian distributive justice 74

Varieties of egalitarianism 80

From equality to the welfare state 87

4 Toleration, Pluralism, and the Foundations of Liberalism 94

The canons of liberalism 94

The perfectionist challenge 103

Utilitarian liberalism: Perfectionism in disguise? 108

The response of political liberalism 111

Liberalism, public discourse, and democracy 117

Part II Critique of the Liberal Paradigm: Challenges and Departures 123

5 Conservatism, Communitarianism, and the Social Conception of the Self 125

Conservatism 126

Communitarianism 130

Liberalism, freedom, and culture 145

6 Race, Gender, and the Politics of Identity 152

Ideal theory and ongoing injustice 153

Critical race theory 157

Gender, sex, and the challenge of feminism 163

Identity, injustice, and democracy 179

7 Radical Critique: Marxism and Post-Modernism 185

The legacy of Marx and Marxism 186

Post-modern departures 199

Epilogue: The hope of liberalism 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 230-244) and index.

ISBN:

0415217970

0415217989

OCLC:

49901974