Politics and the search for the common good / Hans Sluga.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sluga, Hans D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Common good.

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Physical Description:

x, 262 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Summary:

"Rethinking politics in a new vocabulary, Hans Sluga challenges the firmly held assumption that there exists a single common good which politics is meant to realize. He argues that politics is not a natural but a historical phenomenon, and not a single thing but a multiplicity of political forms and values only loosely related. He contrasts two traditions in political philosophy: a 'normative theorizing' that extends from Plato to John Rawls and a newer 'diagnostic practice' that emerged with Marx and Nietzsche and has found its three most prominent twentieth-century practitioners in Carl Schmitt, Hannah Arendt, and Michel Foucault. He then examines the sources of diagnostic political thinking, analyzes its achievements, and offers a critical assessment of its limitations. His important book will be of interest to a wide range of upper-level students and scholars in political philosophy, political theory, and the history of ideas"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Preface; Part I. The Search for the Common Good: Beyond the Normative and the Natural: 1. From normative theory to diagnostic practice; 2. The failure of political naturalism; 3. The historization of politics; 4. 'The time is coming when we will have to relearn about politics'; Part II. Three Diagnostic Thinkers in Pursuit of the Common Good: 5. Carl Schmitt: 'all essential concepts are not normative but existential'; 6. Hannah Arendt: 'does politics still have a meaning?'; 7. Michel Foucault: 'could you define the sense you give the word 'political'?'; Part III. The Fragility of the Common Good: 8. 'A fundamental change in political paradigms'; 9. Politics as a domain of uncertainty; Bibliography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-257) and index.

ISBN:

9781107068469

1107068460

9781107671133

1107671132

OCLC:

881064380

Online:

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