The Anxiety of Freedom Imagination and Individuality in Locke's Political Thought / Uday Singh Mehta.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mehta, Uday Singh.

en Book Program, National Endowment for the Humanities Op, Author.

Contributor:

en Book Program, funder.

Series:

Contestations.

Contestations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Locke, John, 1632-1704.

Individuality.

Imagination.

Authority.

Liberty.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (186 pages).

Place of Publication:

Cornell University Press 2018

Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1992.

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

Uday Singh Mehta is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the Graduate Center, CUNY. He is the author of Liberalism and Empire, winner of the J. David Greenstone Prize given by the American Political Science Association.

Summary:

The enduring appeal of liberalism lies in its commitment to the idea that human beings have a "natural" potential to live as free and equal individuals. The realization of this potential, however, is not a matter of nature, but requires that people be molded by a complex constellation of political and educational institutions. In this eloquent and provocative book, Uday Singh Mehta investigates in the major writings of John Locke the implications of this tension between individuals and the institutions that mold them. The process of molding, he demonstrates, involves an external conformity and an internal self-restraint that severely limit the scope of individuality.Mehta explores the centrality of the human imagination in Locke's thought, focusing on his obsession with the potential dangers of the cognitive realm. Underlying Locke's fears regarding the excesses of the imagination is a political anxiety concerning how to limit their potential effects. In light of Locke's views on education, Mehta concludes that the promise of liberation at the heart of liberalism is vitiated by its constraints on cognitive and political freedom.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. The Critique of Scriptural Politics

3. Curiosity, Imagination, and Madness

4. Molding Individuality: Direction and Compromise

5. Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-181) and index.

This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781501726385

1501726382

9781501726392

1501726390

OCLC:

1057427496