The Moral Foundations of Politics / Ian Shapiro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shapiro, Ian, Author.

Series:

Open Yale courses series.

The Open Yale Courses Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political ethics.

Ethics.

Physical Description:

xii, 289 p. : ill.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2012]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

When do governments merit our allegiance, and when should they be denied it? Ian Shapiro explores this most enduring of political dilemmas in this innovative and engaging book. Building on his highly popular Yale courses, Professor Shapiro evaluates the main contending accounts of the sources of political legitimacy. Starting with theorists of the Enlightenment, he examines the arguments put forward by utilitarians, Marxists, and theorists of the social contract. Next he turns to the anti-Enlightenment tradition that stretches from Edmund Burke to contemporary post-modernists. In the last part of the book Shapiro examines partisans and critics of democracy from Plato's time until our own. He concludes with an assessment of democracy's strengths and limitations as the font of political legitimacy. The book offers a lucid and accessible introduction to urgent ongoing conversations about the sources of political allegiance.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1. Enlightenment Politics

Chapter 2. Classical Utilitarianism

Chapter 3. Synthesizing Rights and Utility

Chapter 4. Marxism

Chapter 5. The Social Contract

Chapter 6. Anti-Enlightenment Politics

Chapter 7. Democracy

Chapter 8. Democracy in the Mature Enlightenment

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9786613909336

9781283596886

1283596881

9780300189759

0300189753

OCLC:

1024013333