Product Description

Engaging Political Philosophy investigates the political philosophies of Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Mill, Rawls, and Marx and reveals the scope and limits of the philosophical tradition they helped to forge.

• Investigates the political philosophies of Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Mill, Rawls, and Marx.
  
• Reveals the scope and limits of the philosophical tradition they helped to forge.
  
• Provides a cohesive narrative about modern political philosophy.
  
• Serves as both an accessible introduction and an interesting, original interpretation of ideas that have influenced our society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #388013 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
"Engaging Political Philosophy is recommended for teachers wanting to learn with students willing to discover. This scholarly text sheds fresh light on enduring political issues and stimulates readers to become intellectually and politically engaged with primary sources. It proves that teaching the classics of modern political philosophy is alive and well." Thomas W Simon, Illinois State University

"Levin′s collection would be a fine supplement to an advanced survey course in modern political philosophy. It would also provide particularly valuable insights for nonspecialists preparing to teach such a course." Ethics, October 2003

From the Back Cover
Engaging Political Philosophy investigates the political philosophies of Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Mill, Rawls, and Marx and reveals the scope and limits of the philosophical tradition they helped to forge.

The principal subject of the essays on Hobbes and Rousseau is the state and, more generally, political authority and political obligation. The chapters on Locke and Mill focus mainly on liberalism, and on authority′s rightful limits. All of these issues are resumed in the section on Rawls, where the main topic is justice, but where the notion of political legitimacy developed in Political Liberalism is also a prime concern. The chapter on Marx addresses many of the issues raised in the earlier essays both from the perspective of his early writings, and from the vantage–point provided by his mature theories of the state and history.

While the essays are relatively self–contained, a cohesive narrative about modern political philosophy emerges from them to create both an accessible introduction and an interesting, original interpretation of ideas that have influenced our society.

About the Author
Andrew Levine is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the author of many books and articles in social and political philosophy, most recently Rethinking Liberal Equality (1998).

Customer Reviews

Not the biggest but the best.
After having read most of the chapters for my course. EPP was the most useful text of my reading. It has a friendly format and provides enough information to completely cover the theories of the philosophers. The best chapters are Hobbes and Locke, the rest, especially Marx were lengthy and at times a tough task to get through. The chapter on Marx read more as a historical description than a philosophical analysis. However, many would argue this would be one of the best ways to describe Marx. Thoroughly useful text in comparsion with others on the market, however if you are looking for a simple introduction to each political philosopher, lengthy prose and lack of sub-sections and signalling may put you off.