Political Philosophy

Fourth Edition

Steven M. Cahn

Brings together in convenient form as many as feasible of these crucial works, either complete or in substantial excerpts
Focuses both on the history of the disciplines and the recent contributions.
Includes significan materials concerning the growth of American Democracy.

New to this Edition:

Readings have been added from Mary Wollstonecraft, W. E. B. Du Bois, Susan Moller Okin, Elizabeth S. Anderson, Gillian Brock, Sarah Song, Frederick Douglass, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Re-edited selections include Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics, Machiavelli's The Prince and Discourses, Hobbes's Leviathan, Locke's Second Treatise, Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws, Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin of Equality and Of the Social Contract, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, The Federalist Papers, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty and The Subjection of Women.
Martha Nussbaum's essay “The Feminist Critique of Liberalism” has been replaced by her more recent essay “Capabilities and Social Justice.”
New introductions have been provided by Virginia Sapiro (Boston University) for Mary Wollstonecraft; Derrick Darby (Rutgers University) for W. E. B. Du Bois; Eva Feder Kittay (SUNY at Stony Brook) for Martha Nussbaum; Rekha Nath (University of Alabama) for Elizabeth S. Anderson; Debra Satz (Stanford University) for Susan Moller Okin; Nicole Hassoun (Binghamton, SUNY) for Gillian Brock; and Shelley Wilcox (San Francisco State University) for Sarah Song.

Political Philosophy

Fourth Edition

Steven M. Cahn

Description

Political Philosophy: The Essential Texts is ideal for survey courses in political philosophy. Offering unprecedented coverage from antiquity to the present, this historically organized collection presents the most significant works from nearly 2,500 years of political philosophy. The readings are substantial or complete texts, not fragments. An especially valuable feature of this volume is that the works of each author are introduced with an engaging essay by a leading contemporary authority.

Political Philosophy

Fourth Edition

Steven M. Cahn

Preface
PLATO
Introduction
Richard Kraut
*Defence of Socrates
*Crito
Republic
ARISTOTLE
Introduction
Richard Kraut
Nicomachean Ethics
Politics
CICERO
Introduction
Richard Kraut
On the Republic
On the Laws
AUGUSTINE
Introduction
Paul J. Weithman
The City of God
THOMAS AQUINAS
Introduction
Paul J. Weithman
Summa Theologiae
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI
Introduction
Steven B. Smith
The Prince
Discourses
THOMAS HOBBES
Introduction
Jean Hampton
Leviathan
BARUCH SPINOZA
Introduction
Steven B. Smith
Theologico-Political Treatise
JOHN LOCKE
Introduction
A. John Simmons
Second Treatise of Government
Letter Concerning Toleration
MONTESQUIEU
Introduction
Mark Hulliung
The Spirit of the Laws
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Introduction
Joshua Cohen
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality?
Of the Social Contract
DAVID HUME
Introduction
Arthur Kuflik
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
*Of Parties in General
Of the Original Contract
*Of the Origin of Government
ADAM SMITH
Introduction
Charles L. Griswold, Jr.
The Wealth of Nations
IMMANUEL KANT
Introduction
Paul Guyer
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals
On the Old Saw: That May Be Right in Theory But It
Won't Work in Practice
Perpetual Peace
EDMUND BURKE
Introduction
Burleigh T. Wilkins
Reflections on the Revolution in France
WOLLSTONECRAFT
Introduction
Virginia Sapiro
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
G. W. F. HEGEL
Introduction
Steven B. Smith
Philosophy of Right
Introduction to the Philosophy of History
JEREMY BENTHAM
Introduction
Jeremy Waldron
Principles of Legislation
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
Introduction
Steven B. Smith
Democracy in America
KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS
Introduction
Richard Miller
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
The German Ideology
Manifesto of the Communist Party
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Value, Price and Profit
JOHN STUART MILL
Introduction
Jeremy Waldron
Utilitarianism
On Liberty
The Subjection of Women
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Introduction
Richard Schacht
Beyond Good and Evil
DU BOIS
Introduction
Derrick Darby
Of the Ruling Men
HANNAH ARENDT
Introduction
Michael McCarthy
The Origins of Totalitarianism
ISAIAH BERLIN
Introduction
Robert B. Talisse
Two Concepts of Liberty
CHARLES TAYLOR
Introduction
Robert B. Talisse
*What's Wrong with Negative Liberty?
JOHN RAWLS
Introduction
Joshua Cohen
A Theory of Justice
Political Liberalism
ROBERT NOZICK
Introduction
Thomas Christiano
Anarchy, State, and Utopia
JÜRGEN HABERMAS
Introduction
Thomas A. McCarthy
*Three Normative Models of Democracy
*On the Internal Relation Between the Rule of Law and Democracy
MICHEL FOUCAULT
Introduction
Thomas A. McCarthy
Power/Knowledge
MICHAEL J. SANDEL
Introduction
Robert B. Talisse
*The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self
VIRGINIA HELD
Introduction
Cheshire Calhoun
*Non-contractual Society: A Feminist View
IRIS MARION YOUNG
Introduction
Ann Cudd
*Five Faces of Oppression
SUSAN MOLLER OKIN
Introduction
Debra Satz
Justice, Gender, and the Family
ELIZABETH S. ANDERSON
Introduction
Rekha Nath
*What is the Point of Equality?
MARTHA C. NUSSBAUM
Introduction
Eva Feder Kittay
*Capabilities and Social Justice
KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH
Introduction
Tommie Shelby
The Ethics of Identity
GILLIAN BROCK
Introduction
Nicole Hassoun
Global Justice
SARAH SONG
Introduction
Shelley Wilcox
Immigration and Democracy
DOCUMENTS AND ADDRESSES
PERICLES
*Funeral Oration
EDMUND BURKE
Speech to the Electors of Bristol
*THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
*THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
THE FEDERALIST PAPERS
*10, 51
*THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF THE CITIZEN
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
*What to the Slave is the Fourth of July
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
*Gettysburg Address
*Second Inaugural Address
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
The Solitude of Self
JOHN DEWEY
Democracy
*THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS?
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
*Letter from a Birmingham City Jail

Political Philosophy

Fourth Edition

Steven M. Cahn

Author Information

Steven M. Cahn is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at The City University of New York Graduate Center. He is the author or editor of more than sixty books. Most recently, he wrote Inside Academia: Professors, Politics, and Policies (2018) and Teaching Philosophy: A Guide (2018). Dr. Cahn is the editor of The World of Philosophy, Second Edition (OUP, 2018), Exploring Ethics, Fifth Edition (OUP, 2019), and Exploring Philosophy, Seventh Edition (OUP, 2020).