The Individual and the Political Order: An Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy

by Norman E. Bowie, Robert L. Simon

This fourth edition of The Individual and the Political Order provides a careful, accessible, and reasoned liberal justification for the democratic state and political authority. The central feature of liberalism is the commitment to individual autonomy. The authors show how that commitment provides a defense of democracy, and they give a liberal interpretation to such core values as liberty, equality, and political authority. Although the authors support liberal theory, they also provide a sympathetic treatment of the critics of liberalism. The authors give a sound explanation of such positions as feminist political theory, communitarianism, and post-modernism but they also argue persuasively that these theories fall short as adequate theories of the political order. A significant feature of the new edition is the treatment of international issues and globalization, particularly the war on terrorism and poverty in the third world. This edition retains its balanced treatment of such major theorists as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Rawls and, in this edition, Marx. This edition continues the tradition of readability, balance, and careful argumentation that characterized the earlier editions. The Individual and the Political Order is accessible to a wide audience and to nearly all individuals who are interested in how citizens in a state should be governed.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

290 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1985

About the author

Norman E. Bowie (born 1942) is professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. Until his retirement in 2009 he was Elmer L Andersen Chair of Corporate Responsibility and served in the departments of strategic management and of philosophy. He is an important voice in ongoing debates over business ethics, in which his own voice has been in favor of the Kantian view of ethics (in business as elsewhere) as a Kingdom of Ends.

Reviews

[Enrique Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good overview of political philosophy. I ended up accidentally keeping my debate coach's copy of it from high school, annotations and all. Considering the cost of the book in comparison to its size, I feel bad about this, but at the same time, don't.

If you want an introduction to philosophy in the context of politics, I'd give this a read.