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Political Philosophy
Understand political philosophy without help from a pundit Teach Yourself Political Philosophy is a fascinating guide to the principles upon which our legal and political systems are founded. It explores the key political concepts that underpin our society and unravels fundamental political and economic theories such as capitalism, Marxism, conservatism and anarchism. Each of these concepts and theories are put into context by looking at the key figures in political thought from Aristotle and Hobbes to Rawls and Wollstonecraft. Political philosophy need not be confined to the past or the realms of academia--this book brings the issues to life and discusses the questions raised daily by our politicians, their critics, and the media.
224 pages, Paperback
First published July 25, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 17, 2009
A bit haphazard at times but it was good overall.
September 8, 2015
I read this over the weekend to shore up my understanding of all things political philosophy as I am taking a graduate course on John Rawls this semester and thought it would be good to read up on some basic stuff.
The book is a good read overall and would be of good use to the introductory student of political philosophy. In my particular case I found that I was already fairly well acquainted with most of the material that is covered here, although the presentation of the material certainly helped refresh my memory on some things and indeed did introduce me to a few new ideas and new thinkers along the way.
The one criticism that I have of the book is that its latter chapters are arranged topically, covering ideas such as gender and multiculturalism, environmentalism, globalization, etc. There's nothing terribly wrong with that, but I found that those chapters became a bit of an ongoing discussion about random topics that many folks would be knowledgable of just simply by watching the news as opposed to a more detailed engagement with philiosophical thought. This is not true of the book's early chapters, which introduce Plato & Aristotle, then several Enlightenment thinkers. John Rawls is also given attention in one chapter, and is mentioned throughout the book.
One more con for the American audience: this is a British publication, and as such the overwhelming majority of case study examples used in the work come from British news stories or government affairs. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, but it does make the material a bit more foreign, to coin a term. Additionally, the book's treatment of the term "liberalism" falls along the British/European definition of the term, which means something altogether different from the American political lexicon.
Nevertheless, this was a good read overall. I give it 4/5 stars.
The book is a good read overall and would be of good use to the introductory student of political philosophy. In my particular case I found that I was already fairly well acquainted with most of the material that is covered here, although the presentation of the material certainly helped refresh my memory on some things and indeed did introduce me to a few new ideas and new thinkers along the way.
The one criticism that I have of the book is that its latter chapters are arranged topically, covering ideas such as gender and multiculturalism, environmentalism, globalization, etc. There's nothing terribly wrong with that, but I found that those chapters became a bit of an ongoing discussion about random topics that many folks would be knowledgable of just simply by watching the news as opposed to a more detailed engagement with philiosophical thought. This is not true of the book's early chapters, which introduce Plato & Aristotle, then several Enlightenment thinkers. John Rawls is also given attention in one chapter, and is mentioned throughout the book.
One more con for the American audience: this is a British publication, and as such the overwhelming majority of case study examples used in the work come from British news stories or government affairs. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, but it does make the material a bit more foreign, to coin a term. Additionally, the book's treatment of the term "liberalism" falls along the British/European definition of the term, which means something altogether different from the American political lexicon.
Nevertheless, this was a good read overall. I give it 4/5 stars.
March 19, 2012
Great introduction to western political philosophy. Not only does it adequately summarize many of the works of ethical thinkers from Plato - Rawls, but it includes some objective commentary about some of the political movements of today. Very insightful.
July 1, 2011
The title is "Understand Political Philosophy", and now I do. No mean acievement with a middle-brow reader like me.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews