Download or read book Teachers of the People written by Dana Villa and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-09-18 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Invaluable for those interested in the how ‘the people’ have been viewed in the history of political philosophy.” —Educational Theory The year 2016 witnessed an unprecedented shock to political elites in both Europe and America. Populism was on the march, fueled by a substantial ignorance of, or contempt for, the norms, practices, and institutions of liberal democracy. It is not surprising that observers on the left and right have called for renewed efforts at civic education. For liberal democracy to survive, they argue, a form of political education aimed at “the people” is clearly imperative. In Teachers of the People, Dana Villa takes us back to the moment in history when “the people” first appeared on the stage of modern European politics. That moment—the era just before and after the French Revolution—led many major thinkers to celebrate the dawning of a new epoch. Yet these same thinkers also worried intensely about the people’s seemingly evident lack of political knowledge, experience, and judgment. Focusing on Rousseau, Hegel, Tocqueville, and Mill, Villa shows how reformist and progressive sentiments were often undercut by skepticism concerning the political capacity of ordinary people. They therefore felt that “the people” needed to be restrained, educated, and guided—by laws and institutions and a skilled political elite. The result, Villa argues, was less the taming of democracy’s wilder impulses than a pervasive paternalism culminating in new forms of the tutorial state. Ironically, it is the reliance upon the distinction between “teachers” and “taught” in the work of these theorists that generates civic passivity and ignorance. And this, in turn, creates conditions favorable to the emergence of an undemocratic and illiberal populism. “[An] extremely timely book.” —Nadia Urbinati, Columbia University

Download or read book Judgment in the Victorian Age written by James Gregory and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume concerns judges, judgment and judgmentalism. It studies the Victorians as judges across a range of important fields, including the legal and aesthetic spheres, and within literature. It examines how various specialist forms of judgment were conceived and operated, and how the propensity to be judgmental was viewed.

Download or read book The Liberalism Trap written by Menaka Philips and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Liberalism Trap identifies a methodological problem in contemporary political theory: focus on liberalism has become an interpretive custom directing engagements with politics. Though scholars have long analysed the meaning, merits, successes or failings of liberalism, little attention is paid to how such preoccupations shape the way we study political questions and texts. Evaluating the effects of these preoccupations is what motivate the book. To interrogate those effects, Philips turns to John Stuart Mill-the so-called father of modern liberalism. As she argues, Mill's canonical status as a liberal is habitually substituted for his political arguments such that the now standard association of Mill with liberalism conditions how and why he is read. Offering a comparative reading of Mill's proposals concerning gender, class, and empire, Philips instead recovers a thinker motivated not by ideological certainties, but by a politics of uncertainty. In so doing, she draws into view the complex strategies that Mill employs across his work on domestic and imperial questions, strategies obscured by his liberal mantle. Her recovery of Mill's uncertain politics sets into relief the interpretive costs of reading through liberalism. That even the paradigmatic liberal is unduly constrained by this label ought to give us pause. Taking a break from liberalism, Philips shows that we gain a more nuanced account of Mill's politics, and critical and evaluative distance from our own customs of interpretation. With these interventions, The Liberalism Trap integrates an innovative reading of a canonical thinker with a methodological critique of interpretive practices in contemporary political theory"--

Download or read book Young Ireland written by Christopher Morash and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2023-09-05 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follows a group of people exiled from Ireland after a failed rebellion and the role they had in the building of new nations and states This book is about the Young Irelanders, a group of Irish nationalists in the mid-nineteenth century, who were responsible for a failed rebellion in Ireland during the Great Famine, who once exiled from Ireland, came to play formative roles in the fledgling democracies of Australia, Canada, and the United States. Christopher Morash illustrates how the Young Ireland generation developed particular philosophies of nationalism, democracy, citizenship, and minority rights in Ireland, which became an integral part of how they engaged with their adopted nations, where they came to occupy significant political and cultural roles. Christopher Morash explores the stories and political trajectories of an acting-Governor of the Territory of Montana and Union Army General, a Confederate newspaper owner, a Premier of Victoria, and many other important figures. Despite their divergent trajectories, these individuals applied many of the same ideas that they had developed during their original Irish political project to their respective nations and movements. Young Ireland is a vital new perspective in the field of Irish diaspora studies, highlighting the impact the Young Ireland generation had on emerging democracies and international debates, both in spite of and because of their defeat and dispersion.

Download or read book The Muse of History written by Oswyn Murray and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2024 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oswyn Murray charts the shifting uses of the ancient past, showing how three centuries of scholars interpreted ancient Greece in the light of contemporary political interests. Rich in stories and portraits of influential thinkers, The Muse of History is a powerful reminder that the meaning of the past is always made in and for the present.

Download or read book John Stuart Mill written by John Cunningham Wood and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1991 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Prodigy of Universal Genius Robert Leslie Ellis 1817 1859 written by Lukas M. Verburgt and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Places Ellis at the heart of early-Victorian Cambridge with in-depth descriptions on his scientific work and tragic life Provides a unique glimpse into Victorian intellectual culture, based on previously unpublished archival materials This open access book brings together for the first time all aspects of the tragic life and fascinating work of the polymath Robert Leslie Ellis (1817-1859), placing him at the heart of early-Victorian intellectual culture. Written by a diverse team of experts, the chapters in the book's first part contain in-depth examinations of, among other things, Ellis's family, education, Bacon scholarship and mathematical contributions. The second part consists of annotated transcriptions of a selection of Ellis's diaries and correspondence. Taken together, A Prodigy of Universal Genius: Robert Leslie Ellis, 1817-1859 is a rich resource for historians of science, historians of mathematics and Victorian scholars alike. Robert Leslie Ellis was one of the most intriguing and wide-ranging intellectual figures of early Victorian Britain, his contributions ranging from advanced mathematical analysis to profound commentaries on philosophy and classics and a decisive role in the orientation of mid-nineteenth century scholarship. This very welcome collection offers both new and authoritative commentaries on the work, setting it in the context of the mathematical, philosophical and cultural milieux of the period, together with fascinating passages from the wealth of unpublished papers Ellis composed during his brief and brilliant career. - Simon Schaffer, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge.

Download or read book From Psychology to Phenomenology written by B. Tassone and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-11-29 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although highly influential, Brentano's doctrines from Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint were taken up and changed by his students and subsequent thinkers. Tassone's study of this important text offers readers a better understanding of PES and outlines its ongoing relevance for contemporary philosophy of mind.

Download or read book The Military and Liberal Society written by Tomas Kucera and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-25 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes to what extent and in what ways the military policies of Western European societies are determined by liberal ideology. A wide variety of issues affected by liberal ideology, including conscription, conscientious objection, military mission, military ethics and the professional identity of soldiers are addressed in the book. The empirical analysis draws on the cases of the German Bundeswehr (from the 1950s onwards), the Swedish Armed Forces (the transformation after the end of the Cold War), and the British Armed Forces (from the beginning of the twentieth century onwards). The book’s examination of these cases reveals that specific policies, institutions and practices are preferred because of their relation to liberalism. Since Samuel Huntington’s seminal book The Soldier and the State the literature on civil-military relations and military sociology depicts the relationship between liberal ideology and military security as intrinsically antithetical. This book is conceived as a critical debate with Huntington. Contrary to the notion of antithetical societal-military relationship, this book demonstrates that a meaningful adaptation of the military to the principles possessed by its parent society can be, more often than not, desirable also from the perspective of security strategy. This book will be of considerable interest to students of civil-military relations, military sociology, Western European politics, security studies and IR.

Download or read book Brexit Union and Disunion written by Sionaidh Douglas-Scott and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-30 with total page 535 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focussing on key concepts such as union, sovereignty, democracy and devolution, this book provides a critical analysis of Brexit and its broader context in the historical development of the British Constitution. It also features comparative case studies that will appeal to a global readership.

Download or read book Poison Panic written by Helen Barrell and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-08-31 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: True crime that “will appeal to readers interested in gaining an insight into the lives of women accused of murder in the mid 19th century” (Essex Family Historian). For a few years in the 1840s, Essex was notorious in the minds of Victorians as a place where women stalked the winding country lanes looking for their next victim to poison with arsenic. Though that terrible image may not have much basis in truth, it was a symptom of an anxiety-filled time . . . The 1840s were also known as the “hungry ’40s,” when crop failures pushed up food prices and there was popular unrest across Europe. The decade culminated in a cholera epidemic in which tens of thousands of people in the British Isles died. It is perhaps no surprise that people living through that troubled decade were captivated by the stories of the “poisoners”: that death was down to “white powder” and the evil intentions of the human heart. Sarah Chesham, Mary May, and Hannah Southgate are the protagonists of this tale of how rural Essex, in a country saturated with arsenic, was touched by the tumultuous 1840s. “Barrell’s meticulous research and eye for detail recreate lurking threats, and these scandalous true stories are as compelling as any crime fiction.” —History of War “An intriguing read that brings a forgotten history to light and reveals past attitudes to women—and a national fear that gripped Victorian Britain.” —Family Tree Magazine “This book will fascinate not only historians of true crime and those with an interest in genealogy but any reader seeking a story that would make Agatha Christie proud.” —All About History

Download or read book Utilitarianism and the Ethics of War written by William H. Shaw and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-15 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a detailed utilitarian analysis of the ethical issues involved in war. Utilitarianism and the Ethics of War addresses the two basic ethical questions posed by war: when, if ever, are we morally justified in waging war, and if recourse to arms is warranted, how are we permitted to fight the wars we wage? In addition, it deals with the challenge that realism and relativism raise for the ethical discussion of war, and with the duties of military personnel and the moral challenges they can face. In tackling these matters, the book covers a wide range of topics—from pacifism to armed humanitarian intervention, from the right of national defense to pre-emptive or preventive war, from civilian immunity to the tenets of just war theory and the moral underpinnings of the rules of war. But, what is distinctive about this book is that it provides a consistent and thorough-going utilitarian or consequentialist treatment of the fundamental normative issues that war occasions. Although it goes against the tide of recent work in the field, a utilitarian approach to the ethics of war illuminates old questions in new ways by showing how a concern for well-being and the consequences of our actions and policies shape the moral constraints to which states and other actors must adhere. This book will be of much interest to students of the ethics of war, just war theory, moral philosophy, war and conflict studies and IR.

Download or read book Dissident Philosophers written by T. Allan Hillman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-11-19 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book consists of sixteen essays (and an introduction) from prominent philosophers who are at odds with the predominant political trend(s) of academic philosophy, political trend(s) primarily associated with leftism. Some of these philosophers identify explicitly with the political right – an admittedly broad term which ranges from American conservative to British Tory, from religious right to non-religious right, from libertarian to authoritarian. Yet other dissident philosophers eschew the left/right dichotomy altogether while maintaining a firm political distance from the majority of their (left-leaning) colleagues. The primary goal of the volume is to represent a broad constituency of political philosophies and perspectives at variance with the prevailing political sentiments of the academy. Each essay is partly autobiographical in nature, detailing personal experiences that have influenced these philosophers throughout their lives, and partly philosophical, putting forth reflections on the intellectual viability of a right-leaning (or decidedly non-left leaning) political philosophy or some segment of it. The contemporary university is supposed to be the locus of viewpoint diversity, and yet as is evident to professors, students, and virtually anyone else who sets foot within its halls, it most certainly is not – particularly in matters political. Nevertheless, these essays are not instances of special-pleading or grievance incitement. Instead, each article provides a glimpse into the life of an academic philosopher whose views have largely been at odds with peers and colleagues. Furthermore, all of the essays were consciously constructed with the aim of being philosophically rigorous while eschewing technical language and verbose prose. In short, the essays will be enjoyable to a wide audience.

Download or read book Foundations of a Free Society written by Gregory Salmieri and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2019-03-15 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foundations of a Free Society brings together some of the most knowledgeable Ayn Rand scholars and proponents of her philosophy, as well as notable critics, putting them in conversation with other intellectuals who also see themselves as defenders of capitalism and individual liberty. United by the view that there is something importantly right—though perhaps also much wrong—in Rand’s political philosophy, contributors reflect on her views with the hope of furthering our understandings of what sort of society is best and why. The volume provides a robust elaboration and defense of the foundation of Rand’s political philosophy in the principle that force paralyzes and negates the functioning of reason; it offers an in-depth scholarly discussion of Rand’s view on the nature of individual rights and the role of government in defending them; it deals extensively with the similarities and differences between Rand’s thought and the libertarian tradition (to which she is often assimilated) and objections to her positions arising from this tradition; it explores Rand’s relation to the classical liberal tradition, specifically with regard to her defense of freedom of the intellect; and it discusses her views on the free market, with special attention to the relation between these views and those of the Austrian school of economics.

Download or read book Mazzini written by Denis Mack Smith and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVGiuseppe Mazzini was one of the leading figures in the political history of nineteenth-century Europe. A vigorous proponent of nationalism, pre-eminent figure in the struggle for Italian independence and unity, and fascinating personality, his ideas were influential throughout Europe. Yet successive Italian governments, fearing the consequences of his belief in democracy and revolution, deliberately obscured his achievements: there have been few modern studies of Mazzini and no biography in English since 1902. Denis Mack Smith's major new account reexamines Mazzini's ideological impact and his place in the political and intellectual world of the mid-nineteenth century. Based on profound scholarship and immense archival research, the book recreates Mazzini's long years of poverty and exile in London and the networks of friends, associates, and enemies that brought him into contact with the greatest European figures of the age, among them Marx, Carlyle, Mill, and Bakunin. Mazzini is revealed as an acute but largely unrecognized prophet of the idea of a European community: he saw nationalism as a step toward larger and more harmonious confederations. Adept at inspiring admiration and animosity equally, Mazzini affronted the pope by his demand for religious reform, Karl Marx by his powerful critique of communism, and many of his less enlightened contemporaries for his campaigns on behalf of social security, universal suffrage, and women's rights. Yet he was universally venerated for his brilliance, humanity, and wisdom, and even his critics agreed that he left an enduring mark on his time./div

Download or read book John Stuart Mill written by Timothy Larsen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-27 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Stuart Mill observed in his Autobiography that he was a rare case in nineteenth-century Britain because he had not lost his religion but never had any. He was a freethinker from beginning to end. What is not often realized, however, is that Mill's life was nevertheless impinged upon by religion at every turn. This is true both of the close relationships that shaped him and of his own, internal thoughts. Mill was a religious sceptic, but not the kind of person which that term usually conjures up. The unexpected presence and prominence of spirituality is not only there in Mill's late, startling essay, 'Theism', in which he makes the case for hope in God and in Christ. It is everywhere—in his immediate family, his best friends, and his vision for the future. It is even there in such a seemingly unlikely place as his Logic, which repeatedly addresses religious themes. John Stuart Mill: A Secular Life is a biography which follows one of Britain's most well-respected intellectuals through all of the key moments in his life from falling in love to sitting in Parliament and beyond. It also explores his classic works including, On Liberty, Principles of Political Economy, Utilitarianism, and The Subjection of Women. In this well-researched study which offers original findings and insights, Timothy Larsen presents the Mill you never knew. The Mill that even some of his closest disciples never knew. This is John Stuart Mill, the Saint of Rationalism—a secular life and a spiritual life.

Download or read book Time s Monster written by Priya Satia and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New Statesman Book of the Year “Time’s Monster is not a conventional history...The conclusion [Satia] arrives at ultimately is that it was the discipline of History itself, ever since its emergence as a field of academic inquiry in nineteenth century Europe, that provided well-intentioned, highly-educated Western liberals with a set of ethical tools for the management of their consciences as they unleashed murderous violence on ‘backward’ peoples across the planet...Built into the foundations of History, and indeed, many other disciplines in the Humanities, is the repression of some of the most important questions about human existence on this planet...Satia’s fearlessness in tackling big questions, even to the point of indicting the very discipline that has raised her to a position of not-inconsiderable eminence, suggests that she might well be the historian who could summon the courage to plunge into this chasm.”—Amitav Ghosh, Scroll An award-winning author reconsiders the role of historians in political debate. For generations, British thinkers told the history of an empire whose story was still very much in the making. While they wrote of conquest, imperial rule in India, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean was consolidated. While they described the development of imperial governance, rebellions were brutally crushed. As they reimagined empire during the two world wars, decolonization was compromised. Priya Satia shows how these historians not only interpreted the major political events of their time but also shaped the future that followed. Satia makes clear that historical imagination played a significant role in the unfolding of empire. History emerged as a mode of ethics in the modern period, endowing historians from John Stuart Mill to Winston Churchill with outsized policymaking power. At key moments in Satia’s telling, we find Britons warding off guilty conscience by recourse to particular notions of history, especially those that spotlighted great men helpless before the will of Providence. Braided with this story is an account of alternative visions articulated by anticolonial thinkers such as William Blake, Mahatma Gandhi, and E. P. Thompson. By the mid-twentieth century, their approaches had reshaped the discipline of history and the ethics that came with it. Time’s Monster demonstrates the dramatic consequences of writing history today as much as in the past. Against the backdrop of enduring global inequalities, debates about reparations, and the crisis in the humanities, Satia’s is an urgent moral voice.