American political development (APD) has claimed in recent years the attention of a growing band of political scientists, and scholars have begun to speak of “APD” as a subfield within the discipline. This book provides a justification for studying politics historically, not only for what it...
In Hegel’s Critique of Liberalism, Steven B. Smith examines Hegel’s critique of rights-based liberalism and its relevance to contemporary political concerns. Smith argues that Hegel reformulated classic liberalism, preserving what was of value while rendering it more attentive to the...
Steven B. Smith examines the concept of modernity, not as the end product of historical developments but as a state of mind. He explores modernism as a source of both pride and anxiety, suggesting that its most distinctive characteristics are the self-criticisms and doubts that accompany social and...
Who ought to govern? Why should I obey the law? How should conflict be controlled? What is the proper education for a citizen and a statesman? These questions probe some of the deepest and most enduring problems that every society confronts, regardless of time and place. Today we ask the same...
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http://www.amazon.com/dp/0801416728
Interest in Leo Strauss is greater now than at any time since his death, mostly because of the purported link between his thought and the political movement known as neoconservatism. Steven B. Smith, though, surprisingly depicts Strauss not as the high priest of neoconservatism but as a friend of...
A rediscovery of patriotism as a virtue in line with the core values of democracy in an extremist age.
The concept of patriotism has fallen on hard times. What was once a value that united Americans has become so politicized by both the left and the right that it threatens to rip apart the social...
Most readers of Spinoza treat him as a pure metaphysician, a grim determinist or a stoic moralist, but none of these descriptions captures the author of the “Ethics”, argues Steven Smith in this book. Offering a new reading of Spinoza’s masterpiece, Smith asserts that the “Ethics” is a...
Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677)—often recognized as the first modern Jewish thinker—was also a founder of modern liberal political philosophy. This book is the first to connect systematically these two aspects of Spinoza’s legacy. Steven B. Smith shows that Spinoza was a politically engaged...
Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997) was a central figure in twentieth-century political thought. This volume highlights Berlin’s significance for contemporary readers, covering not only his writings on liberty and liberalism, the Enlightenment and Romanticism, Russian thinkers and pluralism, but also...
