On Political Means and Social Ends

Ted Honderich

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2003

On Political Means and Social Ends

Ted Honderich

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474469302

Overview
Contents

About this book

The moral and political arguments, judgements and commitments of Britain's outstanding radical philosopher.

What society ought we to have, and what can we do to try to get it? This book sets out to answer these questions beginning with a new essay on the foundation of a liberalism of means and ends, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. It goes on to consider the culmination of liberal thinking in John Rawls' A Theory of Justice. It argues that liberalism is good intentions not carried forward into rational commitment. Conservatism, in its past and its present guises, is also made clear in its reality. So too is the leftism of the past, including G. A. Cohen's attempt to save Karl Marx's theory of history. Both are discarded.

The book argues for another political and social morality - the generosity and fellow-feeling of the Principle of Humanity. It is a consequentialist rather than a mysterious morality, and its essential idea is that we should take rational steps to rescue the badly-off from lives of wretchedness and other distress. This is the commitment that led to Ted Honderich's human and passionate response to 9/11, After the Terror - the most controversial book of serious philosophy published in Britain since A. J. Ayer's Language, Truth and Logic in 1936.

A further chapter considers hierarchic democracy - the democracy we have as distinct from the democracy we think we have - and the necessity of mass civil disobedience. The book ends with an essay that adds to the thinking of After the Terror, particularly on the moral right of the Palestinians to their resistance.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, and a Question about Liberalism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	4
2. Conservatism, its Distinctions, and its Rationale Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
3. Trying to Save Marx’s Theory of History, by Teleology, and Failing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
4. The Contract Argument in a Theory of Justice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
5. The Principle of Humanity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
6. Consequentialism, Moralities of Concern, and Selfishness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
7. Hierarchic Democracy and the Necessity of Mass Civil Disobedience and Non-Co-operation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
8. After the Terror : A Book and Further Thoughts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 192
Keywords: Philosophy

eBook

Published: November 18, 2003
ISBN: 9781474469302