Abstract

Lakoff is writing the history of an idea, and he writes very professionally. He begins by identifying three basic approaches to the concept, which he later equates with liberalism, conservatism, and socialism. A chapter on pre-Reformation thought deals too briefly with Plato and Aristotle, and too insensitively with the Medievals. Thereafter, the development proceeds smoothly to the expected conclusion that each approach might well benefit from the others. Lakoff's exegeses and criticisms are satisfactorily subtle, though his basic classification schema is not.—W. L. M.