Robert Kraynak offers a radical reinterpretation of the political thought of Thomas Hobbes and a new assessment of Hobbes's contribution to the origins and problems of modernity. The author argues that it is necessary to examine a neglected facet of Hobbes's thought—his writings on history, especially Behemoth, his lengthy study of the English Civil War. Through a close reading of these works, Kraynak shows how Hobbes came to consider the possibility of a new kind of political science, one that is (...) supremely confident of the power of critical reason to overcome the authorities of the past to build a new form of civilization yet uncertain about reason's foundations. (shrink)

For forty years, Harvey Mansfield has been worth reading. Whether plumbing the depths of MachiavelliOs Discourses or explaining what was at stake in Bill ClintonOs impeachment, MansfieldOs work in political philosophy and political science has set the standard. In Educating the Prince, twenty-one of his students, themselves distinguished scholars, try to live up to that standard. Their essays offer penetrating analyses of Machiavellianism, liberalism, and America., all of them informed by MansfieldOs own work. The volume also includes a bibliography of (...) MansfieldOs writings. (shrink)

This book is an interesting and thoughtful study of the tradition of English liberalism. Eisenach attempts to show that the philosophical founders of liberalism, while establishing a new order based on individual liberty and enlightened self-interest, also sought to preserve some of the elements of pre-liberal societies, such as religious belief and moral opinion. Eisenach's thesis is unconventional because it implies that the liberal philosophers were aware of the inherent limitations of the new political order; they recognized that social cohesion (...) and political obligation could not be sustained unless citizens retained a sense of higher obligation, to God and humanity. The writings of Hobbes, Locke, and Mill reflect this awareness by partaking of "two worlds": a world where men are "born in liberty," as expressed in teachings about the state of nature and natural liberty; and a world where men are "born in servitude," as expressed in teachings about sacred history and cultural traditions. (shrink)