Political Judgement: Essays for John Dunn

Cambridge University Press
Edition: Reprint, 10/5/2017
EAN 9781108436540, ISBN10: 1108436544

Paperback, 364 pages, 23 x 15.3 x 2 cm
Language: English

From Plato to Max Weber, the attempt to understand political judgement took the form of a struggle to define the relationship between politics and morals. This book by leading international scholars in the fields of history, philosophy and politics restores the subject to a place at the very centre of political theory and practice. Whilst it provides a range of perspectives on the theme of practical reason, it also explores a series of related problems in philosophy and political thought, raising fundamental questions about democracy, trust, the nature of statesmanship, and the relations between historical and political judgement. In the process, the volume reconsiders some classic debates in political theory – about equality, authority, responsibility and ideology – and offers new and original treatments of key figures in the history of political thought, including Thucydides, Montaigne, Locke, Smith, Burke and Marx.

Introduction Richard Bourke and Raymond Geuss
Part I. The Character of Political Judgement
1. What is political judgement? Raymond Geuss
2. Sticky judgement and the role of rhetoric Victoria McGeer and Philip Pettit
3. Theory and practice
the revolution in political judgement Richard Bourke
Part II. Trust, Judgement and Consent
4. On trusting the judgement of our rulers Quentin Skinner
5. Adam Smith's history of law and government as political theory Istvan Hont
6. Marxism in translation
critical reflections on Indian radical thought Sudipta Kaviraj
Part III. Rationality and Judgement
7. Pericles' unreason Geoffrey Hawthorn
8. Accounting for human actions
individual agency and political judgement in Montaigne's Essais Biancamaria Fontana
9. Nehru's judgement Sunil Khilnani
Part IV. Democracy and Modern Political Judgement
10. Democracy, equality and redistribution Adam Przeworski
11. Democracy and terrorism Richard Tuck
Bibliography of the works of John Dunn.