The Trouble With Passion: Political Theory Beyond the Reign of Reason

This is a fascinating and radical examination of the place of passion in politics by one of our leading theorists..Passion in political philosophy has always stood in the shadow of reason. Classic liberal theorists (from Plato through Rousseau up to Alexander Hamilton) paid considerable attention to the relationship between passion and reason, with reason always winning out. Contemporary scholars, though, rarely discuss it, consigning passion to the private sphere, irrelevant to politics. In The Trouble with Passion, feminist theorist Cheryl Hall argues that we cannot simply discard the idea of powerful emotions in politics simply because they can be dangerous: they are necessary, valuable, and indissoluble. Rather than trying to protect the political realm from passion, we should focus our attention on how to better understand and develop passion. Strong feelings are a key component of a just political community, and The Trouble with Passion provides the first few steps in putting passion back into politics.