Political Philosophy

What is freedom? What are human rights? Are wars ever justified? Political Philosophy critically explores these and several related questions with the aim of introducing students to the most important and interesting work in the field. Everyday examples and lively discussion of key political philosophers and their ideas makes Political Philosophy an important resource for students coming to the subject for the first time.

Preface.Introduction: What is political philosophy?.Chapter I: Freedom.Chapter II: Rights.Chapter III: Justice.Chapter IV: Democracy.Chapter V: Punishment.Chapter VI: Feminism.Chapter VII: Global Justice.Chapter VIII: Environmentalism.Conclusion.Bibliography.Index..Introduction: What is political philosophy?.The book will begin with a general essay meant to introduce the reader to the subject of political philosophy and offer a clear picture of the kinds of questions political philosophy asks and how it aspires to provide answers. In general, my focus will not be exclusively on contemporary political philosophy. Instead, my focus might be best characterized as on contemporary political philosophy, but informed by its history..Chapter I: Freedom .The first chapter will examine the topic of freedom. My main focus will be on the debate between those who hold negative views of freedom (e.g., Hobbes, Berlin), those who hold positive views of freedom (e.g., Green, Nussbaum), and alternative views (e.g., MacCallum, Mill, Frankfurt). First, that I am highly sympathetic to the 'positive' view of freedom and I will offer a defence of this view. Secondly, I will include a discussion of Sen's and Nussbaum's capabilities approach (in my view, too often neglected in books of this kind) and include it as one variant of positive freedom..Chapter II: Rights.The second chapter will focus on rights. It will begin by discussing the beginning of rights theorizing, arising with natural rights theorists (e.g., Hobbes, Locke) and its development and connection with modern human rights. Other important figures, such as Wesley Hohfeld, will be discussed leading to a sympathetic view of Leif Wenar's several functions theory of rights. Following Wenar, my argument will be that there is way out of the interest theory versus will theory debate. This way out is a recognition that rights have more than one function, an insight we can find in earlier writers, such as Hegel and T. H. Green, and developed much further since by Wenar. Throughout the chapter, I will raise several questions: Why are rights important? How do we know a right when we see one? Are there too many rights?.Chapter III: Justice