John Locke and the Uncivilized Society
John Locke and the Uncivilized Society

Author: Scott Robinson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-04-19

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1793617589

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John Locke’s influence on American political culture has been largely misunderstood by his commentators. Though often regarded as the architect of a rationally ordered and civilized liberalism, John Locke and the Uncivilized Society demonstrates that Locke’s thought is culpable for the rather uncivilized expressions of political engagement seen recently in America. By relying upon Eric Voegelin’s concept of pneumopathology, Locke is shown to be subtly constructing a liberal ideology and thereby individuals who approach liberalism as closed-minded ideologues, not as deeply responsible and mature citizens. Because Locke’s citizens will be slogan chanters instead of deep thinkers, Locke’s work does not create a liberalism that provides the best possible regime for humans, but a mere shadow of the best possible regime.

The Consent of the Governed
The Consent of the Governed

Author: Gillian Brown

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 9780674002982

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What made the United States what it is began long before a shot was fired at a redcoat in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1775. The theories of reading developed by John Locke were the means by which a revolutionary attitude toward authority was disseminated throughout the British colonies in North America.

Sovereignty, Property and Empire, 1500-2000
Sovereignty, Property and Empire, 1500-2000

Author: Andrew Fitzmaurice

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-10-23

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1107076498

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Adopting a global approach, Fitzmaurice analyses the laws that shaped modern European empires from medieval times to the twentieth century.

The Blank Slate
The Blank Slate

Author: Steven Pinker

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2003-08-26

Total Pages: 532

ISBN-13: 1101200324

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A brilliant inquiry into the origins of human nature from the author of Rationality, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Enlightenment Now. "Sweeping, erudite, sharply argued, and fun to read..also highly persuasive." --Time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Updated with a new afterword One of the world's leading experts on language and the mind explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits-a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century-denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts. Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense.

Inventing Western Civilization
Inventing Western Civilization

Author: Thomas C. Patterson

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 1997-01-01

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 158367408X

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"In this wonderful book, Thomas Patterson effectively dethrones the concept of 'civilization' as an abstract good, transcending human society." --Martin Bernal Drawing on his extensive knowledge of early societies, Thomas C. Patterson shows how class, sexism, and racism have been integral to the appearance of "civilized" societies in Western Europe. He lays out clearly and simply how civilization, with its designs of "civilizing" and "being civilized," has been closely tied to the rise of capitalism in Western Europe and the development of social classes.

Regimes of Terror and Memory
Regimes of Terror and Memory

Author: Manfred Henningsen

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2023-07-31

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1666936189

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This book compares genocidal and other regimes of terror with Nazi Germany’s Holocaust regime. Yet the author’s interest extends to the question how societies have dealt with their respective records of evil.

A Politics of All
A Politics of All

Author: Dean Caivano

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-10-27

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 1793652589

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In this heterodox reading of Thomas Jefferson, Dean Caivano proposes a theory of democracy conceived through a politics of all. Democracy from this standpoint does not entail liberal consensus-building but rejects hierarchical forms of authority, supplanted by ongoing political resistance by “the people” to obtain freedom and equality.

The Recurrence of the End Times
The Recurrence of the End Times

Author: Michael J. Colebrook

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-06-02

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1793651353

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The Recurrence of the End Times: Voegelin, Hegel, and the Stop-History Movements explores the deep connection between modern political ideologies and the secular eschatological hopes and dreams of a post-Christian society. Focusing primarily upon the thought of 20th century German émigré political scientist Eric Voegelin, the book argues that we cannot understand the globalized world in which we live unless we appreciate the lasting influence of the various "End of History" speculators—specifically, G.W.F Hegel, Alexandre Kojève, and Francis Fukuyama. Through a Voegelinian lens, he dissects the relationship between these three thinkers, also claiming that while Voegelin may have misunderstood Hegel, his critiques of the Hegelian approach to history offer fresh and important perspectives on the contemporary world. This makes a forceful argument that the idea of history as a teleological path, leading toward some goal—whether perfect harmony between nations, a technocratic utopia, a return to some romanticized idyllic “state of nature,” or what Kojève and Fukuyama called the “universal and homogenous State”—has vast, and perverse, implications for the trajectory of American foreign and domestic policy.

Rhetoric and Democracy in a Post-Truth Era
Rhetoric and Democracy in a Post-Truth Era

Author: Joshua J. Frye

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2024-08-30

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 1666902810

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Rhetoric and Democracy in a Post-Truth Era offers a timely examination of public communication and political culture in the United States and the systemic feedback loops that have amplified democratic dysfunction and violence. Informed by both deductive and inductive analysis of four key perils (post-truth; polarization; [social media] platform; and populism) in the interplay of complex systems, Joshua J. Frye and Steven R. Goldzwig examine rhetorical traditions and trajectories to synoptically explain both how we got to this point and how we can fix it. Exploring salient and increasingly important issues affecting the public life and culture of American democracy and democracies worldwide, this work expands public understanding of the current political landscape, reveals what effective democratic citizenship requires, and identifies communication practices that can be used to better engage with these contemporary challenges. Scholars of communication, rhetoric, and political science will find this book of particular interest.