The new book from Larry Siedentop, acclaimed author of Democracy in
Europe, Inventing the Individual is a highly original rethinking of
how our moral beliefs were formed and their impact on western
society today 'Magisterial, timeless, beautifully written ...
Siedentop has achieved something quite extraordinary. He has
explained us to ourselves' Spectator This ambitious and stimulating
book describes how a moral revolution in the first centuries AD -
the discovery of human freedom and its universal potential - led to
a social revolution in the west. The invention of a new, equal
social role, the individual, gradually displaced the claims of
family, tribe and caste as the basis of social organisation. Larry
Siedentop asks us to rethink the evolution of the ideas on which
modern societies and government are built, and argues that the core
of what is now our system of beliefs emerged much earlier than we
think. The roots of liberalism - belief in individual liberty, in
the fundamental moral equality of individuals, that equality should
be the basis of a legal system and that only a representative form
of government is fitting for such a society - all these, Siedentop
argues, were pioneered by Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages,
who drew on the moral revolution carried out by the early church.
It was the arguments of canon lawyers, theologians and philosophers
from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, rather than the
Renaissance, that laid the foundation for liberal democracy. There
are large parts of the world where other beliefs flourish -
fundamentalist Islam, which denies the equality of women and is
often ambiguous about individual rights and representative
institutions; quasi-capitalist China, where a form of
utilitarianism enshrines state interests even at the expense of
justice and liberty. Such beliefs may foster populist forms of
democracy. But they are not liberal. In the face of these
challenges, Siedentop urges that understanding the origins of our
own liberal ideas is more than ever an important part of knowing
who we are. LARRY SIEDENTOP was appointed to the first post in
intellectual history ever established in Britain, at Sussex
University in the 1970's. From there he moved to Oxford, becoming
Faculty Lecturer in Political Thought and a Fellow of Keble
College. His writings include a study of Tocqueville, an edition of
Guizot's History of Civilization in Europe, and Democracy in
Europe, which has been translated into a dozen languages. Siedentop
was made CBE in 2004. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK 'One of the most
stimulating books of political theory to have appeared in many
years ... a refreshingly unorthodox account of the roots of modern
liberalism in medieval Christian thinking' John Gray, Literary
Review 'A brave, brilliant and beautifully written defence of the
western tradition' Paul Lay, History Today 'An engrossing book of
ideas ... illuminating, beautifully written and rigorously argued'
Kenan Malik, Independent 'A most impressive work of philosophical
history' Robert Skidelsky
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