This book examines the British tradition of common good politics, both historically and in the contemporary world. We live in a time when many anti-Conservative parties and voters feel a profound sense of crisis and disorientation over political principles and policy directions. As a result, many people are turning to common good politics as an alternative to state-centred socialism and laissez-faire individualism. Colin Tyler explores the practical and intellectual history of the British idealist tradition, which flourished from the 1870s to the 1920s, before applying the principles of common good politics to contemporary issues. These issues include the positive roles that can be played by conflict within democratic societies, the radical demands of social justice in a diverse world, the continuing influence of Bush's 'war on terror', international society and free speech under Tony Blair and David Cameron, and the relationships between economic migration, social justice and the common good. The book will appeal particularly to students and scholars interested in British politics, internationalism and political theory.

John A. Hobson is widely recognised as the most important British New Liberal thinker of politics and political economy of the twentieth century. The Selected Writings of John A. Hobson showcases an exciting and previously unpublished collection of Hobson's writings and lectures from 1932-1938 that Hobson presented at the South Place Ethical Society in the last decade of his life.

The lectures and the introduction produce a fresh reading of Hobson 's thinking and theorization of International Relations, thereby revealing a much more complex thinker than has conventionally been understood. Edited by Colin Tyler, a framing introduction written by the author 's great grandson, John M. Hobson situates these lectures in the context of his life-work on International Relations between 1897 and 1940.

Selected Writings of John A. Hobson 1932-1938 is an essential read for all Hobson scholars and students and scholars of globalization and political economy.

Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, and other analytic philosophers of the early 20th century claimed to depart from the British idealists who dominated philosophical debate from the 1870s onwards. The nature and extent of this departure is now widely questioned as philosophers return to the writings of Bernard Bosanquet, F. H. Bradley, R. G. Collingwood, T. H. Green, J. M. E. McTaggart, and others. Nowadays, the British idealist movement is mostly remembered for its seminal contributions to metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy. The contributors to this volume explore some of the movement's other, equally-insightful, contributions to the philosophies of language, aesthetics and emotions. These chapters cover core philosophical issues including the relationship between the speech communities and the general will; the role of emotions in the Absolute; key differences between leading British idealists on the relationships between emotions and relations; the nature of love; the historical re-enactment of imagination and creativity; expressivism in art; and the actual idealism of the British idealists' Italian counterparts. This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal of the History of Philosophy.

Many critics have portrayed absolute idealism as a dangerous, conservative and 'otherworldly' doctrine, an opressing philosophy based on speculative logic rather than empirical realities. In this book, Colin Tyler argues against each of these preconceptions, taking as his focus the philosophies of G.W.F. Hegel, T.H. Green, Edward Caird and Bernard Bosanquet. Tyler argues that Hegel's anlyses of civic pluralism and international order had significant implications for British idealist political philosophy. They led the latter to argue that, rather than spinning a world out of abstract ideas and spurious metaphysical commitments, reformers must work from within concrete historical traditions. Far from sanctifying an abstract logic and metaphysics, these absolute idealists recognised the vital importance of the daily life of politics and political conflict to a degree that escapes most of contemporary liberal political philosophers.Their theory gounded a powerful critique of abstract rationalism as an alientating and potentially totalitarian method of designing social and economic institutions; indicated the inevitabilty of civic and political pluralism and the many opportunities for human improvement which they created; and finally demonstrated the tragic nature of human progress. Indeed, absolute idealism is shown to offer a powerful alternative to the Dworkin, John Rawls, Will Kymlicka, Bhikhu Parekh, Iris Marion Young and Charles Taylor. The book makes extensive use of certain British idealist manuscripts which were not merely unpublished but undiscovered until very recently. Dr Colin Tyler is Lecturer in Political Theory and the University of Hull.

Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, and other analytic philosophers of the early 20th century claimed to depart from the British idealists who dominated philosophical debate from the 1870s onwards. The nature and extent of this departure is now widely questioned as philosophers return to the writings of Bernard Bosanquet, F. H. Bradley, R. G. Collingwood, T. H. Green, J. M. E. McTaggart, and others. Nowadays, the British idealist movement is mostly remembered for its seminal contributions to metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy. The contributors to this volume explore some of the movement's other, equally-insightful, contributions to the philosophies of language, aesthetics and emotions. These chapters cover core philosophical issues including the relationship between the speech communities and the general will; the role of emotions in the Absolute; key differences between leading British idealists on the relationships between emotions and relations; the nature of love; the historical re-enactment of imagination and creativity; expressivism in art; and the actual idealism of the British idealists' Italian counterparts. This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal of the History of Philosophy.

This book examines the British tradition of common good politics, both historically and in the contemporary world. We live in a time when many anti-Conservative parties and voters feel a profound sense of crisis and disorientation over political principles and policy directions. As a result, many people are turning to common good politics as an alternative to state-centred socialism and laissez-faire individualism. Colin Tyler explores the practical and intellectual history of the British idealist tradition, which flourished from the 1870s to the 1920s, before applying the principles of common good politics to contemporary issues. These issues include the positive roles that can be played by conflict within democratic societies, the radical demands of social justice in a diverse world, the continuing influence of Bush's 'war on terror', international society and free speech under Tony Blair and David Cameron, and the relationships between economic migration, social justice and the common good. The book will appeal particularly to students and scholars interested in British politics, internationalism and political theory.

The central claim of this book is that previous scholars have not appreciated the depths and complexities of the relationships between British idealist radicalism and the earlier idealist tradition of Kant, Fichte, Hegel and Carlyle. Colin Tyler explores two recurring themes: the first is that the foundations of British idealist thought were encapsulated within parts of Hegel's political theory that have been ignored or misunderstood -- specifically Hegel's analyses of civic pluralism and international order. Tyler argues that these parts of Hegel's system had highly significant political implications. They showed that reformers must work from within concrete historical traditions; they grounded a critique of abstract rationalism as an alienating and potentially totalitarian method of designing social and economic institutions; they indicated the inevitability of civic and political pluralism and the many opportunities for human improvement which they created; and finally they demonstrated the tragic nature of human progress.The second recurring theme is the concern of many British idealists to articulate the distinction between the virtues of an enriching community and a modern commercial society, a concern that owed much of its force to the earlier idealist tradition. Together, these themes show the inseparability of the British idealists' social and political radicalism from the inherent logic of idealism, a link that has been denied or misconceived by previous scholars, and has never been completely appreciated by anyone before. The book makes extensive use of certain British idealist manuscripts which were not merely unpublished, but were undiscovered until very recently.