This accessible book is invaluable to anyone coming to social and political philosophy for the first time. It provides a broad survey of key social and political questions in modern society, as well as clear discussions of the philosophical issues central to those questions and to political thought more generally. Unique among books of this kind is a sustained treatment of specifically social philosophy, including topics such as epistemic injustice, pornography, marriage, sexuality, and the family. The relation between such social questions and specifically political topics is discussed. These topics include: political authority, economic justice, the limits of tolerance, considerations of community, race, gender, and culture in questions of justice, and radical critiques of current political theories. Updates to the Second Edition emphasize the non-statist areas of the subject and include two brand new chapters on social philosophy and transnational justice. This Second Edition also includes revisions throughout and coverage of recent theoretical discussions and world events.

Departing from most studies of property, this book focuses directly on the concept of ownership, on the complex structure of property rights, and the relation between that structure and distributive justice. The traditional view that ownership must amount to full sovereignty over what is owned is abandoned. A new theory of property is put forward, one which more accurately reflects the various social values that property ownership protects, but which also makes egalitarian economic principles more compelling and powerful.

In recent years the concepts of individual autonomy and political liberalism have been the subjects of intense debate, but these discussions have occurred largely within separate academic disciplines. Autonomy and the Challenges to Liberalism contains for the first time new essays devoted to foundational questions regarding both the notion of the autonomous self and the nature and justification of liberalism. Written by leading figures in moral, legal and political theory, the volume covers inter alia the following topics: the nature of the self and its relation to autonomy, the social dimensions of autonomy and the political dynamics of respect and recognition, and the concept of autonomy underlying the principles of liberalism.

Freedom is widely regarded as a basic social and political value that is deeply connected to the ideals of democracy, equality, liberation, and social recognition. Many insist that freedom must include conditions that go beyond simple “negative” liberty understood as the absence of constraints; only if freedom includes other conditions such as the capability to act, mental and physical control of oneself, and social recognition by others will it deserve its place in the pantheon of basic social values. Positive Freedom is the first volume to examine the idea of positive liberty in detail and from multiple perspectives. With contributions from leading scholars in ethics and political theory, this collection includes both historical studies of the idea of positive freedom and discussions of its connection to important contemporary issues in social and political philosophy.

This accessible book is invaluable to anyone coming to social and political philosophy for the first time. It provides a broad survey of key social and political questions in modern society, as well as clear discussions of the philosophical issues central to those questions and to political thought more generally. Unique among books of this kind is a sustained treatment of specifically social philosophy, including topics such as epistemic injustice, pornography, marriage, sexuality, and the family. The relation between such social questions and specifically political topics is discussed. These topics include: political authority, economic justice, the limits of tolerance, considerations of community, race, gender, and culture in questions of justice, and radical critiques of current political theories.　 Updates to the Second Edition emphasize the non-statist areas of the subject and include two brand new chapters on social philosophy and transnational justice. ThisSecond Edition also includes revisions throughout and coverage of recent theoretical discussions and world events.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

The Liberal Democratic Paradigm

Preliminaries I: Method

Preliminaries II: Moral Theory and Political Philosophy

Structure of the Book

Notes on Further Reading

2. Social Philosophy and the Road to the Political

What is Social Philosophy?

A Selection of Issues in Social Philosophy

From Social Criticism to Political Philosophy

Chapter Summary

Case to Consider

Notes on Further Reading

Part I. Basic Issues Within the Liberal Paradigm

3. The Problem of Political Authority

The Social Contract Tradition

Hobbes’s Social Contract: Mechanism, Egoism, and Rationality

Locke: Reason, Morality, and Freedom

Lessons from Rousseau and Kant

From Consent to Legitimacy

Chapter Summary

Case to Consider

Notes on Further Reading

4. Distributive Justice

Distributive Justice and Equality

Libertarianism

Utilitarian Approaches to Economic Justice

Rawlsian Distributive Justice

Varieties of Egalitarianism

From Equality to the Welfare State

Chapter Summary

Case to Consider

Notes on Further Reading

5. Toleration, Pluralism, and the Foundations of Liberalism

The Canons of Liberalism

The Perfectionist Challenge

Utilitarian Liberalism: Perfectionism in Disguise?

The Response of Political Liberalism

Liberalism, Public Discourse, and Democracy

Chapter Summary

Case to Consider

Notes on Further Reading

Part II. Critique of the Liberal Paradigm: Challenges and Departures

6. Conservatism, Communitarianism, and The Social Conception of the Self

Conservatism

Communitarianism

Chapter Summary

Case to Consider

Notes on Further Reading

7. Race and the Politics of Identity

Ideal Theory and Ongoing Injustice

Critical Race Theory

What is Racism, What is Race?

Racism and The Structure of Liberalism

Liberalism, Freedom and Culture

Chapter Summary

Case to Consider

Notes on Further Reading

8. Feminism, Gender and Sexuality

Feminism

Sexuality and Gender Identity

Identity, Injustice, and Democracy

Chapter Summary

Case to Consider

Notes on Further Reading

9. Marxism and Radical Critique

The Legacy of Marx and Marxism

Post-Modern Departures

Chapter Summary

Case to Consider

Notes on Further Reading

10. Beyond the Nation State

Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism

Human Rights

Global Justice Generally

Injustice and Borders: Immigration

Chapter Summary

Case to Consider

Notes on Further Reading

Epilogue: The Hope of Liberalism?/

Freedom is widely regarded as a basic social and political value that is deeply connected to the ideals of democracy, equality, liberation, and social recognition. Many insist that freedom must include conditions that go beyond simple "negative" liberty understood as the absence of constraints; only if freedom includes other conditions such as the capability to act, mental and physical control of oneself, and social recognition by others will it deserve its place in the pantheon of basic social values. Positive Freedom is the first volume to examine the idea of positive liberty in detail and from multiple perspectives. With contributions from leading scholars in ethics and political theory, this collection includes both historical studies of the idea of positive freedom and discussions of its connection to important contemporary issues in social and political philosophy.

It is both an ideal and an assumption of traditional conceptions of justice for liberal democracies that citizens are autonomous, self-governing persons. Yet standard accounts of the self and of self-government at work in such theories are hotly disputed and often roundly criticized in most of their guises. John Christman offers a sustained critical analysis of both the idea of the 'self' and of autonomy as these ideas function in political theory, offering interpretations of these ideas which avoid such disputes and withstand such criticisms. Christman's model of individual autonomy takes into account the socially constructed nature of persons and their complex cultural and social identities, and he shows how this model can provide a foundation for principles of justice for complex democracies marked by radical difference among citizens. His book will interest a wide range of readers in philosophy, politics, and the social sciences.

In recent years the concepts of individual autonomy and political liberalism have been the subjects of intense debate, but these discussions have occurred largely within separate academic disciplines. Autonomy and the Challenges to Liberalism contains essays devoted to foundational questions regarding both the notion of the autonomous self and the nature and justification of liberalism. Written by leading figures in moral, legal and political theory, the volume covers inter alia the following topics: the nature of the self and its relation to autonomy, the social dimensions of autonomy and the political dynamics of respect and recognition, and the concept of autonomy underlying the principles of liberalism.

It is both an ideal and an assumption of traditional conceptions of justice for liberal democracies that citizens are autonomous, self-governing persons. Yet standard accounts of the self and of self-government at work in such theories are hotly disputed and often roundly criticized in most of their guises. John Christman offers a sustained critical analysis of both the idea of the 'self' and of autonomy as these ideas function in political theory, offering interpretations of these ideas which avoid such disputes and withstand such criticisms. Christman's model of individual autonomy takes into account the socially constructed nature of persons and their complex cultural and social identities, and he shows how this model can provide a foundation for principles of justice for complex democracies marked by radical difference among citizens. His book will interest a wide range of readers in philosophy, politics, and the social sciences.