Political Philosophy Books

CarrotFlowers

Hey guys. I'm currently finishing up 'An Introduction to Political Philosophy' by J. Wolff and I'm looking for suggestions for something to read next (same topic, but a progression).

I assume I can post this here and not in some reading/books thread?

Black Swan

CarrotFlowers wrote: »

I assume I can post this here and not in some reading/books thread?

You are welcome to post this here. Busy now, but I'll get back to you shortly with a couple recommendations that you may wish to consider. I'll also tell a knowledgeable friend about your post.

Edit:
Perhaps it's time to focus on specific works? Here are a few that popped into my head that I have read, finding them meaningful:

• Aristotle: Politics (Foundation work in political philosophy)
• Crane Brinton: The Anatomy of Revolution (The philosophical and historical foundations of 4 major revolutions)
• Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed (The political philosophy of education. His concept "dialogue" was useful. Freire was a strange breed of cat, associated for a time with the paradoxical Catholic Communist movement in Brazil)
• Niccolò Machiavelli: Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livy (This was a bit more comprehensive than his famous summary work The Prince)
• Plato: The Republic (An anchor for your boat in political philosophy)
• Vilfredo Pareto: The Theory of Elites and the Circulation of Elites (An interesting metaphor of the lions and the foxes in politics that may speak to the shifts that occurred in US Politics between Reagan/Bush to Clinton to GW Bush to Obama)
• Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (The Weber Thesis has been challenged by many, and debunked a bit too, but interesting reading; although some would contend that his major work was Economy and Society, and its march of rationalization, but plowing through the thousands of pages in two volumes was a bit of a chore)

Oops, in looking back upon this list, there was a western bias. Perhaps someone could add eastern, etc., to balance it out a bit.

Joe1919

J. Wolff is editor of another book (of primary sources) called 'Political Thought. The book is very dense but comprehensive.
http://www.amazon.com/Political-Thought-Oxford-Readers-Michael/dp/0192892789

I found 'The End of History and the Last Man' to be an interesting and well written defence of Liberal Democracy (& Hegel ?), despite it shortcomings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man

I agree that Plato's Republic (as mentioned above) is still well worth reading. He discusses a sort of 'social contract' and there are question he raises that still apply today (e.g. Is it necessary for leaders to tell 'noble lies', and to withhold and censor the truth from the 'masses' ect.?) There are many commentaries and study aids available online for this text e.g Sparknotes.

Cannibal Ox

I'd definitely recommend Will Kymlicka - Contemporary Political Philosophy as a follow up to Wolff. It covers most of the major recent political philosophy movements/thinkers and links them to classical political philosophy nicely. It's a bit bigger then Wolff's book, a little more challenging and a slightly different approach/style. When you're finished you should have a pretty good grounding in all things philosophically political.

From there, you could tackle any of the primary texts or you could look at more technical readings. Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy - John Rawls is a good read from one of the most important 20th century liberal thinkers. Models of Democracy - David Held would give you a good grounding in democratic theory and practice. The Birth of Biopolitics - Michel Foucault can be intense but one of the most original thinkers of the 20th century (probably best read with Society Must be Defended and Security, Territory and Population).

To be honest though, once you've got the basics down, you've got enough material for the rest of your life.

philologos

Machiavelli's - The Prince and Plato's Republic would be my first two recommendations.

CerebralCortex

Politics is the mind-killer.

Black Swan

CerebralCortex wrote: »

Politics is the mind-killer.

An interesting link to explore, but does it specifically recommend books in political philosophy per the OP request?

Or rather, does it introduce a new discussion which some may view as an argument that turns upon, and devours itself, akin to Plato's metaphorical beast? "Of design he was created thus, his own waste providing his own food, and all that he did or suffered taking place in and by himself."

If the link you cited introduces a new discussion, would you please consider starting a new thread so that we may address it there? It may be a fresh breath of air on this forum, should others be so inclined to comment upon its merits.

CerebralCortex

Black Swan wrote: »

An interesting link to explore, but does it specifically recommend books in political philosophy per the OP request?

Or rather, does it introduce a new discussion which some may view as an argument that turns upon, and devours itself, akin to Plato's metaphorical beast? "Of design he was created thus, his own waste providing his own food, and all that he did or suffered taking place in and by himself."

If the link you cited introduces a new discussion, would you please consider starting a new thread so that we may address it there? It may be a fresh breath of air on this forum, should others be so inclined to comment upon its merits.

Indeed I must admit I was, in admittedly an immature way, trying to throw a spanner in the works. Sorry. I would like to recommend the whole site as a useful resource to all including philosophers. I would like to start a new thread and I'd probably like to go with this post. Fwiw the title of the post isn't exactly my take on philosophy but the post itself reflects my feelings better than I can write here. The relevance that I think it has here is that I don't see why should be looking to ancient philosophers for good thinking on politics for example.

Black Swan

CerebralCortex wrote: »

I would like to start a new thread and I'd probably like to go with this post.

Please do, but make sure to include some discussion by you, in addition to what is provided by the link. This could be interesting. Thanks, Black Swan.

Back on topic...

Any more recommendations for political philosophy books?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

CarrotFlowers

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the recommendations - I'll be looking through a lot of these and figuring out what to go with next.

I didn't want to be too specific, I'm likely to just read something as it interests me, which can change from week to week. I find that works for me better than setting out some sort of reading plan. But I'll probably read a few of the recommendations at least at some point as they all look good.

So thanks for all of the input and the advise too!

18AD

I haven't read much with regards political philosophy, but here are some of the important names I've come across:

Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The Social Contract, Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (This is not political, but it's great!)
Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan
John Locke

John Stuart Mill
Jeremy Bentham

Murray Rothbard
Robert Nozick - Anarchy, State and Utopia

Karl Marx - Das Kapital

Theodor Adorno
Juergen Habermas
Slavoj Zizek - http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/living-end-times-slavoj-zizek/
This is a good introduction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g
Zizek is controversial and worth checking out just for that reason.

I forgot Chomsky - http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/manufacturing-consent-noam-chomsky-and-the-media/

Also, I know you asked for books but the series of documentaries done by Adam Curtis are amazing.
http://tinyurl.com/4xqj45g Check out The Century of the Self, The Trap, The Power of Nightmares.

I think Confucius would be a classic of Eastern Political Philosophy.

Good Intro here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_philosophy

You might find some useful stuff here: http://www.epistemelinks.com/Main/MainText.aspx

Best.
AD