Books in the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought series

This collection of essays brings together the writings of the British idealists who made significant contributions to the social and political thought of the nineteenth century. Also included in this volume are British idealist biographies documenting major events in their lives as well as their principal writings.

This book is the first complete modern edition of the political works of Andrew Fletcher, who in his day was the most acute commentator on Anglo-Scottish relations and the political future of Europe. An introduction by the editor and a fully annotated text will enable readers to appreciate the extent of Fletcher's analysis.

This is the first new rendition for a generation of The City of God, the first major intellectual achievement of Latin Christianity and one of the classic texts of Western civilisation. Robert Dyson has produced a complete, accurate, authoritative, and fluent translation of De civitate dei, edited together with full biographical notes, a concise introduction, bibliography, and chronology of Augustine's life. The result is one of the most important single contributions to the Cambridge Texts series yet published, of interest to students of ecclesiastical history, the history of political thought, theology, philosophy, and late antiquity.

This major contribution to the series of Cambridge Texts includes the first ever modern edition of the Divers Orations of Margaret Cavendish, together with a new rendition of her classic imaginary voyage, A New World called the Blazing World. Susan James provides all of the usual student-friendly editorial features.

First published in 2000, this translation of one of the great works of Western political thought is based on the assumption that when Plato chose the dialogue form for his writing, he intended these dialogues to sound like conversations - although conversations of a philosophical sort. In addition to a vivid, dignified and accurate rendition of Plato's text, the student and general reader will find many aids to comprehension in this volume: an introduction that assesses the cultural background to the Republic, its place within political philosophy, and its general argument; succinct notes in the body of the text; an analytical summary of the work's content; a full glossary of proper names; a chronology of important events; and a guide to further reading. The result is an accomplished and accessible edition of this seminal work, suitable for philosophers and classicists as well as historians of political thought at all levels.

This edition of early Greek writings on social and political issues includes works by more than thirty authors. There is a particular emphasis on the sophists, with the inclusion of all of their significant surviving texts, and the works of Alcidamas, Antisthenes and the 'Old Oligarch' are also represented.

This is the first English translation of the most important work of political thought of the fifteenth century, and the most learned and original work associated with the conciliar movement in the late medieval church. The Catholic Concordance will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students of the history of European ideas.

This translation and introduction to the "The Statesman", Plato's neglected political work, is crucial to understanding the development of his political thinking. In some respects, it continues themes from the "Republic", particularly the importance of knowledge as an entitlement to rule.

Adam Ferguson's Essay on the History of Civil Society (first published in 1767) is a classic of the Scottish - and European - Enlightenment. Drawing on such diverse sources as classical authors and contemporary travel literature, Ferguson offers a complex model of historical advance which challenges both Hume's and Smith's embrace of modernity and the primitivism of Rousseau. Ferguson combines a subtle analysis of the emergence of modern commercial society with a critique of its abandonment of civic and communal virtues. Central to Ferguson's theory of citizenship are the themes of conflict, play, political participation and military valour. The Essay is a bold and novel attempt to reclaim the tradition of active, virtuous citizenship and apply it to the modern state.

Max Stirner's The Ego and Its Own is striking and distinctive in both style and content. First published in 1844, Stirner's distinctive and powerful polemic sounded the death-knell of left Hegelianism, with its attack on Ludwig Feuerbach, Bruno and Edgar Bauer, Moses Hess and others. It also constitutes an enduring critique of both liberalism and socialism from the perspective of an extreme eccentric individualism. Karl Marx was only one of many contemporaries provoked into a lengthy rebuttal of Stirner's argument. Stirner has been portrayed, variously, as a precursor of Nietzsche (both stylistically and substantively), a forerunner of existentialism and as an individualist anarchist. This edition of his work comprises a revised version of Steven Byington's much praised translation, together with an introduction and notes on the historical background to Stirner's text.

The First New Science gives a clear account of Vico's mature philosophy: the belief that certain functions which are necessary for the maintenance of human society and culture, including philosophy, also condition them historically. This challenges the traditional view that philosophy can lay claim to an historically independent viewpoint, thus bringing into question the legitimacy of the claims of universal prescriptive political theories as against the de facto political beliefs of particular historical societies. This is the first of Vico's later major books in which he wrote in Italian in order not merely to expound but to demonstrate in practice, his conception of the philosophical importance of etymology. This 2002 Cambridge Texts edition is the first complete English translation of the 1725 text. Accompanied by a glossary, bibliography, chronology of Vico's life and expository introduction, it makes this important work accessible to students for the first time.

This remarkable book, written soon after the French Revolution, has traditionally been considered one of the founding documents in the history of socialism. It introduces the best-known and most extraordinary utopia written in the last two centuries. Charles Fourier was among the first to formulate a right to a minimum standard of life. His radical approach involved a systematic critique of work, marriage and patriarchy, together with a parallel right to a sexual minimum. He also proposed a comprehensive alternative to the Christian religion. Finally, through the medium of a bizarre and extraordinary cosmology, Fourier argued that the poor state of the planet is the result of the evil practices of civilisation. Translated into English, this classic text will be of particular interest to students and scholars of the history of sexuality and feminism, political thought and socialism.

In his Treatise of Orders and Plain Dignities, Charles Loyseau set out to harmonise with law his fellow citizens' values and behaviour in the crucial sphere of possession and exercise of public power. This edition sets Loyseau's text in the context of his own political thesis and the intellectual milieu of those who administered early-modern France.

Telemachus was the most widely-read work in 18th-century France, excepting the Bible. It was also among the most influential, since its attempt to combine monarchism with republican virtues was of obvious importance for Montesquieu and Rousseau. It is also a commentary on Louis XIV's rule.

Moses Hess is a major figure in the development of both early communist and Zionist thought. The Holy History of Mankind appeared in 1837, and was the first book-length socialist tract to appear in Germany, representing an unusual synthesis of Judaism and Christianity that showed the considerable influence upon Hess of Spinoza, Herder and Hegel. In due course many of Hess's ideas would find their way into the work of Karl Marx, and into subsequent socialist thought. The distinguished political scientist Shlomo Avineri provides the first full English translation of this text, along with new renditions of Socialism and Communism, A Communist Credo; and The Consequences of a Future Revolution of the Proletariat. All of the usual reader-friendly series features are provided, including a chronology, concise introduction and notes for further reading, in a work of special relevance to students of politics, modern European history, and the history of Zionism.

This is a 1994 translation of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's What is Property? (1840), one of the classics of political thought and a notorious and influential critique of the central institution of modern Western society, the private ownership of property.

This edition comprises all the essential political writings by Friedrich Schlegel, Schleiermacher and Novalis, the leading figures of the early romantic circle. The texts range from essays to jottings from notebooks, and most of them have been translated for the first time.

This edition comprises all the essential political writings by Friedrich Schlegel, Schleiermacher and Novalis, the leading figures of the early romantic circle. The texts range from essays to jottings from notebooks, and most of them have been translated for the first time.

This collection of eighteenth-century British utopias shows how the image of the ideal society was used as a form of social criticism, and particularly as a means of focussing on ideas of progress and commercial development.

Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France was the first sustained theoretical critique of the French Revolution; and is now recognised as the classic statement of modern conservatism. Reflections surveys the British political culture of traditionalism, gradualism and deference, and contrasts it with the French Revolutionaries' programme of appeal to abstract right, transformational change and popular agency. Ultimately Burke advocated a counterrevolutionary war and the restoration of the French monarchy. This accessible new edition brings together for the first time Burke's first and last published thoughts on the revolution including as it does the first Letter on a Regicide Peace; a work that has contributed to a particular view of international society. Featuring a comprehensive introduction and extensive annotations, Iain Hampsher-Monk's edition helps readers new to Burke to better understand the historical, political and philosophical context behind his writings, and the significance of contemporary and classical allusions.

Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most influential thinkers of the past 150 years and On the Genealogy of Morality (1887) is his most important work on ethics and politics. A polemical contribution to moral and political theory, it offers a critique of moral values and traces the historical evolution of concepts such as guilt, conscience, responsibility, law and justice. First published in 1994, and revised in 2006, the third edition of this best-selling, concise introduction and translation has been revised and updated throughout, to take account of recent scholarship. Featuring an expanded introduction, an updated bibliography and a guide to further reading, the third edition also includes timelines and biographical synopses. The Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought edition of Nietzsche's major work is an essential resource for both undergraduate and graduate courses on Nietzsche, the history of philosophy, continental philosophy, history of political thought and ethics.

A comprehensive and authoritative anthology of Rousseau's major later political writings in up-to-date English translations. Featuring an expanded introduction, a new foreword and an extensive editorial apparatus, the new edition is designed to assist students at every level access these seminal texts.

A comprehensive and authoritative anthology of Rousseau's important early political writings in faithful English translations. Featuring an expanded introduction, a new foreword and an extensive editorial apparatus, this new edition is designed to assist students at every level access these seminal texts.

For this revised and updated edition of Paine's writings the distinguished intellectual historian Bruce Kuklick brings together an expanded collection of the classic texts. A brief chronology, updated bibliography, and a succinct and lucid introduction to the principal themes of each text give further help to the student reader.

Fichte's account of the distinctiveness of the German people and his belief in the native superiority of its culture helped to shape German national identity throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. With an extensive contextualising introduction, this edition brings an important and seminal work to a modern readership.

Matthew Arnold's Culture and Anarchy (1869) is one of the most celebrated works of social criticism ever written. It has become an inescapable reference-point for all subsequent discussion of the relations between politics and culture, and it has exercised a profound influence both on conceptions of the distinctive nature of British society, and on ideas about education and the teaching of literature more generally. This edition establishes the authoritative text of this much-revised work, and places it alongside Arnold's three most important essays on political subjects - Democracy, Equality, and The Function of Criticism at the Present Time. The editor's substantial introduction situates these works in the context both of Arnold's life and other writings, and of nineteenth-century intellectual and political history. This edition also contains a chronology of Arnold's life, a bibliographical guide and full notes on the names, books, and historical events mentioned in the texts.

Demonstrates the relevance and importance of the politico-religious project Hooker undertook, showing that The Laws offer more than an apologia for the Elizabethan religious settlement.

News from Nowhere (1890), William Morris's most famous work and a classic of British socialism, is a utopian picture of a future communist society and a distillation of many of Morris's leading ideas on society, politics and art. This new edition includes a detailed introduction and interpretative notes.

Presents Spencer's classic attempt to expose the flaws in socialism and to assert political individualism as the best way to guarantee social progress.