Books in the Modernity and Political Thought series

One of Ralph Waldo Emerson's principle contributions to philosophy is the theory of self-reliance, a view of democratic individuality. George Kateb provides a reading of Emerson that is friendly to the interests of Nietzsche and to later Nietzscheans such as Weber, Heidegger, Arendt and Foucault.

The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt rereads Arendt's political philosophy in light of newly gained insights into the historico-cultural background of her work.

What is freedom? In this study, Thomas Dumm challenges the conventions that have governed discussions and debates concerning modern freedom by bringing the work of Michel Foucault into dialogue with contemporary liberal thought.

Merleau-Pontys focus on embodied experience allows us to approach political life in a manner that is both critical and engaged. This work demonstrates that political questions were always central to Merleau-Pontys philosophical project. It also shows how existential phenomenology illuminates and enlivens our understanding of politics.

Aims to overturn the long-standing reputation of Thomas Aquinas as the most moderate and rational exponent of the Christian faith. The author seeks to reveal Aquinas to be one of the most zealous Dominicans (Domini Canes) or Hounds of the Lord - an ardent defender of papal supremacy, the Inquisition, and the persecution of Jews.

William James is known as a philosopher of pragmatism. This work challenges this understanding. It traces the historical importance and contemporary possibilities of pluralism's original political insight. It illuminates political philosophy of the 20th century and challenges contemporary assumptions about the desirability of unanimity.

This book considers the relevance of Schmitt's work for contemporary debates surrounding democratic sovereignty and global politics.

This work examines the philosophy of Burke in view of its contribution to our understanding of modernity. Stephen K. White argues that Burke remains important because he shows us how modernity engenders an implicit forgetfulness of human finitude.

French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the psychiatrist-activist Félix Guattari’s 1980 book A Thousand Plateaus is widely recognized as a masterpiece of twentieth-century Continental philosophy. Until now, however, few scholars have dared to explain the book’s political importance. Deleuze’s Political Vision reconstructs Deleuze’s conception of pluralism, human nature, the social contract, liberalism, democracy, socialism, feminism, and comparative political theory. Unlike scholars who read Deleuze as a Marxist, author Nicholas Tampio argues that Deleuze was a cutting-edge liberal, concerned about protecting difference from what John Stuart Mill called the tyranny of the majority. The book brings Deleuze into conversation with other contemporary political theorists such as Hannah Arendt, William E. Connolly, Jürgen Habermas, Bruno Latour, Charles Mills, Martha Nussbaum, Carole Pateman, Abdolkarim Soroush, Leo Strauss, and Charles Taylor. Deleuze’s Political Vision translates Deleuze’s ideas into popular vernaculars to realize his political vision and reveal his work as essential to modern discussions of political theory and philosophy.

Donald Moon's John Rawls: Liberalism and the Challenges of Late Modernity is an accessible biography that explores how Rawls' life helped establish the fundamental commitment of classical liberalism through the understanding that the individual has always stood in an ambiguous relationship to the central object of the study of politics-the state.

Davide Panagia's Impressions of Hume: Cinematic Thinking and the Politics of Discontinuity is volume fifteen of Modernity and Political Thought, the Rowman & Littlefield series in contemporary political theory.

Jason Frank's Publius and Political Imagination is the first volume of the Modernity and Political Thought series to take as its focus not a single author, but collaboration between political philosophers, in this very special case the collective known by the pseudonym: Publius. Publius, of course, comprised the most influential of the American Founders-from James Madison to Alexander Hamilton to John Jay-particularly as the United States Constitution was being debated among the newly independent states. As the lofty dreams of some were countered by the pragmatic realism of others still, the founding and shaping of our governmental philosophy took root in this imagined Publius, this public mind, and it is where those on any side of a contemporary issue draw their argumentative and philosophical strength.

In this book, political theorist Steve Johnston explores Lincoln's thought and political philosophy, but also his intentional and shrewdly calculated ambiguity - enabling him to be maximally politically effective in the face of unprecedented challenges.

This is the first book-length treatment of Edward Said's influential cultural criticism from the perspective of a political theorist. Morefield argues that Said's critique provides a timely approach that bridges historical analyses of imperialism and postcolonial politics with an urgent imperative to theorize contemporary global crises.