The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism

Hobbes to Locke

C. B. Macpherson , Frank Cunningham

$43.95

Paperback

In stock
Ready to ship

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press
14 December 2010

Social & political philosophy; Politics & government

Series: Wynford Books

"This seminal work by political philosopher C.B. Macpherson was first published by the Clarendon Press in 1962, and remains of key importance to the study of liberal-democratic theory half-a-century later. In it, Macpherson argues that the chief difficulty of the notion of individualism that underpins classical liberalism lies in what he calls its ""possessive quality"" - ""its conception of the individual as essentially the proprietor of his own person or capacities, owing nothing to society for them."" Under such a conception, the essence of humanity becomes freedom from dependence on the wills of others; society is little more than a system of economic relations; and political society becomes a means of safeguarding private property and the system of economic relations rooted in property.

As the New Statesman declared: ""It is rare for a book to change the intellectual landscape. It is even more unusual for this to happen when the subject is one that has been thoroughly investigated by generations of historians. . . . Until the appearance of Professor Macpherson's book, it seemed unlikely that anything radically new could be said about so well-worn a topic.

The unexpected has happened, and the shock waves are still being absorbed.""A new introduction by Frank Cunningham puts the work in a twenty-first-century context."

By: C. B. Macpherson
Introduction by: Frank Cunningham
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions: Height: 199mm, Width: 138mm, Spine: 16mm
Weight: 405g
ISBN: 9780195444018
ISBN 10: 0195444019
Series: Wynford Books
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 14 December 2010
Audience: College/higher education , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction to the Wynford Edition; I. INTRODUCTION; 1. The Roots of Liberal-Democratic Theory; 2. Problems of Interpretation; II. HOBBES: THE POLITICAL OBLIGATION OF THE MARKET; 1. Philosophy and Political Theory; 2. Human Nature and the State of Nature; 3. Models of Society; 4. Politcal Obligation; 5. Penetration and Limits of Hobbes's Political Theory; III. THE LEVELLERS: FRANCHISE AND FREEDOM; 1. The Problem of the Franchise; 2. Types of Franchise; 3. The Record; 4. Theoretical Implications; IV. HARRINGTON: THE OPPORTUNITY STATE; 1. Unexamined Ambiguities; 2. The Balance and the Gentry; 3. The Bourgeois Society; 4. The Equal Commonwealth and the Equal Agrarian; 5. The Self-Cancelling Balance Principle; 6. Harrington's Stature; V. LOCKE: THE POLITICAL THEORY OF APPROPRIATION; 1. Interpretations; 2. The Theory of Property Right; 3. Class Differentials in Natural Rights and Rationality; 4. The Ambiguous State of Nature; 5. The Ambiguous Civil Society; 6. Unsettled Problems Reconsidered; VI. POSSESSIVE INDIVIDUALISM AND LIBERAL DEMOCRACY; 1. The Seventeenth-Century Foundations; 2. The Twentieth-Century Dilemma; Appendix; Social Classes and Franchise Classes in England, circa 1648; Notes; Works and Editions Cited; Index

C.B. Macpherson (1911-1987) was Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Widely regarded as Canada's pre-eminent political theorist of the twentieth century, he was the author of numerous books, including The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy and The Real World of Democracy, and was named to the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor.<br /><br /> Frank Cunningham, Professor, University of Toronto, Canada