The Key Texts of Political Philosophy by Pangle, Thomas L. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Coverpage Half title page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part I Classical Political Philosophy

1. Plato’s Apology of Socrates

The Challenge to Our Way of Thinking The Peculiar Opening of Socrates’ Defense The “First Accusers” The Delphic Oracle Story The Cross-Examination of Meletus The Puzzling Longest Section Beginning to Piece Out the Puzzle

2. Plato’s Republic, Book One

The Refutation of Cephalus The First Refutation of Polemarchus The Second Refutation of Polemarchus The Third Refutation of Polemarchus The Opening Drama of Thrasymachus The First Refutation of Thrasymachus The Second Refutation of Thrasymachus The Just Life Is Superior to the Unjust

3. Aristotle’s Politics

The Human Is by Nature a Political Animal Moral Virtue and Political Rule The Contest over the “Political Regime” The Standard for Judging the Contest among Regimes Democracy vs. Oligarchy The Case for Democracy Kingship vs. the Rule of Law Practical Advice to Lawgivers and Statesmen Trans-Civic Leisure

Part II Biblical Political Theology

4. The Bible

Creation The Second Account of Creation and the Fall Cain, Abel, and the Founding of Cities Abraham and the Binding of Isaac Jacob/Israel, Joseph, Egypt Moses and the Divine Law The Chosen People The Pre-Mosaic Biblical Forms of Human Authority Liberation from Human Despotism to Divine Law From Joshua to David From the Old to the New Testament

5. St. Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Law

The Broad Historical Context The Distinctive Character of Thomas’s Writings Natural Law How Is Natural Law Known? The Contrast between Thomas and Aristotle The Framework of Law Natural Law in Detail Natural Laws as Categorical Imperatives Divine Law as Transcendence of Natural Law

Part III Modern Political Philosophy

6. Machiavelli’s Discourses and Prince

Machiavelli’s Puzzling Initial Self-Presentation The Organization and Opening of the Discourses The New Conception of the Common Good The Emerging Critique of the Roman Republic Machiavelli the Philosopher Explaining the Worldly Power of Christianity The Prince: The Other Face of Machiavelli Ascending Stages in the Teaching of The Prince The Deepest Meaning of “the New Prince” Religion’s Effect on Modern Military Power The New Meaning of the Traditional Virtues Humanity’s Power over Its Fate

7. Bacon’s New Atlantis

Bacon’s Machiavellian Scientific Method The Critique of Aristotle The Narrator’s Opening A New Christian Revelation Founding the New Order The Truth about Salomon’s House The New Moral Ethos The New Religious Toleration and Pluralism

8. Hobbes’s Leviathan

The Broad Historical Context The Attack on Aristotle and Aquinas The New Foundation in the Passions The Centrality of Power Opposing the Biblical Conception The State of Nature The Natural Basis of Justice Specifying the New Moral “Laws of Nature” The Social Compact Organizing and Administering Government “Inalienable” Individual Rights Sovereignty by Acquisition

9. Locke’s Second Treatise of Government

Locke’s Rhetorical Genius The State of Nature Property The Family The Civic Spirit of a Lockean Commonwealth Constitutionalism

10. Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws

The Norms of Nature Despotism Monarchy and Republicanism The Philosopher’s Critical Perspective The Superiority of Moderns to Ancients The Apotheosis of the English Constitution The Allure of Globalized Commercialism

Part IV Modernity in Question

11. Rousseau’s First and Second Discourses

The Historical Context of the First Discourse The New Meaning of “Virtue” The Least Unhealthy Political Order The Evils of Scientific Enlightenment The Outstanding Exception: Socratic Science The Project of the Second Discourse The Original State of Nature What Distinguishes Humans from Other Animals The History of Our Humanity The Birth of Human Social Existence The Termination of the State of Nature Natural Right The Puzzling Legacy

12. Marx and Engels: The Communist Manifesto

History vs. Nature as Norm The Literary Distinctiveness of the Manifesto The Manifesto’s Audience The Opening, and the Question, of the Manifesto The Uniqueness of the Bourgeoisie The Uniqueness of the Proletariat The Communist Intelligentsia After the Revolution?

13. Tocqueville’s Democracy in America

Tocqueville vs. Marx The Tyranny of the Majority The Spiritual Isolation of the Democratic Personality The Syndrome of “Individualism” Equality vs. Liberty The Democratic Counterweights

14. Nietzsche and His Zarathustra

Nietzsche vs. Marx and Tocqueville Zarathustra’s Prologue Zarathustra’s Disciples The Will to Power Justice vs. Equality The Monstrosity of the Modern State Conclusion

Name Index Subject Index