Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction

Rating:
Summary: No finer introduction yet written
Review: Contemporary political philosophy is an enormous area. I can scarcely imagine any book that structures the major positions and lines of argument as efficiently as this one does. And I can't imagine another author of the same experience and erudition writing about the issues with this degree of clarity: Kymlicka's learning is worn lightly.

Also... When you're reading a piece of philosophy, objections quickly occur to you -- but, I'd claim, it's a mark of the care and sensitivity with which a position is set out that you find your doubts are anticipated or soon answered.

I don't really know what else one could desire from an intro. This book is intelligently written, detailed, balanced and up-to-date. It listens sympathetically to all positions, and it's comprehensive -- it covers the spectrum from utilitarianism to citizenship theory and feminist care ethics, with copious pointers to further reading.

Rating:
Summary: A thorough overview
Review: Kymlicka is an important player in recent debates on political philosophy. He provides a thorough over, accessible to the nonphilosopher. He is, however, writing from a polemical position, which gives some of his views a decidely strange tint. Especially odd is the claim that Nozick is committed to an idea of equality

Rating:
Summary: A synthetic primer on what's in the journals
Review: Though a good introduction to what work is at present most popular in academic political philosophy, this is only useful as a synthetic work, not as a philosophical one. To read it is to know what academic journals with the largest circulation contain on the subject. This means, of course, that insight and perspective are correspondingly limited.

Rating:
Summary: A synthetic primer on what's in the journals
Review: Though a good introduction to what work is at present most popular in academic political philosophy, this is only useful as a synthetic work, not as a philosophical one. To read it is to know what academic journals with the largest circulation contain on the subject. This means, of course, that insight and perspective are correspondingly limited.