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Rating: 
Summary: Just Right!
Review: I think that this book is prefaced well and in those terms serves the reader to the full extent promised. The book basically gives an over view of early political theory through excerpts from excellent selected texts. It is a fair cross-section of political treatises providing it fits into one book that is for the novice. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Just Right!
Review: I think that this book is prefaced well and in those terms serves the reader to the full extent promised. The book basically gives an over view of early political theory through excerpts from excellent selected texts. It is a fair cross-section of political treatises providing it fits into one book that is for the novice. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent compendium of THE GREAT IDEAS of the WEST
Review: Professor Michael Curtis introduces this vastly erudite, entertainingly accessible anthology of THE GREAT POLITICAL THEORIES with the assertion: "Political philosophy proper began with the Greeks (p.23)". He does not dismiss Ideas of pre-Western civilizations, he simply states his focus on FOUNDATIONAL political concepts describing what Professor David Gress (in "From PLATO to NATO"; Free Press 1998)terms THE GRAND NARRATIVE of the West. In this first Volume ...of a 2 volume opus...ideas of Greek thinkers(Socrates; Plato;Aristotle; along with literary masters Homer and Sophocles) are presented/related to an historical continuum of individual and societal notions of relationality,power and justice as they've evolved or conflicted.Volume I concerns Time span (ca)400 BC-AD 1750. That is: until Enlightenment-spawned French Revolution and American War for Independence. This ambitious,encyclopediac effort, does not fail to regard what St. Augustine would term conflict between The City of God...epitomized metaphorically as Jerusalem...and City of Man: ROME. The thinking of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas (and its literary summary by Dante)is discussed at relative length along with "contras" in the secular world going back to Cicero and Marcus Aurelius; until revitalization of Humanism in the Renaissance and Reformation. Artists like Michelangelo; Raphael; and Leonardo are,of course,credited. Machiavelli asserted: "the state is a work of art(p.215)." In THE PRINCE,the study of POWER is lauded; the essence of Rulers as "power broker"delineated.
Volume I further regards notions of relgious freedom espoused by THE REFORMERS and ironies, in sacred Faith and secular power, protestants (Luther; Calvin; Henry VIII)effectuated.The conclusion of Volume I prepares readers for introduction to Rosseau, the ENLIGHTENMENT and meta-ethics of revolution. Volume II begins with groundings of The French Revolution. It moves swiftly to examination of totalitarian ideologies fostered therein; reawakened by Dialectical Materialism professed by Karl Marx; and continuously opposed by utilitarian pragmatism of English and American democracies.Volume II,ends with introduction to anti-ideologies characterizing what we term POST-MODERNISM: Freudian determinism; Nietzschean nihilism; Heideggerian Deconstructionism. Ironically, perhaps, Vol.II closes with ideas of Catholic philospher,Jacques Maritan ("The Rights of Man and Natural Law"). He reasserts man's personal dignity and transcendent, spiritual nature (Vol. II, p. 411-412). Protestant Reinhold Niebuhr(p.418-419)proposes limits of reason in resolving ultimate human challenges(p.418). Pope John XXIII's 1961 Encyclical(Mater et Magistra)is cited (p.405)declaring the most serious of these challenges require charity and humility that finds its anchor in Justice and love of and for God, not Man alone...... In his introduction to chapter 9(IRRATIONALISM & PSYCHOLOGY) Professor Curtis refers to American commentator Walter Lippmann's belief "the deepest error of our political thinking is to talk of politics without reference to human beings (p.285)." In THE GREAT POLITICAL THEORIES, Vol.'s I&II, Michael Curtis has made extensive effort to be concrete in explication of Ideas and consequences. Repeatedly he focuses on specific persons and their applied ideas of what informs and supports a Political Community. What makes people a COMMUNITY is what this excellent compedium of Great Ideas of the WEST is about.On pp.444-446, Sebastian De Grazia is cited in "a" final answer:" A Community is constituted by its religious and political beliefs. These fulfil needs and desires of men everywhere, despite diversity, despite uncommon customs." The author himself provides an assertion concerning fundamental needs on p.447. This "ends" a 1000pp study. It is a worthy work. It's a worthy answer. I highly commend it to readers who wish to become acquainted with some essential constructs of Western man in quest to become civilized and remain fully human.
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Survey of Politcal Thought
Review: This book is a excellent survey of political philosophies from the last days of the ancien regime to the 1970s.
This survey is treated in a very organized way by the editor, Michael Curtis. Each section of the book has a certain theme. Each section begins with a preface and overview of the thinkers whose selections will follow. Curtis, like an excellent professor, exposits the views of the thinkers fairly.
Let me give an example of one of the sections of the book, which illustrates the strenghts and possible even minor weaknesses of this book.
Section XIII is entitled "Theological Thought and Politics." I found this chapter very interesting, for although I consider myself very informed in matters concerning politics, I had previously given little thought to the inter-connection of theology and politics. As the book shows, other disciples have influenced political thinkers--history and economics readily come to mind--and so has theology.
In the preface/overview of this section, Mr. Curtis gives a synopsis of two examples of theological thinking on politics, one Catholic, the other Protestant. What follows, then, are selections that represent Catholic social thought: selections from Papal Encyclicals, and from the Thomist Jacques Maritain; and, for Protestant social thought, selections from the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr.
These selections are chosen--as are all the others in the book--because they represent a major argument of the thinker into consideration which also distinguishes himself from other thinkers. For example, in the selections of the Catholic thinkers, a theme that is stressed is the uniqueness of man among physicial creation--that man has a soul, a spiritual nature, and because of that, is a person, and thus has dignity.
This metaphysical account of the nature of man has consequences in the social realm. While these selections have an optimistic tone, especially from Maritain, this is contrasted with the Protestant social thought of Reinhold Niebuhr. Reading Niebuhr, I thought of the notions of Original Sin, the Fall of Man, and man's tendency to sin. The belief that man is fundamentally good is an error. This belief in the essential goodness in man can lead to political misjudgments. This work by Niebuhr was written in during World War II, and I thought how Niebuhr was vindicated, when just a few years before, the Prime Minister of England had said, "There shall be peace in our time."
This section also points out the possible weaknesses of the book. Perhaps other selections of theological thought could have also been included, and I speak as a Catholic whose tradition is well represented in Mr. Curtis' book. For example, I recently came across some writings of the Russian Orthodox philosopher/mystic Berdayev. Berdayev wrote about the dehumanization of man in the modern world, and in his writing considered the general approach of Catholic and Protestant thinking. Berdayev would have made an excellent addition in this section.
Besides theology, other influences on political thought are shown, mainly from the social sciences, and from history. The dominant schools of thought, such as Marxism, Utilitariansism, Conservatism, are well represented, even sub-divisions of the major schools, such as the revolutionary Marxism of Lenin versus the gradual approach of Eduard Bernstein.
There is a great diversity of opinion presented here; I am a political junkie, so I would not mind even more selections.
The book closes with selections from the late political theorist John Rawls' "A Theory of Justice." The roughly 30 years since the publication of "A Theory of Justice," there have been contributions toward politcal theory. Some examples would be the works of Michael Walzer "Just and Unjust Wars," and "Spheres of Justice; Robert Nozick's "Anarchy, State, and Utopia;" writings in support of the environmental movement; and the impact of technology, especially newer technologies such as genetic engineering to the Internet, from various writers. What will the 21st Century hold?
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Survey of Politcal Thought
Review: This book is a excellent survey of political philosophies from the last days of the ancien regime to the 1970s.
This survey is treated in a very organized way by the editor, Michael Curtis. Each section of the book has a certain theme. Each section begins with a preface and overview of the thinkers whose selections will follow. Curtis, like an excellent professor, exposits the views of the thinkers fairly.
Let me give an example of one of the sections of the book, which illustrates the strenghts and possible even minor weaknesses of this book.
Section XIII is entitled "Theological Thought and Politics." I found this chapter very interesting, for although I consider myself very informed in matters concerning politics, I had previously given little thought to the inter-connection of theology and politics. As the book shows, other disciples have influenced political thinkers--history and economics readily come to mind--and so has theology.
In the preface/overview of this section, Mr. Curtis gives a synopsis of two examples of theological thinking on politics, one Catholic, the other Protestant. What follows, then, are selections that represent Catholic social thought: selections from Papal Encyclicals, and from the Thomist Jacques Maritain; and, for Protestant social thought, selections from the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr.
These selections are chosen--as are all the others in the book--because they represent a major argument of the thinker into consideration which also distinguishes himself from other thinkers. For example, in the selections of the Catholic thinkers, a theme that is stressed is the uniqueness of man among physicial creation--that man has a soul, a spiritual nature, and because of that, is a person, and thus has dignity.
This metaphysical account of the nature of man has consequences in the social realm. While these selections have an optimistic tone, especially from Maritain, this is contrasted with the Protestant social thought of Reinhold Niebuhr. Reading Niebuhr, I thought of the notions of Original Sin, the Fall of Man, and man's tendency to sin. The belief that man is fundamentally good is an error. This belief in the essential goodness in man can lead to political misjudgments. This work by Niebuhr was written in during World War II, and I thought how Niebuhr was vindicated, when just a few years before, the Prime Minister of England had said, "There shall be peace in our time."
This section also points out the possible weaknesses of the book. Perhaps other selections of theological thought could have also been included, and I speak as a Catholic whose tradition is well represented in Mr. Curtis' book. For example, I recently came across some writings of the Russian Orthodox philosopher/mystic Berdayev. Berdayev wrote about the dehumanization of man in the modern world, and in his writing considered the general approach of Catholic and Protestant thinking. Berdayev would have made an excellent addition in this section.
Besides theology, other influences on political thought are shown, mainly from the social sciences, and from history. The dominant schools of thought, such as Marxism, Utilitariansism, Conservatism, are well represented, even sub-divisions of the major schools, such as the revolutionary Marxism of Lenin versus the gradual approach of Eduard Bernstein.
There is a great diversity of opinion presented here; I am a political junkie, so I would not mind even more selections.
The book closes with selections from the late political theorist John Rawls' "A Theory of Justice." The roughly 30 years since the publication of "A Theory of Justice," there have been contributions toward politcal theory. Some examples would be the works of Michael Walzer "Just and Unjust Wars," and "Spheres of Justice; Robert Nozick's "Anarchy, State, and Utopia;" writings in support of the environmental movement; and the impact of technology, especially newer technologies such as genetic engineering to the Internet, from various writers. What will the 21st Century hold?
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