Liberal moments: reading liberal texts

Cover -- Half-Title -- Series -- Title -- Contents -- List of Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction Ewa Atanassow and Alan S. Kahan -- Part One Liberal Beginnings -- 1 Montesquieu Catherine Larrère translated by Alan S. Kahan -- 2 In Praise of Liberty: Madame de Staël's Considerations Aurelian Craiutu -- 3 Benjamin Constant on the Liberty of the Ancients and the Moderns Jeremy Jennings -- 4 Jeremy Bentham Emmanuelle de Champs -- 5 James Madison Michael P. Zuckert -- 6 Tocqueville's New Liberalism Ewa Atanassow -- Part Two Liberalism Confronts the World -- 7 Abraham Lincoln's Commentary on the 'Plain Unmistakable Language' of the Declaration of Independence Diana J. Schaub -- 8 John Stuart Mill Nicholas Capaldi -- 9 Alexander Herzen Robert Neil Harris -- 10 T. H. Green John Morrow -- 11 Sarmiento: Liberalism between Civilization and BarbarismIván Jaksić -- 12 Namik Kemal's Constitutional Liberalism: Sovereignty, Justice and the Critique of the Tanzimat Tanzimat H. Ozan Ozavci -- 13 Khayr al-Din Basha Nouh El Harmouzi -- 14 Jacob Burckhardt's Dystopic Liberalism Alan S. Kahan -- Part Three Liberalism Confronts the Twentieth Century -- 15 Max Weber Joshua Derman -- 16 Was Keynes a Liberal? Reinhard Blomert -- 17 John Dewey and Liberal DemocracyJames T. Kloppenberg -- 18 Public Ownership and Totalitarianism: Hu Shih's Reflections Lei Yi , translated by Yang Xiao -- 19 Hannah Arendt: Power, Action and the Foundation of Freedom Roger Berkowitz -- 20 Reading F. A. Hayek Edwige Kacenelenbogen -- 21 Maruyama Masao and Liberalism in Japan Reiji Matsumoto -- 22 Liberty and Value Pluralism: Isaiah Berlin's 'Two Concepts of Freedom' George Crowder -- 23 Czesław Miłosz Michel Maslowski -- 24 John Rawls Chad Van Schoelandt -- Notes -- Further Reading -- Index -- Copyright.

"Liberalism has been one of the leading incarnations of political thought for the past two centuries and it was also the first form of political theory to acquire a truly global reach. This volume examines the work of the most pivotal thinkers in the liberal tradition, starting with Montesquieu and proceeding to a wide range of authors from the French Revolution to the present. The book is distinctive in encompassing the wide spectrum of views historically encompassed by liberalism, revealing its geographical as well as intellectual scope by including conceptions of liberalism formed in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. Twenty-four chapters cover thinkers including Madame de Stael, Alexis de Tocqueville, Abraham Lincoln, John Stuart Mill Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, John Dewey, Hu Shih, Hannah Arendt and John Rawls. Each chapter offers a commentary on a short critical passage from the author concerned. Essayists use their chosen passage to explore the meaning and significance of the author's work for both the historical tradition of liberalism and for political thought more generally. The book is organized chronologically, building up a richly detailed overview of the tradition of liberalism and its key writings. The book will be an indispensible companion to courses on liberal thought, on political ideologies and on the history of political thought and will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, philosophy and history. "--