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Examining how ideas of war and peace have functioned as frames of reference within the history of political theory, this book features five thematically focused chapters that pair (in order) Schmitt and Derrida, Aquinas and Machiavelli, Hobbes and Kant, Hegel and Nietzsche, and Thucydides and Plato. The book's substantive argument is that attempts to establish either war or peace as dominant intellectual perspectives obscure too much of political life. The book argues for a style of political theory committed more to questioning than to closure. It challenges two powerful currents in contemporary political philosophy: the verdict that premodern or metaphysical texts cannot speak to modern and postmodern societies, and the insistence that all forms of political theory be some form of democratic theory.

Intro -- The Civic Conversations of Thucydides and Plato -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Political Space and Political Purpose in Contemporary Democratic Theory -- 2. The Borders of Rational Choice -- 3. Deliberating Democracy -- 4. Culture's Justice -- 5. Proximate Others -- 6. Conclusion:Extending the Limits of Democracy -- Notes -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z.

For a variety of reasons, the problem of political trust has become an important issue within contemporary democratic theory, especially within theories of deliberative democracy. This article argues that contributions from classical political philosophy -- specifically, Thucydides's representation of the Mytilenean debate & the Platonic dialogue, Protagoras -- can enrich that discussion. The paper suggests that deliberative democratic theory's treatment of political trust raises a series of questions that the perspective does not fully acknowledge or engage. It then offers intersecting readings of these two classical works that make constructive contributions on three fronts. First, they clarify the goodness of political trust in democratic regimes. Second, they underscore the need to focus on the substantive outcomes as well as on the procedural arrangements of deliberative democracy. Third, they clarify the dependence of warranted trust on certain forms of virtue. The conclusion is not that deliberative democratic theory must give way to some sort of return to the classics, but that contemporary democratic theory can be enhanced through an appreciation of classical political philosophy's contributions & criticisms. 53 References. Adapted from the source document.

A review essay on books by (1) Fred D. Miller, Jr., Nature, Justice and Rights in Aristotle's Politics (Oxford, UK: Oxford U Press, 1995); (2) Aristotle, Politics, Books One and Two (Saunders, Trevor J. [Tr & Commentary] Oxford, UK: Oxford U Press, 1995); (3) Michael Davis, The Politics of Philosophy: A Commentary on Aristotle's Politics (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996); & (4) Aristide Tessitore, Reading Aristotle's Ethics (Albany: State U New York Press, 1996). Renewed interest in Aristotelian moral & political philosophy in the last decade has spawned a number of new texts that view Aristotle's political theory as a potential contributor to a realistic analysis of democratic institutions & a balanced assessment of democracy's potential. The four books here view Aristotle's approach less positively. They see in Aristotle a moral & political theory that is disconnected from contemporary democratic theory & challenges its priorities. Miller & Saunders approach Aristotle as analytic historians of philosophy & interpret his theory as a broad system to teach about political purpose & institutions. Davis & Tessitore view Aristotle's works as more complex in rhetoric & more esoteric. For these two authors, Aristotle confronts democratic theory & practice as a philosopher, not a statesman. The difference between these texts point out that three areas of inquiry into Aristotelian theory -- genre, theoretization, & pragmatics -- deserve further consideration. M. Pflum