Constant: Political Writings

Constant: Political Writings PDF Author: Benjamin Constant
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521316323
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
This 1988 book is an English translation of the major political works of Benjamin Constant.

Constant: Political Writings

Constant: Political Writings PDF Author: Benjamin Constant
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521316323
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
This 1988 book is an English translation of the major political works of Benjamin Constant.

The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns

The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns PDF Author: Benjamin Constant
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description
This is an essay by Benjamin Constant. In this essay, Constant contrasted two views on freedom: one held by "the Ancients," particularly those in Classical Greece, and the other by members of modern societies. He investigates the dangers of attempting to impose ancient liberty in a modern context, as well as the risks associated with each type of liberty. The danger of ancient liberty was that men, preoccupied with securing their share of social power, might place too little value on individual rights and pleasures. The danger of modern liberty is that we will give up our right to participate in political power too easily, absorbed in the enjoyment of our independence and the pursuit of our particular interests." Constant believes that the two types of liberty must eventually be combined.

Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments

Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments PDF Author: Benjamin Constant
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 592

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Book Description
Benjamin Constant (1767-1830) was born in Switzerland and became one of France's leading writers, as well as a journalist, philosopher, and politician. His colourful life included a formative stay at the University of Edinburgh; service at the court of Brunswick, Germany; election to the French Tribunate; and initial opposition and subsequent support for Napoleon, even the drafting of a constitution for the Hundred Days. Constant wrote many books, essays, and pamphlets. His deepest conviction was that reform is hugely superior to revolution, both morally and politically. While Constant's fluid, dynamic style and lofty eloquence do not always make for easy reading, his text forms a coherent whole, and in his translation Dennis O'Keeffe has focused on retaining the 'general elegance and subtle rhetoric' of the original. Sir Isaiah Berlin called Constant 'the most eloquent of all defenders of freedom and privacy' and believed to him we owe the notion of 'negative liberty', that is, what Biancamaria Fontana describes as "the protection of individual experience and choices from external interferences and constraints." To Constant it was relatively unimportant whether liberty was ultimately grounded in religion or metaphysics -- what mattered were the practical guarantees of practical freedom -- "autonomy in all those aspects of life that could cause no harm to others or to society as a whole." This translation is based on Etienne Hofmann's critical edition of Principes de politique (1980), complete with Constant's additions to the original work.

Constant: Political Writings

Constant: Political Writings PDF Author: Benjamin Constant
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780521303361
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Classic definitions of modern liberal doctrine emerge from the first English translation of the major political works of Benjamin Constant (1767-1830), one of the most important of the French political theorists.

Benjamin Constant and the Post-revolutionary Mind

Benjamin Constant and the Post-revolutionary Mind PDF Author: Biancamaria Fontana
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300049954
Category : Europe
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
The Swiss writer and political theorist Benjamin Constant was a key figure in the early 19th century attempt to come to terms with the new political world created by the French Revolution of 1789. In this book, Biancamaria Fontana presents an overview of Constant's life and writings, showing the unity of his vision and exploring analogies between the issues he discussed and those that confront modern democratic states today.

Benjamin Constant and the Birth of French Liberalism

Benjamin Constant and the Birth of French Liberalism PDF Author: K. Steven Vincent
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230117104
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
This book advances a new interpretation of the timing and character of French (and more broadly European) liberalism, and contributes to the ongoing debate concerning the place of morality, sociability, and conceptions of the "self" in modern liberal thought.

Spencer: Political Writings

Spencer: Political Writings PDF Author: Herbert Spencer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521437400
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
This book places Spencer's famous argument for political individualism in his The Man versus the State alongside his early The Proper Sphere of Government, out of which, after due gestation, emerged not only The Man versus the State but also Social Status and his all-embracing theory of evolution. Both are valuable as unyielding statements of anti-state political theory and as sources of perceptive comments on political events of the times. An introduction sets them in their context and examines their main themes. The book will be of interest to both undergraduates and specialists in politics, political theory, social policy, sociology and history.

Adolphe

Adolphe PDF Author: Benjamin Constant
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Man-woman relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Liberalism Under Siege

Liberalism Under Siege PDF Author: Aurelian Crăiuțu
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739106587
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
This work is an examination of the French Doctrinaires, a largely neglected group of liberal thinkers in post-revolutionary France who were proponents of a nuanced sociological and historical approach to political theory. It explores the Doctrinaires' ideas on the French Revolution.

Modern Political Thought

Modern Political Thought PDF Author: David Wootton
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 9780872203419
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 964

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Book Description
Presents unabridged works and substantive abridgments in preeminent translations, along with balanced, lucid, sophisticated introductions. This book includes a wide and balanced selection of many of the more important texts of modern political thought. To its great credit, it provides pertinent excerpts from frequently neglected authors, such as Calvin and Hume, which it nicely juxtaposes appear to be good, and the introductions to each section help to situate the writers in their historical and intellectual context and to alert students to some of the central issues that arise in the texts. This book offers an economical and useful approach to modern political thought.