How to Think Politically: Sages, Scholars and Statesmen Whose Ideas Have Shaped the World

The 30 greatest political thinkers who have ever lived explore the timeless questions posed and answers offered by a diverse group in this book. It goes beyond the surface headlines, fake news, and hysteria to explore the foundations of politics and its architects.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 08 August 2019
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The stakes in politics are high, as they concern our very way of life as individuals and communities. This book delves beyond the superficial headlines, fake news, and hysteria to explore the timeless questions posed and answers offered by a diverse group of the 30 greatest political thinkers who have ever lived. It examines whether we are political, economic, or religious animals, whether we should live in small city-states, nations, or multinational empires, and what values should be promoted by politics. It also explores whether wealth should be owned privately or in common, whether animals have rights, and whether there are no ideas too radical for this global assortment of thinkers, including Confucius, Plato, Augustine, Machiavelli, Burke, Wollstonecraft, Marx, Nietzsche, Gandhi, Qutb, Arendt, Nussbaum, Naess, and Rawls.

In each brief chapter, the authors paint a vivid portrait of these often prescient, always compelling political thinkers, showing how their ideas grew out of their own dramatic lives and times and evolved beyond them. Now, more than ever, we need to be reminded that politics can be a noble, inspiring, and civilizing art. To understand the political world of today, we must understand the foundations of politics and its architects. This book serves as an excellent guide to both.

Weight: 354g
Dimension: 136 x 215 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781472961785