FIFTY MAJOR POLITICAL THINKERS SECOND EDITION Now in its second edition, Fifty Major Political Thinkers introduces the lives and ideas of some of the theorists who have shaped Western political thought, from the ancient world to the present day. Alongside new entries on such figures as Cicero, Frantz Fanon and Carl Schmitt, other thinkers covered include: Hannah Arendt Simone de Beauvoir Mohandas Gandhi Machiavelli Karl Marx John Stuart Mill Thomas Paine Jean-Jacques Rousseau Fully cross-referenced and including a glossary of theoretical terms, this wide-ranging and accessible book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the evolution and history of political thought across the ages. Ian Adams is formerly a Lecturer in Politics and Honorary Fellow at the University of Durham. R.W. Dyson is a Lecturer in the School of Government and International Affairs at the University of Durham. Also available from Routledge Politics: the Basics (Third edition) Stephen Tansey 978-0-415-30329-3 The Routledge Dictionary of Politics David Robertson 978-0-415-32377-2 Fifty Key Figures in Twentieth Century British Politics Keith Laybourn 978-0-415-22677-6 Fifty Key Thinkers in International Relations Martin Griffiths 978-0-415-16228-9 International Relations: the Key Concepts Martin Griffiths and Terry O’Callaghan 978-0-415-22883-1 The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right Peter Davies and Derek Lynch 978-0-415-21495-7 FIFTY MAJOR POLITICAL THINKERS Second Edition Ian Adams and R.W. Dyson First published 2003 by Routledge This edition published 2007 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2003, 2007 Ian Adams and R.W. Dyson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Adams, Ian, 1943– Fifty major political thinkers / Ian Adams and R.W. Dyson. -- 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Political science. 2. Political scientists. I. Dyson, R.W. II. Title. JA66.A314 2007 320.092'2--dc22 2007007656 ISBN 0-203-96116-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-40098-8 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-415-40099-6 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-40098-5 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-40099-2 (pbk) CONTENTS Alphabetical list of contents vii Preface ix Plato (427–347 BCE) 3 Aristotle (384–322 BCE) 11 Cicero (106–43 BCE) 19 St Augustine of Hippo (354–430) 23 St Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) 29 Nicolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) 35 Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) 43 Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) 46 James Harrington (1611–77) 54 John Locke (1632–1704) 57 Montesquieu (1689–1755) 64 David Hume (1711–76) 68 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) 73 Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) 80 Edmund Burke (1729–97) 83 Tom Paine (1737–1809) 87 Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) 90 Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) 93 William Godwin (1756–1836) 96 G.W.F. Hegel (1770–1831) 99 Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) 106 ‘Publius’ and The Federalist Papers 111 Charles Fourier (1772–1837) and Utopian Socialism 118 Karl Marx (1818–83) 122 Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) 131 John Stuart Mill (1806–73) 135 Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) 140 T.H. Green (1836–82) 143 v CONTENTS Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) 146 Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921) and Anarchism 151 Georges Sorel (1847–1922) 155 Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932) 158 Max Weber (1864–1920) 164 Vladimir Ilich Lenin (1870–1924) 170 Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) and Fascism 174 Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) 180 Hannah Arendt (1906–75) 184 Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909–97) 187 Friedrich von Hayek (1899–1992) 190 Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) 193 Sir Karl Popper (1902–94) 195 Michael Oakeshott (1901–90) 199 Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) and Second Wave Feminism 202 Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) and the Frankfurt School 206 Frantz Fanon (1925–61) 211 Michel Foucault (1926–84) 217 John Rawls (1921–2002) 221 Robert Nozick (1938–2002) 225 Jürgen Habermas (1929–) 228 Jean-François Lyotard (1924–98) 234 Glossary 239 Index 250 vi ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTENTS St Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) 29 Hannah Arendt (1906–75) 184 Aristotle (384–322 BCE) 11 St Augustine of Hippo (354–430) 23 Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) and Second Wave Feminism 202 Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) 106 Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909–97) 187 Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932) 158 Edmund Burke (1729–97) 83 Cicero (106–43 BCE) 19 Frantz Fanon (1925–61) 211 Michel Foucault (1926–84) 217 Charles Fourier (1772–1837) and Utopian Socialism 118 Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) 193 William Godwin (1756–1836) 96 T.H. Green (1836–82) 143 Jürgen Habermas (1929–) 228 James Harrington (1611–77) 54 Friedrich von Hayek (1899–1992) 190 G.W.F. Hegel (1770–1831) 99 Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) 90 Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) 46 David Hume (1711–76) 68 Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) 80 Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921) and Anarchism 151 Vladimir Ilich Lenin (1870–1924) 170 John Locke (1632–1704) 57 Jean-François Lyotard (1924–98) 234 Nicolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) 35 Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) and the Frankfurt School 206 vii ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTENTS Karl Marx (1818–83) 122 John Stuart Mill (1806–73) 135 Montesquieu (1689–1755) 64 Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) 43 Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) and Fascism 174 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) 146 Robert Nozick (1938–2002) 225 Michael Oakeshott (1901–90) 199 Tom Paine (1737–1809) 87 Plato (427–347 BCE) 3 Sir Karl Popper (1902–94) 195 ‘Publius’ and The Federalist Papers 111 John Rawls (1921–2002) 221 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) 73 Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) 180 Georges Sorel (1847–1922) 155 Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) 140 Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) 131 Max Weber (1864–1920) 164 Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) 93 viii PREFACE The nature of political activity and how it may best be conducted is one of the perennial questions of human existence. In the West alone these matters have been the subject of philosophical discussion for more than 2,000 years, and the discussion is one to which many more than fifty thinkers have contributed. In choosing our fifty we have confined ourselves to Western political thought (with the exception of Mohandas Gandhi, whose ideas were influenced by the West). We have little expertise outside this field, and, besides, non-Western traditions are represented in other volumes in this series. Nor have we been concerned with theoretical debates concerning the ‘scientific’ study of politics. Even so, the business of choosing the best or most appropriate fifty was a difficult one. Any shortlist of ‘greats’ compiled from such a wide and varied field will contain entries of three kinds. First, there will be those names it would be impossible to exclude: in this case Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke and so on. This part of the list almost compiles itself. Then there will be a penumbra of cases that, though discussable, would probably be included by most knowledgeable people. Finally, there will be a class of substan- tially controversial entries, where the choice really is a matter of editorial discretion. Anyone who undertakes to draw up such a list will therefore face some difficult decisions, and it is inevitable that the final selection will not be agreeable to everyone. Selection is particularly difficult when we come to the era after the French Revolution: the age of mass politics in which so many movements of political significance have emerged. The Routledge Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Political Thinkers (1998) has 178 entries and does not claim to be exhaustive. It is unavoidable that a volume purporting to deal with major political theorists will be ‘thin’ at its modern end, quite simply because, with some few distinguished exceptions, it is not possible to predict which very recent theorists will come to be regarded as ‘major’ by posterity. A thinker may be ‘major’ on a number of grounds: power of reasoning, originality, extent of influence and so on. Choices are inevitably based ix