Reconceiving Liberalism

Author : Oren M. Levin-Waldman
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN 13 : 0822974800
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Reconceiving Liberalism written by Oren M. Levin-Waldman and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2010-11-23 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Levin-Waldman argues that if American public policy were to be evaluated against a different set of principles-ones more closely aligned with core liberal values, especially the common good-liberalism would be in greater harmony with contemporary public opinion and thought. Liberalism rests on a moral vision of what constitutes the good life and a set of principles that can measure whether public policy accords with society's underlying philosophical principles. Levin-Waldman faults modern liberalism for obscuring these principles through a misplaced reliance on neutrality. Liberalism, he contends, appears to have diverged from mainstream perceptions of traditional American values because policy is debated and formulated within the confines of this neutrality standard. Levin-Waldman develops a new methodology intended to take us away from the usual cost-benefit analysis and move us closer to assessing public policies in terms of what best serves the common good.

Author : Andrew Jason Cohen
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351804650
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Toleration and Freedom from Harm written by Andrew Jason Cohen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-01-17 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Toleration matters to us all. It contributes both to individuals leading good lives and to societies that are simultaneously efficient and just. There are personal and social matters that would be improved by taking toleration to be a fundamental value. This book develops and defends a full account of toleration—what it is, why and when it matters, and how it should be manifested in a just society. Cohen defends a normative principle of toleration grounded in a new conception of freedom as freedom from harm. He goes on to argue that the moral limits of toleration have been reached only when freedom from harm is impinged. These arguments provide support for extensive toleration of a wide range of individual, familial, religious, cultural, and market activities. Toleration Matters will be of interest to political philosophers and theorists, legal scholars, and those interested in matters of social justice.

Author : Nancy Cohen
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 9780807853542
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Reconstruction of American Liberalism, 1865-1914 written by Nancy Cohen and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cohen argues that the values and programs characteristic of modern American liberalism were invented not during the Progressive Era, as is generally assumed, but in the conflict-ridden years after the Civil War.

Author : James Young
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429966326
Total Pages : 464 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Reconsidering American Liberalism written by James Young and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forty years ago Louis Hartz surveyed American political thought in his classic The Liberal Tradition in America. He concluded that American politics was based on a broad liberal consensus made possible by a unique American historical experience, a thesis that seemed to minimize the role of political conflict.Today, with conflict on the rise and with much of liberalism in disarray, James P. Young revisits these questions to reevaluate Hartz's interpretation of American politics. Young's treatment of key movements in our history, especially Puritanism and republicanism's early contribution to the Revolution and the Constitution, demonstrates in the spirit of Dewey and others that the liberal tradition is richer and more complex than Hartz and most contemporary theorists have allowed.The breadth of Young's account is unrivaled. Reconsidering American Liberalism gives voice not just to Locke, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Lincoln, and Dewey but also to Rawls, Shklar, Kateb, Wolin, and Walzer. In addition to broad discussions of all the major figures in over 300 years of political thought?with Lincoln looming particularly large?Young touches upon modern feminism and conservatism, multiculturalism, postmodernism, rights-based liberalism, and social democracy. Out of these contemporary materials Young synthesizes a new position, a smarter and tougher liberalism not just forged from historical materials but reshaped in the rough and tumble of contemporary thought and politics.This exceptionally timely study is both a powerful survey of the whole of U.S. political thought and a trenchant critique of contemporary political debates. At a time of acrimony and confusion in our national politics, Young enables us to see that salvaging a viable future depends upon our understanding how we have reached this point.Never without his own opinions, Young is scrupulously fair to the widest range of thinkers and marvelously clear in getting to the heart of their ideas. Although his book is a substantial contribution to political theory and the history of ideas, it is always accessible and lively enough for the informed general reader. It is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of U.S. political thought or, indeed, about the future of the country itself.

Author : Marcus G. Raskin
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780742515918
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Liberalism written by Marcus G. Raskin and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrary to those who believe that liberalism has descended into the dustbins of history, renowned political activist and social critic Marcus G. Raskin argues that there is no escape from liberalism. Against the empty headed and mean spirited conservative onslaught of recent times, Raskin asserts and ably demonstrates how the liberal purpose is tied to human liberation and inclusivity for all people. For liberalism to succeed in a new century, it must reckon with its past mistakes--especially its reluctance to be bold. It must also embrace the inextricably interwoven character of morality and politics. To this end, Raskin seeks no less than a new intellectual and spiritual covenant in the university, the political economy, and foreign policy. He shows how this is possible through a radical rethinking of America's role in the world including war avoidance and economic restructuring. He probes the tensions and limits as well as the promise of community, family, and technology. He helps us to recognize the potential of a new multiculturalism within American society and the important role that knowledge workers and specialists will play as change agents in a changed world. Liberalism: The Genius of American Ideals traces Raskin's remarkable journey of the last 50 years through social and political action as well as thought. It is a book for people "in motion" who realize the importance of humane ideas in relation to action, aware that it is not only that peace should be given a chance but that our best instincts must also be engaged through the reconstruction of our institutions. In the face of a new, distinctly uncompassionate brand of conservatism that has shuttered the doors to the very real world of struggle, alienation, and pain, Liberalism is intended to hold out a candle in the window of this dark time.

Author : Jeffrey M. Berry
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0815791038
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The New Liberalism written by Jeffrey M. Berry and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you think liberalism is dead, think again. In this sure-to-be-controversial book, Jeffrey M. Berry argues that modern liberalism is not only still alive, it's actually thriving. Today's new liberalism has evolved from a traditional emphasis on bread-and-butter economic issues to a form he calls "postmaterialism"--quality-of-life concerns such as enhancing the environment, protecting consumers, or promoting civil rights. Berry credits the new liberalism's success to the rise of liberal citizen lobbying groups. By analyzing the activities of Congress during three sessions (1963, 1979, and 1991), he demonstrates the correlation between the increasing lobbying activities of citizen groups and a dramatic shift in the American political agenda from an early 1960s emphasis on economic equality to today's postmaterialist issues. Although conservative groups also began to emphasize postmaterial concerns--such as abortion and other family value issues--Berry finds that liberal citizen groups have been considerably more effective than conservative ones at getting their goals onto the congressional agenda and enacted into legislation. The book provides many examples of citizen group issues that Congress enacted into law, successes when citizen groups were in direct conflict with business interests and when demands were made on behalf of traditionally marginalized constituencies, such as the women's and civil rights movements. Berry concludes that although liberal citizen groups make up only a small portion of the thousands of lobbying organizations in Washington, they have been, and will continue to be, a major force in shaping the political landscape.

Author : Kim R. Holmes
Publisher : Encounter Books
ISBN 13 : 159403852X
Total Pages : 174 pages
Book Rating : 4.25/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Closing of the Liberal Mind written by Kim R. Holmes and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2016-04-12 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Kim R. Holmes surveys the state of liberalism in America today and finds that it is becoming its opposite—illiberalism—abandoning the precepts of open-mindedness and respect for individual rights, liberties, and the rule of law upon which the country was founded, and becoming instead an intolerant, rigidly dogmatic ideology that abhors dissent and stifles free speech. Tracing the new illiberalism historically to the radical Enlightenment, a movement that rejected the classic liberal ideas of the moderate Enlightenment that were prominent in the American Founding, Holmes argues that today’s liberalism has forsaken its American roots, incorporating instead the authoritarian, anti-clerical, and anti-capitalist prejudices of the radical and largely European Left. The result is a closing of the American liberal mind. Where once freedom of speech and expression were sacrosanct, today liberalism employs speech codes, trigger warnings, boycotts, and shaming rituals to stifle freedom of thought, expression, and action. It is no longer appropriate to call it liberalism at all, but illiberalism—a set of ideas in politics, government, and popular culture that increasingly reflects authoritarian and even anti-democratic values, and which is devising new strategies of exclusiveness to eliminate certain ideas and people from the political process. Although illiberalism has always been a temptation for American liberals, lurking in the radical fringes of the Left, it is today the dominant ideology of progressive liberal circles. This makes it a new danger not only to the once venerable tradition of liberalism, but to the American nation itself, which needs a viable liberal tradition that pursues social and economic equality while respecting individual liberties.

Author : Edmund Fawcett
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400889677
Total Pages : 533 pages
Book Rating : 4.79/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Liberalism written by Edmund Fawcett and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-22 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling history of liberalism from the nineteenth century to today Despite playing a decisive role in shaping the past two hundred years of American and European politics, liberalism is no longer the dominant force it once was. In this expanded and updated edition of what has become a classic history of liberalism, Edmund Fawcett traces its ideals, successes, and failures through the lives and ideas of exemplary thinkers and politicians from the early nineteenth century to today. Significant revisions—including a new conclusion—reflect recent changes affecting the world political order that many see as presenting new and very potent threats to the survival of liberal democracy as we know it. A richly detailed account of a vulnerable but critically important political creed, this book reminds us that to defend liberalism it is vital to understand its character and history.

Author : Charles Noble
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 0742574008
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.07/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Collapse of Liberalism written by Charles Noble and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2004-05-03 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Collapse of Liberalism, noted political scientist Charles Noble shows how the American political system frustrates progressive reform while taking liberalism to task for not being radical enough-for what he sees as a long history of accommodating the very same political institutions and corporate interests that it has wanted to challenge. As a result, Noble argues, liberals have been unable to solve the problems of class, race and gender inequality that bedevil the United States. In short, American liberalism suffers not only at the hands of conservatives, but also from its own failures of vision, will, and political strategy. Beyond a critique, Noble offers a breath-taking new progressive strategy for rebuilding America. Clear and thought-provoking, The Collapse of Liberalism is a politically engaged interrogation of the way American liberals think about politics and social reform.

Author : J. David Greenstone
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400863619
Total Pages : 347 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Lincoln Persuasion written by J. David Greenstone and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this, his last work, J. David Greenstone provides an important new analysis of American liberalism and of Lincoln's unique contribution to the nation's political life. Greenstone addresses Louis Hartz's well-known claim that a tradition of liberal consensus has characterized American political life from the time of the founders. Although he acknowledges the force of Hartz's thesis, Greenstone nevertheless finds it inadequate for explaining prominent instances of American political discord, most notably the Civil War. Originally published in 1993. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.