History of Political Thought: Property, Labor, and Commerce from Plato to Piketty

Jeffrey Bercuson

University of Toronto Press, Nov 17, 2020 - Political Science - 296 pages

A History of Political Thought is an accessible introduction to the history of political and economic thought; its main focus is the rise, and eventual consolidation, of modern market society. It asks: What are the effects of private property and commerce on individual well-being and on the stability of the political community?

A History of Political Thought answers this central question through the careful study of political philosophers and economists, from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century. The book does not have an ideological agenda and gives equal voice to thinkers on opposite sides of the political spectrum. This is one of its key merits and a mark of distinction: its willingness to treat stark opponents – Hobbes and Locke, Smith and Marx, Keynes and Hayek, among others – as equally worthy of serious study. In doing so, the book provides students with a very powerful arsenal of ideas about the evolution of the market and also provides a solid introduction to the history of political thought.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Plato Aristotle and Aquinas on the Corrupting Influence of Moneymaking Personal and Political: 9
• Machiavelli and Hobbes on the Possibility of Delightful Living: 25
• Locke on Labor and the Right to Accumulate without Limit: 41
• Smith and Kant on the Overwhelming Benefits of Commerce Domestic and International: 55
• Rousseau on Modern Discontent: 67
• Hegel on the Ethical Dimensions of the Market: 83
• Marx on Alienation and the Path to Human Emancipation: 97
• Lenin on the Revolutionary Vanguard: 113
• Tawney on the Demands of Equality and the Need for Democracy: 129
• Nietzsche on a Higher Concept of Culture: 145
• Keynes on the Art of Enjoyment: 157
• Hayek on the Limits of Knowledge: 171
• Rawls on Plutocracy and the Demands of Economic Justice: 187
• Piketty on the Dynamics of Wealth and Income Inequality in the TwentyFirst Century: 199
• Afterword: 213
• Notes: 219
• Bibliography: 253
• Index: 269

About the author

Jeffrey Bercuson is a professor in the School of English and Liberal Studies at Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology.

Bibliographic information

• Title: History of Political Thought: Property, Labor, and Commerce from Plato to Piketty; G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
• Author: Jeffrey Bercuson
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2020
• ISBN: 1487525907, 9781487525903
• Length: 296 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / General; Political Science / History & Theory