Political Philosophy Classic Readings (English Photographic Reprint Edition)

Author: William Ebenstein
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-28
Features: The ideal way to study Western humanities is to engage with classical original texts from the outset, which can minimize the risks of misinterpretation and distortion. The Peking University Western Studies Reproduction Series, initially launching a philosophy series, covers the main branches of philosophy in a general sense. All selections have been rigorously vetted by renowned scholars in relevant fields to systematically and comprehensively meet the needs of students studying Western philosophy. This series is published by the world-famous higher education publishing institution, Thomson Learning, and fully embodies its consistent style of simplicity and precision, making it an excellent introductory textbook. The book includes thirteen important chapters from the classic works of thirteen Western political philosophers—or, as the editors put it, the great political thinkers. If readers can read through all the selected texts in this book, they can broadly grasp the mainstream of Western political thought and political science over more than a thousand years. The only drawback is that the author did not include Kant's political philosophy, leaving some gaps in our understanding of this mainstream. The author places greater emphasis on American and British political philosophers, particularly British ones, which may be due to his political inclinations. However, in the field of political philosophy, since the rise of German philosophy in Western thought, German perspectives and theories have always held significant weight, much like the cases of Wittgenstein, Hayek, and Popper. This seems to be an interesting phenomenon in the Austrian academic community. Additionally, from the perspective of an Easterner, the editor's simplistic naming of the book as Introduction to Political Thinkers without including political thinkers from beyond the West is a rather obvious bias.