Selected Political Writings of Price (Cambridge History of Political Thought Original Series, Facsimile Edition)

Author: (British) Price edited
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2003-05-01
Features: Richard Price was an eminent Welsh philosopher and Dissenting minister. His political pamphlets won him considerable fame in the eighteenth century as a supporter of the American rebels in their struggle for independence, and for the enthusiasm with which he greeted the opening events of the French Revolution. It was this enthusiasm which provoked Edmund Burke into writing Reflections on the Revolution in France. Price is noteworthy as a defender of freedom of thought (especially on religious matters), as a proponent of parliamentary reform, and as an advocate of a minimalist conception of government. He espoused the doctrine of natural rights and the principle of self-government, namely that every individual capable of independent judgment has the right to participate in some measure in the government of his society, and that every community capable of independence has the right to govern itself. This book is a collection of Price's most important pamphlets of the period 1759-89, and is accompanied by a comprehensive introduction putting Price's work in context, complete bibliographical material, chronology, and biographical notes on persons mentioned in the texts.