History of Western Political Thought (Volume 3: 16th to 18th Century)

Author: Xu Datong, Chief Editor; Gao Jian, Volume Chief Editor
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-03-01
Features: This volume is divided into three historical periods: the 15th-16th centuries, the 17th century, and the 18th century. It focuses on introducing the political thought of figures such as Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Bodin, Althusius, Grotius, Hook, Milton, Harrington, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Paine, Jefferson, Hume, Burke, and Kant. The secularization and modernization of political theory are prominent characteristics of political thought during this period. Due to the development of capitalist production relations and the establishment of the dominance of the market economy in the West, the political view of rights replaced the theological view of politics, becoming the prevailing political perspective. Natural rights and the social contract theory became the starting points and pathways for arguing new political ideas, with liberalism emerging as the dominant ideology. At the same time, the complex and acute contradictions arising from capitalist development led to intense competition among various schools of thought. The differences in historical and cultural traditions among European and North American countries, along with divergent paths of capitalist development, resulted in distinct features in their political thought. Against the backdrop of the English and French Revolutions, two paradigms emerged, forming the "constitutional democracy" and "radical democracy" traditions, represented respectively by Locke and Rousseau.