A Comprehensive History of Western Political Thought

Author: Liu Yu'an
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: The features of this book are as follows: First, this is a task of the times. Although we do not fully endorse the view of historical relativism, we must admit the following fact: for readers of different eras, the same thinker and the same political theory can have vastly different meanings. Second, in terms of its impact on human society and history, no political theory to date can be compared with the scientific socialism founded by Marx. However, Marx is absent in the published textbooks on the history of Western political thought in China. For the same reasons, we must adopt an objective, scientific, and historical attitude toward fascism and Nazism, which had significant (though disastrous) impacts in modern Western society, rather than resorting to simplistic methods like "banishment." We have also dedicated separate chapters to analyze and study these two ideologies. Third, regarding periodization, this book adopts the common practice in the West, dividing history into "historical" before World War II and "modern" after the war. In other words, this political thought history describes the history of the emergence, development, and evolution of Western political thought from ancient Greece to the period before World War II. As for the various political thoughts since the post-war era, we plan to explore them with readers in a book titled "Modern Western Political Trends."