Synopses & Reviews
Stephen Salkever shows that reading Aristotle is a starting point for discussing contemporary political problems in new ways that avoid the opposition between liberal individualism and republican communitarianism, between the politics of rights and the politics of virtues.
Originally published in 1990.
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Review
One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1991
Review
"Stephen Salkever's [book] does more than explain Aristotle's understanding of the relation between theory and practice. It advocates a new style of theorizing--as old as Aristotle, but new to liberal democracy's defenders and critics. Salkever not only sheds light on Aristotle's political theory, but also presents a reconception of liberal democracy that reveals its merits, and allows us to evaluate policies and institutions in light of its best potentialities.... His work deserves to receive the attention bestowed on Rawls and Arendt or MacIntyre."
--Mary P. Nichols, The Review of Politics
Review
"Insightful and carefully argued.... Regarding modern politics, Salkever makes a compelling case for moral education, mutual understanding, and the avoidance of doctrinal extremes."
--Fred D. Miller, Jr., The Times Literary Supplement
Review
"Absolutely essential for any serious student of Aristotle's moral and political philosophy."
--Anthony J. Celano, Canadian Philosophical Reviews
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-281) and index.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | |
| Introduction | 3 |
1 | Aristotle's Teleology and the Tradition of Evaluative Explanation | 13 |
2 | Theorizing the Human Good | 57 |
3 | How Theory Informs Practice: Virtues and Rules in Aristotelian Practical Philosophy | 105 |
4 | Gendered Virtue: Plato and Aristotle on the Politics of Virility | 165 |
5 | Reconceiving Liberal Democracy, Part I: Democracy as a Range of Possibilities | 205 |
6 | Reconceiving Liberal Democracy, Part II: Liberal Virtues and the Public Life | 237 |
| References | 265 |
| Index | 283 |