Democracy is today universally considered to be a good thing, yet in history has been frequently criticised. Ross Harrison argues the merits of democracy by tracing its history from the works of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, The American Federalists and Hume, Bentham, the Mills, Hegel and Marx. This historical perspective provides a repertory of specific problems where democracy converges upon the values of liberty, equality, knowledge and welfare. These same values can be used to argue the benefits and demerits of democracy. Any overall assessment must therefore take account of such complexity. Democracy shows us how we may navigate between these moral conflicts, by examining the paradoxes and problems that arise and arguing their resolution.Ross Harrison provides a clear analytical justification of democracy, informed by facts and detailed knowledge of the work of major thinkers of the past. This book is ideal for both those with an interest in the arguments for democracy, and students of politics or philosophy who will find this an excellent introduction to the term.

Democracy

Politics & Social Sciences

Ross Harrison

Politics & Government

Routledge

This volume is concerned with the concept of rationality and the interrelations between rationality, belief and desire in the explanation and evaluation of human action. The book is conceived and structured to represent some of the most important general differences of approach to these problems, and also to connect them with problems about the relation of individual to social behaviour which are of central interest to historians, social theorists and economists as well as to philosophers. The essays have all been commissioned for this volume and have not appeared elsewhere. The idea for the book arose from the meetings of philosophers and social scientists sponsored by the Thyssen Foundation, and is therefore a continuation of the informal series begun by C. Hookway and P. Pettit (eds.) Action and Interpretation (C. U. P. 1978).

Rational Action

Philosophy

Cambridge University Press

Shadow of the Wraith (Nexus)

Science & Math

Shadow Archer Publishing

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Books by Ross Harrison