Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates (Mit Press) - Softcover

Wenz, Peter S. S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262517566 ISBN 13: 9780262517560

Publisher: The MIT Press, 2012

Synopsis

Why Americans do not divide neatly into red and blue or right and left but form coalitions across party lines on hot-button issues ranging from immigration to same-sex marriage.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter S. Wenz is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Springfield and University Scholar at the University of Illinois. He is the author of Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates (MIT Press) and other books.

From Publishers Weekly:

The competing voices in the American political arena are given their due in this nuanced tour of some of the most chewed-over issues of the day. Wenz (Environmental Justice) posits that there are 12 major political philosophies (e.g., libertarianism, contractarianism, feminism and multiculturalism) that, taken in part or in whole, encompass the opinions of most Americans. Fourteen case studies illustrate how these approaches have applied in real-life scenarios, often creating unexpected partnerships and disagreements—most dramatically in the Supreme Court case Kelo v. New London, which centered on an eminent domain dispute and eventually saw the CATO Institute allied with the ACLU in favor of personal property rights. While discussions on the shifting legal status of pornography and the complex variables of the American health care system lack strongly unifying set -pieces, they convey a great deal of information about law and policy in a coherent manner. When Wenz occasionally gets personal, as he does in a wrenching and well-presented chapter on physician-assisted suicide, the book transcends talking points to become a satisfying exhibition of political philosophy in action. (Mar.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0262517566
• ISBN 13: 9780262517560
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 386