Liberal Modernism and Democratic Individuality - Hardcover

9780691025964: Liberal Modernism and Democratic Individuality

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691025967 ISBN 13: 9780691025964

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1996

For over thirty years, George Kateb--along with John Rawls, the late Judith Shklar, and Sir Isaiah Berlin--has been one of liberal political theory's most distinctive voices. An eloquent spokesman for the moral dimensions of individual rights and constitutional democracy, he is a fierce critic of statism and communitarianism and a staunch advocate of individualism in the struggle against all forms of paternalism, conformity, and group-think. Kateb's broad concern as a political theorist has been to unveil the cultural, moral, and existential dimensions of constitutionalism in America. The essays in this book are assembled in his honor, but they are not only celebratory; they pay him homage through their authors' effort to understand the fate of democratic individuality in the modern age.

John Hollander and Cornel West contribute reflections on Kateb as a person and a political theorist. Dana Villa, Judith Shklar, and Thomas Dumm write on political theory and the claims of democratic individuality. Democratic individuality and the politics of identity are discussed by Tracy Strong, William Connolly, Benjamin Barber, and Leslie Theile; culture, sensibility, and the self, by David Bromwich, Helene Keyssar, Kim Townsend, and George Shulman. Democratic individuality and civic action are the subjects of essays by Amy Gutmann, Jeffrey Abramson, and Austin Sarat.

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About the Author:

Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science and Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought at Amherst College. Dana Villa is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Amherst College.

Review:

"[This volume] possesses many virtues. It testifies admirably to Kateb's growing legacy. It highlights Kateb's disquietude about communitarianism for supposedly encouraging docility and even barbarism. [It is] . . . a tribute to and a critical assessment of George Kateb's writings. . ." (American Political Science Review)

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