Product Description
In this major study of the foundations of modern political theory, the eminent political philosopher Ross Harrison explains, analyzes, and criticizes the work of Hobbes, Locke and their contemporaries.He provides a complete account of the turbulent historical background that shaped the political, intellectual and religious content of this philosophy.The book explores the limits of political authority and the relationship of the legitimacy of government to the will of its people in non-technical, accessible prose. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Brilliant exposition and critical discussion
This is an excellent explication and critical discussion of the main themes in Hobbes's and Locke's political philosophy.Harrison sets up the intellectual background very well, in terms of such issues as skepticism, natural law, and the problem of political authority, and draws illuminating connections and comparisons with other philosophers such as Grotius and Pufendorf.Harrison usefully brings in other texts by Hobbes and Locke to shed light on the major concepts.His interpretations are convincing and philosophically acute, and get to the heart of the matter.Highly recommended.

Best comparison of Hobbes and Locke I've read
Harrison does a great job of putting Hobbes and Locke into comparative perspective.This makes it easier to understand both philosophers' concept of the state of nature and the social contract.Moreover, the book adds in material about contemporaries such as Filmer, Hooker, and Grotius which places the thought of Hobbes and Locke in the context of the intellectual history of the times.Whatever the merits of Harrison's conclusions, the process of getting there is engaging and enlightening. ... Read more

Product Description
The philosophical thought of John Locke, a physician by profession, was colored by Locke's medical outlook to a much greater degree than had ever been suspected. Patrick Romanell, in "John Locke and Medicine", examines Locke's relatively unknown medical writings and asks how Locke's own distinctive conception of human knowledge, traditionally classified under British empiricism, developed. He finds that, of all of Locke's interests, it is medicine that accounts most directly and effectively for his practical ideal of life and for his constant appeal to 'profitable knowledge'. In his masterpiece "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)", Locke attempted, as he stated it, 'to describe to others, more particularly than had been done before, what it is their minds do, when they perform that action, which they call knowing'. Locke was intent on describing 'the natural history of knowledge' and he required an appropriate method of inquiry. Romanell shows that it was Locke's medical thought and his background as a physician that provided the paradigm for his famed 'historical, plain method' of inquiry that he applied to his philosophical analysis of human understanding.In addition to the light this sheds on Locke's philosophy, this new information causes us to reconsider several other significant issues: the nature of the debate between the competing schools of Continental Rationalism and British Empiricism; the position of Sydenham the physician in Locke's intellectual development; and, the subtle differences of temper within the long tradition of British Empiricism itself. "John Locke and Medicine" is the first book to discuss the hitherto neglected relationship between Locke the physician and Locke the philosopher. A major contribution to the study of John Locke, it is also a fascinating account of one of the many instances of the meeting of medicine and philosophy in the history of ideas. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of new essays on John Locke's philosophy provides the most up-to-date entrée into the exciting developments taking place in the study of one of the most important contributors to modern thought. Covering Locke's natural philosophy, his political and moral thought and his philosophy of religion, this book brings together the pioneering work of some of the world's leading Locke scholars. ... Read more