3rd Edition
Social and Political Philosophy A Contemporary Introduction
Preface and Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Social Philosophy and the Road to the Political Part I: Basic Issues within the Liberal Paradigm 3. The Problem of Political Authority 4. Distributive Justice 5. Toleration, Pluralism, and the Foundations of Liberalism Part II: Critique of the Liberal Paradigm: Challenges and Departures 6. Conservatism, Communitarianism, and Nationalism 7. Race and the Politics of Identity 8. Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality 9. Radical Critique: Marxism and Post-Modernism 10. Beyond the Nation State: Issues in Trans-National Justice 11. Beyond the Human: Environmental Issues and Climate Justice Epilogue: The Hope of Liberalism? Bibliography Index
Biography
John Christman is Professor of Philosophy, Political Science and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University. He has produced several books and edited volumes in social and political philosophy. These include The Myth of Property: Toward an Egalitarian Theory of Ownership (Oxford University Press, 1994), The Politics of Persons: Individual Autonomy and Socio-historical Selves (Cambridge University Press, 2010), and Reconceiving Freedom from the Shadows of Slavery: Liberty in a Non-Ideal World (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
Praise for the Second Edition:
"Christman's Social and Political Philosophy is without any doubt the most comprehensive and knowledgeable introduction we have at present. It is not only a thoughtful overview over all important philosophical traditions (not only the Anglo-American ones) but also all essential problems – from issues in marriage, gender or race to normative problems in human rights, global justice or immigration. It is unique in its close look at the complex links between the social issues and their role in different political conceptions. Christman helps us all to better understand social and political philosophy, and thereby to better understand contemporary societies and our place within them." --Beate Roessler, University of Amsterdam
