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It profits me but little, after all, that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life, and if so monopolizes movement and life that when it languishes everything languishes around it, that when it sleeps everything must sleep, and that when it dies the state itself must perish. There are countries in Europe where the native considers himself as a kind of settler, indifferent to the fate of the spot which he inhabits. The greatest changes are effected there without his concurrence, and (unless chance may have apprised him of the event) without his knowledge; nay, more, the condition of his village, the police of his street, the repairs of the church or the parsonage, do not concern him; for he looks upon all these things as unconnected with himself and as the property of a powerful stranger whom he calls the government. He has only a life interest in these possessions, without the spirit of ownership or any ideas of improvement. This want of interest in his own affairs goes so far that if his own safety or that of his children is at last endangered, instead of trying to avert the peril, he will fold his arms and wait till the whole nation comes to his aid. This man who has so completely sacrificed his own free will does not, more than any other person, love obedience; he cowers, it is true, before the pettiest officer, but he braves the law with the spirit of a conquered foe as soon as its superior force is withdrawn; he perpetually oscillates between servitude and license. When a nation has arrived at this state, it must either change its customs and its laws, or perish; for the source of public virtues is dried up; and though it may contain subjects, it has no citizens
 
Tocqueville, Alexis de
Democracy in America, Vol. 1
1848 , p. 92

 

Basic bibliography

> Some introductory texts to political philosophy
> Some liberal/libertarian texts
> Some article/text collections
> Some egalitarian texts

 

Some introductory texts to political philosophy (in priority order):

Hayek, F. A., 1960, The Constitution of Liberty (Routledge, London) RECOMMENDED
 
 

Together with Law, Legislation and Liberty (1982), The Constitution of Liberty represents Professor Hayek's masterpiece, and it is one of the most important texts of political philosophy from a contemporary, classical liberal perspective. It is not, therefore, an intorductory book to political philosophy in general. However, because of its comprehensive approach, and since introductory texts to general political philosophy hardly address classical liberalism, we have decided to insert this book in this section. The wonderful simplicity and clearness of Hayek's writing style can make it a pleasure to read also to those who are not familiar with texts of political philosophy.

Contents: PART 1: THE VALUE OF FREEDOM: 1. Liberty and Liberties; 2. The Creative Powers of a Free Civilization; 3. The Common sense of Progress; 4. Freedom, Reason and Tradition; 5. Responsibility and Freedom; 6. Equality, Value and Merit; 7. Majority Rule; 8. Employment and Independence. PART 2: FREEDOM AND THE LAW: 9. Coercion and the State; 10. Law, Commands and Order; 11. The Origins of the Rule of Law; 12. The American Contribution: Constitutionalism; 13. Liberalism and Administration: The Rechtsstaat; 14. The Safeguards of Individual Liberty; 15. Economic Policy and the Rule of Law; 16. The Decline of the Law. PART 3: FREEDOM AND THE WELFARE STATE: 17. The Decline of Socialism and the Rise of the Welfare State; 18. Labour Unions and Employment; 19. Social Security; 20. Taxation and Redistribution; 21. The Monetary Framework; 22. Housing and Town Planning; 23. Agricolture and Natural Resources; 24. Education and Research. POSTSCRIPT: Why I Am Not a Conservative

   

Wolff, J., 2006, An introduction to political philosophy (Oxford University Press, Oxford ; New York) RECOMMENDED
   
 

This is an excellently written, easy to read, brief introduction to some of the main themes of political philosophy. It covers the main topics with a rather neutral and critical approach, emphasizing the main difficulties of the some most important currents of political thought. Among these, however, is not included classical liberalism (Hayek is cited only once; Mises, Friedman and Leoni, for instance, never), though it is included libertarianism (Nozick, for example, is cited relatively often).

Contents: 1. The State of Nature; 2. Justifying the State; 3. Who Should rule?; 4. The Place of Liberty; 5. The distribution of Property; 6. Individualism, Justice, Feminism.
   

Hausman, D. M. and M. S. McPherson, eds., 2006, Economic analysis, moral philosophy, and public policy (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK). RECOMMENDED.
   
 

This is a very beautiful and up-to-date introductory book to political philosophy. It is not difficult to read though the level of analysis goes to a certain level of detail. It is rather neutral in its approach and gives a good insight of the issues of political philosophy.
   
 

Contents: 1. Rationality and Morality; 2. Welfare and Consequences; 3. Liberty, Rights, Equality and Justice; 4. Moral Mathematics

   

Rawls, J., 2007, Lectures on the history of political philosophy (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.)
   
 

This is an in-depth analysis of some of the main classical political philosophers (namely, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Mill and Marx) from an egalitarian point of view. It is neither particularly beautifully written nor particularly easy to read, though the level of analysis is quite elevate (though from an egalitarian perspective).

Contents: 1. Lectures on Hobbes; 2. Lectures on Locke; 3. Lectures on Hume; 4. Lectures on Rousseau; 5. Lectures on Mill; 6. Lectures on Marx.
   

Kymlicka, W., 2002, Contemporary political philosophy (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
   
 

This is a critical analysis of some of the main currents of political thought. However, as most books of this kind, it does not cover Classical Liberalism, but only Libertarianism. The perspective is again egalitarian.

Contents: 1. Utilitarianism; 2. Liberal Equality; 3. Libertarianism; 4. Marxism; 5. Communitarianism; 6. Citizenship Theory; 5. Multiculturalism; 6. Feminism.
   

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Some liberal/libertarian texts:

Acton, J. E., 1993, The history of freedom (The Acton Institute, Ottawa, NW).

Antiseri, D., 1995, Liberi perché fallibili (Rubbettino, Catanzaro).

Antiseri, D., 1998, Liberali, quelli veri e quelli falsi (Rubbettino, Catanzaro).

Bastiat, F., 2007, The Bastiat collection (Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn).

Berlin, I., 2002, Liberty : incorporating four essays on liberty (Oxford University Press, Oxford).

Cole, M., 2005, Shopping for Law in a Coasean Market. NYU Journal of Law and Liberty 1, 111-146.

Cubeddu, R., 1993, The philosophy of the Austrian school (Routledge, London).

Cubeddu, R., 2003, I margini del liberalismo (Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli).

Cubeddu, R., 2006, Le istituzioni e la libertà (Liberilibri, Macerata).

De Jasay, A., 1985, The state (Blackwell, Oxford).

De Jasay, A., 2002, Justice and its surroundings (Liberty Fund Inc., Indianapolis).

Dworkin, R., 1977, Taking rights seriously (Duckworth, London).

Dworkin, R., 1986, Law's empire (Fontana Press, London).

Dworkin, R. M., ed., 1981, What is equality? Part 2: equality of resources (OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford).

Friedman, M., 1962, Capitalism and freedom (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).

Hayek, F. A., 1945, The use of knowledge in society. The American Economic Review 35, 519-530.

Hayek, F. A., 1960, The constitution of liberty (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London).

Hayek, F. A., 1978, New studies (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London).

Hayek, F. A., 1982, Law, legislation and liberty : a new statement of the liberal principles of justice and political economy (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London).

Hayek, F. A., 2002, Competition as a discovery procedure. The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 5, 9-23.

Knight, F., 1947, Freedom and reform (Liberty Press, Indianapolis).

Leoni, B., 1961, Freedom and the law (Liberty Fund, Indianapolis).

Mill, J. S., 1998, On liberty and other essays (Oxford University Press, Oxford ; New York).

Mises, L., 2005, Liberalism (Liberty Fund Inc., Indianapolis).

Mises, L., 1981, Socialism : an economic and sociological analysis (Liberty Classics, Indianapolis).

Mises, L., 2006, The ultimate foundation of economic science (Liberty Fund Inc., Indianapolis).

Mises, L., 2007, Human action (Liberty Fund, Indianapolis).

Nozick, R., 1974, Anarchy, state, and utopia (Blackwell, Oxford).

Ortega y Gasset, 1985, The revolt of the masses (University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Ind.).

Popper, K. R., 1957, The open society and its enemies. Vol.1, The spell of Plato (Routledge & K. Paul, London).

Rothbard, M. N., 1998, The ethics of liberty (New York University Press, New York).

Salin, P., 1985, L'arbitraire fiscal (Laffont, Paris).

Salin, P., 2000, Libéralisme (Odile Jacob, Paris).

Salin, P., 2010, Revenir au capitalisme pour éviter les crises (Odile Jacob, Paris).

Schumpeter, J. A., 1949, 3rd edition, The theory of economic development (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.) .

Schumpeter, J. A. and R. Swedberg, 1994, Capitalism, socialism, and democracy (Routledge, London ; New York)

Tocqueville, A. d., 1994, Democracy in America (David Campbell, London).

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Some article/text collections

Rosen, M. and J. Wolff, eds., 1999, Political thought (OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford).

Schauer, F. and W. Sinnott-Armstrong, eds., 1996, The philosophy of law (OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford).

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Some egalitarian texts

Cohen, G. A., Equality of what? On welfare, goods, and capabilities. In Nussbaum M.C., Sen, A.K., ed., 1993, The Quality of Life (Oxford University Press, Oxford), pp. 9-29.

Parfit, D., 1997, Equality and priority. Ratio, 202-221

Rawls, J., 1973, A theory of justice (Oxford University Press, London).

Rawls, J. and E. Kelly, 2001, Justice as fairness : a restatement (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.).

Rousseau, J.-J. and M. W. Cranston, 1984, A discourse on inequality (Penguin, Harmondsworth).

Rousseau, J.-J. and D. A. Cress, 1987, Basic political writings (Hackett Pub. Co, Indianapolis).

Sen, A. K., Equality of what?. In Sen, A.K., 1982, Choice, welfare and measurement (MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.).

Sen, A. K., Capability and well being. In Nussbaum M.C., Sen, A.K., ed., 1993, The Quality of Life (Oxford University Press, Oxford), pp. 30-53.

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