Politics without reason
Subtitle: the perfect world and the liberal ideal
By: David P. Levine.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 207
Subjects: Liberalism -- Philosophy; Political science -- Philosophy; United States -- Politics and government -- 1989- -- Philosophy
Description: "This book explores the common thread holding together seemingly diverse tendencies in attacks on liberalism. The author argues that ambivalence about the self and about desire as an expression of the self fosters the intense animosity we observe directed toward the liberal ideal. Ambivalence arises because the self is viewed as the locus of a destructive form of desire, one that must be controlled and repressed. The author argues that speaking of ambivalence toward the self is another way of speaking of ambivalence toward freedom, an ambivalence expressed in the impulse toward coercion that plays such a powerful role in the attack on liberalism."--Book cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Reason, desire and the self; title: The flight from reason; title: Family values; title: Moral renewal; title: Deception; title: Desire without limit; title: The ultimate fulfillment; title: Greed, morality and corruption; title: Corporate corruption; title: An imperfect world.