Public Goods, Private Goods.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: October 1, 2001
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 152
ISBN-13: 9780691089034
Subjects: Liberalism & centre democratic ideologies; Political science & theory; Philosophy; Ethics & Moral Philosophy; Political; Classics; Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy; Political Philosophy; Moral conditions; Liberalism; Political ethics
First sentence: IN 1814 ONE OF THE founding figures of European liberalism, Benjamin Constant, published what was to become his most influential book on politics, De l'esprit de conquete et de l'usurpation.
Description: "Much political thinking today, particularly that influenced by liberalism, assumes a clear distinction between the public and the private, and holds that the correct understanding of this distinction should weigh heavily in our attitude to human goods. It is widely held, for instance, that the state may address human action in the "public" realm but not in the "private." In Public Goods, Private Goods Raymond Geuss exposes the profound flaws of such thinking and calls for a more nuanced approach.

Drawing on a series of colorful examples from the ancient world, he illustrates some of the many ways in which actions can in fact be understood as public or private."--BOOK JACKET.