Defining the Common Good: Empire, Religion and Philosophy in Eighteenth-Century Britain

ISBN-13: 9780521442596 / Angielski / Twarda / 1994 / 488 str.

Peter N. Miller

Opis

This book discusses the crisis of the early modern state in eighteenth-century Britain and sets it in its European context. The American Revolution and the simultaneous demand for wider religious toleration at home challenged the principles of sovereignty and obligation that underpinned arguments about the character of the state. At stake was a fundamental challenge to the way in which politics was described. The Americans and their British supporters argued that individuals, by voting and thinking freely, ought to determine the "common good." These influential ideas continue to resonate today in the principles of "one man, one vote" and "freedom of thought."

Recenzje

' … Miller triumphantly succeeds in a work of sustained sophistication and remarkably wide learning … a powerful and remarkable vision which demands attention.' Jonathan Clark, The Times Literary Supplement

Spis treści

Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. The figure of Cicero; 2. A classical landscape; 3. State and empire; 4. The limits of sovereignty and obligation; 5. The common good, toleration and freedom of thought; 6. 'Alternatives' to the common good 1774–1776; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.