Philosophy underpins political concepts, ideals and debates. The extent and nature of our rights, liberties and responsibilities, the role of the state and the best means of its governance are all questions to have been addressed by great philosophers throughout history - and questions students of political philosophy must engage with. An Introduction to Political Philosophy offers a thorough, lucid and stimulating account of the central theories and ideas encountered in political philosophy. The text is thematically structured, covering the discipline's principal ideologies: Statism;...

Aristotle is often underrated in educational circles but the impact of his philosophy and his actions are evident in the schools and universities around us today. Aristotle developed the first proper university that had different departments and vast collections of texts and artefacts. His philosophy has also influenced the greatest minds since his time, from Aquinas to today's logicians, rationalists, and empiricists. The influence of his educational thinking and his philosophy in general helped underpin the Renaissance and the modern era. In a nutshell, Aristotle took our thinking and...

John Locke is one of the great minds in educational history. Drawing on his perceptive observations of families and children he saw the importance of adapting learning to the child's dispositions. Critical of schools, he is the fountainhead of home tutoring, child-centred learning, and the importance of enjoyable learning. But for Locke learning was not about facts: a good education produced gentlemen who could in turn adapt themselves to commerce and politics. Locke's philosophy helped provide rigour to the scientific revolution, the impetus for the expansion of schools for the poor...