Items related to The Mythological State and its Empire: 59 (Routledge...

The Mythological State and its Empire: 59 (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought) - Hardcover

Book 47 of 165: Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought

Grant, David

 
9780415988759: The Mythological State and its Empire: 59 (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0415988756 ISBN 13: 9780415988759
Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

We see the modern State as the most rational form of governing yet devised, and one which properly recognises our inherent individual rights. However, as the histories of colonialism and imprisonment reveal, it is also an intruder into the lives of generally unwilling individuals, constraining rights.

This book looks beneath the contradiction to see an entity willingly sustained by all individuals and for which we forgo our responsibility to and for ourselves. We place ourselves in the hands of those interests that promise to deal with our fears and desires the best.

Probing the work of political thinkers from Hobbes to Rawls, the book discovers a State that is a real, mythological entity, spreading across social and geographic space and concerned first with satisfying our two passions. Understanding this mythology may allow reason to emerge from its service to fear and desire, so that the modern State could become truly modern.

This book will be of interest to scholars in Sociology, Politics, Philosophy, and Law.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

David Grant received his PhD at the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales. He currently works as a government consultant in Sydney.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Routledge
Publication date
2008
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0415988756
ISBN 13 
9780415988759
Binding
Hardcover
Edition number
1
Number of pages
306