Locke & the Legislative Point of View – Toleration Contested Principles & the Law: Toleration, Contested Principles, and the Law - Hardcover

Tuckness, Alex

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691095035 ISBN 13: 9780691095035

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Determining which moral principles should guide political action is a vexing question in political theory. This is especially true when faced with the "toleration paradox": believing that something is morally wrong but also believing that it is wrong to suppress it. In this book, Alex Tuckness argues that John Locke's potential contribution to this debate - what Tuckness terms the "legislative point of view" - has long been obscured by overemphasis on his doctrine of consent. Building on a line of reasoning Locke made explicit in his later writings on religious toleration, Tuckness explores the idea that we should act politically only on those moral principles that a reasonable legislator would endorse; someone, that is, who would avoid enacting measures that could be self-defeating when applied by fallible human beings. Tuckness argues that the legislative point of view has implications that go far beyond the question of religious toleration. Locke suggests an approach to political justification that is a provocative alternative to the utilitarian, contractualist and perfectionist approaches dominating contemporary liberalism. The legislative point of view is relevant to our think

About this title

About the Author

Alex Tuckness is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University.

From the Back Cover

"This clearly written book tackles an indisputably major topic of long-term importance, and does so with ingenuity. No one has developed the idea of a 'legislative point of view' as has Tuckness. He does a spirited and convincing job of explaining the originality of his interpretation of Locke, and finds something new and fresh to say about some very well-worn topics."--Richard Vernon, author ofThe Career of Toleration: John Locke, Jonas Proast, and After

From the Inside Flap

"This clearly written book tackles an indisputably major topic of long-term importance, and does so with ingenuity. No one has developed the idea of a 'legislative point of view' as has Tuckness. He does a spirited and convincing job of explaining the originality of his interpretation of Locke, and finds something new and fresh to say about some very well-worn topics."--Richard Vernon, author of The Career of Toleration: John Locke, Jonas Proast, and After

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691095035
• ISBN 13: 9780691095035
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224