Reason and Self-Enactment in History and Politics

by Barnard, F. M.

• ISBN13: 9780773531291
• ISBN10: 0773531297
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-04-01
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ

Summary

F.M. Barnard goes beyond the seventeenth-century understanding of the social contract by making national self-enactment contingent on public reasons for individual liberty within civic mutuality. He examines the possibilities and limits for a self-enacting, principled politics, acknowledging reason and self-enactment as central concepts of historical and political thinking. He argues, however, that reason must be seen as practical reason, which only indirectly acts as a cause, while self-enactment must be understood as operating in relation to reciprocity with the other. Reason and Self-Enactment in History and Politics also offers a reappraisal of basic political principles and constructs. Barnard argues for bridging differences among a plurality of truths and forming practical judgments through cultivation of a sense of situational appropriateness.

Author Biography

F. M. Barnard is professor emeritus of political science, University of Western Ontario

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Introduction	p. 3
From Historical to Revolutionary Consciousness: Four Themes
Reasons in History: Causality of Ends	p. 25
Reasons in Politics: Explanation and Commitment	p. 51
Reasons, Ideology, and Politics	p. 72
Revolutionary Purpose: Rational and Natural Necessity	p. 97
From Public Reason to Representative Thinking: Four Voices
Practical Reason and Civic Mutuality: Christian Thomasius	p. 119
Public Reason and Political Self-Mastery: Jean-Jacques Rousseau	p. 145
Rational Principles and Civic Self-Legislation	p. 175
External Principles but no Banisters	p. 208
Epilogue: Highlights without Footnotes	p. 243
Index	p. 267
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