The Democracy Reader - by Steven M Cahn & Andrew T Forcehimes & Robert B Talisse (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

This timely anthology gathers forty historical and contemporary treatments of democracy. Short introductions precede each reading and a general introduction increases student comprehension across the spectrum of readings. This volume is ideal for both the undergraduate and graduate students in political theory and philosophy courses.

Historical readings include selections from Plato, Aristotle, Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the US Founding Fathers, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, John Stuart Mill, W.E.B. Du Bois, John Dewey, and John Rawls. Contemporary readings include essays by Richard J. Arneson, Elizabeth Anderson, Sevla Benhabib, David Estlund, Jason Brennan, Julia Maskivker, Iris Marion Young, and Robert B. Talisse.

Review Quotes

"Cahn, Talisse, and Forcehimeshave put together a wide-ranging and thoughtfully crafted collection to explore the philosophical debates about democracy, from Plato's challenge to the modern conflict between self-government and political equality. Each text comes with a crisp introduction that alerts the reader to the author's central thesis. This volume will prove to be an ideal resource in every political philosophy classroom at the undergraduate and graduate level." --Candice Delmas, assistant professor of philosophy and political science, Northeastern University

"A valuable resource for anyone interested in the study of democracy--its nature, its value, its limitations. This volume offers a diverse and comprehensive array of sources, both classical and contemporary, that will prove helpful for students, teachers, and the public at large." --Claudio Lopez-Guerra, associate professor of political science and PPEL (philosophy, politics, economics, and law), University of Richmond

A valuable resource for anyone interested in the study of democracy--its nature, its value, its limitations. This volume offers a diverse and comprehensive array of sources, both classical and contemporary, that will prove helpful for students, teachers, and the public at large.

Cahn, Talisse, and Forcehimeshave put together a wide-ranging and thoughtfully crafted collection to explore the philosophical debates about democracy, from Plato's challenge to the modern conflict between self-government and political equality. Each text comes with a crisp introduction that alerts the reader to the author's central thesis. This volume will prove to be an ideal resource in every political philosophy classroom at the undergraduate and graduate level.

About the Author

Steven M. Cahn is professor emeritus of philosophy at the City University of New York Graduate Center.
Robert B. Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.
Andrew Forcehimes is associate professor of philosophy at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.