The debate between impartialists and their critics has dominated both moral and political philosophy for over a decade. Characteristically, impartialists argue that any sensible form of impartialism can accommodate the partial concerns we have for others. By contrast, partialists deny that this is so. They see the division as one which runs exceedingly deep and argue that, at the limit, impartialist thinking requires that we marginalise those concerns and commitments that make our lives meaningful. This book attempts to show both that the dispute between impartialists and their critics runs very deep, and that it can nonetheless be resolved. The resolution begins by asking how impartialist political philosophy can defend the priority of justice when it conflicts with people's commitments to their conceptions of the good. It is argued that priority can only defended if political impartialism has a moral foundation, and that moral foundation must not be a foundation in the ideal of equality (as is often thought), but a foundation in the partial concerns we have for others. In short, impartialist moral philosophy must take our partial concerns as central if it is to gain allegiance. However, if it does take our partial concerns as central, then it can generate a defence of political impartialism which shows why justice must take priority, but which also acknowledges that pluralism about the good is permanent.

Impartiality in Moral and Political Philosophy

Literature & Fiction

Mendus, Susan

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

Women in Western Political Philosophy: Kant to Nietzsche

<p>THIS IMPORTANT NEW book analyzes the position of women in the writings of the major political philosophers. The authors argue that the moral status of women both affects and is affected by the conception of their political status. Women have only recently been given the rights of citizens. Hitherto they were thought not to be eligible for citizenship and have been considered members of the political community only through the mediation of their husbands and fathers. These issues are placed in a broad philosophical framework. Moral and political beliefs about women are often found to be consequent upon deeper metaphysical, or even biological, beliefs. This book successfully presents a feminist perspective on questions central to political philosophy and raises issues about the philosophical underpinning of political theory. ---ELLEN KENNEDY is Lecturer in Politics at the University of York and Visiting Lecturer in the University of Freiburg. During 1984-6 she was a Fellow of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foun¬dation. SUSAN MENDUS is Lecturer in Philosophy and Morrell Fellow in Toleration at the University of York. She is the co-editor, with John Horton, of Aspects of Toleration (1985). She is the author of Freedom and the Open Society: Henri Bergson's Contribution to Political Philosophy (1986) and the editor and translator of Carl Schmitt, The Crisis of Parhamentary Democracy (1985).</p>

Politics & Social Sciences

Kennedy, Ellen

Social Sciences

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

Toleration and the Limits of Liberalism

Politics & Government

Macmillan Educational Corp

Humanities Press

Toleration and the Limits of Liberalism (Issues in Political Theory)

Humanities Pr

This book begins with a discussion of John Locke's "Letter of Toleration" and John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty". Drawing on the theories of Locke and Mill, it analyzes the concept of toleration and explores its relationship to other central concepts in political thought, notably liberty and equality. It then attempts to respond to some important problems concerning toleration: Why is toleration thought to be good? When ought it to be limited and why? Should we tolerate the intolerable?

Philosophy

Sexuality and Subordination uses the insights of a range of disciplines to examine the construction of gender in nineteenth-century Britain and France. With contributions from history, literature, sociology and philosophy, its interdisciplinary approach demonstrates the extent to which a common focus can illuminate problems inaccessible to any single discipline. 'Victorianism' is generally understood to mean sexual double standards, hypocrisy and prudery among the middle classes. But, as this collection shows, the representation of sexuality in the nineteenth century was more diverse and complex than is sometimes realized. Both art and literature point to the deployment of sexual metaphors and imagery, and the language of educated public opinion was shaped by the dichotomy between mind and matter, between rationality and sexuality. The contributors to this volume explore how women, in questioning their subordination, had to challenge a construction of femininity which imposed sexual ignorance.

Sexuality and Subordination: Interdisciplinary Studies of Gender in the Nineteenth Century

History

Europe

Routledge& Kegan Paul

<p>Using insights from history, literature, sociology and philosophy, Sexuality and Subordination examines the construction of gender in nineteenth century Britain and France.</p>

Rendall, Jane

Routledge

Justifying Toleration: Conceptual and Historical Perspectives

Cambridge University Press

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