The man within the breast,the supreme impartial spectator,and other impartial spectators in Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Adam Smith infused the expression ‘impartial spectator’ with a plexus of related meanings, one of which is a super-being, which bears parallels to monotheistic ideas of God. As for any genuine, identified, human spectator, he can be deemed impartial only presumptively. Such presumptive impartiality as regards the incident does not of itself carry extensive implications about his intelligence, nor about his being aligned with benevolence towards any larger whole. We may posit, however, a being who is impartial and who holds higher levels of intelligence and of benevolence, and then converse over what her sentiments would be about the matter under discussion. It is natural to conceive of a being who is unsurpassable in such qualities, who is morally supreme, and who naturally takes the definite article the without having been definitized by the writer (because unnecessary, just as we speak of ‘the world’). Signal passages, new to edition 6, suggest that Smith formulates the man within the breast as a representative of the always present and everywhere morally supreme impartial spectator. When Smith speaks of the man within the breast as ‘the supposed impartial spectator’ (all new to edition 6), we interpret ‘supposed’ as sup-pos-ed (purported), not sup-pos’d (posited).     

Selected writings on Philosophy,Religion and Politics

Benedetto Croce was the author of the most important and original theory of history in the 20th century. His theory was that of ‘absolute historicism’, and this necessarily entailed an acute critique of inherited ideas about the Enlightenment. This article studies both Croce's theoretical analysis of Enlightenment and his historical analysis of the Neapolitan Enlightenment. Croce's interest in the Enlightenment had political as well as philosophical roots. All over Europe in the 1920s and 1930s historical and theoretical research was occurring into in the Age of Enlightenment. The broad goal of such research was to bring forth a new concept of reason, which would have purchase in the contemporary debate about rationalism and irrationalism. This debate, which flourished in the era of totalitarian regimes, raised a series of further questions: What was culture? What was the task of culture in the fight against political irrationalism? What was the relationship between culture and the growth of public opinion? With respect to the latter relationship an important role was played by intellectuals, as evinced by the works of Benda, Max Weber and Croce himself. The genealogy of the modern intelligentsia led again to Enlightenment. In the third part of the article Croce's position on this issue is discussed in the light of his historical researches on Enlightenment by reference to his correspondence with two young historians, Delio Cantimori and Franco Venturi.     

A reader in international relations and political theory

Jerusalem is the holy city for Leo Strauss. It is the symbol of Judaism; moreover it is a root of Western culture together with Athens. But it would be wrong to label Strauss' philosophical thought with such definitions as ‘Jewish philosophy’. Therefore it is surprising that many contemporary interpreters strive to find a confessional or religious foundation in Strauss' thought. On the contrary, many of Strauss's texts testify his choice in favour of Athens, i.e., of philosophy. Yet the choice of Athens does not imply a rejection of Jerusalem. Strauss is convinced that Jerusalem plays a central role in Western civilisation and considers the indifference to religion and the ideologisation of philosophy completed in the modern age as causes of Western crisis, i.e., of contemporary nihilism. Philosophy and religion are forced to live side by side (like philosophy and politics) because neither reason nor revelation can express the ultimate word on the good and the just, i.e., on truth.     

What is ‘First Philosophy’? Comments on Richard Velkley's Heidegger,Strauss, and the Premises of Philosophy

In a noteworthy new study, Richard Velkley brings together Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss as part of a reexamination of the foundations and nature of philosophical questioning. In what follows, I critically reflect on this shared search for foundations, and particularly on the role of Plato in Strauss's effort to forge a new path for philosophy which moves away from Heidegger without losing sight of him.     

On the Degeneration of Public Philosophy in America: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Mark Blitz’s Plato’s Political Philosophy is reviewed in this article with special attention to two recurring themes. The first is the relation of parts to wholes and, especially, how the knowledge of parts and wholes in general and of political parts and wholes in particular relate to the philosophic attempt to know the whole itself. The second theme is that of philosophy’s relation to piety and, in particular, how the attempt to know the whole, as understood by Blitz, relates to the fundamental opposition between piety and philosophy. Attention to these themes, the author argues, helps to explain peculiarities of Blitz’s approach, especially his greater emphasis on articulating the entire “realm of political philosophy” than on explicating individual dialogues and his tendency to connect and divide Platonic thoughts, themes, and problems rather than to bore into individual Socratic problems.     

Feature Reviews

Abstract

Rosanvallon, Pierre; trans. Barbara Harshav The New Social Question: Rethinking the Welfare State Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 139 pp. + xii. $22.95, ISBN 0-691-01640-2. Publication Date: 2000

UNITED STATES. Politics and Public Policy: Perry, Michael J. We the People: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme Court. New York: Oxford University Press. 288 pp., $35.00, ISBN 0-19-512362-X

Bamberger, Michael A. Reckless Legislation: How Lawmakers Ignore the Constitution. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 233 pp., $32.00, ISBN 0-8135-2732-5 Publication Date: January 2000

Wolbrecht, Christina. The Politics of Women's Rights. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 241 pp., $55.00 cloth, $17.95 paper ISBN 0-691-04856-8 cloth ISBN 0-691-04857-6 paper Publication Date: September 2000

Ledeen, Michael A. Tocqueville on American Character. New York: St. Martin's Press. 229 pp., $23.95, ISBN 0-312-25231-5 Publication Date: July 2000

Shaiko, Ronald G. Voices and Echoes for the Environment: Public Interest Representation in the 1990s and Beyond. New York: Columbia University Press. 300 pp., $49.50 cloth, $21.00 paper ISBN 0-231-11354-4 cloth ISBN 0-231-11355-2 paper Publication Date: January 1999

Burke, Sheila; Eric R. Kingson; and Uwe E. Reinhardt, eds. Social Security and Medicare: Individual versus Collective Risk and Responsibility. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 218 pp., $20.95 paper ISBN 0-8157-1283-9 paper Publication Date: April 2000

Karabell, Zachary. The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 308 pp., $27.50, ISBN 0-375-40086-9 Publication Date: April 2000

Pratt, Richard C., with Zachary Smith. Hawai'i Politics and Government: An American State in a Pacific World. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 310 pp., $57.50 cloth, $27.50 paper ISBN 0-8032-3724-3 cloth ISBN 0-8032-8750-X paper Publication Date: February 2000

Thurber, James A.; Candice J. Nelson; and David A. Dulio, eds. Crowded Airwaves: Campaign Advertising in Elections. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 187 pp., $39.95 cloth, $16.95 paper ISBN 0-8157-8456-2 cloth ISBN 0-8157-8455-4 paper Publication Date: July 2000

Stephenson, Donald Grier, Jr. Campaigns and the Court: The U.S. Supreme Court in Presidential Elections. New York: Columbia University Press. 363 pp., $49.50 cloth, $19.50 paper ISBN 0-231-10034-5 cloth ISBN 0-231-10035-3 paper Publication Date: May 1999

Craycraft, Kenneth R. The American Myth of Religious Freedom. Dallas, TX: Spence Publishing Company. 202 pp., $27.95, ISBN 1-890626-13-9 Publication Date: May 1999

Lammers, William W., and Michael A. Genovese. The Presidency and Domestic Policy: Comparing Leadership Styles, FDR to Clinton. Washington, DC: CQ Press. 383 pp., $38.95 cloth, $28.95 paper ISBN 1-56802-125-9 cloth ISBN 1-56802-124-0 paper Publication Date: 2000

Dollinger, Marc. Quest for Inclusion: Jews and Liberalism in Modern America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 288 pp., $35.00, ISBN 0-691-00509-5 Publication Date: July 2000

Spitzer, Robert J., ed. Politics and Constitutionalism: The Louis Fisher Connection. Albany: SUNY Press. 285 pp., $57.59 cloth, $18.95 paper ISBN 0-7914-4639-5 cloth ISBN 0-7914-4640-9 paper Publication Date: June 2000

Powe, Lucas A., Jr. The Warren Court and American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press/Belknap Press. 566 pp., $35.00, ISBN 0-674-00095-1 Publication Date: March 2000

Popkin, William D. Statutes in Court: The History and Theory of Statutory Interpretation. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 340 pp., $54.95, ISBN 0-8223-2328-1 Publication Date: September 1999

UNITED STATES. Foreign Policy and National Security: Haass, Richard N., and Meghan L. O'Sullivan, eds. Honey and Vinegar: Incentives, Sanctions, and Foreign Policy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 212 pp., $39.95 cloth, $16.95 paper ISBN 0-8157-3356-9 cloth ISBN 0-0157-3355-0 paper Publication Date: September 2000

O'Hanlon, Michael. Technological Change and the Future of Warfare. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 208 pp., $42.95 cloth, $17.05 paper ISBN 0-8157-6440-5 cloth ISBN 0-8157-6439-1 paper Publication Date: 2000

Deitchman, Seymour J. On Being a Superpower: And Not Knowing What to Do about It. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 350 pp., $32.00, ISBN 0-8133-6775-1 Publication Date: February 2000

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA: Frieden, Jeffrey; Manuel Pastor Jr.; and Michael Tornz, eds. Modern Political Economy and Latin America: Theory and Policy. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 348 pp., $65.00 cloth, $24.00 paper ISBN 0-8133-2417-3 cloth ISBN 0-8133-2418-1 paper Publication Date: May 2000

Crisp, Brian F. Democratic Institutional Design: The Powers and Incentives of Venezuelan Politicians and Interest Groups. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 274 pp., $55.00, ISBN 0-8047-3370-0 cloth Publication Date: July 2000

López-Alves, Fernando. State Formation and Democracy in Latin America, 1810-1900. Durham, NC; Duke University Press. 295 pp., $49.45 cloth, $17.95 paper ISBN 0-8223-2450-4 cloth ISBN 0-8223-2474-1 paper Publication Date: March 2000

EUROPE/COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES: Mayer, Arno J. The Furies: Violence and Terror in the French and Russian Revolutions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 705 pp., $35.00, ISBN 0-691-04897-5 Publication Date: May 2000

Deák, Istvan; Jan T. Gross; and Tony Judt, eds. The Politics of Retribution in Europe: World War II and Its Aftermath. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 337 pp. + xii, $65.00 cloth, $19.95 paper ISBN 0-691-00953-8 cloth ISBN 0-691-00954-6 paper Publication Date: May 2000

Tiersky, Ronald. Europe Today: National Politics, European Integration, and European Security. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield 492 pp. + x, $25.95 paper ISBN 0-8476-8591-8 paper Publication Date: 1999

AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST: Cobban, Helena. The Israeli-Syrian Peace Talks: 1991-1996 and Beyond. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press. 235 pp., + xiii, $19.95 paper ISBN 1-878379-98-4 paper Publication Date: December 1999

Hartman, David. Israelis and the Jewish Tradition: An Ancient People Debating Its Future. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 192 pp., $18.50, ISBN 0-300-08378-5 Publication Date: October 2000

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC: Dittmer, Lowell; Haruhiro Fukui; and Peter N. S. Lee, eds. Informal Politics in East Asia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 308 pp., $59.95 cloth, $19.95 paper ISBN 0-521-64232-9 cloth ISBN 0-521-64538-7 paper Publication Date: July 2000

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LAW AND ORGANIZATION: Boyle, Francis Anthony. Foundations of World Order: The Legalist Approach to International Relations, 1898-1922. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 220 pp., $54.95 cloth, $18.95 paper ISBN 0-8223-2327-3 cloth ISBN 0-8223-2364-8 paper Publication Date: August 1999

THEORY AND METHODOLOGY: Anderson, John C. Why Lawyers Derail Justice: Probing the Roots of Legal Injustices. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. 236 pp. + xii, $40.00 cloth, $18.95 paper ISBN 0-271-01842-9 cloth ISBN 0-271-01843-7 paper Publication Date: January 1999

Engeman, Thomas S., ed. Thomas Jefferson and the Politics of Nature. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. 218 pp., $17.00 paper ISBN 0-268-04211-X paper Publication Date: June 2000: Browning, Gary K. Hegel and the History of Political Philosophy. New York: St. Martin's Press. 185 pp., $59.95, ISBN 0-312-22023-5 Publication Date: May 1999

Voegelin, Eric; ed. Gilbert Weiss; trans. Ruth Hein. Collected Works, Vol. 4: The Authoritarian State: An Essay on the Problem of the Austrian State. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. 396 pp., $39.95, ISBN 0-8262-1235-2 Publication Date: May 1999

Cliffe, Lionel; Maureen Ramsey; and David Bartlett. The Politics of Lying: Implications for Democracy. New York: St. Martin's Press 236 pp., $45.00, ISBN 0-312-23139-3 Publication Date: May 2000

Slomp, Gabriella. Thomas Hobbes and the Political Philosophy of Glory. New York: St. Martin's Press. 194 pp., $65.00, ISBN 0-312-23419-8 Publication Date: March 2000

Eisenstadt, S. N. Paradoxes of Democracy: Fragility, Continuity, and Change. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center. Press/Johns Hopkins University Press 120 pp., $29.95, ISBN 0-8018-6309-0 Publication Date: September 1999

Newell, Waller R. Ruling Passion: The Erotics of Statecraft in Platonic Political Philosophy. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield 288 pp., $70.00 cloth, $24.95 paper ISBN 0-8476-9726-6 cloth ISBN 0-8476-9727-4 paper Publication Date: June 2000

GENERAL: Becker, Ted, and Christa Daryl Slaton. The Future of Teledemocracy. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. 230 pp., $65.00 cloth, $24.95 paper ISBN 0-275-96632-1 cloth ISBN 0-275-97090-6 paper Publication Date: June 2000

Sparrow, Malcolm K. The Regulatory Craft: Controlling Risks, Solving Problems, and Managing Compliance. Washington, DC: Council for Excellence in Government/Brookings Institution Press. 314 pp., $20.95 paper ISBN 0-8157-8065-6 paper Publication Date: July 2000

Dunn, Seth. Micropower: The Next Electrical Era. Washington, DC: World Watch Institute. 94 pp., $5.00 paper ISBN 1-878071-53-X paper Publication Date: July 2000

Morton, F. L., and Rainer Knopff. The Charter Revolution and the Court Party. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press. 227 pp., $19.95 paper ISBN 1-55111-089-X paper Publication Date: January 2000     

Liberty and Community: A Liberal Resolution

Much has been written in the last few years regarding Leo Strauss's political attachments, especially with respect to his purported influence over American neoconservatives. Problematically, Strauss scrupulously avoided explicit ideological entanglements, rarely addressed particular policy debates, and left little guidance for the statesman or thoughtful commentator interested in drawing practical political inferences from his philosophical writing. To add further ambiguity to already muddy waters, Strauss's discussion of the relation between prudence and philosophic insight coupled with the many and incompatible roles he assigns to the philosopher within the city make it unclear if there is anything at all that philosophy can teach us of political significance. The following essay aims to explain Strauss's view of the political function of philosophy in light of his distinction between classic and modern utopianism and what he calls in On Tyranny "philosophic politics."     

明末儒家伦理的困境及其新动向

明末儒家伦理遭到了来自各方面的批评 ,并陷入了困境 ,诸如对“五伦”关系的前后顺序进行重新排列 ,夫妇、朋友二伦置于五伦之首 ;对君臣关系的新评价 ;相对主义孝道观的普及 ;对仁、义、礼、智、信“五常”的批评。明末是中国思想史上第一次大规模批评传统儒家伦理的时代 ,是近代文化与“五四”新文化的文化源头     

以科学发展观为指导建立健全农村社会保障体系

本文分析了建立农村社会保障体系的必要性及农村社会保障体系的现状和存在的问题,探讨了建立符合社会主义市场经济体制要求的农村社会保障体系的内容和应该采取的措施。提出建立农村社会保障制度,是一项艰巨而复杂的社会系统工程,既需要政府积极引导与高度重视,又需要农村集体与广大农民的积极支持。     

以科学发展观统筹城乡协调发展

统筹城乡协调发展是我国经济社会发展进入新阶段的必然要求。统筹城乡协调发展,就要加大对农业和农村的投入,增强城市对农村的带动作用,消除农村发展的体制性制约因素。