A Brief History of Liberty
Brief Histories of Philosophy
1. Edition January 2010
280 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Through a fusion of philosophical, social scientific, and
historical methods, A Brief History of Liberty provides a
comprehensive, philosophically-informed portrait of the elusive
nature of one of our most cherished ideals.
* Offers a succinct yet thorough survey of personal freedom
* Explores the true meaning of liberty,
drawing philosophical lessons about liberty from history
* Considers the writings of key historical figures from Socrates
and Erasmus to Hobbes, Locke, Marx, and Adam Smith
* Combines philosophical rigor with social scientific
analysis
* Argues that liberty refers to a range of related but specific
ideas rather than limiting the concept to one definition
Introduction: Conceptions of Freedom.
1. A Prehistory of Liberty: Forty Thousand Years Ago.
2. The Rule of Law: ad 1075.
3. Religious Freedom: 1517.
4. Freedom of Commerce: 1776.
5. Civil Liberty: 1954.
6. Psychological Freedom, the Last Frontier: 1963.
Bibliography.
Index
also contains some interesting discussion of positive liberty. For
one thing, Schmidtz and Brennan argue that the progress of negative
liberty in western societies has massively expanded almost
everyone's range of real options. For another, they suggest that
this greater (negative and positive) external freedom can open the
way to a greater internal or psychological" freedom". (The
Philosophers' Magazine, 13 August 2010)
"Its brevity and simplicity is perhaps understandable, given the
historical focus and ambitious scope of the book, and the authors'
evident desire to get the light, entertaining and up-beat narrative
moving." (The Philosopher's Magazine, August 2010)"The book
weaves together a number of figures in social, political,
philosophical, economic, and even psychological theory, in a way
not commonly found, and it does so rather effectively." (Notre
Dame Philosophical Reviews, September 05, 2010)
"Schmidtz and Brennan offer their readers insights into the
freedom debate by following it through the broad sweep of Western
history...[A Brief History of Liberty]... comprehensive notes and
bibliographies and...deserve[s] to be taken seriously by those with
an interest in liberty." (The Philosopher, summer 2010)
Jason Brennan is Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Research, at Brown University, and a faculty associate of the Political Theory Project at Brown University. His articles have appeared in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, The Australasian Journal of Philosophy, and Ratio.