Judith N. Shklar

Judith Shklar was for decades one of the most influential professors at Harvard, training generations of some of the best known political theorists working today. She remains one of this century's most important liberal scholars, whose legacy of work testifies to her intellect and her passion for understanding. Political Thought and Political Thinkers brings together twenty-one essays written over her nearly forty-year career. The selection by Stanley Hoffmann includes published material that is difficult to locate as well as unpublished work. Including her classic "The Liberalism of Fear," these essays develop the major themes with which Shklar grappled and places them against the backdrop of the grim history of the twentieth century. This collection captures Shklar's broad range of interests - from the place of the intellect in the modern political world to the dangers of identity politics - and showcases her distinctive defense of liberalism.

A collection of thirteen essays on American political thought.

Collection of photocopied course readings used in Historical Studies A-17 at Harvard University, Fall 1985.

In this tightly organized collection of essays, sixteen distinguished political theorists explore Shklar's intellectual legacy, focusing both on her own ideas and on the broad range of issues that most intrigued her. The volume opens with a series of varied and illuminating assessments of Shklar's conception of liberal politics. The second part, with essays on Descartes and Racine, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Laski, emphasizes the relation between individual freedom and moral psychology in modern political thought. The third part addresses contemporary issues, such as the role of hypocrisy, offensive speech, and constitutional courts in liberal democracies. The book concludes with an autobiographical essay by Shklar that provides a vivid sense of her singular voice and personality.

This stimulating collection of lectures by the late Judith Shklar on political obligation is paired with a scholarly introduction that offers an overview of her life, illuminates the connections among her teaching, research, and publications, and explains why her lectures still resonate with us and contribute to current debates in political theory and intellectual history. --