Rare masterpieces of philosophy and science

The Statesman is Plato's neglected political work, but it is crucial for an understanding of the development of his political thinking. In some respects it continues themes from the Republic, particularly the importance of knowledge as entitlement to rule. But there are also changes: Plato has dropped the ambitious metaphysical synthesis of the Republic, changed his view of the moral psychology of the citizen, and revised his position on the role of law and institutions. In its presentation of the statesman's expertise, the Statesman modifies, as well as defending in original ways, this central theme of the Republic. This new translation is based on the revised Oxford Text of Plato and makes accessible the dialogue to students of political thought in clear and contemporary language. The introduction sets the argument in the context of the development of Plato's thought, and outlines the philosophical and historical background necessary for a full understanding of the text, particularly for a political theory readership.

"Here is a study by a recognized master in the field of intellectual history of the challenge put by Machiavelli to the idea that there is a universal moral law governing human behavior. Should the political leader act according to the maxim of "my country right or wrong," or should elites follow the principle of "let justice be done"? Friedrich Meinecke, an acknowledged founder of cultural history as a field, follows the discussion of this theme from Machiavelli through such major figures as Richelieu, Frederick the Great, and Hegel, and presents conclusions of enduring significance. In the course of his analysis, he provides some fundamentals for both causal and value theory in politics.". "The lengthy introduction by the eminent sociologist Werner Stark provides a framework for understanding not just the importance of a singular thinker, but also the entire fabric of German history from Bismarck, the Kaiser, the Weimar Republic, and Nazism, to the post-World War II effort at the cultural, no less than material reconstruction of a democratic Germany."--BOOK JACKET.

"In order to be truly free, must you act arbitrarily? If an event did not happen, could it have happened? Since there is evil, and God could have made the world without evil, did God fail to pick the best course? Grappling with such simple£yet still intriguing£puzzles, Leibniz was able to present attractively his new theories of the real and the phenomenal, freewill and determinism, and the relation between minds and bodies. Theodicy was Leibniz's only book-length work to be published in his lifetime, and for many years the work by which he was known to the world. Fully at home with the latest scientific advances, Leibniz ultimately rejected the new atomistic philosophies of Descartes, Gassendi, and Hobbes, and drew upon the old cosmology of Aristotelian scholasticism. There could be no conflict, he argued, between faith and reason, freedom and necessity, natural and divine law. Ingeniously defending his postulate of pre-established harmony, Leibniz made important advances in the precise analysis of concepts"--Publisher description.

This book remains one of the masterpieces of socialist literature. While many today believe there is no alternative to global capitalism, this book is a timely and forceful statement of an opposing view.