Can any of us ever really be free? Do we follow the rules our society gives us because we want to, or because we are forced to? "Discipline, Freedom, Resistance" challenges the received wisdom that di
In Pluralism and Liberal Democracy one of the country's most distinguished political theorists turns to the task of how best to explain, justify, and encourage the concept, practice, and institutional
In this book Richard E. Flathman argues vigorously for a new understanding of the proper place of voluntarism, individuality, and plurality in the political and moral theory of liberalism. Giving clos
As its subtitle 'Skepticism, Individuality and Chastened Politics' indicates, this book is an exploration of and a largely favorable engagement with salient elements in the thinking of a theorist who
In this book, first published in 1977, Richard Flathman sets out to provide a systematic understanding and an assessment of individual rights. He pursues the first objective primarily by analysing the salient characteristics of the uses of 'rights' in ordinary language. Establishing, exercising, respecting and violating rights are treated as activities forming a social 'practice'. This practice consists of an interrelated set of rules, norms and beliefs that are generally accepted and acted upon by persons who participate in the practice. Both the form and the content of the practice change substantially over time. The author's analysis of civic individualism casts doubt both on the communitarian conceptions of the proper relationship between the individual and society and on the strongly a- or anti-political individualism (and the right to private property it has emphasised) that has occupied a significant place in political philosophy from Hobbes to Nozick.
