Ross Harrison (1) (1943–)

This book is a part of a series called The Problems of Philosophy and it seems to be an introductory work. The first half of the book is an historical presentation of arguments for and against popular rule in the classic works of western philosophy; from Plato and Aristotle to Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Madison, Bentham, Mill, Hegel and Marx. I really liked this part. Each thinker is presented from a suitably delimited perspective and the author also pays attention to the political background show more context of each writer.

The second part of the book is a theoretical discussion of the "foundations" of democracy. Concepts such as knowledge, autonomy and equality are discussed in view of democratic theory. I don't think this presentation was particularly insightful. There's a peculiar lack of references to other works in political philosophy. The author decided to have a go at the subject on his own. That is admirable, but his treatment of equality, for example, will seem outright naive for anyone who has read John Rawls. The first half of this book serves as a good introduction to the history of democratic thought, but it doesn't go any further than that. show less