I examine Bertrand de Jouvenel’s understanding of individual liberty as it develops in his three postwar works of political philosophy: On Power, Sovereignty, and The Pure Theory of Politics. In doing so, I shed new light on his place in the French tradition of liberty.

Niccolò Machiavelli Machiavelli was a 16th century Florentine philosopher known primarily for his political ideas. His two most famous philosophical books, The Prince and the Discourses on Livy, were published after his death. His philosophical legacy remains enigmatic, but that result should not be surprising for a thinker who understood the necessity to work … Continue reading Machiavelli, Niccolò →.

It is conventional to argue that the city-soul analogy of Plato’s Republic dominates Books ii through iv and viii through x but is absent in Books v through vii. We argue that the analogy remains operative in Books v through vii and that its role there, especially as it is played out in the motif of the three waves, illuminates its function in the dialogue as a whole, particularly with respect to the questions: What are the natural dispositions of soul (...) necessary for philosophy? What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for philosophical education? (shrink)