Post-liberalism: studies in political thought

by John Gray

John Gray has become one of our liveliest and most influential political philosophers. This current volume is a sequel to his Essays in Political Philosophy . The earlier book ended on a sceptical note, both in respect of what a post-liberal political philosophy might look like, and with respect to the claims of political philosophy itself.
John Gray's new book gives post-liberal theory a more definite content. It does so by considering particular thinkers in the history of political thought, by criticizing the conventional wisdom, liberal and socialist, of the Western academic class, and most directly by specifying what remains of value in liberalism. The upshot of this line of thought is that we need not regret the failure of foundationalist liberalism, since we have all we need in the historic inheritance of the institutions of civil society. It is to the practice of liberty that these institutions encompass, rather than to empty liberal theory, that we should repair.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

372 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 1993

About the author

John Nicholas Gray is a English political philosopher with interests in analytic philosophy and the history of ideas. He retired in 2008 as School Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Gray contributes regularly to The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement and the New Statesman, where he is the lead book reviewer.

Reviews

[David McGrogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is plenty here of interest, but the truth remains that this is really just a collection of essays cobbled together and put between two covers in order to give them a second life in the market. This is not a book about 'post-liberalism', in other words, but rather a semi-random selection of John Gray's more scholarly, academic musings roughly from the period 1987-1993. Some of them are worth reading. Many - particularly those in which Gray was tempted to make unwise predictions about the future - really aren't.