Very comprehensive despite a pro feminist and anti liberal bias
Easy to read and conceptually simple, thanks to clear, practical examples of the various theories in practice. Great introduction to the topic of political philosophy and covers the main areas very well, providing arguments and counter arguments for each of the ideologies presented. Except for feminism, no counter arguments provided here for some reason and this chapter is the only criticism I have for the entire book.
There are plenty of interesting and valid counter arguments against modern takes on radical feminism and one can't help but feel a bias on the part of the authors is in play here when they don't include them. Especially since stats on the gender pay gap are provided without any counter claims or alternative explanations for it, which have been debated a lot in the past and present by public intellectuals. The unfalsifiable feminist claims of the pernicious patriarchy play a big part in this chapter and sadly there are no counter arguments provided to balance it out.
Despite this, the book truly is excellent and worth a read for anyone interested in the topic in need of an introduction before tackling the tougher stuff which is also referenced in the book. Despite the obvious bias on the part of the authors, they still deserve 5 stars for a brilliantly comprehensive book.
A convincing introduction! Almost everything was new to me, so found this interesting all the way through. Useful tools and concepts for evaluating the western societies and political phenomena.
I wish there would have been more of a historical treatment, but the book mostly revolved around Rawls and liberalism. Still worth the read to get up to speed on concepts discussed in the domain.
one thing about me is i will log EVERYTHING - including required reading (book was amazing though at introducing political philosophy theory and ideas)
Reading this for the second time many years after university. This time, I read it as the teacher. My student, only 15 and with English as a second language, found it incredibly accessible. A wonderful resource.
The book was co-authored by my own university lecturer who taught my political philosophy class. Thanks, Phil!