The Democracy Reader: From Classical to Contemporary Philosophy

by Steven M. Cahn (Editor), Robert B Talisse (Editor), Andrew T Forcehimes (Editor)

This timely anthology gathers forty historical and contemporary treatments of democracy. Short introductions precede each reading and a general introduction increases student comprehension across the spectrum of readings. This volume is ideal for both the undergraduate and graduate students in political theory and philosophy courses. Historical readings include selections from Plato, Aristotle, Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the US Founding Fathers, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, John Stuart Mill, W.E.B. Du Bois, John Dewey, and John Rawls. Contemporary readings include essays by Richard J. Arneson, Elizabeth Anderson, Sevla Benhabib, David Estlund, Jason Brennan, Julia Maskivker, Iris Marion Young, and Robert B. Talisse.

472 pages, Paperback

Published July 19, 2021

About the author

Steven M. Cahn, Ph.D. (Philosophy, Columbia University, 1966; A.B., Columbia College, 1963), teaches academic ethics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of education at the Graduate Center and has published widely in the field of philosophy and education.

Cahn joined the Graduate Center as professor of philosophy and dean of graduate studies in 1983. He was named provost and vice president for academic affairs in 1984, remaining in that position until 1992. He previously taught at Dartmouth College, Vassar College, the University of Rochester, New York University, and the University of Vermont, where from 1973 to 1980 he headed the department of philosophy. He held executive positions with the Exxon Education Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and he is longtime president of the John Dewey Foundation.