Our Only Star and Compass: Locke and the Struggle for Political Rationality [Paperback]

Exceptionally well written, this book represents a major contribution to Lockean scholarship. An original approach.An original, perceptive, and demanding contribution to the debate on interpretation that is at the center of recent literature on liberal politics.The best book on the foundations of Locke's moral and political doctrine. . . .This is an important contribution. . . . Forges ahead to recover a very philosophical and prudent Locke, who emerges as still the best philosophical account of the liberal regime. . . . This book enters right into the main arguments about Locke and offers a fresh interpretation.In Our Only Star and Compass, Peter C. Myers reexamines the role of Locke in liberal political philosophy. Myers considers Locke's philosophy in relation both to contemporary liberalism and to the great works of classical and modern political philosophy.In Our Only Star and Compass: Locke and the Struggle for Political Rationality, Peter C. Myers reexamines the role of Locke in liberal political philosophy. Myers considers Locke's philosophy in relation both to contemporary liberalism and to the great works of classical and modern political philosophy. With an emphasis on the human capacity for rational self-government, Myers clarifies Locke's insights into the status of reason in political life, arguing that Locke presents reason as a way of life that offers humans fulfillment, and moral and political moderation.Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction: Locke, Liberalism, and Political Rationality Chapter 3 The Question of the Foundation Chapter 4 Natural Science and Natural History Chapter 5 Natural History and the State of Nature Chapter 6 Nature and the Rational Pursuit of Happiness Chapter 7 Locke's Constitutional Design Chapter 8 Conclusion Chapter 9 Bibliography Chapter 10 IndexPeter C. Myers is associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire.