You and the State: A Fairly Brief Introduction to Political Philosophy.

• Author: Bragues, George
• Position: Brief article - Book review

You and the State: A Fairly Brief Introduction to Political Philosophy

By Jan Narveson

Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008.

Pp. xii, 216. $26.95 cloth.

Since the Western tradition of political philosophy first took root in ancient Greece, it has grappled with three overarching questions: What, if anything, justifies the government's existence? Assuming that government can be justified or is simply found to be inevitable, what form should it take? And what should the government do?

Most contemporary political philosophers spend relatively little time on the first question. In part, this neglect reflects the remnants of the Aristotelian belief that human beings are by nature political animals. More often, though, political philosophers deem it patently obvious that the state is necessary to ensure social order and justice, regarding the issue as having been settled by Thomas Hobbes four centuries ago. Today's leading political thinkers give the second question more thought, but only to anoint democracy as the best regime unanimously. Debate tends to revolve only around what sorts of institutions and practices are needed to realize an authentic democracy. Thus, contemporary political theorists expend much of their energy in dealing with the third question, which involves the appropriate role of government in social affairs and individual lives.

Jan Narveson's most recent book, You and the State: A Fairly Brief Introduction to Political Philosophy, has the virtue of paying due attention to all three of the big questions, treating them in an accessible and engaging manner well suited to anyone exploring the subject for the first time. Those already familiar with the writings of the University of Waterloo professor emeritus will not be surprised to find him eschewing the neutral pose that some might regard as demanded by the introductory genre and instead vigorously advocating libertarianism. His defense of that stance is not immune to a protest or two. On the whole, however, he makes his case ably.

Political philosophy seeks to clarify how things ought to be rather than how things actually are. In dealing with values rather than facts, the discipline immediately raises doubts about its ability to do anything more than give voice to its practitioners' subjective preferences. Making the study all the more problematic is that we live in an era when the scientific observation of facts is considered the measure of objective knowledge. Not...