Politics and Truth

Theresa Man Ling Lee is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

• Acknowledgments 1. Introduction Part I Historical Overview 2. Plato: Truth, Nontruth, and Legitimate Power 3. Hobbes: The Science of Politics Part II Contemporary Conundrum Prologue 4. Weber: Rationalization and Politics 5. Foucault: Discursive Politics and the Modern State 6. Arendt: Totalitarianism and the Human Condition Part III Conclusion 7. The Politics of Truth in Context: The Case of China 8. Politics, Truth, and Democratic Practice Endnotes Bibliograph Index

"Most political theorists have been distrustful of power; and in contemporary political debate, the association of truth and power has been condemned for belittling truth. Professor Lee's elegant account of their interconnection steers clear of such simplifications and sheds some much needed new light on old controversies." — Alan Ryan, New College, Oxford University"Politics and Truth is a work of thorough and intelligent scholarship. What above all distinguishes this ambitious book is its impressive breadth. This isn't a conventional scholarly monograph on a particular thinker or debate but rather a wide-ranging attempt to address in a sustained way the problem of politics and truth as occasioned by the postmodernist (primarily Foucauldian) critique of philosophical foundationalism. Lee's project is to vindicate what she sees as politically salutary in the postmodern challenge to foundationalist appeals to truth while resisting some of the more extravagant extrapolations of the postmodernist movement." — R. S. Beiner, University of Toronto"The selection of philosophers is unusual; it allows Lee to escape the standard modern/postmodern dualism, to discuss surprising connections, e.g., between Weber, Foucault, and Arendt, and, after presenting an array of options, to reconsider their shared concern for a disjunction between politics and truth. The book is written in concise, elegant prose, and offers striking insights." — Nancy S. Love, Pennsylvania State University