The Idea of the State

Peter J. Steinberger is Robert H. and Blanche Day Ellis Professor of Political Science and Humanities and Dean of the Faculty, Reed College. His published books include Logic and Politics: Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1988) and The Concept of Political Judgement (1993).

• Part I. The Basic Idea: 1. The state as a structure of intelligibility; Part II. Philosophical Foundations of the State: 2. Politics, prudence and philosophy; 3. The post-Kantian convergence; Part III. The Idea of the State: 4. The omnicompetent state: toleration and limited government; 5. The absolute state: authority and resistance; 6. The organic state: democracy and freedom; Index.

'Rarely in recent memory has so much scholarship and intellectual energy gone in to defending claims that virtually everyone - from the social welfare-oriented Rawlsians, to Hayek- or Nozick-inspired libertarians, to radical democrats, to fans of Marx or Foucault - would reflexively repudiate. Steinberger is well aware that he has an uphill battle to fight … Yet fight it he does, with a praiseworthy consistency, clarity and incisiveness.' Dana Villa, Political Theory