This innovative approach to freedom starts from an account of what
we mean by describing someone, in a psychological vein, as a free
subject. Pettit develops an argument as to what it is that makes
someone free in that basic sense; and then goes on to derive the
implications of the approach for issues of freedom in political
theory. Freedom in the subject is equated with the person’s being
fit to be held responsible and to be authorized as a partner in
interaction.
This book is unique among contemporary approaches – although it
is true to the spirit of classical writers like Hobbes and Kant –
in seeking a theory that applies to psychological issues of free
agency and free will as well as to political issues in the theory
of the free state and the free constitution. The driving thesis is
that it is only by connecting up the different issues of freedom,
psychological and political, that we can fully appreciate the
nature of the questions involved, and the requirements for their
resolution. The book does not not seek a comprehensive reach just
for its own sake, but rather for the sake of the illumination it
provides.
A Theory of Freedom is a ground-breaking volume which
will be of wide interest to scholars and students in political
philosophy and political science.
Table of Content
Introduction 1
1 Conceptualizing Freedom 6
2 Freedom as Rational Control 32
3 Freedom as Volitional Control 49
4 Freedom as Discursive Control 65
5 Freedom and Collectivization 104
6 Freedom and Politicization 125
7 Freedom and Democratization 152
Conclusion 175
References 180
Index 188
About the author
Philip Pettit is Professor of Social and Political Theory, Australian National University and Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, New York.
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