The Origins of Free Peoples

(Hardback)

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The Origins of Free Peoples posits that free peoples are always being liberated and never already free. Free peoples adopt freedom as paramount over justice, equality, and other values. The history of such peoples is different from their origins, which are always underway as free people must construct both their history and their Others. It is not simply that they become threatened; they must face the correct kind of threat (as King George III to Jefferson's Americans). Free peoples depend upon specialized and expensive devices, institutions, and practices to fashion the precise history and threat needed for their maintenance. The book examines how freedom is discussed in classic and contemporary Anglo-American texts, arguing against the notion that freedom is natural and so needs only to be guaranteed by limited government. Using Continental methods, the book offers an alternative conceptualization of the discourses and practices of freedom represented in the writings of theorists such as Locke, Rawls, Benn, and Swanton. With its distinctive position in the discussion of freedom, The Origins of Free Peoples will appeal to political theorists and political philosophers as well as to those looking to understand the main factors needed to genuinely liberate a people. It explains why free peoples behave as they do in the domestic and world arenas. The book concludes by envisioning the surprising fate of the free peoples.

Reviews

Writing with admirable clarity, Jason Caro gives us a subtle and original argument. He offers fascinating insights into the replication of practices that are required to constitute free peoples but that never eliminate the always-present threats that are the other side of their freedom. He also throws new light onto the arguments of a number of political philosophers, past and present, including Locke and the threat posed by the now forgotten absolutist view of freedom.- Carole Pateman, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, UCLA.

Author Bio

Jason Caro is assistant professor of political science at the University of Houston-Downtown where he writes political theory, usually with a Continental approach. He teaches courses in American Political Thought and Political Theory.