Overview

Moderate Liberalism and the Scottish Enlightenment responds to a perennial problem in political theory: how to balance commercial considerations with the public good. It investigates this dilemma through the lenses of Enlightenment thinkers whose liberal theories responded to the hazards of commercial innovation during capitalism's nascent stages. Vassiliou argues that Montesquieu, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Adam Ferguson represent a moderate perspective in foundational liberal thought, which emphasizes the critical importance of honour. He compares how their liberal theories uniquely channel human beings' desire for honour to nourish a sense of interpersonal magnanimity within an inward-looking, liberal commercial world. In an age of polarized extremes, we have witnessed restive democracies flirting with populist, illiberal responses for managing the hazards of capitalist innovation. Montesquieu and his Scottish counterparts' foundational liberal theories offer us more viable, middle-ground prescriptions which are sensitive to the emotional constitution of a liberal society.

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9781399521192

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Reviews

"""Moderate Liberalism and the Scottish Enlightenment is an extremely ambitious book. On the one hand, it weaves together, in intriguing ways, thoughts gathered from Montesquieu and the central figures of the Scottish Enlightenment; on the other hand, it slyly juxtaposes those thoughts with recent concerns about the practical and theoretical status of liberalism and its critics. This is a needed study for the times in which we live. "" -Stuart D. Warner, Roosevelt University"

Author Information

Constantine Christos Vassiliou is Visiting Assistant Professor in Political Science and in The Honors College at the University of Houston. He is a political theorist and historian of ideas specialising in Enlightenment political thought. He is the co-editor and wrote the introductory chapter for Liberal Education and Citizenship in a Free Society (MU Press), a book that examines the relationship between liberal education and socially responsible citizenship in the United States. He is also a chapter contributor and co-editor (w/ Jeffrey Church and Alin Fumurescu) of The Spirit of Montesquieu's Persian Letters (Lexington Press).

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