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OverviewThe political project of pragmatism has focused primarily on its defense of democracy as the best political system to maintain and improve human well-being over lifetimes and generations. Pragmatism Politics and Perversity: Democracy and the American Party Battle describes this project of Peirce, Dewey, Hook, and Rorty, and combines it with Charles Beard's study of the party battle as the most determinative influence upon American democracy. The book updates and confirms Beard's hypothesis that the history of the party battle is a chronicle of perverse schemes and self-inflicted wounds - the most salient to date being the American Civil War - because it reflects a ceaselessly disruptive contest over the creation of two largely incompatible political states: nation state and market state. The book supports its thesis with detailed historical accounts of the formation of the Constitution and early federal judiciary, the sedition trials and political schemes of the 1790s, the frustration of market state Whigs to attract white working-class voters by exploiting their religious identities, the reckless machinations of Whig Republicans in precipitating a national crisis over a contrived threat of oligarchy and white slavery, and the ideological oscillations of the Supreme Court from market state to nation state jurisprudence and back again. To reduce perversity in political rhetoric and free up pragmatic democratic practices, the book proposes a robust neo-Madisonian view of free speech, where political actors and their surrogates are not only free to speak and write, but are also obligated to explain, retract, and revise what they have said and written. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Joseph L. EspositoPublisher: Lexington Books Imprint: Lexington Books Dimensions: Width: 16.10cm , Height: 2.90cm , Length: 23.40cm Weight: 0.730kg ISBN: 9780739173633ISBN 10: 0739173634 Pages: 390 Publication Date: 14 June 2012 Audience: College/higher education , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I. Toward a Pragmatic Theory of Democracy Chapter 1: Pragmatism and the Democracy Project Chapter 2: Pragmatic Political History Part II. Perverse Themes and Schemes in Party Battle History Chapter 3: A Foundation on a Serbonian Bog Chapter 4: Market State and Nation State Chapter 5: A Judiciary for the Market State Chapter 6: Rogue Justice Chapter 7: Too Much Democracy Chapter 8: Judicial Review as Ideology Chapter 9: Religion and Race Chapter 10: Old Wine in New Bottles Chapter 11: Rewriting History Chapter 12: The Great Kansas Charade Chapter 13: Free Labor and the Economics of Slavery Chapter 14: Civil War Chapter 15: Disorder in the Court Part III. Improving American Democracy Chapter 16: Understanding the Party Battle Chapter 17: Free Speech in the Age of the Big MegaphoneReviewsEsposito has written a fascinating and important book. It combines a pragmatic perspective on political practice and its products with a revisionist view of America's political history --especially in the context of the onset and aftermath of the Civil War. The historical basis of the book is solid and its perspectives novel and thought-provoking. It affords a guide and goad to intelligent political discussion. -- Nicholas Rescher, University of Pittsburgh Esposito has written a fascinating and important book. It combines a pragmatic perspective on political practice and its products with a revisionist view of America,s political history -especially in the context of the onset and aftermath of the Civil War. The historical basis of the book is solid and its perspectives novel and thought-provoking. It affords a guide and goad to intelligent political discussion. -- Nicholas Rescher, University of Pittsburgh Author InformationJoseph L. Esposito is research associate in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Arizona. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |