How to Think Politically

How to Think Politically: Sages, Scholars and Statesmen Whose Ideas Have Shaped the World is an accessible introduction to political thought through the lives and ideas of 30 influential thinkers. Graeme Garrard and James Bernard Murphy move beyond daily headlines and partisan argument to ask a fundamental question: how should people live together as individuals and communities? Organized across ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary eras, the book considers thinkers from multiple traditions, including Confucius, Augustine, Machiavelli, Mary Wollstonecraft, Karl Marx, Mohandas Gandhi, Sayyid Qutb, Hannah Arendt, Arne Næss, and John Rawls. Each chapter places a thinker in historical context, explains key ideas, and reflects on how those ideas speak to current political challenges.