Liberty and nature : an Aristotelian defense of liberal order /

The resuscitation of Aristotle continues apace. A sizable body of literature (including Stephen Salkever's Finding the Mean, CH, Feb'91, and Tibor Machan's Individuals and Their Rights, CH, Apr'90) argues that the political and ethical teachings of Aristotle, usually dismissed as illiberal and teleological, in fact do provide liberal modernity its surest foundation. Now, in a worthy addition to the revival effort, Rasmussen and Den Uyl enter the fray of contemporary ^D["philosophy^D]" debates, skillfully parrying the thrusts of Aristotle's critics. They take from Aristotle the concept of human flourishing as the proper end of politics, and as the means to that end, natural right, which they take from liberalism and from John Locke--hence the connection between ancient virtue and modern autonomy. Other connections include the common good and individual liberty, and friendship and commerce. With some adjustments to their thought, Aristotle and Locke are made to speak a common language, which in the end the authors take to be a defense of the American political tradition. Well written and steeped in current scholarship. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.