Description:
Examines how Montesquieu, Hume, Smith, and Ferguson's foundational liberal theories responded to the moral and civic challenges of early capitalism
Brief description: Constantine Christos Vassiliou is Civitas Research Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. 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).
Review Quotes: This thoughtful and readable book offers a sequence of comparative analyses of the political thought of Montesquieu and his major Scottish interlocutors: David Hume, Adam Smith, and Adam Ferguson [...] Each chapter rests on a thorough command of the relevant primary material and offers conceptually illuminating scholarship.--Iain McDaniel, University of Sussex "Eighteenth-Century Scotland"