Defining the Common Good: Empire, Religion and Philosophy in Eighteenth-Century Britain

by Peter N. Miller

Overview

This book discusses the crisis of the early modern state in eighteenth-century Britain and sets it in its European context. The American Revolution and the simultaneous demand for wider religious toleration at home challenged the principles of sovereignty and obligation that underpinned arguments about the character of the state. At stake was a fundamental challenge to the way in which politics was described. The Americans and their British supporters argued that individuals, by voting and thinking freely, ought to determine the "common good." These influential ideas continue to resonate today in the principles of "one man, one vote" and "freedom of thought."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521442596
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/16/1994
Series:	Ideas in Context , #29
Pages:	488
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.26(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. The figure of Cicero; 2. A classical landscape; 3. State and empire; 4. The limits of sovereignty and obligation; 5. The common good, toleration and freedom of thought; 6. 'Alternatives' to the common good 1774–1776; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...is both powerful and satisfying....a fine and stimulating book, written by someone who combines considerable learning with an acute historical imagination....it should become essential for all students of the period." Journal of Modern History

"...Miller triumphantly succeeds in a work of sustained sophistication and remarkably wide learning....Miller's is a powerful and original vision which demands attention." Times Literary Supplement

"This is an erudite and attractively expressed study in intellectual history. Part of a prestigious series, it comes with the imprimatur of influential Cambridge scholars who have done much to shape our understanding of how we should approach the political thought of the early-modern period." Albion

"A splendid contribution...Elaborate bibliography." R.H. Thompson, Choice

"Suffice it to say that Defining the Common Good not only introduces the reader to the complexities of eighteenth century British thought, but provides him with a wealth of both primary and secondary bibliographical sources. The book's principal value lies in the synopsis of views entertained by the eighteenth century British intelligensia. The players are numerous, disagreements between major figures abound, but there is an intelligibility to the discourse, provided in part by the common classical education of the participants who not only read the ancients but took each other seriously." Review of Metaphysics

"The essyas are scholarly and will be useful to historians of science as well as those interested in the interface between science and social values." J.C. Kricher, Choice

"Visions of Empire emerged out of a conference celebrating the acquisition of Joseph Bank's florilegium by the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA. The miracle of the publication of botanical illustrtions from the copper plates so carefully and scientifically produced by the consortium around Banks was indeed worth celebrating." Greg Dening, American Anthropologist

From the Publisher