Composed in a spare, lucid, functional prose ... that is admirably free of academic jargon, [The Principle of Duty] provides a first-rate analysis of where contemporary liberalism went wrong intellectually. It should be required reading in any college course on modern political philosophy.
Timely and compelling . . . Selbourne’s solution is to reassert an argument which both the liberal tradition and the common law have long recognized, but has been progressively ignored: that people have duties to themselves, their fellows and society, which are fully the moral equivalent of their rights . . . He has tried to think his way not just into the theory of a better social order, but of its practicalities. There is much in what he says that demands and deserves very careful thought.
Rejecting both the doctrinaire right and the doctrinare left, David Selbourne’s ideas about civic virtue have struck a powerful chord . . .
We all owe David Selbourne a considerable debt. His theme—that as individual citizens we are responsible for the well-being of the civic order to which we all belong—is important.
This cry from the heart about the perceived failure of liberty, the current crisis of the civic order, and some of what duty to the civic order entails deserves attention.
Selbourne’s arresting, irascible and sometimes moving book is an important contribution to political thought, made at one of the turning-points in the history of political discourse in Britain.”avid Selbourne a considerable debt. His theme—that as individual citizens we are responsible for the well-being of the civic order to which we all belong—is important.
Times Literary Supplement
[A] timely and important topic in Western society in general and America in particular. This is a thoughtful and provocative work, ... likely to be a source of conversation and debate among American academicians....
Perspectives on Political Science
Rejecting both the doctrinaire right and the doctrinare left, David Selbourne’s ideas about civic virtue have struck a powerful chord . . .
Forbes - Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore
We all owe David Selbourne a considerable debt. His theme—that as individual citizens we are responsible for the well-being of the civic order to which we all belong—is important.
Timely and compelling . . . Selbourne’s solution is to reassert an argument which both the liberal tradition and the common law have long recognized, but has been progressively ignored: that people have duties to themselves, their fellows and society, which are fully the moral equivalent of their rights . . . He has tried to think his way not just into the theory of a better social order, but of its practicalities. There is much in what he says that demands and deserves very careful thought.
Selbourne's thesis is the lack of civic responsibility in all political parties, left and right, and in society as a whole, and the urgent need for an ethical "civic politics, a politics of the civic order" in Britain, the US, and all industrialized countries where the common good is being neglected. A political philosopher, Selbourne (he was professor of history of ideas for 20 years at Ruskin College in Oxford, England) quotes many of the political thinkers integral to the history of our society, such as Hobbes, Mill and More, to form a densely constructed argument of the ethical foundation for duty in society. This is a paperbound reprint of a 1997 work. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
