The Moral Commonwealth: Social Theory and the Promise of Community - Paperback

by Philip Selznick (Author)

Philip Selznick's study of moral and social theory establishes the intellectual foundations of an important new movement in American thought: communitarianism. Emerging in part as a response to the excesses of American individualism - particularly rampant during the 1980s - communitarianism seeks to restore the balance between individual rights and social responsibilities. The Moral Commonwealth attempts to explain and justify this communitarian turn and give it a liberal interpretation.

Front Jacket

An outstanding accomplishment. This masterful result of a life-long study of social sciences, social philosophy, and ethics yields a book no student of our social or moral foundation, condition, and hence future, can afford to miss.--Amitai Etzioni, author of the Moral Dimension 'The remarkable thesis of Philip Selznick's 'The Moral Commonwealth' is that we have the materials to resolve our moral uneasiness ready at hand....By taking a fresh look at the social thought of our time, by seeing it in the context of longer continuities, we can retrieve and restore a worthy idea of the human good.' - Charles W. Anderson, author of Pragmatic Liberalism

Back Jacket

'The remarkable thesis of Philip Selznick's 'The Moral Commonwealth' is that we have the materials to resolve our moral uneasiness ready at hand....By taking a fresh look at the social thought of our time, by seeing it in the context of longer continuities, we can retrieve and restore a worthy idea of the human good.' - Charles W. Anderson, author of 'Pragmatic Liberalism'

Author Biography

Philip Selznick is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley.