Consent: A Critical Study of Some of the Postulates in the Social Theory of Locke and Kropotkin

Abstract

<p>In the course of the last fifteen years political philosophy has undergone momentous changes, induced from without as well as from within. While the behaviourists have been questioning the normative theorists, these theorists themselves have been reassessing their skills and objectives. As a result, from what had been feared to be a situation of irreversible decline there has emerged a new literature, still dynamic, though now more circumspect. Political philosophy has become more careful about its claims and more firmly grounded in the findings of all the empirical social sciences.<br /><br />I hope that this study is in harmony with the mood and demands of the 'new' political philosophy. I must acknowledge a heavy reliance on the work of C. B. Macpherson and Michael Oakeshott, and on the series edited by P.Laslett and W. G. Runciman, for inspiration, material and methodology.</p>