Bringing the Passions Back In

Bringing the Passions Back In draws upon the history of political theory to shed light on the place of emotions in politics; it illustrates how sophisticated thinking about the relationship between reason and passion can inform contemporary democratic political theory. These re-discovered resources are used to revise the rationalist and idealist model for political life in Anglo-American versions of liberalism.

The rationalist ideal has been met with cynicism in progressive circles for undermining the role of emotion and passion in the public realm. By exploring the social and political implications of the emotions in the history of ideas, contributors examine new paradigms for liberalism and offer new appreciations of the potential for passion in political philosophy and practice.

This important overview of the place of emotions within the history of political thought sheds new light on problems facing contemporary liberal and democratic political theory.