It is a fact sometimes commented upon in histories of British state theory that two of the key thinkers, Henry Sidgwick and Thomas Hill Green, were schoolmates. Recalling his time at Rugby in the 1850s, TH Green remembers Sidgwick, who grew into the philosopher behind Rule Utilitarianism, as the ‘chubby pot-bellied little Rugby boy.’ BothContinue reading “The 19th century idealist state theory of TH Green and Bernard Bosanquet, and Hobhouse’s critique”
Category Archives: History of Political Thought
Figgis, pluralism, and the role of politics
Clement Attlee, in one of the most effective and respected 20th century governments, took on the ‘Five Evils’ – Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, Idleness – by guiding the young British welfare state towards its maturity. Less well known, although equally important, was the Liberal government of Herbert Asquith, 1906 – 1914, the government that createdContinue reading “Figgis, pluralism, and the role of politics”
Hobbes and the start of politics
When did our politics begin? When did the thing that we think of as politics, with its to’s and fro’s, tides of opinion, its parties, elections, its winners and its losers, when did that thing start? It is hard to say, but we know that it definitely didn’t begin in 1651. Then, England was engulfed in civilContinue reading “Hobbes and the start of politics”
Why I Write Such Good Blogs 