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Are you looking for books on political philosophy -- like overviews of the main positions? Or books of political philosophy, that have been influential in causing people to adopt certain positions?

You say you're a liberal and that you're open to other views. Chapters 9 and 10 of this book adeptly cover the main philosophical positions (liberalism, conservatism, communism) that have been so influential over the couple of centuries, and has a splendid reading list at the end that you can use to supplement the overviews in the body of the text.

For a first essay dealing with some complex thinkers, you did a great job! My comments were mainly to help you sharpen some concepts and organization, but with any advice, should also be take with a grain of salt and not change your thought/voice, but only help bring it to a more articulate expression.

There is a lot on Kant and Human Rights/International Relations/Duties to Others. I will just list three texts here, the first two are primary sources of Kant and the last is a secondary source.

Perpetual Peace I do not know this translation, but it is free which is always a plus. If not, Cambridge has this published under their collection of Kant's works. It is in the "Practical Philosophy" edition, which also has the Metaphysics of Morals.
Metaphysics of Morals (You seem to have alluded to this in your paper when you spoke about the rational a priori justifications for a just society built on a contract. The second part of this work where Kant deals with Duties to oneself and Duties for others, which rely on his argument of the inherent dignity found in all humans, is fundamental for Kant and Human Rights.
Martha C. Nussbaum, "Kant and Stoic Cosmopolitanism" in The Journal of Political Philosophy 5, No. 1 (1997):1-25. She does a good job on showing how Kant relates to Stoic Cosmopolitanism and then how this relates both to his Perpetual Peace but also how this affects his idea of human rights and the duties that we owe to the dignity to other peoples.

If this is something you are interested in, these pieces are great. I would actually start with the Nussbaum piece becasue she does a great job of relating Kant to the Human Rights tradition, but more importantly, it is a great summary of Kant's relationship to human rights and dignity and obviously a much quicker read then the first two. Good luck with Uni and I hope you keep on enjoying Political Theory!

A personal favorite: "The Essential Kropotkin: Tompkins, Keitha" (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871404001/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Kropotkin explores Anarchism, Communism, and Socialism in general and is a very charismatic author that makes for a very compelling and engaging read. Highly reccomend as a starting point for someone with your interests. I would pair it with a more classical liberal or libertarian bent as that's 'the other side of the coin' re: Freedom from government intervention.

Other Suggestions

Liberal/Libertarian: Mills, Locke, Paine, Friedman

Anarchism/Socialism: Proudhon, Faure, Emma Goldman

I think that it's never bad to start exploring an Author by reading a popular journal or article instead of a full fledged 'novel', most of these things should be available online for free too.

A length webinar on the discussion of theory and implementation of sortition throughout Europe. This video features advocates David van Reybrouck and Helene Landemore.

Reybrouck published his book "Against Elections" -- https://www.amazon.com/Against-Elections-David-Van-Reybrouck/dp/1847924220
Landemore has also written about sortition "Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century" -- https://www.amazon.com/Open-Democracy-Reinventing-Popular-Century/dp/0691181993/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=helene+landemore&qid=1603494995&s=books&sr=1-1

>Also, is there anyone focused on something that links the issues of political philosophy with philosophy of language?

There are a lot of thinkers who do this, the most famous being Habermas. But many democratic theorist, especially those who do deliberative democracy, look at language and do political theory from that. A very interesting example of this would be the work of Linda Zerilli Signifying Woman. A lot of 'critical' political theorist look at language.

Also, a lot of English departments do work that deals with politics. For example, English literature scholars who work on Colonialism, plantations, or race do work that engages with political theory, although they are in different departments. I don't think you would have to apply to a political science department if you want to deal with politics.

The question I think you should ask yourself is what kind of questions you are interested in. Once you hone in on exactly what kind of questions you are interested in, then I think you should ask yourself if these are questions that are better analyzed within a political science department or a literature department. A great way to do this is to skim some articles of leading publications in political theory and comparative literature that deal with your question, and see which publications you prefer. But, I think you will find that you can still think about politics or the political in a literature department, and it might make it easier for you to apply to PhD programs since there will be a higher chance that your professors who are writing your letter of recommendations will know people.

I'll give my shot, and there are some here that I think you can't miss if you really want to understand the contemporary scene:

Plato - The Republic
Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics ("Politics" is more political science than political philosophy...the "Ethics" applies well to his political thoughts.)
Machiavelli - The Prince
Hobbes - Leviathan
Locke - Two Treatises of Government
Mill - On Liberty
Rawls - A Theory of Justice
Nozick - Anarchy, State, Utopia
MacIntyre - After Virtue
Nussbaum - Frontiers of Justice

I took out Rousseau's "Social Contract" to get down to ten. It's a little contemporary-heavy, but if I had to talk about "must-reads," I'd be going for the ones that are relevant now. The line between economic and political philosophy can be blurry, but if you're looking for more economic stuff, you gotta go with Smith's "Wealth of Nations," Marx's "Das Capital," and Amartya Sen's "Development as Freedom." I also love Taylor's "The Ethics of Authenticity", a short read that is well worth it.

It certainly brings to mind Romans 12:6-8, "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us . . . . ," which incidently was the inspiration for the title of Isabel Briggs Myers and Peter B. Myers' treatise on the psychology of personality types.

Honestly. If you want some thing that ambitious there really is only one textbook that is really worth it

https://www.amazon.com/History-Political-Philosophy-Leo-Strauss/dp/0226777103

This is a legitimately great work

Heres a nice little book for first year students. https://www.amazon.ca/Students-Guide-Political-Philosophy/dp/1882926439/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1M55H2NAU8UT8&keywords=harvey+mansfield+political+philosophy&qid=1670140508&sprefix=harvey+mansfield+political+philosophy%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-1

Hmmmm. So I am looking for an equation that can be used to explain everything and predict anything. But it had ti be simple and easy to use….

Good luck here - this is the best I could do….

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Political-Philosophy-Culture-Modernity/dp/0814319025

No to make too much of a plug but this is also a great starting point if you like to read:

https://www.amazon.com/History-Political-Philosophy-Leo-Strauss/dp/0226777103

IMO if you get through this you will be well equipped to understand this topic …

Here are several Yale university political theory courses.

Here's a fantastic textbook(every chapter has recommended readings).

Here's a list of several classics in the field(I've saved it some time ago from a post in r/askphilosophy but I don't find it so I can't say who the original author of the list is):

Plato's *Republic*
Aristotle's *Politics*
Hobbes' *Leviathan*
Locke's *Second Treatise of Government*
Rousseau's *Discourse on the Origins of Inequality* and *Of the Social Contract*
Hume's "Of the Original Contract,
Mill's *On Liberty* and *The Subjection of Women* and *Considerations on Representative Government*.
Smith’s *The wealth of nations*
Marcuse's *One Dimensional Man*
Weber's *The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism*
*The essential Keynes* in penguin classics
Rawls' *A Theory of Justice*
Nozick's *Anarchy, State, and Utopia*
Rawls' *Political Liberalism*
Heyek's *The Road to Serfdom*
Friedman's *Capitalism and Freedom*
Beitz's *Political Theory and International Relations*
Okin's *Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?*
Cohen's *Rescuing Justice and Equality*
MacKinnon's *Toward a Feminist Theory of the State*
Dworkin's *Sovereign Virtue*

And of course as always check SEP and IEP's entries on any topic you need to have a rapid overview of.

Thank you. As to your question:

As with many of the parliamentary systems, I'm comfortable with the legislature appointing the President/Prime Minister. I also think it can work out well if the appointment is only for 1 year. Normally we'd have to worry about the chaos of having a different President every year, but if the legislators themselves were serving very long terms (3 or 4 of our current terms) then the legislators would be the source of stability. At least, this is a balance of powers we should think about -- the President/PM made weak by short terms, the legislators made powerful by longer terms. Especially in the USA in recent decades many commentators have worried about the amount of power accumulating in the hands of the President. In the 1980s/1990s Arthur M. Schlesinger wrote "The Imperial Presidency" which studied the problem:

https://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Presidency-Pa-04/dp/0618420010/

The problem has only gotten worse since then.

Longer terms in the legislature and shorter terms for the President would help re-balance two parts of the government that are supposed to be equals.

Hitler in some senses did "aim for the feminine DNA" in the sense that he actively encouraged masculine practice and actively suppressed "feminine" practices (what you mean by that I'm unsure, but I'll take you to mean the opposite of masculine).

The Hitler youth was designed in such a way as to best encourage masculine behavior and practices 1

Ideas about masculinity were "critical in the development of Nazi Socialist Policy" 2

Whilst you could, if you were really willing, make the argument that all states in World War 2 militarized masculinity, and then ask, why did the Nazis not do more? I don't think it's correct to believe that the Nazis were not active opponents of feminine practices.

I also think you should ask yourself what is so bad about femininity that justifies it's eradication by state powers, as that's not clear. There seems little evidence to suggest that "women's genes" exist (What exactly are they?) and also what is the relation between being feminine and "destroy[ing] other peoples lives" for if you are wanting the masculine Nazi party to eradicate female DNA and thus to actively destroy other peoples lives, would that not, by your reasoning render them feminine as well?

The centrality of politeia for Aristotle's Politics Part II - The Marginalization of Aristotle's <em>politeia</em> in Modern Political Thought (PDF).

From Omnivore.

To be perfectly honest with you, I'm not competent enough to give Cohen the kind of defense I think he deserves.

I like Cohen because he never seems to compromise, and I am very wary of conceding too much when it comes to what we think justice might demand of people. (I can see how this might strike some people as being a flaw rather than a positive trait)

I'm not sure if it will be of help to you, but Jonathan Quong has got a review article of Cohen's "Rescuing Justice and Equality" (the Facts and Principles paper forms part of this book) which I found extremely helpful in understanding the differences (and similarities) between Cohen and Rawls. I think you can access a copy of the review here: https://www.academia.edu/189710/Justice_Beyond_Equality

Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody https://www.amazon.com/dp/1634312023/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_D26PW7D5FTEAPZB1RAGK

This version of John Locke's Two Treatises of Government and an Essay concerning Toleration, which has a good explanatory introduction.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Treatise-Government-Concerning-Toleration-Classics/dp/0198732449

I thought this was an interesting work on the topic, though I have more complex view of the question than the author.

https://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Nationalism-Yoram-Hazony/dp/1541645375/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

There will still be anti-vaxxers. The real question is does the state completely shut down peoples' ability to work, go outside, or do anything without vaccine proof? Does the state start issuing licenses to live?

There will still be damaging sex. Court norms and burdens of proof would be changed, and prison populations would go up.

There will still be abortions. They will simply be black market ones.

There will still be guns. They will either be held by criminals or by the government. No good citizens need apply.

There will still be drugs. The black market abides, and violence follows.

Americans are not a pliant people. What works in a small homogeneous European country with very cohesive and broadly shared national viewpoints doesn't translate very well here within our chaotic, barely-held-together amalgamation of 50 countries.

Adam swift "https://www.amazon.com/Political-Philosophy-Beginners-Students-Politicians/dp/0745635326" Great guide

Oxford very short introduction

And another classic core uni course reading Johnathan Wolff's.

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Political-Philosophy-Jonathan-Wolff/dp/019929609X

(Check lib gen if you're strapped for cash)

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Political-Theories-V-2-Comprehensive/dp/0061351377/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=great+political+theories+book&qid=1619367937&sr=8-4

This book mildly covers relevant political theories from the French Revolution to modern times. It's more of a textbook type read but a nice little reference and cheap compared to classic college textbooks.

This is a link to an excellent Intro book I use with my students. https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Political-Philosophy-Jonathan-Wolff/dp/0199658013/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=introduction+to+political+philosophy&qid=1617891838&sr=8-2

I guess this is an opportunity to plug my own booklet, Common Sense: The Case for Crown Commonwealth Confederation. Amazon.com: Common Sense: The Case for Crown Commonwealth Confederation and a wider Pan Anglosphere Alliance eBook: Houghton II, Stephen W.: Kindle Store

>I did a BA in English and History a lifetime ago (nearly 6 years ago) so I 'should' be able to handle this sort of literature with relative ease

It's definitely like working out for you! If you've ever not done it for a significant period of time and then all of a sudden tried to get back in with the same routine you were using when you stopped... ouch, right?

I recommend the following earnestly and with no condescension, it's just a really useful text: Adler, M. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading. NB, Adler is very prescriptive in a way that I don't want to appear to be endorsing here; what I'm suggesting is that *interacting* with his ideas about reading is a valuable and clarifying exercise for anyone re: their own practice.

I would recommend The Reactionary Mind by Corey Robin. It's a really well cited book on Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump (taking an American spin on things). I'm half way through it and have already branched out to the other sources it uses. I would also recommend Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. The first volume was published in 1835 (I believe?), and it appears to be a must read for both sides of the political spectrum. I've only started it since Tocqueville has been referenced in a number of my readings.

As someone who is nearly done their degree in Political Science, International Development and History, what you're asking will take a lifetime to accomplish. I'm currently dedicating my much of personal reading to political philosophy, and it's unending. I would recommend the r/askhistorians FAQ and even the r/philosophy subreddit for some content guides.

First, congratulations!

I'm in my fourth year of a poli sci degree and here's a list of some of the books I'd recommend you read. There's obviously a ton more I could recommend, but I've held back due to not knowing how much you've already read and what your particular interests are.

The Prince - Machiavelli
Federalist Papers — Alexander Hamilton
1984 - George Orwell
History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
On Liberty – John Stuart Mill
The Social Contract - Rousseau

I love political theory, and the one book I've read three/four times (and one that keeps being brought up in a lot of my classes) is Plato's Republic. I highly recommend Alan Bloom's Translation (Amazon Canada link) which includes a great essay.

Also personally, I would have really struggled just jumping into a book like the Communist Manifesto before starting my degree. I'm sure there's plenty of people out there who manage just fine, and you might be one of them, but I've avoided listing the heavier reads for this reason. If this isn't an issue for you then jump into Marx, Aristotle, Tocqueville, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Mills, Hume, Morgenthau, Fukiyama, Rawls, Arendt, etc. etc. You can't really go wrong by getting a head start on reading any of them.

It might be a bit of a jump for a beginner but for my IR seminar we used Theories of International Relations along with articles from each school to discuss the various theories. Even if you just read the introduction, it does a good job of placing the realist-idealist debate in context.

I've read that one, and it's ok. A slightly better, more engaging introduction to Political Philosophy would be Michael Sandel's Justice. It was written for his eponymous Harvard course, which is fantastic and available online here.

I encourage you to google "Political Theory 101 Syllabus" and check out what they suggest. 90% of the time they're great suggestions that cover the canon. Or you can buy a collection of texts like this and we well on your way: https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Political-Thought-Machiavelli-Nietzsche/dp/0872208974

Plato, Republic; Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics and Politics; Machiavelli, Discourses and The Prince; Descartes, Discourse on Method; Hobbes, Leviathan; Locke, Second Treastise on Government; Hume, Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals; Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality and Social Contract; Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations; Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals; Robespierre, On the Moral and Political Principles of Domestic Policy; Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France; Tocqueville, Democracy in America; Mill, On Liberty; Marx, Das Kapital; Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals; Freud, Civilization and its Discontents; Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States; And as much Chomsky as you can, starting with Manufacturing Consent

I took a class on St Augustine and that book bored the shit out of me. Just read book 19. If you want more, consider buying this.

This Parfit piece is tremendous. If you read it, though you absolutely have to read Larry Temkin's response to the article: Equality, Priority, and the Leveling Down Objection.

It's a challenging work, as is the Parfit piece. This book has a good introduction that will help you work through them, along with each of the two articles mentioned above (along with lots of other important articles on the idea of equality).

The economic writings of Murray Rothbard considers the moral and social impact of trade using the "Crusoe" thought experiment. That is to say, imagine a man alone on an island, Robinson Crusoe. Then imagine introducing a new person to that environment.

You can find it in The Ethics of Liberty.

Rothbard then outlines a theory of social interact which maximizes personal liberty.

http://www.amazon.com/History-Political-Philosophy-Leo-Strauss/dp/0226777103

That's the book I was looking at. It just looks so tempting to me because it's so well organized and codifies even lesser philosophers. What if I just skipped the essays written by strauss and read the others?

Prof Scanlon (Harvard) and Prof Beitz (Princeton) are both excellent. And while an economist by training, Prof Marglin, famously teaches comminomics at Harvard (he's the only liberal in the econ dept at Harvard) and his latest book is an excellent look at political philosophy in the eyes of a social/shared (not "shared" in the sense of Uber, Airbnb etc) economy.

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Also this is a list of books I compiled from various syllabi of my university's political theory courses. Are any of them especially important or skippable?

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