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Property and Democracy¡GA Critical study of Macpherson's Political Thought

The purpose of this thesis is to give a critical analysis of ¡§Macphersonian possessive individualism¡¨, with regards to the issues of historical methodology as well as political theory. Having introduced my project of study in the opening chapter, I begin chapter two with an examination of the very idea of ¡§possessive individualism¡¨ proposed by C. B. Macpherson, and the theory of property and democracy that the thinker comes to develop in his later works. In chapter three, I turn to cope with the methodological problems implicit in Macpherson¡¦s study of history, mainly in terms of the Cambridge School¡¦s serious attack on its anti-historicity. In addition, the relative criticisms that I have addressed to Macpherson¡¦s methodology include the Marxist determinism and the Rationalist mode of modernity that appear his work. In chapter four, by contrast, it is Macpherson¡¦s theory of property and democracy that is under consideration. Here, taking the thought of Hayek as my case, I set out to show how the liberal formulations of democracy and property can still be free from Macpherson¡¦s Marxist charge. Finally, I conclude this thesis with a brief talk about the plausibility of Giddens¡¦ third way as the possible solution for the long-term debate regarding the intricate tension between property and equality.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0715103-140531
Date15 July 2003
CreatorsKu, Chen-Min
Contributorsnone, none, none
PublisherNSYSU
Source SetsNSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
LanguageCholon
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0715103-140531
Rightsunrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive

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