From Plato to Bentham the political philosophy of the world

In thus approaching political theory those tho interested in the great works of political philosophy will have an Immediate and personal acquaintance with the very essence of the theories of Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Machiavelli, Thomas More, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, the authors of the Federalist, and Jeremy Bentham. Instead of reading fragments or excerpts of their great books, they will have in a single chapter the leading and creative ideas of each philosopher and at the same time they will get at least an impression of all the nuances and shades of beauty and flavor of the original.

Reading the book, the students will feel political theories not as something afar off or strange or at best of purely historical value, but they will understand the contemporary background, the interests and emotions of the period which fomented the political struggles of past generations. It is hoped that on the basis of such an introduction the student will better appreciate the real role and function of political theories in the course of human evolution, and will be capable of discriminating between good and bad political thinking in our own day.