Political Thinkers is the most comprehensive introduction to Western political thought written by a team of internationally renowned scholars. The third edition provides students with a clear and engaging introduction to the canon of great theorists, from Socrates and the Sophists to
contemporary thinkers such as Rawls and Arendt.

Each chapter begins with a helpful chapter guide, a biographical sketch of the thinker, a list of their key texts, and their key ideas. Part introductions and a concluding chapter enable readers to understand the social and political contexts that inspired political thinkers to write.

The third edition features two brand new chapters on Hannah Arendt, one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, and Hugo Grotius, whose work on just war continues to inform international law today.

David Boucher, Professor of Political Philosophy and International Relations, Cardiff University,Paul Kelly, Professor of Political Theory, London School of Economics

Professor David Boucher, Professor of Political Philosophy and International Relations, Cardiff University

Professor Paul Kelly, Professor of Political Theory and Pro-Director for Teaching and Learning, London School of Economics and Political Science

1. Introduction, David Boucher and Paul Kelly
Part I: The Polis
2. The Sophists, Peter Nicholson
3. Socrates, Fred Rosen
4. Plato, C.D.C. Reeve
5. Aristotle, Tony Burns
6. Cicero, Cary J. Nederman
Part II: The Two Kingdoms
7. St Augustine, Jean Bethke Elshtain
8. Aquinas, Joseph Canning
9. Marsiglio of Padua, Cary J. Nederman
10. Machiavelli, Joseph V. Femia
11. Grotius, Camilla Boison
Part III: The Rationalist Enlightenment
12. Hobbes, Deborah Baumgold
13. Locke, Jeremy Waldron
14. Hume, Paul Kelly
15. Montesquieu, Yoshie Kawade
16. Rousseau, David Boucher
17. The Federalist Papers, Terence Ball
18. Wollstonecraft, Carole Pateman
19. Tocqueville, Cheryl Welch
20. Bentham, Paul Kelly
21. J.S. Mill on Liberty, Paul Kelly
22. J.S. Mill on the Subjection of Women, Jennifer Ring
Part IV: The Counter-Enlightenment
23. Kant, Katrin Flikschuh
24. Burke, David Boucher
25. Hegel, Alan Patten
26. The Early Marx, Lawrence Wilde
27. Marx and Engels, Paul Thomas
28. Nietzsche, Nathan Widder
Part V: The Twentieth Century
29. Hannah Arendt, Justine Lacroix
30. Oakeshott, David Boucher
31. Habermas, Kenneth Baynes
32. Rawls, Rex Martin
33. Foucault, Paul Patton