Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

Thompson, Mark Christian, The Critique of Nonviolence: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Philosophy. 232 pp. 2022:6 (Stanford U. Pr., US) <671-98>
ISBN 978-1-5036-3113-7 hard ¥25,872.- (税込) US$ 120.00 *
ISBN 978-1-5036-3207-3 paper ¥6,468.- (税込) US$ 30.00 *

How does Martin Luther King, Jr., understand race philosophically and how did this understanding lead him to develop an ontological conception of racist police violence? In this important new work, Mark Christian Thompson attempts to answer these questions, examining ontology in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy. Specifically, the book reads King through 1920s German academic debates between Martin Heidegger, Rudolf Bultmann, Hans Jonas, Carl Schmitt, Eric Voegelin, Hannah Arendt, and others on Being, gnosticism, existentialism, political theology, and sovereignty. It further examines King's dissertation about Tillich, as well other key texts from his speculative writings, sermons, and speeches, positing King's understanding of divine love as a form of Heideggerian ontology articulated in beloved community. Tracking the presence of twentieth-century German philosophy and theology in his thought, the book situates King's ontology conceptually and socially in nonviolent protest. In so doing, The Critique of Nonviolence reads King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (1963) with Walter Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921) to reveal the depth of King's political-theological critique of police violence as the illegitimate appropriation of the racialized state of exception. As Thompson argues, it is in part through its appropriation of German philosophy and theology that King's ontology condemns the perpetual American state of racial exception that permits unlimited police violence against Black lives.

Fiala, Andrew, Tyranny from Plato to Trump: Fools, Sycophants, and Citizens. 256 pp. 2022:3 (Rowman & Littlefield, US) <671-47>
ISBN 978-1-5381-6048-0 hard ¥9,055.- (税込) US$ 42.00 *

A greedy bully seizes his moment to make a grab for power. Bootlicking kiss-ups swarm around him. Mobs of partisans are seduced by lies, propaganda, and virulent ideology. Plagues and violence breakout. People die and the nation falters. This is a common, recurring tragedy: tyrants rise to power, sycophants suck up, the moronic masses cheer it on, against their interests. And things fall apart. This is a tale of the contemporary political landscape of the USA, but it is also a story as old as the Ancient Greeks. Plato and Sophocles described this trio of political characters; they warned that tragedy unfolds in the absence of reason, and proposed wisdom and virtue as the cure. This account was well-known to the Founders of the United States, who imagined the U.S. Constitution as a solution to tyranny. The dream of Enlightenment required educated citizens and leaders informed by philosophy, theology, and history. The Trump era prompts us to think about perennial themes in politics, philosophy and morality. The bad news is that there have always been morons, sycophants, and tyrants. The good news is that once we know this, we can prepare a response. At times, each of us can be tyrannical, moronic, and sycophantic. That is why we need reason and virtue, as well as a political system that restrains our worst inclinations. This book brings historical insight to bear on current affairs, the arc of the Trump phenomenon, and uses the contemporary moment to illuminate universal themes of human society.

Le Mauff, Julien, Genealogie de la raison d'Etat: l'exception souveraine du Moyen Age au baroque. (Les anciens et les modernes, etudes de philosophie 49) 535 p. 2021:12 (Classiques Garnier, FR) <671-38>
ISBN 978-2-406-12160-2 hard ¥20,479.- (税込) EUR 87.00
ISBN 978-2-406-12159-6 paper ¥11,534.- (税込) EUR 49.00 *

Jarrett, David, Lockean Property Ethics and Restitution. (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought) 176 pp. 2022:6 (Routledge, UK) <671-31>
ISBN 978-0-367-54651-9 hard ¥38,461.- (税込) GB￡ 135.00 *

In this book, David Jarrett argues that the influential Lockean thesis of justice in property, which traces back to John Locke, seems to entail much egalitarian property redistribution.Put briefly, Lockeans argue that people justly own: (1) any unowned natural resources they labour on, (2) any resources they receive via voluntary transfer from a legitimate owner, and (3) any resources they legitimately receive in compensation for harm done to their person or legitimately held property. However, a question that has been largely overlooked by Lockeans is how to address the problem of property which did not arise in line with Lockean justice. What do we do about property which derives from feudal and colonial conquest, for example? Drawing on a range of theoretical and historical sources, this book argues that the legal concept of restitution is the most reasonable way to address the problem. If we apply this concept, it appears that much property in the world is held unjustly and should be redistributed in an egalitarian manner.Lockean Property Ethics and Restitution will be of interest to political theorists and philosophers alike.

Jensen, Kipton E. (ed.), Preston King: History, Toleration, and Friendship. (Currents in Media, Social and Religious Movements in the Middle East 3) 246 pp. 2021:11 (P. Lang, SZ) <671-32>
ISBN 978-1-4331-9090-2 hard ¥26,492.- (税込) SFR 106.10

This volume celebrates the remarkable career of Dr. Preston King, an African American political philosopher with an international reputation. King's first degree was from Fisk University (1956). He moved directly to the London School of Economics (LSE), completing his M.Sc. (Econ) in 1958 with a Mark of Distinction. He taught at LSE for the next two years. A scrap with Jim Crow America kept him in exile for the next 40 years. Major friends and influences at LSE were Professors Sir Karl Popper, Michael Oakeshott, and Dr Bernard Crick. King took up subsequent lectureships at the universities of Keele, Ghana, and Sheffield. He was Senior Research Assistant at the Acton Society Trust (London), then professor at the universities of Nairobi, New South Wales (Sydney), and Lancaster, returning at last to the United States as joint Woodruff Professor at Emory and Distinguished Professor at Morehouse. The essays comprising this volume are by internationally renowned figures. They creatively explore history, toleration, and friendship as three seminal themes running through Preston King's sizeable oeuvre. The first third of this book consists of essays on time and history, with brilliant contributions by Professors Browning, Lawson, Moore, and Cherribi. The second third consists of essays on time and toleration, with memorable and penetrating analyses by Professors Jones, Read, Modood/Dobbernak, and Brown. The final third consists of essays on time and friendship, with offerings?both charming and insightful?by Professors Devere, Smith, and Coleman. The book concludes with a novel and captivating chapter by King himself, on the philosophy of time, which constitutes the substratum of so much of his work and reflection.

Schoelderle, Thomas, Auf der Suche nach dem Nirgendwo: Genese, Geschichte und Grenzen der Utopie. 300 S. 2022:2 (Campus, GW) <671-1121>
ISBN 978-3-593-51526-7 paper ¥8,474.- (税込) EUR 36.00 *