{"product_id":"b-c-macpherson-political-theory-of-possessive-individualism-9780195444018","title":"Political Theory of Possessive Individualism","description":"This seminal work by political philosopher C.B. Macpherson was first published by the Clarendon Press in 1962, and remains of key importance to the study of liberal-democratic theory half-a-century later. In it, Macpherson argues that the chief difficulty of the notion of individualism that underpins classical liberalism lies in what he calls its \"possessive quality\" - \"its conception of the individual as essentially the proprietor of his own person or capacities, owing nothing to society for them.\" Under such a conception, the essence of humanity becomes freedom from dependence on the wills of others; society is little more than a system of economic relations; and political society becomes a means of safeguarding private property and the system of economic relations rooted in property.\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nAs the New Statesman declared: \"It is rare for a book to change the intellectual landscape. It is even more unusual for this to happen when the subject is one that has been thoroughly investigated by generations of historians. . . . Until the appearance of Professor Macpherson's book, it seemed unlikely that anything radically new could be said about so well-worn a topic. The unexpected has happened, and the shock waves are still being absorbed.\"\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nA new introduction by Frank Cunningham puts the work in a twenty-first-century context.","brand":"Oxford University Press Canada","offers":[{"title":"Used - good","offer_id":53562501988694,"sku":"9780195444018-G","price":13.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0925\/5829\/5382\/files\/product_image_9780195444018_1_9dd98068-2947-4339-9ff8-7c828dbd4dfb.jpg?v=1781705973","url":"https:\/\/www.momoxbooks.com\/products\/b-c-macpherson-political-theory-of-possessive-individualism-9780195444018","provider":"momoxbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}