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| Introduction: From the Declaration of Independence to Political Philosophy | |
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| Political Knowledge and Political Power: Plato's Apology, Crito, and Republic | |
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| What is the political lesson of the trial of Socrates? | |
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| How far is a citizen obligated to obey the laws? | |
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| In defining justice, how do we move from opinions to knowledge? | |
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| Is justice the interest of the stronger? | |
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| Is justice the fulfillment of natural needs? | |
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| Is justice conventional rather than natural? | |
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| Is the rule of philosopher-kings meant to be a realistic political goal? | |
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| Why does Socratic statesmanship require a "noble lie"? | |
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| Is there any justification in nature for the hierarchical ordering of the city and soul into three parts? | |
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| Political Science as the Study of Regimes: Aristotle's Politics | |
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| Is the best regime good enough? | |
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| Does political life fulfill a natural human end? | |
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| Are human beings the only animals with the capacity for symbolic speech? | |
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| How do selfishness and aggression influence political life? | |
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| Does Aristotle show the prejudices of his culture in his views of slaves and women? | |
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| Does Aristotle's understanding of citizenship have any application to modern democratic politics? | |
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| Does Aristotle's regime go too far in restricting individual liberty? | |
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| How should we settle the conflict between oligarchic and democratic views of justice? | |
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| How does the Aristotelian leader handle a regime that is less than the best? | |
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| Why does Aristotle teach tyrants how to preserve their regimes? | |
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| The Political Realism of Christian Theology: Augustine's City of God | |
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| Was Augustine the first political realist? | |
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| Does Christian faith perfect our reasoning about politics? | |
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| Is nature apart from God a reliable standard for politics? | |
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| Must earthly political rule always be unjust? | |
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| Must the Christian be a Machiavellian? | |
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| Natural Law: Thomas Aquinas's "Treatise on Law" | |
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| What is natural law? | |
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| Is law the command of the sovereign backed by threat? | |
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| How do human beings discover natural law? | |
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| Does the fact-value distinction refute the idea of natural law? | |
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| Is law the joint product of nature, custom, and stipulation? | |
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| Does cultural diversity contradict the idea of natural law? | |
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| Is it right to legislate morality? | |
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| Power Politics: Machiavelli's The Prince and Discourses | |
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| Is Machiavelli a teacher of evil? | |
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| What is Machiavellian virtue? | |
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| In politics does the end justify the means? | |
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| Does political order require "cruelty well used"? | |
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| Does Machiavellianism subvert popular government? | |
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| Does Machiavelli elevate political power over political wisdom? | |
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| Liberal Rationalism: Descartes's Discourse on Method | |
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| Would the scientific method of Descartes lead us to a free and rational society? | |
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| Is the Cartesian account of reason correct? | |
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| Does Cartesian science promote nihilistic tyranny? | |
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| Does Cartesian science promote technocratic tyranny? | |
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| If machines can think, do they have rights? | |
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| Individual Rights and Absolute Government: Hobbes's Leviathan | |
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| Are human beings too selfish to be naturally political? | |
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| If human beings are naturally competitive, how is political order possible? | |
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| Why should we obey an absolute government? | |
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| Can only an absolute government protect individual liberty? | |
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| Does the right to revolution subvert good government? | |
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| Is the founding of political authority on rational selfishness too idealistic? | |
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| Is the American government a Hobbesian Leviathan? | |
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| Individual Rights and Limited Government: Locke's Second Treatise of Government | |
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| Are all human beings naturally equal? | |
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| Should a just government secure private property rights? | |
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| Can liberal government combine individual freedom with political authority? | |
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| Can Lockean government secure the consent of the governed? | |
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| By what right does the majority rule? | |
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| Can the rule of law and the separation of powers secure individual rights? | |
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| Must the executive have the powers of a dictator? | |
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| What is the right to revolution? | |
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| Should women have equal rights? | |
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| Participatory Democracy: Rousseau's First and Second Discourses and Social Contract | |
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| Does popular enlightenment subvert political freedom? | |
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| Are human beings by nature asocial and arational? | |
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| Has the evolution of civilization deprived us of our natural freedom and happiness? | |
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| Does participatory democracy promote or threaten individual liberty? | |
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| Does a participatory democracy require a godlike founder? | |
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| Is representative democracy disguised slavery? | |
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| Does democracy need a civil religion? | |
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| Is a true democracy impossible? | |
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| History and the Modern State: Hegel's Philosophy of Right and Philosophy of History | |
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| Does history have an ultimate meaning? | |
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| Is every political philosopher "a child of his time?" | |
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| What is freedom? | |
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| Can the modern state unite individual rights and political duties? | |
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| Does war preserve the health of the state? | |
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| Is the United States a state? | |
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| Have we reached the end of history? | |
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| Socialism: Marx's Communist Manifesto | |
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| Do economic interests determine history? | |
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| Must capitalists exploit their workers? | |
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| Does capitalism prevent workers from finding joy in their work? | |
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| Would socialism emancipate human beings? | |
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| Would a socialist economy work? | |
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| Can we have Marx without Stalin? | |
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| Can socialism be democratic? | |
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| The Death of God and the Will to Power: Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy; Human, All Too Human; Thus Spoke Zarathustra; and Beyond Good and Evil | |
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| Do we need the illusions of mythic art to conceal the meaningless chaos of the world? | |
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| Can a free-spirited science give us "humble truths?" | |
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| Can human beings live without transcendental longings? | |
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| Is a free-spirited science compatible with modern liberal democracy? | |
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| Who is Zarathustra? | |
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| Does going "beyond good and evil" lead us to a new nobility? | |
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| Equality and Liberty: Rawls's A Theory of Justice | |
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| Are the principles of justice those we would choose under certain conditions of fairness? | |
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| Should we force the more fortunate people of our society to help those less fortunate? | |
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| Does justice require socialist equality? | |
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| Does justice require capitalist liberty? | |
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| Should we seek equality of opportunity but not equality of result? | |
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| In asking political questions, must we ask about the meaning of life? | |
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| Epilogue | |
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| The Declaration of Independence | |
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| Index | |