The Rise and Fall of Rational Control
The History of Modern Political Philosophy
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Harvard University Press
Published:30th Jan '26
Should be back in stock very soon
A renowned scholar traces the evolution of modern political philosophy.
The Rise and Fall of Rational Control is a bold interpretation of centuries of intellectual revolutions. Based on Harvey C. Mansfield’s legendary Harvard course, taught for decades to rapt classrooms, this volume is both a grand work of ideas and an elucidating reflection on liberalism, its eclipse, and the possibility of renewal.
Mansfield locates the birth of modern political philosophy in the work of Niccolò Machiavelli, the first to assert that the objective of politics is not to achieve wishful ideals of justice or virtue—as the ancients had it—but to manipulate the brute facts of the world in service of interests. Here rational control, free from the order of gods or God, is the key to achieving the modern order, which can liberate humans from slavery and conflict. Hobbes and Locke later develop Machiavelli’s modern idea, laying foundations for liberalism. Then comes the first crisis in the form of Rousseau, who introduces historical change into the very idea of reason, which itself is said to evolve. After Rousseau, history takes center stage, as witnessed in Kant, Marx, and Hegel. The second crisis of modernity arrives with Nietzsche, who casts doubt on reason itself. Ever since, political thought has been stranded in the desert of postmodernism, where Machiavelli’s necessities are replaced by faded subjectivity.
Tracing the rise and fall of rational control, Mansfield asks where we go from here. Can we progress beyond our unease with what is modern, or should we aim to return somehow to what came before?
[This book] is an exercise in the liberal education that was already threatened when Mr. Mansfield began teaching History of Modern Political Philosophy in the 1960s. You cannot get answers to the questions Mr. Mansfield raises in a textbook or on ChatGPT, or even by examining important passages. The only way to find them is to read, reflect and compare whole books. -- Sam Goldman * Wall Street Journal *
The magisterial Harvey Mansfield of Harvard has given us a splendid new book…The reader will be struck—I certainly was—by how refined [the lectures] are. Well, they are refined because he refined them over half a century…Every chapter is penetrating and illuminating. -- Robert P. George * Washington Free Beacon *
Mansfield's moderns, especially the early ones, are all devious, therefore dangerous. They always seem to be casting sideways glances; the careful reader's job is to catch them out. Mansfield excels at this, because he is an unfailingly careful reader. Even if one rejects the larger argument, it is always full of penetrating observations. -- Ian Tuttle * Hedgehog Review *
Harvey Mansfield is a Harvard treasure, a one-man antidote to liberal complacency. -- Michael J. Sandel
Harvey Mansfield is a legend—not to say a myth. These days, of course, a conservative on the political science faculty of an Ivy League college may sound as mythical as the Minotaur. Perhaps [his] critics viewed him with the same mixture of astonishment and fear as they would the mythical beast. Unfortunately for them, [he] was all too real. -- Tom Cotton, United States Senator for Arkansas
An unblinkingly courageous social commentator, Harvey Mansfield is a superb teacher who has fostered a generation of influential students. -- Francis Fukuyama, author of The End of History and the Last Man
Professor Mansfield's influence extends beyond the walls of the academy. His insights have deep practical and political importance. Throughout his career Harvey Mansfield has taught us important things about self-government; we need, now more than ever, to heed his wise counsel. -- William J. Bennett, former US Secretary of Education and author of The Book of Virtues
ISBN: 9780674298859
Dimensions: 235mm x 156mm x 21mm
Weight: 642g
336 pages