Political Philosophy A Beginners Guide F

Contemporary Political Theory, 2003, 2, (259–261)
r 2003 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1470-8914/03 $15.00

www.palgrave-journals.com/cpt
Political Philosophy: A Beginner’s Guide for Students and Politicians

Adam Swift
Polity Press, Cambridge, 2001, 194pp.
Paperback, ISBN: 0-7456-2847-8.
Contemporary Political Theory (2003) 2, 259–261. doi:10.1057/palgrave.cpt.9300044
The idea for this book came when Swift had read that British prime minister,
Tony Blair, had contacted Sir Isaiah Berlin, Professor of Social and Political
Theory at Oxford (before his death in 1997), to ask him about his famous
distinction between negative and positive liberty. The question was posed in the
context of developing ways of thinking about how New Labour could draw
upon ideas from the liberal tradition. The text sets out to explain what the
fundamental tenets of political philosophy are, focussing upon four core
themes: social justice, liberty, equality and community, acknowledging that
other important concepts (authority, obligation, democracy, power) had to be
left out. The approach is analytical and the format highly accessible for the
student or non-specialist. Swift starts with the claim that ‘politics is a confusing
business’ and that we need political philosophy for clarification of important
values and issues. Philosophers want to know what we mean in order to reach
conclusions about whether a statement is true, which is done by ‘thinking hard’
about all the reasons why something may be true as well as untrue. Swift
contrasts his approach to postmodern claims (identified as another philoso-
phical position), that there is no such thing as ‘truth’ and that reason itself is
always socially constructed leaving it to the readers to judge whether analytical
philosophy ‘is indeed worth doing’ (p. 4). He is not providing a history of
political philosophy he describes as ‘fascinating and important’ because it is
not what matters to him (p. 4).
Swift identifies political philosophy as philosophy about politics and he
ultimately identifies it as a branch of moral philosophy. He conventionally
identifies ‘the political’ with the State (specifically the liberal democratic state)
and is concerned with the central questions of how the state should act, what
moral principles should guide its conduct towards its own citizens? and what
sort of social order does it create? (p. 5). The first part of the book is about
justice, clarifying between ‘concepts’ and ‘conceptions’ whilst foregrounding
Hayek vs social justice, Rawls: justice as fairness, Nozick: justice as entitlement
and the justice as desert position. The chapter on liberty outlines three
distinctions between conceptions of liberty (effective vs formal freedom,
freedom as autonomy vs freedom as doing what you want, and freedom as
political participation vs freedom from participation in politics). The chapter
Book Reviews
260
on equality distinguishes between philosophical and practical arguments

(p. 92), with an emphasis on preserving what Swift recognizes as the important
distinction between means and ends. The chapter on community distinguishes
between philosophical and political communitarians and demonstrates the
ways in which the ‘communitarian critique’ of liberalism is mired by
misrepresentation and misunderstanding. The final section ‘Outstanding
Issues’ discusses the paradox of ‘citizen rights’ and ‘human rights’ in the
context of liberalism, neutrality, multiculturalism and the nation-state. This
section is valuable for its discussion of the scope of liberal principles as ‘even if
states are culturally homogenous, we would still need to know why liberal
principles of justice apply only within states and not across humanity as a
whole’ (p. 168).
There are various complex interplays in this text that are both conscious and
unconscious. It is not hard to imagine a reader misunderstanding Swift’s
intentions (which is not a defence of liberalism). Many times he claims that he
is not arguing anything and that his role is to clarify positions for the reader
(which he does admirably), although he admits that the careful reader will
detect certain leanings. Whilst Swift provides careful pathways of under-
standing for the beginner, his very understanding of political philosophy, as
something largely concerned with justice existing in a timeframe that stretches
back to the 1970s with the emergence of Rawls (a left-liberal), already positions
him so to speak (and this is regardless of the fact that the chapter on social
justice begins in the 1850s). One does not have to be a postmodern theorist to
be slightly dubious of an enterprise that claims to be concerned with ‘the truth’
(as if it exists in the singular). At times it was hard to see exactly what was
political in the text, being more about philosophy than political philosophy or
political theory, in the sense that its main concern is thinking as a dialogue with
oneself (concepts) rather than actions (events between living beings). He echoes
Plato (another philosopher who lacked faith in the political and endorsed the
superiority of philosophers in understanding the human condition)
when he says ‘it is an unfortunate feature of the world that actual politics
involves ordinary people, who think in terms of untidy and shifting
constellationsyhow much easier and clearer everything would be if they
were all philosophers’ (p. 133). Swift never mentions political theorists,
whilst philosophers, analytical philosophers, political philosophers and
political sociologists all gain from the insights (p. 175).
Considering Swift is concerned with conceptual clarity and notwithstanding
his constant denial of arguing anything, it is difficult to understand why he
claims there is no difference between liberty and freedom (except that he is
following Berlin in choosing to use the terms interchangeably). There is
actually quite a huge difference between freedom and liberty (see Arendt, 1961:
143–171) highlighting Swift’s non-familiarity with political tradition
Contemporary Political Theory 2003 2
Book Reviews
261
(as opposed to its history) and paradoxical lack of conceptual precision. He

also suggests that the difference between negative and positive freedom, ‘the
freedom from’ vs ‘the freedom to’ is actually that they are both really forms of
negative liberty in the first place! (p. 53). The brief mentions of totalitarianism
and ‘Totalitaria’ (with the example of not letting citizens go on holiday) does
nothing to further our understanding of totalitarianism as mass organizations
of atomized and isolated individuals. One strangely perverse twist to the text is
Swift’s claim that it is for students and Tony Blair (if he were studying political
philosophy now). One might only imagine what Blair might think if he were
reading it as the entire text is exclusively addressed in the female pronoun ‘she’.
Whilst this may appear to be fashionably politically correct, it actually warps
the conceptual clarity because the reality of political tradition and history is
largely premised on the express exclusion of women (Pateman, 1988). The
omission is not helped or clarified by glossing over this with an overkill usage
of the pronoun ‘she’. Overall, the text is clearly presented with arguments and
counter-arguments that attempt to dispel confusion about liberalism (its not
about self-interest but ‘mutual disinterest’) and between liberalism and
communitarian positions more generally. It most certainly fills a market niche
in the international introductory political theory/philosophy textbooks market,
although given the time frame covered in the book, it may have been more
aptly titled ‘Contemporary Political Philosophy’ or ‘Political Philosophy
Today’.
References
Arendt, H. (1961) ‘What is Freedom?’, Between Past and Future, USA: Penguin.
Pateman, C. (1988) The Sexual Contract, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Dr. Mary Walsh

University of Canberra.
Contemporary Political Theory 2003 2

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Contemporary Political Theory, 2003, 2, (259–261)

r 2003 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1470-8914/03 $15.00

Political Philosophy: A Beginner’s Guide for Students and Politicians

on equality distinguishes between philosophical and practical arguments

(as opposed to its history) and paradoxical lack of conceptual precision. He

Dr. Mary Walsh

Contemporary Political Theory 2003 2

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