E-Library of Resources for Political Theory from Hobbes

General Essay Writing

• * A. P. Martinich, Philosophical Writing: An Introduction, 3rd edition.
• * A handout on “Language for Philosophical Writing“. I used this when I taught philosophy to non-native speakers of English; it gives lots of examples of good sentence starters and philosophical language you can use when writing your essay.
• * Jim Pryor, “Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper“.
• * Peter Horban, “Writing a Philosophy Paper“.
• * Alex Gregory, “How to Write a Philosophy Essay” (a really good step-by-step guide).
• * Alex Gregory, “How to Write Clearly“

General Resources on the History of Political Thought

*Boucher, D. and P. Kelly (2003) Political Thinkers: From Socrates to the Present, first edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*  Cohen, G. A. (2014) Lectures on the History of Moral and Political Philosophy, ed J. Wolff. Princeton, NJ and London: Princeton University Press.
* Klosko, G. (ed.) (2011) The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [This covers a much longer timespan than our course, but there are several chapters in here which may be helpful.]
* McClelland, J. S. (1996) A History of Western Political Thought. London and New York: Routledge.
* Rawls, J. (2007) Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, ed. S. Freeman. Cambridge, MA and London: Belknap Press. [As well as being informative in their own right, the lectures are revealing in terms of the philosophical context for Rawls’ own work.]

The Cambridge Department of Politics and International Studies maintains very extensive reading lists for their modules on the history of political thought. Do ransack these for any references that might be useful. Have a look at:
* POL 7: covers Hobbes and Locke.
* POL 8: covers Rousseau, Wollstonecraft, Mill and Marx.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an invaluable peer-reviewed scholarly resource for essays. (I know academics who cite SEP entries for their own publications!) If you do use the SEP, make sure you reference a stable version of the entry in question. For example, if you want to cite the article on “Hobbes’s Moral and Political Philosophy”, you’ll need the last-archived version which is from Fall 2020. For instructions on how to do this properly, consult the “Author and Citation Info” which is at the top left of every entry. Do not cite any dynamic articles, as these may be updated without prior notice.

Hobbes, Leviathan

* Bookman, J. T. (2019) A Reader’s Companion to The Prince, Leviathan, and the Second Treatise. Cham: Springer.
* Hampton, J. (1986) Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Newey, G. (2014) The Routledge Guidebook to Hobbes’ Leviathan. London and New York: Routledge.
* Springborg, P. (ed.) (2007) The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes’s Leviathan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Locke, Second Treatise of Government

* Bookman, J. T. (2019) A Reader’s Companion to The Prince, Leviathan, and the Second Treatise. Cham: Springer.
* Chappell, V. (ed.) (1994) The Cambridge Companion to Locke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Kelly, P. (2007) Locke’s Second Treatise of Government: A Reader’s Guide. London: Continuum.
* Stuart, M. (ed.) (2016) A Companion to Locke. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell. [see especially the essays in Part III and Part V]

Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract

* Bertram, C. (2004) Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Rousseau and The Social Contract. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
* Riley, P. (ed.) (2001) The Cambridge Companion to Rousseau. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

* Berges, S. (2013) The Routledge Guidebook to Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
* Johnson, C. L. (2002) The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mill / Mill and Taylor

* Eggleston, B. and D. E. Miller (eds.) (2014) The Cambridge Companion to Utilitarianism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [ebook, requires university login; opens in new window]
* Riley, J. (1998) Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Mill on Liberty. New York and London: Routledge.
* Skorupski, J. (ed.) (1998) The Cambridge Companion to Mill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Smart, J. J. C. and B. Williams (1973) Utilitarianism: For and Against. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* West, H. R. (ed.) (2006) The Blackwell Guide to Mill’s Utilitarianism. Oxford: Blackwell.

Marx

* Carver, T. (ed.) (1991) The Cambridge Companion to Marx. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Wolff, J. (2002) Why Read Marx Today? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Wright, E. O., A. Levine and E. Sober (1992) Reconstructing Marxism. London: Verso.

W. E. B. Du Bois

* Bromell, N. (ed.) (2018) A Political Companion to W. E. B. Du Bois. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.
* Gooding-Williams, R. (2009) In the Shadow of Du Bois: Afro-Modern Political Thought in America. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
* Reed, A. L. (1997) W. E. B. Du Bois and American Political Thought: Fabianism and the Color Line. New York: Oxford University Press.
* Zack, N. (ed.) (2017) The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Race. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Zamir, S. (2008) The Cambridge Companion to W. E. B. Du Bois. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.