The Constitution of Public Philosophy: Toward a Synthesis of Freedom and Responsibility in Postmodern America

America, and the postmodern West in particular, are experiencing a moral and intellectual crisis, according to E. Robert Statham, Jr. In The Constitution of Public Philosophy, Statham argues that Walter Lippman was correct in locating this crisis in the impoverished nature of public philosophy, and he attempts to constitute a role for reason in contemporary America. Statham suggests that the negative rule of law via a written constitution requires the positive rule of reason, or political philosophy, in order to flourish. He explores the tradition of reason in postmodern America, and argues that since Plato was correct in saying that philosophers should rule if justice is to be obtained, in a constitutional order philosophers rule indirectly by teaching citizens to rule themselves. This is an important contribution to the literature on political philosophy and American constitutionalism.