Wishful thinking is a deeply ingrained human trait that has had a long-term distorting effect on ethical thinking. Many influential ethical views depend on the optimistic assumption that, despite appearances…

For Raymond Geuss, philosophers’ attempts to bypass normal ways of thinking-to point out that the question being asked is itself misguided-represents philosophy at its best. By provoking people to think…

The distinguished political philosopher Raymond Geuss examines critically the central topics in western political thought, including the state, authority, toleration, democracy, freedom and human rights. This is an essay on…

This edition presents a new translation by Ronald Speirs and an introduction by Raymond Geuss that sets the work in its historical and philosophical context.

In these original and imaginative essays, delivered as the Tanner Lectures at the University of California, Berkeley in 2005, the distinguished third-generation Frankfurt School philosopher Axel Honneth attempts to rescue…