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Article: Bringing philosophy to bear.(COMMENTARY)(BOOK REVIEW)(Column)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- May 12, 2009
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Byline: David C. Acheson, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
It is not easy, and perhaps not advisable, to attempt to combine a serious treatment of a political philosophy classic with a modern political polemic. This is what Paul A. Rahe, a professor at Hillsdale College, has sought to do. In my opinion, it is a jarring mismatch to put forward the writings of Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville and other European political philosophers of the 18th and 19th centuries as an attack on the 21st-century welfare state.
For a devoted academic audience, the first 200 pages of Mr. Rahe's book could be interesting reading, condensing, as it does, considerable ...