Philosophy
Welcome to the philosophy section of the LDO bookshop. This aims to provide a short list of useful books about liberalism and social democratic political theory.
Conrad Russell: An intelligent person’s guide to Liberalism
An inspirational - and up-to-date guide to the principles of British Liberalism.
J.S. Mill: On Liberty
The classic book on liberalism. Former leader Jo Grimond used to re-read this every year.
John Rawls: A Theory of Justice
Classic work originally published in 1971. Rawls aims to provide an alternative to utilitarianism, substituting the ideal of the social contract as a more satisfactory account of the basic rights and liberties of citizens as free and equal persons. Rawls argues that the correct principles of justice are those that would be agreed to by free and rational persons, placed in the “original position” of ignorance: not knowing their own place in society; their class, race, or sex; their abilities, intelligence, or strengths; or even their conception of the good.
Ronald Dworkin: Sovereign Virtue
To quote the New York Times, “Dworkin makes a plausible case for the strikingly implausible idea that equality is the sovereign political virtue”. He rejects the idea that liberty and equality are mutually exclusive ideals - and insists that a legitimate government’s objective must be to insure that the fates of individuals are insensitive to their identities but sensitive to their choices.
