Reviews for Socrates and the political community

The average rating for Socrates and the political community based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-01-20 00:00:00 John McVay There's little hope for America. At least the America Madison envisioned. My biggest takeaway from Sheldon's book is the importance that Reformed theology played shaping Madison's political theory. Theology of any sort plays a disappearing part an modern politics. It's been replaced by Humanism. Consequently we continually creep farther and farther from our founders. Notes: (1) Three main ideologies existed during the revolutionary and early republican periods: Lockean liberalism, classical republicanism, and Protestant Christianity (xi) (2) Calvinist lack of confidence in man (xii) hence the checks and moderators (3) Indictment of democracy. Mob rule. "Deceived by demagogues" (17) (4) Christianity would flourish in liberty (36) (5) Personal note: a move away from Madisonian methods was inevitable once society moved from a biblical view of man to humanism. (6) The greatest threat to a American liberty at this point in its history was not an overbearing central government but the chaos of independent state sovereignties...(64) (7) Powers of the federal government are few and defined. (70) (8) Alien and sedition act: we didn't start the fire (9) The Louisiana purchase and strict constitutional constructivism (100)

Review # 2 was written on 2018-11-11 00:00:00 Raven Nanie This book wouldn't really appeal to anyone unless he particularly wants to study President Madison, or if she wants to know more about one of the primary authors of the Constitution. That being said, The Political Philosophy of James Madison is a pretty short book, so it isn't the most thorough book in the world. ​ Garrett Ward Sheldon gives a concise reasoning behind Madison's motivations of his writings in the Federalist Papers and the Constitution. Just like all of us, our background and the way we were raised plays a role in our world views. Madison was raised in a religious household, and he stayed religious all throughout his life, which can be seen influencing his politics. He took a Calvinist view and often thought human nature held more bad than good, so it makes sense that he would stick up for states' rights, afraid the government might abuse its power. All in all, it's an interesting, if short, book. I'd look at it as a starter to learning about James Madison. If you like it, you might want to read a more thorough book about him.