Ernest Gellner, Selected Philosophical Themes: Contemporary Thought And Politics (selected Philosophical Themes, Volume Ii) (volume 2)

Gellner's political philosophy in these volumes combines the down-to-earth realism of political sociology with a rational treatment of the normative issues of traditional political thought. In these essays Gellner strives to understand the religions of nationalism, communism and democracy, returning again and again to the basic values of the liberal: social tolerance, rational criticism, human decency and justice. V. 1. Cause And Meaning In The Social Sciences -- V. 2. Contemporary Thought And Politics -- V. 3. The Devil In Modern Philosophy. Ernest Gellner. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. This volume focuses on key conceptual issues in the social sciences, such as Winch's idea of a social science, structuralism, Malinowski and Evans-Pritchard, and the concept of kinship.