Book review: a polity which fails to place a holistic political ethics at the heart of its deliberations cannotendure

Abstract

Keith Breen presents an extended critical evaluation of the social and political thought of Jurgen Habermas, Hannah Arendt and Alasdair MacIntyre. Although hailing from very different philosophical traditions, these theorists all take as their starting-point Max Weber’s seminal diagnosis of late modernity. Michael Wilkinson finds that although Breen’s book serves as a prelude to this broader project rather than its fulfillment, it is nonetheless a tantalising one which leaves the reader itching for more. Under Weber’s Shadow: Modernity, Subjectivity and Politics in Habermas, Arendt and Macintyre. Keith Breen. Ashgate. August 2012