Description
This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the political thought and practice of Raymond Plant (Professor Lord Plant of Highfield) and celebrates the three aspects of his public life which speak to his idea of the good society: scholarship, politics, and civil society. Firstly, Plant's scholarship was remarkable in its breadth including philosophy, social work, political studies, social policy, theology, and jurisprudence. In particular, Plant's work on Hegel, the New Liberals, social democracy, Hayek, and Rawls has had significant impact. Secondly, Plant's long association with the Labour Party which began in Grimsby in his youth through his friendship with the local MP Tony Crosland. He later chaired the Party's commission into electoral reform, took a seat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords, and chaired the Fabian Society commission into taxation and citizenship. Thirdly, his work with civil society including time as President of the NCVO, as chair of Centrepoint, as a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and appointment as a lay canon of Winchester Cathedral. This collection brings together distinguished scholars and contemporaries on all of the main aspects of Plant's thought and practical work and honours the remarkable scope and influence of his life.
About the Author
Matt Beech is Reader in Politics and Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull and IES Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley. He publishes on Conservative and Labour history and ideas and is researching a monograph on the Culture Wars. His most recent book is the co-edited volume with Simon Lee, Conservative Governments in the Age of Brexit (Palgrave Macmillan 2023). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Associate Member of the Centre de Recherches en Civilisation Britannique at the Sorbonne Nouvelle. He has held visiting appointments at Oxford, Berkeley, and Flinders. Kevin Hickson is Senior Lecturer in British Politics at the University of Liverpool where he has worked for 20 years. He writes extensively on British politics, political history, and ideologies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education academy. His publications include Britain's Conservative Right since 1945: Traditional Toryism in a Cold Climate and Peter Shore: Labour's Forgotten Patriot. He is currently writing a political and intellectual biography of Douglas Jay.
Reviews
Raymond Plant - one of the leading political thinkers of our time - has over the years developed a fascinating political philosophy based on a subtle and ingenious blend of Hegel and critically reconstructed liberalism. His friends and admirers have analysed different aspects of this philosophy and produced this excellent collection of uniformly perceptive essays. * Bhikhu Parekh, House of Lords *
An impressive and wide-ranging collection of essays which admirably reflects the quality, breadth and depth of Raymond Plant's outstanding contributions to so many fundamental issues of contemporary social policy and political philosophy. * Gillian Peele, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford *
Raymond Plant in his long and distinguished career has not only been one of Britain's leading political philosophers, but an active participant in shaping public debates. This volume of essays honours his achievements by underlining his abiding interest in the rights and duties of citizenship and highlighting the major contributions he has made in so many different fields. * Andrew Gamble, University of Sheffield *
Very few thinkers are able to link the high abstractions of philosophy with the concrete realities of politics and government. A life peer in the House of Lords since 1992, Raymond Plant is one of that extremely small number. Throughout his academic life, and in his role as an adviser to the Labour party, he has always combined exemplary intellectual rigour with a subtle grasp of history. The essays collected here testify to the extraordinary range of questions to which his thinking can be applied. Anyone with an interest in how ideas interact with political practice will benefit from reading this thought-stirring book in honour of one of our most distinguished minds. * John Gray, Emeritus Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and author of The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198872481
Author Matt Beech
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
About the Author
Matt Beech is Reader in Politics and Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull and IES Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley. He publishes on Conservative and Labour history and ideas and is researching a monograph on the Culture Wars. His most recent book is the co-edited volume with Simon Lee, Conservative Governments in the Age of Brexit (Palgrave Macmillan 2023). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Associate Member of the Centre de Recherches en Civilisation Britannique at the Sorbonne Nouvelle. He has held visiting appointments at Oxford, Berkeley, and Flinders. Kevin Hickson is Senior Lecturer in British Politics at the University of Liverpool where he has worked for 20 years. He writes extensively on British politics, political history, and ideologies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education academy. His publications include Britain's Conservative Right since 1945: Traditional Toryism in a Cold Climate and Peter Shore: Labour's Forgotten Patriot. He is currently writing a political and intellectual biography of Douglas Jay.
Reviews
Raymond Plant - one of the leading political thinkers of our time - has over the years developed a fascinating political philosophy based on a subtle and ingenious blend of Hegel and critically reconstructed liberalism. His friends and admirers have analysed different aspects of this philosophy and produced this excellent collection of uniformly perceptive essays. * Bhikhu Parekh, House of Lords *
An impressive and wide-ranging collection of essays which admirably reflects the quality, breadth and depth of Raymond Plant's outstanding contributions to so many fundamental issues of contemporary social policy and political philosophy. * Gillian Peele, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford *
Raymond Plant in his long and distinguished career has not only been one of Britain's leading political philosophers, but an active participant in shaping public debates. This volume of essays honours his achievements by underlining his abiding interest in the rights and duties of citizenship and highlighting the major contributions he has made in so many different fields. * Andrew Gamble, University of Sheffield *
Very few thinkers are able to link the high abstractions of philosophy with the concrete realities of politics and government. A life peer in the House of Lords since 1992, Raymond Plant is one of that extremely small number. Throughout his academic life, and in his role as an adviser to the Labour party, he has always combined exemplary intellectual rigour with a subtle grasp of history. The essays collected here testify to the extraordinary range of questions to which his thinking can be applied. Anyone with an interest in how ideas interact with political practice will benefit from reading this thought-stirring book in honour of one of our most distinguished minds. * John Gray, Emeritus Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and author of The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198872481
Author Matt Beech
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
