Review of Thomas, Republic of Equals
Forthcoming, Philosophical Review
7 Pages Posted: 22 Mar 2017 Last revised: 20 May 2017
Date Written: March 20, 2017
Abstract
Alan Thomas’s groundbreaking new book sets itself three main tasks. First, to effect a marriage of sorts between liberal and republican political philosophy. Second, to show that this union bears important progeny, in the form of a theory of property-owning democracy (POD). Third, to show that POD is the union’s only legitimate child. Welfare-state capitalism and worker control, in other words, are not legitimate heirs to liberal-republican values. Thomas makes a cogent and original case for the first, matchmaking, task. This review grants that premise and focuses on the internal coherence of Thomas's argument, that is, his defence of POD.
Keywords: egalitarianism, republicanism, Rawls, Pettit, property-owning democracy
JEL Classification: D63, H23, D31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation