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Social Philosophy (Explorations in Philosophy)

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Social Philosophy is both a survey of the subject, and an attempt by Gaus to weave insights from classical liberals ranging from Locke and Hobbes to Rawls and Nozick into a coherent fabric. The project that unites the great liberal thinkers, according to Gaus, is the hope of finding a set of publicly justified moral and political principles -- principles that all reasonable people have reason to accept, regardless of their sectarian beliefs and commitments.

Although many of the core concepts explored in Social Philosophy have appeared in other books, this text is easily the most accessible and enjoyable. Indeed, there is usually a trade-off among contemporary works in philosophy between philosophical rigor and readability. The virtue of this book is that it achieves both goals at once.