This book reconstructs and critically evaluates the social and political philosophies of a number of key contemporary thinkers. The reconstruction is articulated around three major themes: the question of modernity, the problem of justice, the nature and scope of community.

The first chapter examines Habermas' theory of rationality and modernity, highlights its strengths and identifies its weaknesses with respect to the problems of meaning and the fulfilment of personal identity. The second chapter examines Arendt's conception of modernity, reconstructs its key features and evaluates the soundness of its interpretive categories. The third chapter examines Arendt's theory of action, analyzes its principal components and explores the links between action, narrative, and remembrance. The fourth chapter reconstructs Arendt's theory of judgment, identifies two distinct models and shows that both were based on Kant's theory of aesthetic judgment. The fifth chapter examines Rawis' theory of justice and criticizes some of its background theories and assumptions. The sixth chapter examines the question of tolerance from the vantage point of the communitarian critique of liberal moral and political theory. It shows that the arguments of these critics can provide a strong defence of the principle of tolerance.

Maurizio Passerin d'Entrèves (Milan, 1953) was educated at the University of London (B.A. Sociology) and at Boston University (Ph.D. Philosophy). He was Teaching Assistant at Boston University and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. His articles have appeared in The Encyclopedia of -Ethics, Journal of Social Philosophy, Praxis International, Philosophy and Social Criticism, Teoria Politica, R Mulino, Fenomenologia e Società, Nuova Civiltà delle Macchine. He is working at present on two projects, the first concerning the relation between liberalism, communitarianism and theories of democratic citizenship, the second the question of cultural diversity and moral conflict.