Leibniz, this study argues, is the genuine initiator of German Idealism. His analysis of freedom as spontaneity and the relations he establishes among freedom, justice, and progress underlie Kant's ideas of rightful interaction and his critiques of Enlightened absolutism. Freedom and Perfection offers a historical examination of perfectionism, its political implications and transformations in German thought between 1650 and 1850. Douglas Moggach demonstrates how Kant's followers elaborated...

A wealthy businessman wakes up bound and gagged in a utility shed, kidnapped by his own employees—brothers and icemen Joe and Rennie. In the midst of the Great Depression, the brothers’ ice harvesting livelihood in Kempenfelt Bay is melting away due to the advent of refrigeration, only to further line the pockets of their employers. Desperate to claim what is rightfully theirs, these honest workers turned reluctant captors will stop at nothing to bring their greedy boss to a final reckonin...

The revolutions that swept across Europe in 1848 marked a turning-point in the history of political and social thought. They raised questions of democracy, nationhood, freedom and social cohesion that have remained among the key issues of modern politics, and still help to define the major ideological currents - liberalism, socialism, republicanism, anarchism, conservatism - in which these questions continue to be debated today. This collection of essays by internationally prominent histor...