Provider: Ingenta Connect Database: Ingenta Connect Content: application/x-research-info-systems TY - ABST AU - Lassman, Peter TI - Pluralism and Pessimism: A Central Theme in the Political Thought of Stuart Hampshire JO - History of Political Thought PY - 2009-01-01T00:00:00/// VL - 30 IS - 2 SP - 315 EP - 335 N2 - Stuart Hampshire's political thought is an important but often overlooked contribution to contemporary debates concerning the nature and permanence of plural and conflicting values. In its combination of a pessimistic view of the limits of politics with a deep respect for pluralism and disagreement Hampshire's thought can be regarded as a significant version of 'the Liberalism of fear'. This is grounded in a belief that the inherited innocence of moral and political thinking has been undermined by our experience of the horrors of the twentieth century. Hampshire's response is to propose a minimal form of proceduralism that contrasts with Rawls's political liberalism. Hampshire offers a criticism of the moralism that characterizes much modern political philosophy without advocating a stark realism. UR - https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/imp/hpt/2009/00000030/00000002/art00006 ER -