Uncommon Sense

A spirited defense of the Enlightenment against assaults from both the left and the right that explains its urgent implications for our contemporary politics   Ours is an age when optimism about politics is hard to come by. Ian Shapiro explains why this is so and, without minimizing the daunting challenges, spells out an appropriate response. Written in the indomitable spirit exemplified by Tom Paine, Uncommon Sense is a rich source of insight and inspiration in dark political times.   The Enlightenment commitments to reason and science are under assault from the Postmodern Left and the Authoritarian Right. Shapiro explains why the attacks are misguided and politically destructive. He agrees with the critics that there are no universal principles of justice that transcend political battles and no fair, impartial rules to govern the distribution of income, wealth, rights, or opportunities. But abandoning the search for them as futile does not mean junking the Enlightenment’s core political goal: to deploy the tools of reason and science to fight domination.   Democracy is essential to vindicating that goal, yet citizens in many democracies are profoundly alienated and many democracies are in danger of failing. Shapiro explains what has gone wrong, debunks ill-considered remedies, and spells out better ones—deepening and extending his previous writing on political theory and democratic politics.

“Uncommon Sense is a major statement about the contemporary position of the politics of the world’s residual democracies. No one else in political science, and certainly no one at all in political philosophy, combines Shapiro’s analytic ability, his astonishing range of political knowledge, and his gritty intensity of political purpose.”—John Dunn, Emeritus Professor of Political Theory, University of Cambridge “Ian Shapiro’s work has always stood out for his careful argument and insistence on anchoring considerations of democratic theory in important concrete issues in political life. Uncommon Sense continues that high standard.”—Adolph Reed, Jr., author of The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives “Knowledge is possible and helpful; domination is bad; democracy remains central to resisting domination. It seems astonishing that we need a new book from an eminent and insightful scholar to defend those statements—and yet we do. Luckily, Ian Shapiro has stepped up with compelling evidence, analysis, and advocacy. Democratic citizens and would-be citizens are in his debt.”—Jennifer Hochschild, author of Genomic Politics: How the Revolution in Genomic Science Is Shaping American Society “Ian Shapiro defends a ‘chastened’ version of the Enlightenment Project, but the defense itself is by no means chastened. It is a wonderfully robust argument for majoritarian democracy, strong parties, and a vigorously partisan politics—and a brilliant polemic against every opposing view. Shapiro’s intellectual partisanship is a model for the political arguments that, he believes, sustain our freedom.”—Michael Walzer, author of The Struggle for a Decent Politics

Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of Political Science and Global Affairs at Yale. He has written widely and influentially on democracy, justice, and the methods of social inquiry. His recent books include Politics against Domination, Responsible Parties with Frances Rosenbluth, and The Wolf at the Door with Michael Graetz.