New and noteworthy – 13 June 2019

Amartya Sen
Lawrence Hamilton
Polity

Although an economist by training, Amartya Sen is deeply versed in Sanskrit literature and many areas of philosophy, and witnessed first hand both the Bengal famine of 1943 and the communal violence of the Partition period. His work has totally transformed the field of development economics, illuminating the nature of famines and other forms of deprivation, while also developing far sharper models for assessing well-being, quality of life and living standards. But it also addresses many of the central issues of political philosophy. This powerful overview considers the whole of his vast output in separate chapters devoted to Choice, Capability, Freedom, Justice and Democracy.

On Mercy
Malcolm Bull
Princeton University Press

For almost two millennia in Europe, writes Malcolm Bull, “the idea that mercy might constitute a significant proportion of what we are looking for from politics was taken for granted”. It was the developments associated with early capitalism that promoted a new view of politics as “a system for maximizing self-interest”, leaving no room for “anger and cruelty” but also none for “the countervailing passion of mercy”.  Yet is it really possible, this book asks, to “dispense with mercy quite so easily” – and might it not be essential, for example, “if we want to deal with climate change or any similar long-term environmental threat”?

Anglo Nostalgia: The Politics of Emotion in a Fractured West
Edoardo Campanella and Marta Dassù
Hurst

Nostalgia, admit Edoardo Campanella and Marta Dassù, is “not the kind of topic you would expect an economist and a political scientist to address”. Yet, unfortunately, an “infatuation with a mythicized past, which is usually remodelled at will, is shaping our politics in risky ways”. Although we can see this in many places, the Brexit debate was particularly notable for nostalgic arguments “used defensively against the European Union, offensively to boost Britain’s global influence, and co-operatively to strengthen ties with its former colonies”. Anglo Nostalgia provides a sobering analysis of what can happen when enough people embrace the Ideal of “turning the clock back to face the challenges of the future with the strength of the past”.

Agricultural and building work in 16th-century Rome often turned up ancient objects, from coins and gems to marble sculptures and bronze statuettes. Many found their way into celebrated collections. Yet although the collectors have often been studied, far less attention has been given to the other people in the chain. The book focuses attention on the peasants, shopkeepers and agents who handled the antiquities; negotiations over prices; the efforts of the papal authorities to control excavations and exports; and the practicalities of boxing up and transporting such fragile and bulky objects. There are many competing players and interested parties in today’s art market. Furlotti’s beautifully illustrated book demonstrates how this applies just as much to Renaissance Rome.

Witcraft: The invention of Philosophy in English
Jonathan Rée
Allen Lane

Most traditional histories of philosophy, claims Jonathan Rée, “tell us enough about philosophy to assure us it is a waste of time” and “save us the trouble of studying the great books with close attention”. Witcraft breaks away from this formula by taking snapshots of philosophy in action at 50-year intervals from 1601 to 1951 and including priests and poets, novelists, servants and crofters alongside the usual suspects. The result, Rée hopes, is to turn the story into “a carnival rather than a museum” which brings out “the ordinariness of philosophy, as well as its magnificence and its power to change people’s lives”.