What would life be like without the state? What justifies the state? Who should rule? How much liberty should the citizen enjoy? How should property be justly distributed? This book examines the central problems involved in political philosophy and the past attempts to respond to these problems. Jonathan Wolff looks at the works of Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Mill, Marx, and Rawls (among others), examining how the debates between philosophers have developed, and searching for possible answers to these provocative questions. His final chapter looks at more recent issues, particularly feminist political theory.

没有国家，生活会是什么样子？是什么证明了国家的合理性？谁应该统治？公民应该享有多少自由？财产应该如何公正地分配？本书研究了政治哲学所涉及的核心问题以及过去为应对这些问题所做的尝试。乔纳森-沃尔夫审视了柏拉图、霍布斯、洛克、卢梭、米尔、马克思和罗尔斯（以及其他人）的作品，研究了哲学家们之间的辩论是如何发展的，并寻找这些具有挑战性的问题的可能答案。他的最后一章探讨了最近的问题，特别是女权主义政治理论。