Lincoln's political thought

Abstract

Lincoln's Political Thought. By George Kateb. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015. Pp. xiv, 218, bibliography, index. Cloth, $24.95.)While Abraham Lincoln is routinely praised as a brilliant politician, he is less often taken seriously as a political thinker. His pragmatism is partly to blame; some people mistake his willingness to compromise with opponents as suggesting he possessed no real political philosophy. Nor did he produce a systematic body of writing or treatise addressing abstract political principles-there is no Lincolnian version of Edmund Burkes Reflections on the French Revolution nor a grand correspondence like the letters between John Adams Thomas Jefferson. His political ideas are instead scattered in speeches letters largely crafted to address the concerns of a given moment.George Kateb's Lincolns Political Thought is an attempt to look past this state of affairs identify the key components of Lincolns overall political philosophy. He sees the heart of Lincolns political thought as his commitment to human (p. xi), which drove both his prewar critique of slavery his wartime defense of the Union. It was a commitment that withstood the vicissitudes of political compromise, military success failure, the inherent difficulties democracy imposes on its practitioners. As a politician, Kateb writes, Lincoln was required to dissemble, even conceal facts. However, for all of Lincolns contrivance, Kateb notes, and this is part of his greatness-he erupted into moments of truth(p. 49).This ongoing tension between the need to address blatantly political concerns still maintain a firm moral commitment to human equality lay at the heart of Lincoln's political career presidency. Kateb sees Lincoln standing squarely at the intersection of belief politics of both doing the right thing acting effectively in a contentious political environment of competing interests priorities. Kateb asks, in effect, how could Lincoln manage to be at once both principled pragmatic?This is an excellent (and timely) question; unfortunately, while Lincolns Political Thought does contain some flashes of insight, it never coheres into a comprehensible argument. The reader is often left with vague pronouncements that are not terribly useful or original. His observation that Lincoln's core political belief was a commitment to human equality, while accurate enough as far it goes, has been made many times in many other places, with far more nuance elucidation than is offered in this book. …