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Public Persons (Record no. 2490)

MARC details
000 -LEADER
fixed length control field 02336 a2200253 4500
001 - CONTROL NUMBER
control field 1412810612
005 - DATE AND TIME OF LATEST TRANSACTION
control field 20250317100412.0
008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION
fixed length control field 250312042010GB eng
020 ## - INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER
International Standard Book Number 9781412810616
037 ## - SOURCE OF ACQUISITION
Source of stock number/acquisition Taylor & Francis
Terms of availability GBP 45.99
Form of issue BB
040 ## - CATALOGING SOURCE
Original cataloging agency 01
041 ## - LANGUAGE CODE
Language code of text/sound track or separate title eng
072 7# - SUBJECT CATEGORY CODE
Subject category code JP
Source thema
072 7# - SUBJECT CATEGORY CODE
Subject category code JP
Source bic
072 7# - SUBJECT CATEGORY CODE
Subject category code POL000000
Source bisac
072 7# - SUBJECT CATEGORY CODE
Subject category code POL010000
Source bisac
072 7# - SUBJECT CATEGORY CODE
Subject category code 920.073
Source bisac
100 1# - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Walter Lippmann
245 10 - TITLE STATEMENT
Title Public Persons
250 ## - EDITION STATEMENT
Edition statement 1
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
Place of publication, distribution, etc. Oxford
Name of publisher, distributor, etc. Routledge
Date of publication, distribution, etc. 20100215
300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Extent 190 p
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC.
Expansion of summary note This set of brief pieces examines the relation of power to knowledge. Lippmann paid little homage to the innate wisdom of the people. While he had no wish to disenfranchise citizens, he believed elites drove the engines of power. His point was that liberty and democracy require government that will, when necessary, "swim against the tides of private feelings." Because the public is too divided, poorly informed, and too self-regarding, authority has to be delegated, perhaps to "intelligence bureaus," or at least to those who are wiser than the many that have the power to decide vexing questions on their own merits. Lippmann knew that in the real world we cannot expect to be ruled by philosopher-kings. While ready to settle for less, he was not ready to settle for politicians who get ahead "only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle and otherwise manage to manipulate demanding and threatening elements in their constituencies." The seducers and bamboozlers were generally in charge, and because they were in an age "rich with varied and generous passions" they had become disorderly and deranged. Public Persons is the informal side of The Public Philosophy . Lippmann tries to account for the decline of Western democracies and prescribe for their revival. He concludes that it is not possible to discover by rational inquiry the conditions that must be met if there is to be a good society. Lippmann saw tension between private impulses and transcendent truth as the "inexhaustible theme of human discourse." The occasional harmonies in the lives of saints and the deeds of heroes and the excellence of genius are glorious. But glory was the exception, wretchedness the rule. In this casual volume both are given a human face.

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