Gerald F. Gaus was, before his death in 2020, the James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona and an intellectual giant in the field of political philosophy. The author of ten books and more than 100 papers, he was best known for his work in the public reason tradition. An obituary collaboratively written by his colleagues and former students noted that Gaus was interested in teaching us about "the complexities of our social world, rather than looking for opportunities to reinforce our biased ways of understanding it."

Fred D'Agostino is Emeritus Professor of Humanities at The University of Queensland (Australia) where he has been President of the Academic Board and Executive Dean of Arts. He was Editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy and of PPE: Politics, Philosophy and Economics. His best-known work is Free Public Reason (OUP, 1996), and he has worked in political philosophy and scientific method. His recent work has been on complexity and on the scholarly and scientific disciplines.

Ryan Muldoon is Professor of Philosophy and Director of PPE at the University at Buffalo. He is the author of Social Contract Theory for a Diverse World: Beyond Tolerance (Routledge, 2016). His work focuses on diversity and dynamism in liberal political philosophy.

PART I The History of Social and Political Theory, 1. Plato's Political Philosophy, 2. Aristotle's Social and Political Philosophy, 3. Aquinas, 4. Medieval Political Thought, 5. Machiavelli, 6. Hobbes, 7. Locke, 8. Rousseau, 9. Hume and Smith on Justice, 10. Kant, 11. Hegel, 12. Mill, 13. Marx, 14. Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth Century British Thought, 15. Continental Political Philosophy, 16. French Political Thought in the Twentieth Century, 17. Foucault and Political Philosophy, 18. The Political Philosophy of China, 19. Indian Political Philosophy, 20. Islamic Political Thought, PART II Political Theories and Ideologies, 21. Anarchism, 22. Liberalism, 23. Conservatism, 24. Republicanism, 25. Marxism and Contemporary Political Thought, 26. Feminism and the History of Political Philosophy, 27. Environmentalism, PART III Normative Foundations, 28. Contractarianism, 29. Contractualism and Political Liberalism, 30. Utilitarianism and Consequentialism, 31. Perfectionism, 32. Pluralism, 33. Virtue Ethics and Political Philosophy, 34. Natural Law and Rights Theory, PART IV Distributive Justice, 35. Luck Egalitarianism, 36. The Difference Principle, 37. Left Libertarianism, 38. Libertarianism, 39. Desert, 40. Needs and Distributive Justice, 41. The Capability Approach and Distributive Justice, 42. Intergenerational Distributive Justice, PART V The National State and Beyond, 43. Nationalism, 44. Human Rights and Cosmopolitanism, 45. Multiculturalism, 46. Global Justice and Politics, 47. Justice and Borders, 48. War, PART VI Political Concepts, 49. Equality, 50. Freedom, 51. Autonomy, 52. Power, 53. Authority and Legitimacy, 54. Democracy, 55. Rights, 56. Toleration, PART VII Approaches, 57. Social Evolution, 58. The Pragmatist Project in Political Philosophy, 59. Postmodernism and Politics, 60. Social Choice Theory, 61. Rational Choice Theory, 62. Discourse Theory, 63. New Diversity Theory, 64. Political Epistemology, 65. PPE and Political Philosophy, PART VIII Issues in Social and Political Philosophy, 66. Education, 67. Health, 68. Marriage, Sex, and the Family, 69. Work, 70. Punishment, 71. Terrorism, 72. Paternalism, Moralism, and Markets, 73. Religion in Public Life, 74. Race and Ethnicity: Their Intersections and Concepts