When political action is imperative, we can be tempted to look to philosophy for guiding principles. This project, however, historically has been doomed to fail. Throughout Tracks in Chaos, philosopher Raymond Geuss examines closely the consequences of this failure. In crisp and lucid prose, he ranges over topics that include political realism, reflection in politics, universalism, solidarity, our utopian aspirations, and the role of fear in motivating censorship. Geuss ultimately paints a picture that is both rich and uncompromising, as is his conclusion: that we must learn to accept incompleteness, contingency and pluralism in our search for orientation.

This is an incisive and elegant new collection of essays by one of our finest moral and political philosophers.