Richard Ashcraft

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Charles Richard Ashcraft (born September 28, 1938 in San Francisco , California , † November 1, 1995 ) was an American political scientist focusing on the history of political ideas, especially those of John Locke . He was a long-time professor at the University of California, Los Angeles .

Life

Ashcraft was born in 1938 to Charley H. Ashcraft and Rhonda Junkin. He grew up in southern California and became politicized early on. He was reprimanded in high school for printing an underground newspaper with a classmate that demanded statehood for Alaska and Hawaii (see the Alaska Statehood Act and the Hawaii Admission Act ). In 1956 Ashcraft began his studies at Harvard University , where he devoted himself to political theory and - "with equal intensity" - to rock 'n' roll . After receiving a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude there in 1960 , he went to the University of California, Berkeley , where he began teaching in 1965 and received his doctorate ( Ph.D. ) in 1966 .

After working briefly for US Senator Harrison A. Williams , Ashcraft returned to the University of California when the protest movement against the Vietnam War began there. Looking back, Ashcroft recalled, “A few days after I began ... teaching freshmen the basic principles of American government, this government - my government - dropped bombs on North Vietnam. For the next eight years it seemed to me as if I lived on the street surrounded by thousands of others. "

This experience of having become part of a social movement radicalized his basic liberal attitude and shaped his further work. In his scholarly work, Ashcraft was primarily concerned with understanding political theorists from their practical political activities and thus obtaining a different approach to their writings than more philosophically oriented approaches. Shortly before his death, he worked on a study of John Stuart Mill and the emergence of the labor movements of the 19th century. Richard Ashcraft was editor of Political Theory from 1989 to 1994 .

Ashcraft had a son, David. Ashcraft died in 1995. In his memory, a panel at the Political Science Association conference in San Francisco in 1996 looked at Ashcraft's life and work.

Works

  • Faith and Knowledge in Locke's Philosophy. In: John Yolton (ed.): John Locke. Problems and Perspectives. Cambridge 1969, pp. 194-223.
  • (with JGA Pocock ): Papers Read at a Clark Library Seminar 10 December 1977. University of California Press, Los Angeles 1980.
  • Revolutionary Politics and Locke's Two treatises of government. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ 1986.
    • Evidence of reviews and the 1995 French translation.
  • Latitudinarianism and Toleration. Historical Myth versus Political History. In: Richard Croll et al. (Ed.): Philosophy, Science and Religion in England, 1640–1700. Cambridge 1992, pp. 151-177.
  • John Locke. Critical Assessments. 4 Vols. Routledge, London 1991-1995.

literature

  • DO Thomas: Richard Ashcraft on Locke's “Two Treatises”. In: Enlightenment & Dissent. Vol. 14, 1995, pp. 128-154.
  • Victor Wolfenstein: In Memoriam to Richard Ashcraft, 1938–1995. In: Political Theory. Vol. 24, 1996, p. 373 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Genealogy on the private website ancestry.com as of March 12, 2001.
  2. ^ Victor Wolfenstein: In Memoriam to Richard Ashcraft, 1938-1995. In: Political Theory. Vol. 24, 1996, p. 373 f., Here p. 373.
  3. ^ Translation of the English original: A few days after I ... began teaching freshmen the basic principles of American government, that government - my government - was dropping bombs on North Vietnam. For the next eight years it seemed to me that I was living on the street, surrounded by thousands of others. Quoted from: Victor Wolfenstein: In Memoriam to Richard Ashcraft, 1938–1995. In: Political Theory. Vol. 24, 1996, p. 373 f., Here p. 373.
  4. ↑ Eldon J. Eisenach: Narrative Power and Liberal Truth. Hobbes, Locke, Bentham, and Mill. Oxford 2002, pp. Viii .
personal data
SURNAME Ashcraft, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ashcraft, Charles Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco , California
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 1995