The Curious Enlightenment of Professor Caritat

The Curious Enlightenment of Professor Caritat is a brilliant fictional journey through Western political philosophy by one of our most original thinkers. Professor Caritat, a middle-aged Candide, walks naively through the neighbouring countries of Utilitaria, Communitaria and Libertaria, in his quest to find the best of all possible worlds. Cut loose from the confines of his ivory tower, this wandering professor is made to confront the perplexed state of modern thinking in this dazzling comedy of ideas.

“This book is a box of delights, often wonderfully funny and always deliciously clever, a contemporary political satire to set among the best.” — New Statesman and Society

“Utterly magnetic.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Lukes manages to equal the pace and flair of Candide.” — New York Times Book Review

“Written in a beautifully clear style, full of a keen, serious wit ... Lukes achieves both lightness and weight in a way many novelists might envy.” — Independent

“A delightfully edifying comedy.” — Guardian

“Knock-out satirical humour.” — Times Literary Supplement

“The book is the readiest guide one could have to the assorted extremisms which presently vie in the global marketplace for ideal worlds.” — Financial Times

Steven Lukes is Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Siena and the author of numerous works, including Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work, Power: A Radical View and What Is Left? He was a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, for twenty years and has been a visiting professor in Paris, New York, Philadelphia, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Jerusalem. His Liberals and Cannibals: The Implications of Diversity is also available from Verso.