Voegelin and Strauss on Thomas Hobbes
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Renewing the Self
Renewing the Self Renewing the Self: Contemporary Religious Perspectives Edited by Benjamin J. Wood Renewing the Self: Contemporary Religious Perspectives Edited by Benjamin J. Wood This book first published 2017 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2017 by Benjamin J. Wood and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-9885-6 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-9885-0 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................... vii Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Individuality and Sociality in Christian Social Thought Jonathan Chaplin Section A: Historical Orientations Chapter One ............................................................................................... 10 The Canadian Red Tory Tradition: Individualism, Selfhood, Community and the Good Ron Dart Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 30 Autonomous Selves or Loved Others: A Theo-Political Perspective on the Individual Roger Haydon Mitchell Chapter Three -
The Spirit of Transformational Politics: Human Nature, Communication, and Community
THE SPIRIT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL POLITICS: HUMAN NATURE, COMMUNICATION, AND COMMUNITY Mary Elizabeth Domenico A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Communication Studies. Chapel Hill 2017 Approved by: Christian Lundberg William Balthrop Elizabeth Grosz Randall Styers Eric King Watts @ 2017 Mary Elizabeth Domenico ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Mary E. Domenico: The Spirit of Transformational Politics: Human Nature, Communication, and Community Under the Direction of Christian Lundberg This project in communication ethics explores the interrelations among views of human nature, theories of communicative action, and conceptualizations of the constitutive forces of community in Western thought. The central argument, that doctrines of human nature that include extra-material human capacities open avenues for rethinking contemporary political agency, is developed through a genealogy of doctrines of human nature intended to display how ideas of the self are historically configured and influential in thinking about human capacities. I begin with ancient Greek theories of a robust human spirit as portrayed by Homer, Plato, and Aristotle. The second cluster of theorists depicts the degradation of human spirit in religious (Augustine), philosophical (Descartes), and modern scientific doctrines. The third cluster addresses the recuperation of human spirit in the theories of Spinoza, Bergson, and Nancy. These genealogical clusters represent three distinct ways of viewing human nature and capacities for political agency. I challenge theories that presume ideational rationality and discourse are constitutive of community and reformulate the foundation of ethical community based on human spiritual capacities for knowledge beyond the empirical, the creation of new ways of relating to one another, and materializing our ontological connectedness. -
Christianity and Modernity: Why the Liberal Democratic Regime Needs the Church
***Please note: This is a translation of the paper delivered at the conference in June 2009. The original version in Spanish has undergone subsequent revisions that are not reflected in this translation.*** CHRISTIANITY AND MODERNITY: WHY THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC REGIME NEEDS THE CHURCH The comprehension of tolerance in pluralistic societies with liberal constitutions requires that, when dealing with non-believers and those of different [religious] faiths, the believers must understand that the dissent they encounter will reasonably persist . liberal political culture expects that the non-believers also understand the same thing in their dealings with believers.1 Jürgen Habermas The Christian faith is not a system. It cannot be portrayed as a finished and complete intellectual construction. It is a road and the characteristic of a road is that it is only recognized as such if one enters it, and begins to follow it.2 Josef Ratzinger, THE PLACE OF THE CHURCH 1. “The evangelistic task of the Church in all times and all over the world necessarily reverberates in the life of human society. The Church cannot be confined their temples, as God cannot be confined to the conscience.”3 This assertion, made by Pope John Paul II in Asunción during his only visit to Paraguay in May 1988, reasserted not only the position of the Church in relation to politics, and the Paraguayan State, but also against its policy of exclusion and repression of that time. The historical-political context in mid-1988 was delicate: the national- populist regime of General Alfredo Stroessner had hardened greatly, trying to further stifle the yearning for greater freedom of the people, desires that the Catholic Church echoed by taking on a role as the “voice of the voiceless,” which upset the dictator and his henchmen, who criticized Ramos-Reyes its intervention in political affairs. -
Virtue and Happiness: a Philosophical Inquiry
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Wits Institutional Repository on DSPACE VIRTUE AND HAPPINESS: A PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY Muhammad Assadallah Schuitema 320900 A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Applied Ethics for Professionals University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 16th March 2015 1 Abstract The position that holds that virtue, as a good, is sufficient for happiness has had illustrious exponents in the past. We will refer to this position as the sufficiency thesis. In recent times however this position has fallen into disfavour. This is largely due to the strong intuition that certain goods other than virtue are necessary for happiness. We will refer to this as the problem of external goods. The point of this paper is to respond to the problem of external goods by articulating an understanding of virtue as involving the ability to occupy a “distanced perspective” within which the virtuous agent becomes detached from external goods insofar as he comes to view them as indifferent. My articulation of this understanding of virtue will be based upon what I take to be the core of the Stoic description of virtue. 2 Declaration I declare that this research report is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination in any other university. -
Chapter 14 Modernities, Sciences, and Democracy
Chapter 14 Modernities, Sciences, and Democracy Sandra Harding The “modern” in “modern science” is a relatively uninterrogated and untheorized concept within the sciences and in the philosophy, sociology, and history of science. This is so today at a time when other aspects of Western sciences have been fruit- fully explored in critical and illuminating ways (see Christensen and Hansen, Chap. 13; and Skovsmose, Chap. 15). In particular, the exceptionalism and triumphalism characteristic of Western attitudes toward our sciences have been explicitly criti- cized and purportedly abandoned by many of the scholars working in science studies fields. By exceptionalism is meant the belief that Western sciences alone among all human knowledge systems are capable of grasping reality in its own terms – that these alone have the resources to escape the human tendency to project onto nature cultural assumptions, fears, and desires. By triumphalism is meant the assumption that the history of science consists of a history of achievements – that this history has no significant downsides. According to this view, Hiroshima, environmental destruction, the alienation of labour, escalating global militarism, the increasing gap between the “haves” and the “have nots,” gender, race, and class inequalities – these and other undesirable social situations are all entirely consequences of social and political projects, to which the history of Western sciences makes no contribution. Such conventional Euro centric assumptions can no longer gather the support either in the West or elsewhere that they could once claim. In recent decades a huge amount of literature on modernity has emerged from the social sciences and humanities. Stimulated by the massive shifts in local and global social formations during the last half of the Twentieth Century, and by the post-modern response to such changes, social theorists, literary and other cultural critics, and, especially, historians have debated the uneven and complex origins, nature, and desirable futures of modernity, modernization, and modernism. -
Sexual Orientation and the Law. by Richard D. Mohr. Harry V
University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository Constitutional Commentary 1991 Book Review: Sexual Orientation and the Law. by Richard D. Mohr. Harry V. Jaffa Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/concomm Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Jaffa, Harry V., "Book Review: Sexual Orientation and the Law. by Richard D. Mohr." (1991). Constitutional Commentary. 395. https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/concomm/395 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Minnesota Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Constitutional Commentary collection by an authorized administrator of the Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1991] BOOK REVIEW 313 ical context, Karst illuminates their connection to the creation of a system of caste. Having given judges the tools to work with, Karst renews the argument for the centrality of the federal judiciary, and particularly the Supreme Court, in remedying the hurt of exclusion. Judicial enforcement of the equal citizenship principle vindicates the central tenets of the American civic culture, invites outsiders into the na tional community, and promotes the national good by assuring that no group is a permanent loser in the political process. As we begin the 1990s, this prescription seems hauntingly sad. A court that could tell Native Americans that their religious prac tices (and everyone else's, for that matter) were the proper subject of political brokering7 is an unlikely candidate for spiritual leader in the quest for constitutional equality. But as Karst himself points out, the strength of the judicial commitment to equality has never been the measure of its pull on American consciousness-else how could Brown v. -
MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY NEO-THOMIST APPROACHES to MODERN PSYCHOLOGY Dissertation Submitted to the College of Arts and Sciences Of
MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY NEO-THOMIST APPROACHES TO MODERN PSYCHOLOGY Dissertation Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology By Matthew Glen Minix UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio December 2016 MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY NEO-THOMIST APPROACHES TO MODERN PSYCHOLOGY Name: Minix, Matthew G. APPROVED BY: _____________________________________ Sandra A. Yocum, Ph.D. Dissertation Director _____________________________________ William L. Portier, Ph.D. Dissertation Reader. _____________________________________ Anthony Burke Smith, Ph.D. Dissertation Reader _____________________________________ John A. Inglis, Ph.D. Dissertation Reader _____________________________________ Jack J. Bauer, Ph.D. _____________________________________ Daniel Speed Thompson, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Religious Studies ii © Copyright by Matthew Glen Minix All rights reserved 2016 iii ABSTRACT MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY NEO-THOMIST APPROACHES TO MODERN PSYCHOLOGY Name: Minix, Matthew Glen University of Dayton Advisor: Dr. Sandra A. Yocum This dissertation considers a spectrum of five distinct approaches that mid-twentieth century neo-Thomist Catholic thinkers utilized when engaging with the tradition of modern scientific psychology: a critical approach, a reformulation approach, a synthetic approach, a particular [Jungian] approach, and a personalist approach. This work argues that mid-twentieth century neo-Thomists were essentially united in their concerns about the metaphysical principles of many modern psychologists as well as in their worries that these same modern psychologists had a tendency to overlook the transcendent dimension of human existence. This work shows that the first four neo-Thomist thinkers failed to bring the traditions of neo-Thomism and modern psychology together to the extent that they suggested purely theoretical ways of reconciling them. -
Augustine's Ethics
15 BONNIE KENT Augustine’s ethics Augustine regards ethics as an enquiry into the Summum Bonum: the supreme good, which provides the happiness all human beings seek. In this respect his moral thought comes closer to the eudaimonistic virtue ethics of the classical Western tradition than to the ethics of duty and law associated with Christianity in the modern period. But even though Augustine addresses many of the same problems that pagan philosophers do, he often defends very different answers. For him, happiness consists in the enjoyment of God, a reward granted in the afterlife for virtue in this life. Virtue itself is a gift of God, and founded on love, not on the wisdom prized by philosophers. The art of living In Book 8 of De civitate Dei Augustine describes “moral philosophy” (a Latin expression), or “ethics” (the Greek equivalent), as an enquiry into the supreme good and how we can attain it. The supreme good is that which we seek for its own sake, not as a means to some other end, and which makes us happy. Augustine adds, as if this were an uncontroversial point, that happiness is the aim of philosophy in general.1 Book 19 opens with a similar discussion. In his summary of Varro’s treatise De philosophia, Augustine reports that no school of philosophy deserves to be considered a distinct school unless it differs from others on the supreme good. For the supreme good is that which makes us happy, and the only purpose of philosophizing is the attainment of happiness.2 Both of these discussions cast philosophy as a fundamentally practical discipline, so that ethics appears to overshadow logic, metaphysics, and other comparatively abstract areas as a philosopher’s chief concern. -
The Loss of the Modern Project of Future, Humanity and Individuality: the Philosophy of Education in the Plan of Immanence
American Journal of Educational Research, 2017, Vol. 5, No. 7, 747-751 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/5/7/8 ©Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/education-5-7-8 The Loss of the Modern Project of Future, Humanity and Individuality: The Philosophy of Education in the Plan of Immanence Cestari Luiz Artur dos Santos1, Gouveia Gleidson2,* 1Department of Philosophy and Human Sciences, University of Southwestern Bahia (UESB), Vitória da Conquista-BA, Brazil 2University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA *Corresponding author: [email protected]; [email protected] Abstract This text aims to discuss a purpose to present a philosophy of education based on the arguments from Deleuze and Gutarri’s thinking, specifically about the concept of plan of immanence. Two tasks are playing at this context. First, the evaluation of modernity will put in debate three important notions from it: the modern project of future, the humanity and individuality. Then, it will point out the end of the modern promises as emancipatory discourses to be achieved in the future and consolidated during the history, as well as the process that have transformed at same time the human beings in subject and the individuality in individualism. At the second task, it will talk about the terms by which we can present a proposal to philosophize in immanence of life, thinking about how education can working as line of escape of the ephemeral capitalist socialization and discussing two concepts of Deleuze and Guatarri’s thinking: affections and perceptions. Keywords: humanity, individuality, plan of immanence Cite This Article: Cestari Luiz Artur dos Santos, and Gouveia Gleidson, “The Loss of the Modern Project of Future, Humanity and Individuality: The Philosophy of Education in the Plan of Immanence.” American Journal of Educational Research, vol. -
Contemporary Political Theory As an Anti-Enlightenment Project
Dennis C. Rasmussen Brown University Contemporary Political Theory as an Anti-Enlightenment Project [NB: I am aware that the argument of this paper – that the majority of contemporary political theorists seek to dissociate themselves from the Enlightenment – isn’t actually much of an argument. I am currently beginning a book project that will seek to defend the Enlightenment (to some extent or another) from the attacks of its contemporary critics; the material gathered here includes part of the introduction and the introductions to each of the five substantive chapters, along with a few underdeveloped remarks at the beginning and end that seek to tie things together. In other words, this material wasn’t written as a stand-alone paper, so I apologize if it seems incomplete – it is! I also apologize for the length; for those who don’t have the time or desire to read it all, the main line of argument comes in the first 18 pages, with the rest fleshing out some details. I will, however, be eager to hear your thoughts about the charges I have outlined, and especially if I have missed any major critics or criticisms of the Enlightenment.] Like it or not, we are all children of the Enlightenment, utterly incapable of escaping the clutches of ideals and arguments put forth over two centuries ago. Or so, at least, many critics of the Enlightenment seem to believe. Michel Foucault claims, for instance, that the Enlightenment has largely determined “what we are, what we think, and what we do today,”1 and John Gray insists that “all schools of contemporary political thought are variations on the Enlightenment project.”2 There is, of course, something to such claims: given the number of values, practices, and institutions that we have inherited from the eighteenth century, it is difficult to imagine what our world would look like without its Enlightenment heritage. -
UC Irvine UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations
UC Irvine UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Louis Althusser, Leo Strauss, and Democratic Leadership Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4cr249vp Author Tamulis, Bron Cohen Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Louis Althusser, Leo Strauss, and Democratic Leadership DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Political Science by Bron Cohen Tamulis Dissertation Committee: Associate Professor Keith Topper, Chair Associate Professor Kevin Olson Professor John H. Smith 2014 © 2014 Bron Cohen Tamulis DEDICATION To Political Scientists of all kinds, but especially to my Committee, without whom this work would not be, and to my family, who endured it. But also to the White Dragon Noodle Bar, who taught me the answer to that pestering question: “why?” And lastly, to all those who refused to forget and who thus deserve to be remembered. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv CURRICULUM VITAE ix ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION x INTRODUCTION: Political Leadership in the Twentieth Century 1 CHAPTER 1: Reasoned Humility: Strauss, Neoconservatism, and Us 21 CHAPTER 2: Pre-Modern Lessons For a Post-Stalinist Age: Leo Strauss on Machiavelli 72 CHAPTER 3: In Defense of Contemplation 133 CHAPTER 4: Dictatorship, Democracy, and Political Leadership 178 CHAPTER 5: Hearing the Call: Machiavelli, Althusser, and Us 253 CHAPTER 6: Out of Utopia: Althusser’s Solitude 316 CONCLUSION: Navigating the Theoretical Turn 386 BIBLIOGRAPHY 398 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS When I entered graduate school in Fall of 2007, I left behind a full time, well-paid vocation as a Jaguar technician. -
Redalyc.Modernity and Postmodernity in the Genesis of Transhumanism
Cuadernos de Bioética ISSN: 1132-1989 bioé[email protected] Asociación Española de Bioética y Ética Médica España Pastor, Luis Miguel; García Cuadrado, José Ángel Modernity and postmodernity in the genesis of transhumanism-posthumanism Cuadernos de Bioética, vol. XXV, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2014, pp. 335-350 Asociación Española de Bioética y Ética Médica Madrid, España Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=87535786005 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative CuadernosLUIS deMIGUE BioéticaL PASTOR XXV Y J 2014/3ªOSÉ ÁNGEL GARCÍA-CUADRADO MODERNIDAD Y POSTMODERNIDAD EN LA GÉNESIS DEL TRANSHUMANISMO-POSTHUMANISMO Copyright Cuadernos de Bioética MODERNIDAD Y POSTMODERNIDAD EN LA GÉNESIS DEL TRANSHUMANISMO-POSTHUMANISMO MODERNITY AND POSTMODERNITY IN THE GENESIS OF TRANSHUMANISM-POSTHUMANISM LUIS MIGUEL PASTOR Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Medical School, IMIB-Arrixaca, Regional Campus of International Excellence Campus Mare Nostrum, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain. [email protected] JOSÉ ÁNGEL GARCÍA CUADRADO Ecclesiastical Faculty of Philosophy Philosophical Anthropology. Universidad de Navarra [email protected] Abstract: Keywords: There are various authors who, within the realm of bioethics, propose as a model of the human being, Transhumanism, a man who is enhanced, transhuman or even posthuman. The philosophical roots of these bioethical posthumanism, thinkers have not been sufficiently analysed. In this article our aim is to demonstrate the connection of modernity, this movement with the evolution of philosophy over the past several decades.