Tracing the concept of the open society- one based on the idea of a
universal community of mankind- from its origins to the present
day, Dante Germino reveals in this study the central role of
openness in forming man's perception of himself and his world and
presents n important new political theory of the open society.
Political Philosophy and the Open Society begins with the
definition of openness in its various meanings and with a
description of the idea of the open society. Believing that ""an
adequate theory of the open society must be grounded on the entire
known history of mankind,"" Germino investigates the origins of the
idea in myth, classical philosophy, Judeo-Christian revelation, and
mysticism. He discusses the notion of the universal brotherhood of
man as it appears in the works of classical Greek and Roman
philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, and then
shows how that idea was distorted by the concept of universal
empire as expressed by Alexander and later by the Romans. This
philosophical struggle continued as the early Christians, Saint
Augustine in particular, attempted to reconcile the political
reality of a secular world empire with the spiritual reality of the
universal kingdom of God, and it extended throughout the Middle
Ages until the rise of the concept of the secular nation-state in
the fifteenth century. Letting this historical background form the
basis for his study, Germino works closely with the ideas of Henri
Bergson and Eric Voeglin to advance his own theory of the open
society. The first formulation of open society theory, Germino
tells us, was by Bergson, whose The Two Sources of Morality and
Religion defined a new morality of openness as epitomized in the
Sermon on the Mount. And it is Voeglin, Germino asserts, who has
done the most to reintroduce the reality of the spiritual dimension
into contemporary discussion of politics and the ope n society. For
Germino, Voeglin's distinction between ""universality"" and
""ecumenism"" must be at the core of any valid theory of the open
society; and, in turn, a valid theory of the open society should be
the centerpiece of any critical science of politics in our time.
Concluding, then, that there must be an intimate connection between
modern political philosophy and the concept of the open society,
Germino calls for a far-reaching revision of the very idea of
politics.
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