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In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville famously called for 'a new political
science' that could address the problems and possibilities of a
'world itself quite new.' For Tocqueville, the democratic world
needed not just a new political science but also new arts of
statesmanship and leadership. In this volume, Brian Danoff and L.
Joseph Hebert, Jr., have brought together a diverse set of essays
revealing that Tocqueville's understanding of democratic
statesmanship remains highly relevant today. The first chapter of
the book is a new translation of Tocqueville's 1852 address to the
Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, in which Tocqueville
offers a profound exploration of the relationship between theory
and practice, and between statesmanship and political philosophy.
Subsequent chapters explore the relationship between Tocqueville's
ideas on statesmanship, on the one hand, and the ideas of Plato,
Aristotle, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, the Puritans, the Framers of
the U.S. Constitution, Oakeshott, Willa Cather, and the Second
Vatican Council, on the other. Timely and provocative, these essays
show the relevance of Tocqueville's theory of statesmanship for
thinking about such contemporary issues as the effects of NGOs on
civic life, the powers of the American presidency, the place of the
jury in a democratic polity, the role of religion in public life,
the future of democracy in Europe, and the proper balance between
liberalism and realism in foreign policy.
As John Henry Newman reflected on 'The Idea of a University' more
than a century and a half ago, Bradley C. S. Watson brings together
some of the nation's most eminent thinkers on higher education to
reflect on the nature and purposes of the American university
today. They detail the life and rather sad times of the American
university, its relationship to democracy, and the place of the
liberal arts within it. Their mordant reflections paint a picture
of the American university in crisis. But they also point toward a
renewal of the university by redirecting it toward those things
that resist the passions of the moment, or the pull of mere
utility. This book is essential reading for thoughtful citizens,
scholars, and educational policymakers.
The 1960 publication of We Hold These Truths marked a significant
event in the history of modern American thought. Since that time,
Sheed & Ward has kept the book in print and has published
several studies of John Courtney Murray's life and work. We are
proud to present a new edition of this classic text, which features
a comprehensive introduction by Peter Lawler that places Murray in
the context of Catholic and American history and thought while
revealing his relevance today. From the new Introduction by Peter
Lawler: The Jesuit John Courtney Murray (1904-67) was, in his time,
probably the best known and most widely respected American Catholic
writer on the relationship between Catholic philosophy and theology
and his country's political life. The highpoint of his influence
was the publication of We Hold These Truths in the same year as an
election of our country's first Catholic president. Those two
events were celebrated by a Time cover story (December 12, 1960) on
Murray's work and influence. The story's author, Protestant Douglas
Auchincloss, reported that it was 'The most relentlessly
intellectual cover story I've done.' His amazingly wide ranging and
dense-if not altogether accurate-account of Murray's thought was
crowned with a smart and pointed conclusion: 'If anyone can help
U.S. Catholics and their non-Catholic countrymen toward the
disagreement that precedes understanding-John Courtney Murray can.'
. . . Murray's work, of course, is treated with great respect and
has had considerable influence, but now it's time to begin to think
of him as one of America's very few genuine political philosophers.
His disarmingly lucid and accessible prose has caused his book to
be widely cited and celebrated, but it still is not well
understood. It is both praised and blamed for reconciling Catholic
faith with the fundamental premises of American political life. It
is praised by liberals for paving the way for Vatican II's embrace
of the American idea of religious liberty, and it is blamed by
conservatives and traditionalists for obscuring the real conflicts
between Catholicism and 'Americanism.' Both the liberal praise and
the conservative blame are somewhat misguided. The last thing
Murray wanted to do is bring the church up-to-date with the latest
currents in American thought. He wanted to show how distinctively
Catholic thought could illuminate the authentic American idea of
liberty. . . . We Hold These Truths at least offers the hope that
Catholic natural-law thinking can bring together the religious
devotion and moral concerns of the evangelicals with the devotion
to reason and concern for scientific truth of the secular
humanists. It offers the hope of getting Americans really arguing
again, of holding again the truth that they are capable of engaging
in the dialogue about the human good that is the foundation of any
civil and civilized moral and political life. Peter Augustine
Lawler is professor of political science at Berry College in
Georgia.
In this rich collection of essays, editors Dale McConkey and Peter
Augustine Lawler explore the contributions that religious faith and
morality can make to a civil society. Though the level of religious
expression has remained high in the United States, the shift from
traditional religious beliefs to a far more individualized style of
faith has led many to contend that no faith commitment, collective
or personal, should contribute to the vibrancy of a civil
democratic society. Challenging those who believe that the private
realm is the only appropriate locus of religious belief, the
contributors to this volume believe that religion can inform and
invigorate the secular institutions of society such as education,
economics, and politics. Drawn from a wide variety of religious and
moral traditions, these diverse essays show, from many
perspectives, the important contribution religion has to make in
the public square that is civil society.
Communitarianism is currently the subject of much interest and
scrutiny by both liberals and conservatives. In Community and
Tradition, eight distinguished scholars articulate the clearest
statement to date of the conservative vision of community. In
contrast to the progressive model of community, which emphasizes
secular civil theologies, government, participatory democracy, and
utilitarian moralities, the contributors to this volume identify
and locate the roots of friendship and common purpose in tradition,
intermediate associations, local autonomy, and religious belief.
Not only do the contributors renew and refine the conservative
understanding of community, but they also express their belief that
the liberal version of community needs to be challenged. This
volume is essential reading for all political theorists who study
the balance between rights and responsibilities within the context
of the community.
When political debates devolve, as they often do these days, into a
contest between big-government progressivism and natural rights
individualism, Americans tend to appeal to the "self-evident"
truths inscribed in the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution. But Peter Lawler and Richard Reinsch remind us that
these truths understood in the abstract are untethered from a
prior, unwritten constitution presupposed by the Framers-one found
in culture, customs, traditions, experiences, and beliefs. A
Constitution in Full is Lawler and Reinsch's attempt to return this
critical context to US constitutionalism-to recover a political
sense of individualism in relation to country, family, religious
community, and nature. Power, the authors suggest, is a public
trust, not a form of obedience to either majoritarian suppression
of particular liberties or the endless rights-claims lodged by
autonomous individuals against society. Instead, power is ordered
to the demands of a shared political enterprise that emerges from
man's social nature. Building on political insights from Alexis de
Tocqueville, Orestes Brownson, John Courtney Murray, and others
Lawler and Reinsch seek to restore the relational person-the
individual grounded in family, work, faith, and community-to a
central place in our understanding of republican constitutionalism.
Their work promotes the ongoing development of constitutional
self-government rooted in our historical, legal, and religious
foundations. The shared middle-class values that once united almost
all Americans as well as any confidence in democratic deliberation
or political liberty are rapidly atrophying. This book aims to
rebuild this confidence by helping us think seriously about the
complex interplay between political and economic liberties and the
relational life of creatures and citizens.
American Political Rhetoric is the only reader for introductory
classes in American politics, government, and political
communication designed to explore fundamental political principles
through examples of political rhetoric ranging from the founding to
today. Now in its eighth edition, its selections include the entire
political spectrum and contributors range from our nation's
founders to contemporary elected public officials, Supreme Court
opinions, and representatives of historic movements for social
change. The eighth edition includes new selections of recent
Supreme Court decisions, including the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s
Health, Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, foreign policy, and
expanded coverage of individual rights and privileges, including
freedom of speech and voting rights. The book is now more useful
than ever for students and teachers thanks to a supplementary
website available at americanpoliticalrhetoric.com.
American Political Rhetoric is the only reader for introductory
classes in American politics, government, and political
communication designed to explore fundamental political principles
through examples of political rhetoric ranging from the founding to
today. Now in its eighth edition, its selections include the entire
political spectrum and contributors range from our nation's
founders to contemporary elected public officials, Supreme Court
opinions, and representatives of historic movements for social
change. The eighth edition includes new selections of recent
Supreme Court decisions, including the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s
Health, Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, foreign policy, and
expanded coverage of individual rights and privileges, including
freedom of speech and voting rights. The book is now more useful
than ever for students and teachers thanks to a supplementary
website available at americanpoliticalrhetoric.com.
Science, Virtue, and the Future of Humanity addresses each of the
key public policy issues of our techno-future from the perspective
of deeply informed and philosophically inclined public
intellectuals. Among the issues addressed are the detachment of our
idea of justice from any credible foundation; Tocqueville's
prescience on how a "cognitive elite" might be the aristocracy to
be most feared in our time; robotization and the possibility of
being ruled by morally challenged robots; organ markets; the
degradation of liberal education by obsessive techno-enthusiasm;
biotechnology and biological determinism; the birth dearth and the
inevitable erosion of our entitlements; the possibility that our
techno-domination is basically an unfolding of the Lockean logic of
our foundation; and the future of the free exercise of religion in
an aggressively libertarian time. All in all, this book should
provoke widespread discussion about the relationship between
scientific/technological progress and the one true moral/spiritual
progress that takes place over the course of every particular human
life.
For seven seasons, AMC's Mad Men captivated audiences with the
story of Don Draper, an advertising executive whose personal and
professional successes and failures took viewers on a roller
coaster ride through America's tumultuous 1960s. More than just a
television show about one of advertising's "bad boys," the series
investigates the principles of the American regime, exploring
whether or not the American Dream is a sustainable vision of human
flourishing and happiness. This collection of essays investigates
the show's engagement with the philosophic and political
foundations of American democracy.
Science, Virtue, and the Future of Humanity addresses each of the
key public policy issues of our techno-future from the perspective
of deeply informed and philosophically inclined public
intellectuals. Among the issues addressed are the detachment of our
idea of justice from any credible foundation; Tocqueville's
prescience on how a "cognitive elite" might be the aristocracy to
be most feared in our time; robotization and the possibility of
being ruled by morally challenged robots; organ markets; the
degradation of liberal education by obsessive techno-enthusiasm;
biotechnology and biological determinism; the birth dearth and the
inevitable erosion of our entitlements; the possibility that our
techno-domination is basically an unfolding of the Lockean logic of
our foundation; and the future of the free exercise of religion in
an aggressively libertarian time. All in all, this book should
provoke widespread discussion about the relationship between
scientific/technological progress and the one true moral/spiritual
progress that takes place over the course of every particular human
life.
In 1962, Walker Percy (1916--1990) made a dramatic entrance onto
the American literary scene when he won the National Book Award for
fiction with his first novel, The Moviegoer. A physician,
philosopher, and devout Catholic, Percy dedicated his life to
understanding the mixed and somewhat contradictory foundations of
American life as a situation faced by the wandering and won-dering
human soul. His controversial works combined existential
questioning, scientific investigation, the insight of the southern
stoic, and authentic religious faith to produce a singular view of
humanity's place in the cosmos that ranks among the best American
political thinking.
An authoritative guide to the political thought of this
celebrated yet complex American author, A Political Companion to
Walker Percy includes seminal essays by Ralph C. Wood, Richard
Reinsch II, and James V. Schall, S.J., as well as new analyses of
Percy's view of Thomistic realism and his reaction to the American
pursuit of happiness. Editors Peter Augustine Lawler and Brian A.
Smith have assembled scholars of diverse perspectives who provide a
necessary lens for interpreting Percy's works. This comprehensive
introduction to Percy's "American Thomism" is an indispensable
resource for students of American literature, culture, and
politics.
Darwinian Evolution and Classical Liberalism canvasses an array of
thinkers from the past to the present as it examines fundamental
political, philosophical, ethical, economic, anthropological, and
scientific aspects of the ferment between Darwinian biology and
classical liberalism. Early chapters focus on classical thinkers
like John Locke and Adam Smith, while later chapters provide
analyses of present-day classical liberals, focusing especially on
F.A. Hayek, Thomas Sowell, and Larry Arnhart, the most prominent
advocates of 'contemporary' classical liberalism. Thematically, the
volume falls into three parts. Part I examines foundational
matters, arguing that Darwinism and classical liberalism hold
incompatible visions of morality, human nature, and individual
autonomy. This section also contends that the free market's
spontaneous order is fully compatible with a teleological (or
non-Darwinian) view of the universe. Part II turns to contemporary
applications, contending that Darwinism and classical liberalism
are at odds in their views of (or implications about) limited
government, vital religion, economic freedom, and the traditional
family. This section also argues that, since its inception,
Darwinism has attenuated core tenets and values of classical
liberalism and Western civilization. Part III of the volume
contains alternative views to those in the first two parts, adding
critical diversity to the book. Respectively, these chapters hold
that Darwinian evolution simply has little to say about classical
liberalism; an evolutionary account of human volition is fully
compatible with the individual choice presupposed in classical
liberalism; and evolutionary naturalism, unlike religious
alternatives, provides a strong foundation for freedom, morality,
and the traditional family.
Darwinian Evolution and Classical Liberalism canvasses an array of
thinkers from the past to the present as it examines fundamental
political, philosophical, ethical, economic, anthropological, and
scientific aspects of the ferment between Darwinian biology and
classical liberalism. Early chapters focus on classical thinkers
like John Locke and Adam Smith, while later chapters provide
analyses of present-day classical liberals, focusing especially on
F.A. Hayek, Thomas Sowell, and Larry Arnhart, the most prominent
advocates of 'contemporary' classical liberalism. Thematically, the
volume falls into three parts. Part I examines foundational
matters, arguing that Darwinism and classical liberalism hold
incompatible visions of morality, human nature, and individual
autonomy. This section also contends that the free market's
spontaneous order is fully compatible with a teleological (or
non-Darwinian) view of the universe. Part II turns to contemporary
applications, contending that Darwinism and classical liberalism
are at odds in their views of (or implications about) limited
government, vital religion, economic freedom, and the traditional
family. This section also argues that, since its inception,
Darwinism has attenuated core tenets and values of classical
liberalism and Western civilization. Part III of the volume
contains alternative views to those in the first two parts, adding
critical diversity to the book. Respectively, these chapters hold
that Darwinian evolution simply has little to say about classical
liberalism; an evolutionary account of human volition is fully
compatible with the individual choice presupposed in classical
liberalism; and evolutionary naturalism, unlike religious
alternatives, provides a strong foundation for freedom, morality,
and the traditional family.
This volume of essays explores the bases and significant aspects of
the thought of contemporary French philosopher, historian of ideas,
and novelist Chantal Delsol. A member of the French Academy of
Moral and Political Sciences, she is well known in France as a
political analyst and cultural diagnostician. This collection is
the first book-length treatment of her thought available in
English, bringing together studies that analyze her work. In
between, essays present her remarkable portrait of human beings
increasingly characteristic of Western societies, as well as her
defense of the human person rightly understood. An exposition of
the virtues of her conception of the family, as well as her
analysis of contemporary "matriarchy," complements those
treatments. The authors highlight her unique mode of cultural
analysis, together with her stout defense of genuine political
life. The volume also includes translations of two chapters of her
fundamental work of philosophical anthropology, Qu'est-ce que
l'homme?, appearing here for the first time in English. A
thoughtful examination of Delsol's work, this book provides new
resources to those studying this French philosopher and author.
In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville famously called for 'a new political
science' that could address the problems and possibilities of a
'world itself quite new.' For Tocqueville, the democratic world
needed not just a new political science but also new arts of
statesmanship and leadership. In this volume, Brian Danoff and L.
Joseph Hebert, Jr., have brought together a diverse set of essays
revealing that Tocqueville's understanding of democratic
statesmanship remains highly relevant today. The first chapter of
the book is a new translation of Tocqueville's 1852 address to the
Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, in which Tocqueville
offers a profound exploration of the relationship between theory
and practice, and between statesmanship and political philosophy.
Subsequent chapters explore the relationship between Tocqueville's
ideas on statesmanship, on the one hand, and the ideas of Plato,
Aristotle, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, the Puritans, the Framers of
the U.S. Constitution, Oakeshott, Willa Cather, and the Second
Vatican Council, on the other. Timely and provocative, these essays
show the relevance of Tocqueville's theory of statesmanship for
thinking about such contemporary issues as the effects of NGOs on
civic life, the powers of the American presidency, the place of the
jury in a democratic polity, the role of religion in public life,
the future of democracy in Europe, and the proper balance between
liberalism and realism in foreign policy.
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Democracy Reconsidered (Hardcover, New)
Elizabeth Kaufer Busch; Contributions by David Alvis, Martha Bayles, James W. Ceaser, Eric Cohen, …
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R4,198
Discovery Miles 41 980
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Democracy Reconsidered provides an enlightening study of democracy
in America's post-modern context. Elizabeth Kaufer Busch and Peter
Augustine Lawler explore some of the foundational principles of
democracy as they have been borne out in American society. The
essays included in this volume examine the lessons that novelists,
philosophers, and political theorists have for democratic societies
as they progress towards postmodern skepticism or even disbelief in
the absolute principles that form the foundation of democracies.
Led by the provocative observations of Lawler, a member of
President Bush's Council on Bioethics, the first section lays out
the predicament caused by the gravitation of democracy towards a
disbelief in absolute truth, leading to a "crisis of
self-evidence." The second section searches for tools that one
might use to restore health to the individual and community within
American democracy, including spiritual faith, creative autonomy,
and philosophic inquiry. The third section addresses the supposed
"crisis in liberal education" caused by our "crisis of
self-evidence." Included essays explore the extent to which the
professed aims of liberal education may be at odds with the
cultivation of dutiful citizens. The book closes by considering
some of the political consequences of employing content-less
freedom as the primary standard by which human behaviour is judged.
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Democracy Reconsidered (Paperback)
Elizabeth Kaufer Busch; Contributions by David Alvis, Martha Bayles, James W. Ceaser, Eric Cohen, …
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R1,794
Discovery Miles 17 940
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
|
Democracy Reconsidered provides an enlightening study of democracy
in America's post-modern context. Elizabeth Kaufer Busch and Peter
Augustine Lawler explore some of the foundational principles of
democracy as they have been borne out in American society. The
essays included in this volume examine the lessons that novelists,
philosophers, and political theorists have for democratic societies
as they progress towards postmodern skepticism or even disbelief in
the absolute principles that form the foundation of democracies.
Led by the provocative observations of Lawler, a member of
President Bush's Council on Bioethics, the first section lays out
the predicament caused by the gravitation of democracy towards a
disbelief in absolute truth, leading to a 'crisis of
self-evidence.' The second section searches for tools that one
might use to restore health to the individual and community within
American democracy, including spiritual faith, creative autonomy,
and philosophic inquiry. The third section addresses the supposed
'crisis in liberal education' caused by our 'crisis of
self-evidence.' Included essays explore the extent to which the
professed aims of liberal education may be at odds with the
cultivation of dutiful citizens. The book closes by considering
some of the political consequences of employing content-less
freedom as the primary standard by which human behaviour is judged.
Magnanimity and Statesmanship is a collection of papers on the
virtue of Aristotelian magnanimity (or greatness of soul) and its
relationship to the history of political philosophy and to the art
of statesmanship. Aristotle's account of the "great-souled man" may
seem somewhat alien to the sensibilities of a modern democracy.
There is, after all, an inegalitarian element in the great-souled
man's confidence in his moral excellence and hence in his superior
worthiness to hold public office. Nevertheless, even modern
democratic thinkers admit that democracy needs, at least in certain
critical phases in its development, political leaders who far excel
their fellow citizens in virtue and wisdom. This book, then, traces
the path of magnanimity in the history of political philosophy and
examines certain statesmen in light of this virtue, all with a view
to addressing the following questions: What is magnanimity, and
what is its relationship to political life? Is magnanimity
compatible with Christianity, or with the modern commitment to
equality? Does modernity still stand in need of such a virtue? Can
magnanimity flourish under modern conditions? Are there examples of
political leaders whose lives exemplify this virtue and the study
of whose political conduct can deepen our understanding of it?
This is the third and final volume in the series on American
political thought edited by Ronald J. Pestritto and Thomas G. West.
The book addresses how the major themes in American political
thought-identified in the first two books of the series-have played
out in the world of modern American politics. The first volume
focused on the founding era, and examined the prevalence of
social-compact theory among the founders and implications of that
theory for the design of American institutions. The second volume
examined the major challenges that nineteenth-century thought posed
to the political ideas of the founding, and suggested that these
challenges created tensions that would significantly affect the
development of American politics in the twentieth century and
beyond. In Modern America and the Legacy of the Founding, the
authors address these fundamental tensions: how does modern America
resolve the inherent conflict between the original constitutional
order and the challenges posed by modern liberalism? The authors
look at the contemporary effects of this fundamental tension on
questions of foreign policy and domestic policy, and on questions
of our national political institutions and the ideas that shape
them today.
This is the third and final volume in the series on American
political thought edited by Ronald J. Pestritto and Thomas G. West.
The book addresses how the major themes in American political
thought_identified in the first two books of the series_have played
out in the world of modern American politics. The first volume
focused on the founding era, and examined the prevalence of
social-compact theory among the founders and implications of that
theory for the design of American institutions. The second volume
examined the major challenges that nineteenth-century thought posed
to the political ideas of the founding, and suggested that these
challenges created tensions that would significantly affect the
development of American politics in the twentieth century and
beyond. In Modern America and the Legacy of the Founding, the
authors address these fundamental tensions: how does modern America
resolve the inherent conflict between the original constitutional
order and the challenges posed by modern liberalism? The authors
look at the contemporary effects of this fundamental tension on
questions of foreign policy and domestic policy, and on questions
of our national political institutions and the ideas that shape
them today.
Casablanca is a movie about love and loss, virtue and vice, good
and evil, duty and treachery, courage and weakness, friendship and
hate. It is a story that ends well, but only because the main
characters make a heartbreaking choice. Casablanca is perhaps the
most widely viewed motion picture ever made, often finishing on
critics' lists second only to Citizen Kane. What accounts for its
continuing popularity? What chord does it strike with audiences?
What lesson does Casablanca teach Americans about themselves? What
influence does popular culture have on public mores? The
contributors to Political Philosophy Comes to Rick's take up these
questions, finding that Casablanca raises many of the most
important issues of political philosophy. Perhaps Casablanca has an
enduring quality because it, like political philosophy, raises
questions of human life - the nature of love, friendship, courage,
honor, responsibility, and justice.
Casablanca is a movie about love and loss, virtue and vice, good
and evil, duty and treachery, courage and weakness, friendship and
hate. It is a story that ends well, but only because the main
characters make a heartbreaking choice. Casablanca is perhaps the
most widely viewed motion picture ever made, often finishing on
critics' lists second only to Citizen Kane. What accounts for its
continuing popularity? What chord does it strike with audiences?
What lesson does Casablanca teach Americans about themselves? What
influence does popular culture have on public mores? The
contributors to Political Philosophy Comes to Rick's take up these
questions, finding that Casablanca raises many of the most
important issues of political philosophy. Perhaps Casablanca has an
enduring quality because it, like political philosophy, raises
questions of human life - the nature of love, friendship, courage,
honor, responsibility, and justice.
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