From the dawn of Western thought to the present day, The Love of Wisdom tells the story of philosophy as something intensely theological, both in its insights and its wrong turns. The book will be invaluable for any student of theology or intellectual history, and for anyone who wants to see the intellectual cogency of the Christian faith at its best. The intellectual tradition of the Church emerges clearly from this book as one of the glories of the Christian inheritance.
The purpose of this engaging book is twofold: to explain and justify the primary objects and methods of the discipline of philosophy, and to show how philosophy is relevant to a person's life and happiness. Both purposes are implied in the idea of wisdom in its theoretical and existential dimensions. Philosophy is the 'love of wisdom, ' and wisdom involves coming into a right relation to the world of beauty, goodness, and truth
In these elegant and engaging essays, the internationally acclaimed Thomist, Josef Pieper, defines and defends philosophy as the search for and love of wisdom. True philosophy is not the work of joyless academics pondering over esoteric writings that have no relation to real life. Rather, the philosophical act, in which all reasonable men can participate, begins in wonder at what is, and gratitude for what is given, and ends in love. In his encyclical letter Fides et Ratio (On the Relationship between Faith and Reason), Pope John Paul II called for a revitalization of true philosophy, for man can find fulfillment ಜonly in choosing to enter the truth, to make a home under the shade of Wisdom and dwell there.ಝ Pieperಙs essays make the same ardent and convincing plea. Josef Pieper is renowned for having popularized the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, a brilliant student of St. Thomas who, in his own voluminous works, has made the deep thought of the ಜAngelic Doctorಝ more accessible and understandable to the modern reader.
Despite increasing interest in the figure of Socrates and in love in ancient Greece, no recent monograph studies these topics in all four of Plato's dialogues on love and friendship. This book provides important new insights into these subjects by examining Plato's characterization of Socrates in Symposium, Phaedrus, Lysis and the often neglected Alcibiades I. It focuses on the specific ways in which the philosopher searches for wisdom together with his young interlocutors, using an art that is 'erotic', not in a narrowly sexual sense, but because it shares characteristics attributed to the daimon Eros in Symposium. In all four dialogues, Socrates' art enables him, like Eros, to search for the beauty and wisdom he recognizes that he lacks and to help others seek these same objects of erôs. Belfiore examines the dialogues as both philosophical and dramatic works, and considers many connections with Greek culture, including poetry and theater.
This Christian-based introduction to philosophy textbook is all the more appealing to its student audience for including humor and popular culture illustrations to teach important concepts.
Marie-Louise von Franz (1915-1998) is remembered as one of the most beloved and perhaps most important of Carl Jung's students. Her more than twenty books have inspired more than two generations of readers, many of whom found their way into Jungian psychology through her compassionate and profound insights. She lived in Kusnacht, Switzerland, and was a scholar of Medieval Latin as well as a major figure in analytical psychology. She met Jung in 1933 and worked with him from 1934 until his death in 1961. A founder of the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, she published works on a wide range of subjects, including dreams, alchemy, personality typology, myths, and, most famously, fairy tales. Emmanuel Kennedy-Xypolitas has assembled a commemorative volume in memory of Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz. Comprised of fifty-five essays, poems, and reminiscences, it also gathers material documenting her life and work, including a biographical sketch and chronology, eulogies, birthday addresses, personal impressions, reactions from the Jungian community to the news of her death, reviews and lists of her published work in English, including books, articles, and films. This is an important volume for the many readers of Jungian literature who have over the years come to appreciate the depth of insight and compassion of Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz. It is also an excellent introduction for those who are new to this important pioneer of the Jungian movement.
These expanded Gifford lectures attempt to answer Tertullian's jibe, "What business has Jerusalem with Athens?" Addressing this question within the horizons of multiple, sometimes apparently opposing, worldviews, Clark ends by stoutly defending reason, the achievability of truth, and the reality of consciousness against contemporary attack.
