The fundamental issues that structure social and political philosophy revolve around the tensions between cooperative (ethical) values and competitive (self-interested) values. This book presents an in-depth examination of how society reacts to these as they move forward in the ancient Greek world. This model uses a methodology that is universal and can be applied to cultures at various historical epochs. The book advocates a "bottom-up" approach that employs a Wittgenstein-style methodology that is exactly detailed as it examines social usage as a sign of what is valued. These tensions are a part of every society that ever existed, and so these discussions are not only relevant from a historical perspective, but also speak to us today.
The fundamental issues that structure social and political philosophy revolve around the tensions between cooperative (ethical) values and competitive (self-interested) values. This book presents an in-depth examination of how society reacts to these as they move forward in the ancient Greek world. This model uses a methodology that is universal and can be applied to cultures at various historical epochs. The book advocates a â oebottom-upâ approach that employs a Wittgenstein-style methodology that is exactly detailed as it examines social usage as a sign of what is valued. These tensions are a part of every society that ever existed, and so these discussions are not only relevant from a historical perspective, but also speak to us today.
The fundamental issues that structure social and political philosophy revolve around the tensions between cooperative (ethical) values and competitive (self-interested) values. This book presents an in-depth examination of how society reacts to these as they move forward in the ancient Greek world. This model uses a methodology that is universal and can be applied to cultures at various historical epochs. The book advocates a “bottom-up” approach that employs a Wittgenstein-style methodology that is exactly detailed as it examines social usage as a sign of what is valued. These tensions are a part of every society that ever existed, and so these discussions are not only relevant from a historical perspective, but also speak to us today.
The Philosopher's Song explores the complex and fruitful relation between the great poets of Greek culture and Plato's invention of philosophy, especially as this bears on Plato's treatment of justice. The author shows how the poets helped shape the development of Plato's thinking throughout the course of his philosophical career.
An original interpretation of Hume's philosophy as centered on the relationship between theory and practice. The author argues that Hume's Essays and History represent a humanist practical philosophy derived from the speculative philosophy of A Treatise of Human Nature and the Enquiries .
What is the philosophical voice within literature? Does literature have a voice of its own? Can this voice really be philosophical in its own right? In this book, Michael Boylan argues that some literary works indeed can make their own unique claims in different areas of philosophy. He calls this method fictive narrative philosophy. The first part of the book presents an overview of traditional thinking about philosophy and literature across classical, modern, and contemporary periods. It does not seek to denigrate these methods of studying literature, but rather to ask more of them. The second part then sets out a rigorous definition of what constitutes fictive narrative philosophy. This definition outlines detailed conceptions of the methods of presentation, audience engagement, logical mechanics, and constructional devices of fictive narrative philosophy. The author brings this definition to bear on individual authors and works that can be considered prime examples of fictive narrative philosophy. Finally, the book sets out why and when fictive narratives might be more favorable than traditional philosophical discourse, and how the concept of fictive narrative philosophy can move teaching and scholarship forward in a positive direction. Fictive Narrative Philosophy presents an entirely new and unique approach in which literature can be a form of philosophy. It will appeal to scholars and upper-level students interested in philosophy and literature.
These first philosophers paved the way for the work of Plato and Aristotle - and hence for the whole of Western thought. This is a unique and invaluable collection of the works of the Presocratics and the Sophists. Waterfield brings together the works of these early thinkers with brilliant new translation and exceptional commentary. This is the ideal anthology for the student of this increasingly appreciated field of classical philosophy.
Since the seventeenth century, concern in the Western world for the welfare of the individual has been articulated philosophically most often as a concern for his rights. The modern conception of individual rights resulted from abandonment of ancient, value-laced ideas of nature and their replacement by the modern, mathematically transparent idea of nature that has room only for individuals, often in conflict. In A Philosophical History of Rights, Gary B. Herbert traces the historical evolution of the concept and the transformation of the problems through which the concept is defined. The volume examines the early history of rights as they existed in ancient Greece, and locates the first philosophical inquiry into the nature of rights in Platonic and Aristotelian accounts. He traces Roman jurisprudence to the advent of Christianity, to the divine right of kings. Herbert follows the historical evolution of modern subjective rights, the attempts by Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Fichte, and Hegel to mediate rights, to make them sociable. He then turns to nineteenth-century condemnation of rights in the theories of the historical school of law, Benthamite utilitarianism, and Marxist socialism. Following World War II, a newly revived language of rights had to be constructed, to express universal moral outrage over what came to be called crimes against humanity. The contemporary Western concern for rights is today a concern for the individual and a recognition of the limits beyond which a society must not go in sacrificing the individual's welfare for its own conception of the common good. In his conclusion, Herbert addresses the postmodern critique of rights as a form of moral imperialism legitimizing relations of dominance and subjection. In addition to his historical analysis of the evolution of theories of rights, Herbert exposes the philosophical confusions that arise when we exchange one concept of rights for another and continue to cite historical antecedents for contemporary attitudes that are in fact their philosophical antithesis. A Philosophical History of Rights will be of interest to philosophers, historians, and political scientists.
