Democracy Reconsidered

Inbunden, Engelska, 2009

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Beskrivning

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.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2009-07-16
Mått:162 x 241 x 27 mm
Vikt:567 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:292
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN:9780739124802

Utforska kategorier

Statsskick: demokrati inom Samhälle och politik

Mer om författaren

Elizabeth Kaufer Busch is assistant professor of American Studies and Government and co-director of the Center for American Studies and Civic Leadership at Christopher Newport University.Peter Augustine Lawler is Dana Professor of Government at Berry College.

Recensioner i media

The contributors to this fine collection offer a Tocquevillian reflection on democracy in America today in two respects: their investigation of thought and its relation to political action comprehends philosophy, science, religion, and the fine arts; and they write as friends of democracy who address what they regard as contemporary challenges to American government.

Innehållsförteckning

Part 1 Introduction: Why a Reconsideration of Democracy is NeededPart 2 Part One: Democratic Relativism: A Crisis of Self-EvidenceChapter 3 Chapter One: Our Crisis of Self-EvidenceChapter 4 Chapter Two: The American Context of Leo Strauss's Natural Right and HistoryChapter 5 Chapter Three: Gender Feminism in America: A Reconsideration of Nietzsche's Anti-FeminismChapter 6 Chapter Four: Anti-Snobs and Anti-ArtistsPart 7 Part Two: Democracy's Transformation of the Human Character and SoulChapter 8 Chapter Five: Autonomy and Cruelty: Rorty and Montaigne on the Social BondChapter 9 Chapter Six: Democracy and Philosophy as a Way of LifeChapter 10 Chapter Seven: A Tale of Two Liberals: Re-Discovering American Liberalism in Flannery O'Connor's The BarberPart 12 Part Three: Educating the Democratic Mind and SpiritChapter 12 Chapter Eight: The Rift in the Modern Mind: Tocqueville and Percy on the Rise of the Cartesian SelfChapter 14 Chapter Nine: Religion and Community in Liberal Education and Liberal DemocracyChapter 15 Chapter Ten: A Plea to Protect and Promote the Small Liberal Arts College as SuchChapter 16 Chapter Eleven: Liberal Education and the Democratic ManChapter 17 Chapter Twelve: Liberal Education: A Friendly Critic of Liberal DemocracyPart 18 Part Four: Democracy in American Politics and SocietyChapter 19 Chapter Thirteen: Friendly Critics: Tocqueville and Croly on American Political PartiesChapter 20 Chapter Fourteen: Bioethics and the American Characterwith a response by Eric Stone entitled "Of Revulsion and Joy"Chapter 21 Chapter Fifteen: Progress or Tyranny? The Goodridge DissentsChapter 22 Chapter Sixteen: Women Against Liberation: Opposing Feminism in a Democratic Age