Anthony M. Clohesy - Böcker

The Politics of Well-Being argues that the relationship between well-being and ethical life has been overlooked. The more specific argument of the book is that ethical life requires political engagement, and the emergence of a society committed to critical thinking. It is argued that these conditions allow for our ordination and confirmation as ethical subjects. While well-being can be experienced in different ways, it is claimed that, after experience of ethical life, a more sustainable form of it is revealed to us, a form which we would be drawn to preserve, a form which can be constituted as an object of hope. While the book draws on philosophical themes, its main focus is political. This is because its primary objective is to identify and to examine what needs to be done in order to realise ethical life. Its main focus in this respect is the identification and examination of the barriers which need to be overcome if ethical life is to be realised. It is acknowledged that this will not be an easy task. Indeed, it may be an impossible task. However, despite these barriers, and despite the dark days we are living through, the book is a call to hope rather than a surrender to despair. This book will be of interest to students of politics, psychology, cultural studies, philosophy, and sociology, as well as anyone else interested in exploring new ideas about how the make the world a better place.

This exciting new textbook presents a clear framework for students to understand how themes and issues in political thought have emerged and developed throughout the 20th Century.Charting the progression from the preoccupation with the boundaries of the modern state, through to the current debates on rights, identity and justice; the three sections of the book enable the ideas of significant political thinkers to unfold through a telling of the key political events that gave a social context for their thought:Section I: The Inter-War Debate: Weber, Gramsci and SchmittSection II: Post-War Debates: Arendt, Oakeshott, De Beauvoir and AdornoSection III: Contemporary Debates: Rawls, Nozick, Kymlicka and FoucaultWritten in an accessible and concise format, features include:'rewind' and 'fast-forward' indicators to easily guide students around the textdiscussion points, revision notes and further reading in each chapterinformative text boxes to highlight key concepts, people and events.By exploring an often ignored relationship in political thought, the influence of thought upon historical change and the influence of historical change upon theory, this text delivers new and exciting angles from which to approach politics today. Contemporary Political Theorists in Context is essential reading for all students of social and political theory.

This exciting new textbook presents a clear framework for students to understand how themes and issues in political thought have emerged and developed throughout the 20th Century.Charting the progression from the preoccupation with the boundaries of the modern state, through to the current debates on rights, identity and justice; the three sections of the book enable the ideas of significant political thinkers to unfold through a telling of the key political events that gave a social context for their thought:Section I: The Inter-War Debate: Weber, Gramsci and SchmittSection II: Post-War Debates: Arendt, Oakeshott, De Beauvoir and AdornoSection III: Contemporary Debates: Rawls, Nozick, Kymlicka and FoucaultWritten in an accessible and concise format, features include:'rewind' and 'fast-forward' indicators to easily guide students around the textdiscussion points, revision notes and further reading in each chapterinformative text boxes to highlight key concepts, people and events.By exploring an often ignored relationship in political thought, the influence of thought upon historical change and the influence of historical change upon theory, this text delivers new and exciting angles from which to approach politics today. Contemporary Political Theorists in Context is essential reading for all students of social and political theory.

The Politics of Empathy argues that empathy is a necessary condition for ethical subjectivity and the emergence of a more compassionate world.One of the reasons empathy is important is because it gives us a sense of what it is like to be someone else. However, to understand its ethical significance we need to look elsewhere. This book claims that empathy is ethically significant because, uniquely, it allows us to reflect critically on the nature of our own lives and sense of identity. More specifically, it allows us to reflect critically on the contingency, finitude and violence that define existence. It is argued that, without this critical reflection, a more ethical and democratic world cannot come into being. Our challenge today therefore is to establish the social and political conditions in which empathy can flourish. This will be a difficult task because powerful political and cultural forces are reinforcing the divisions between us rather than encouraging us to come together in a cosmopolitan community of mutual recognition and solidarity. However, despite these limits, there is hope for a brighter future. The book argues that this can only come about if the Left accepts its responsibility to articulate the contours of a new politics of internationalism and establish the foundations of a sustainable ethical community in which strangers will be accepted unconditionally. This work will be of interest to students and scholars of political theory, multiculturalism and international relations.

This book examines the nature of our commitment to the long-term survival of humanity. It addresses the lack of a sustainable and ethical commitment to a shared and binding future for the well-being of those who will come after us.While other texts focus on the threats to our survival, such as climate catastrophe or nuclear annihilation, this study argues that a greater threat to our survival is our disposition of ambivalence about the value of future lives. The other claim of the book is that, to avoid our extinction, we have to recover a sense of ourselves as beings worthy of salvation.Clearly argued and jargon free, the book will be useful for scholars with an academic interest in philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, culture studies, and population ethics.

The Politics of Well-Being argues that the relationship between well-being and ethical life has been overlooked. The more specific argument of the book is that ethical life requires political engagement, and the emergence of a society committed to critical thinking. It is argued that these conditions allow for our ordination and confirmation as ethical subjects. While well-being can be experienced in different ways, it is claimed that, after experience of ethical life, a more sustainable form of it is revealed to us, a form which we would be drawn to preserve, a form which can be constituted as an object of hope. While the book draws on philosophical themes, its main focus is political. This is because its primary objective is to identify and to examine what needs to be done in order to realise ethical life. Its main focus in this respect is the identification and examination of the barriers which need to be overcome if ethical life is to be realised. It is acknowledged that this will not be an easy task. Indeed, it may be an impossible task. However, despite these barriers, and despite the dark days we are living through, the book is a call to hope rather than a surrender to despair. This book will be of interest to students of politics, psychology, cultural studies, philosophy, and sociology, as well as anyone else interested in exploring new ideas about how the make the world a better place.