Steven Frankel - Böcker

Inspired by Machiavelli, modern philosophers held that the tension between the goals of biblical piety and the goals of political life needed to be resolved in favor of the political, and they attempted to recast and delimit traditional Christian teaching to serve and stabilize political life accordingly. This volume examines the arguments of those thinkers who worked to remake Christianity into a civil religion in the early modern and modern periods.Beginning with Machiavelli and continuing through to Alexis de Tocqueville, the essays in this collection explain in detail the ways in which these philosophers used religious and secular writing to build a civil religion in the West. Early chapters examine topics such as Machiavelli’s comparisons of Christianity with Roman religion, Francis Bacon’s cherry-picking of Christian doctrines in the service of scientific innovation, and Spinoza’s attempt to replace long-held superstitions with newer, “progressive” ones. Other essays probe the scripture-based, anti-Christian argument that religion must be subordinate to politics espoused by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume, both of whom championed reason over divine authority. Crucially, the book also includes a study of civil religion in America, with chapters on John Locke, Montesquieu, and the American Founders illuminating the relationships among religious and civil history, acts, and authority. The last chapter is an examination of Tocqueville’s account of civil religion and the American regime.Detailed, thought-provoking, and based on the careful study of original texts, this survey of religion and politics in the West will appeal to scholars in the history of political philosophy, political theory, and American political thought.

Inspired by Machiavelli, modern philosophers held that the tension between the goals of biblical piety and the goals of political life needed to be resolved in favor of the political, and they attempted to recast and delimit traditional Christian teaching to serve and stabilize political life accordingly. This volume examines the arguments of those thinkers who worked to remake Christianity into a civil religion in the early modern and modern periods.Beginning with Machiavelli and continuing through to Alexis de Tocqueville, the essays in this collection explain in detail the ways in which these philosophers used religious and secular writing to build a civil religion in the West. Early chapters examine topics such as Machiavelli’s comparisons of Christianity with Roman religion, Francis Bacon’s cherry-picking of Christian doctrines in the service of scientific innovation, and Spinoza’s attempt to replace long-held superstitions with newer, “progressive” ones. Other essays probe the scripture-based, anti-Christian argument that religion must be subordinate to politics espoused by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume, both of whom championed reason over divine authority. Crucially, the book also includes a study of civil religion in America, with chapters on John Locke, Montesquieu, and the American Founders illuminating the relationships among religious and civil history, acts, and authority. The last chapter is an examination of Tocqueville’s account of civil religion and the American regime.Detailed, thought-provoking, and based on the careful study of original texts, this survey of religion and politics in the West will appeal to scholars in the history of political philosophy, political theory, and American political thought.

Nine leading scholars explore some of the most important minds behind the new political economy of the American Founding and engage with the foundational work of Ralph Lerner.In his 1979 article, “Commerce and Character: The Anglo-American as New-Model Man,” Ralph Lerner argued that the American Founders and the political theorists of the commercial republic were charting a new basis for society that broke with the “old order,” which was “preoccupied with intangible goods to an extent we now hardly ever see. The king had his glory, the nobles their honor, the Christians their salvation, the citizens of pagan antiquity their ambition to outdo others in serving the public good.” By contrast, the commercial republic was a regime based on the belief that human behavior is best understood as driven by physical wants and tangible goods. A government grounded on this understanding of humanity would be a more stable system and thus more conducive to human flourishing. Lerner’s article thus interpreted the Founding as a revolution in political philosophy that must be understood against the backdrop of the Enlightenment.Commerce and Character brings together nine distinguished scholars who explore individual Enlightenment or American thinkers who made important philosophical or political contributions to the new political economy of modern republicanism. The contributing authors include Ann Charney Colmo, Ryan Hanley, John C. Koritansky, Peter McNamara, Peter Onuf, Clifford Orwin, Paul Rahe, Colleen Sheehan, and Michael Zuckert. Each contributor uses Lerner’s essay as the jumping-off point, and at the end, Lerner provides a detailed response to each of his interlocutors where he carefully examines each chapter and reconsiders his arguments a half century later.

Nine leading scholars explore some of the most important minds behind the new political economy of the American Founding and engage with the foundational work of Ralph Lerner.In his 1979 article, “Commerce and Character: The Anglo-American as New-Model Man,” Ralph Lerner argued that the American Founders and the political theorists of the commercial republic were charting a new basis for society that broke with the “old order,” which was “preoccupied with intangible goods to an extent we now hardly ever see. The king had his glory, the nobles their honor, the Christians their salvation, the citizens of pagan antiquity their ambition to outdo others in serving the public good.” By contrast, the commercial republic was a regime based on the belief that human behavior is best understood as driven by physical wants and tangible goods. A government grounded on this understanding of humanity would be a more stable system and thus more conducive to human flourishing. Lerner’s article thus interpreted the Founding as a revolution in political philosophy that must be understood against the backdrop of the Enlightenment.Commerce and Character brings together nine distinguished scholars who explore individual Enlightenment or American thinkers who made important philosophical or political contributions to the new political economy of modern republicanism. The contributing authors include Ann Charney Colmo, Ryan Hanley, John C. Koritansky, Peter McNamara, Peter Onuf, Clifford Orwin, Paul Rahe, Colleen Sheehan, and Michael Zuckert. Each contributor uses Lerner’s essay as the jumping-off point, and at the end, Lerner provides a detailed response to each of his interlocutors where he carefully examines each chapter and reconsiders his arguments a half century later.

Emphasizing the finite difference approach for solving differential equations, the second edition of Numerical Methods for Engineers and Scientists presents a methodology for systematically constructing individual computer programs. Providing easy access to accurate solutions to complex scientific and engineering problems, each chapter begins with objectives, a discussion of a representative application, and an outline of special features, summing up with a list of tasks students should be able to complete after reading the chapter- perfect for use as a study guide or for review. The AIAA Journal calls the book "…a good, solid instructional text on the basic tools of numerical analysis."

Interpretations of critically important texts in political philosophy from Greek antiquity to modern times on the tension between human excellence and equality and its possible resolution.Is it possible to reconcile human excellence with a dedication to equality? Equality and Excellence in Ancient and Modern Political Philosophy explores the meaning, conflict, and potential resolution of the tension between human excellence and equality in the thought of philosophers from Greek antiquity to modern times. Each chapter is devoted to the thought of a particular thinker, and the chapters are arranged chronologically. Interpretations offered here rely on close readings of the major texts by critically important thinkers from Plato, Aristotle and Xenophon in antiquity to a broad range of modern thinkers from Spinoza to Rawls.