Synopses & Reviews
Challengers, critics, and enemies of philosophic activity have played a central role throughout the history of the love of wisdom. Even before the Athenian jury condemned Socrates to take hemlock for disbelieving in the city's gods and corrupting the young, Athens had pronounced the same death sentence upon Anaxagoras, who avoided execution only by fleeing the city. Aristotle, too, reportedly had to escape Athens in haste to avoid the fate of Socrates. Similar stories are legion. Nero ordered the death of Seneca. Theodoric had Boethius strangled. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake. Galileo Galilei was excommunicated and had to recant to save his life. Algernon Sydney was executed for treason. Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, and Pierre Bayle were all accused of atheism. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was charged with capital crimes for his anti-Christian teachings, and his books were burned. Fichte lost his university post and, at least temporarily, his good reputation over his religious heterodoxy. Even in recent, more liberal climates of opinion, philosophers have sometimes been charged with undermining religion and morality. In brief, political societies frequently regard philosophers with suspicion or downright hostility, and demand a defense of the philosophic mode of existence.
The disagreements among philosophers over the ages diminish if we take into account their multifarious strategies for dissembling and concealing their truest views in threatening circumstances; and the disagreements diminish further if we inquire into what the great philosophers share. What the philosophers have in common is the philosophic life, and the felt need to understand and to appreciate, to radically call into question and even more thoroughly to defend that way of life. The most persistent, penetrating doubters of philosophy must of necessity be at the same time its strongest bulwarks, namely the philosophers themselves.
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"The outstanding essays in this collection address a question that is central in our time, or any time. Can philosophy, the way of life governed by the uncompromising use of reason, defend itself adequately against rivals who claim that it is immoral, irreligious, impossible, or illusory?" - Mark Blitz, Fletcher Jones Professor of Political Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College, USA
"From the admirers of Leo Strauss to those of Pierre Hadot, students of classical philosophy are today rediscovering the idea of philosophy as a way of life - and 'ways of life' as a philosophical question. But as this stimulating book shows, those questions have been debated throughout the Western philosophical tradition, down to the modern age. By throwing a light on the centuries' long conversion about alternative ways of life, from pure inquiry to political engagement to religious devotion to serene solitude, the authors lead us to ask: what exactly would it mean to live a philosophical life today? And how would it stand in relation to the other ways of life available in modern democracy? A thought-provoking volume." - Mark Lilla, Professor, Columbia University, USA
Review
"The outstanding essays in this collection address a question that is central in our time, or any time. Can philosophy, the way of life governed by the uncompromising use of reason, defend itself adequately against rivals who claim that it is immoral, irreligious, impossible, or illusory?" - Mark Blitz, Fletcher Jones Professor of Political Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College, USA
"From the admirers of Leo Strauss to those of Pierre Hadot, students of classical philosophy are today rediscovering the idea of philosophy as a way of life - and 'ways of life' as a philosophical question. But as this stimulating book shows, those questions have been debated throughout the Western philosophical tradition, down to the modern age. By throwing a light on the centuries' long conversion about alternative ways of life, from pure inquiry to political engagement to religious devotion to serene solitude, the authors lead us to ask: what exactly would it mean to live a philosophical life today? And how would it stand in relation to the other ways of life available in modern democracy? A thought-provoking volume." - Mark Lilla, Professor, Columbia University, USA
Synopsis
Political societies frequently regard philosophers as potential threats to morality and religion, and those who speak for politics often demand a defense of philosophy. This book will address philosophy as a mode of existence put into question.
Synopsis
Challengers, critics, and enemies of philosophic activity have played a central role throughout the history of the love of wisdom. Even before the Athenian jury condemned Socrates to take hemlock for disbelieving in the city's gods and corrupting the young, Athens had pronounced the same death sentence upon Anaxagoras, who avoided execution only by fleeing the city. Aristotle, too, reportedly had to escape Athens in haste to avoid the fate of Socrates. Similar stories are legion. Nero ordered the death of Seneca. Theodoric had Boethius strangled. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake. Galileo Galilei was excommunicated and had to recant to save his life. Algernon Sydney was executed for treason. Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, and Pierre Bayle were all accused of atheism. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was charged with capital crimes for his anti-Christian teachings, and his books were burned. Fichte lost his university post and, at least temporarily, his good reputation over his religious heterodoxy. Even in recent, more liberal climates of opinion, philosophers have sometimes been charged with undermining religion and morality. In brief, political societies frequently regard philosophers with suspicion or downright hostility, and demand a defense of the philosophic mode of existence. The disagreements among philosophers over the ages diminish if we take into account their multifarious strategies for dissembling and concealing their truest views in threatening circumstances; and the disagreements diminish further if we inquire into what the great philosophers share. What the philosophers have in common is the philosophic life, and the felt need to understand and to appreciate, to radically call into question and even more thoroughly to defend that way of life. The most persistent, penetrating doubters of philosophy must of necessity be at the same time its strongest bulwarks, namely the philosophers themselves.
Synopsis
Political societies frequently regard philosophers as potential threats to morality and religion and even subject these thinkers to the gravest inquisitions and indictments. Socrates was executed for disbelieving in the gods of Athens, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was charged with capital crimes for his anti-Christian teachings, Galileo Galilei was found "vehemently suspect" of heresy, compelled to recant, and sentenced to incarceration for life. The contributors to
Political Philosophy Cross-Examined aspire to reopen the case for the philosophic way of life while fully appreciating the harsh attacks advanced by its most fervent detractors. In an age where extremist movements, existentialism, and postmodernist thought challenge the authority of reason, the book is a seminal contribution to current literature on philosophy, politics, history, classics, and religion alike.
Political Philosophy Cross-Examined is a festchrift in honor of Professor Heinrich Meier of the Siemens Foundation, the University of Chicago, and the University of Munich.
Synopsis
Political societies frequently regard philosophers as potential threats to morality and religion and even subject these thinkers to the gravest inquisitions and indictments. Socrates was executed for disbelieving in the gods of Athens, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was charged with capital crimes for his anti-Christian teachings, Galileo Galilei was found "vehemently suspect" of heresy, compelled to recant, and sentenced to incarceration for life. The contributors to
Political Philosophy Cross-Examined aspire to reopen the case for the philosophic way of life while fully appreciating the harsh attacks advanced by its most fervent detractors. In an age where extremist movements, existentialism, and postmodernist thought challenge the authority of reason, the book is a seminal contribution to current literature on philosophy, politics, history, classics, and religion alike.
Political Philosophy Cross-Examined is a festchrift in honor of Professor Heinrich Meier of the Siemens Foundation, the University of Chicago, and the University of Munich.
About the Author
Thomas L. Pangle holds the Joe R. Long Chair in Democratic Studies in the Department of Government at the University of Texas, and is the Co-Director of The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He has won Guggenheim and four National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships. He is a lifetime Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the author of Montesquieu's Philosophy of Liberalisms (1973); The Spirit of Modern Republicanism: The Moral Vision of the American Founders and the Philosophy of Locke (1988); The Learning of Liberty: The Educational Ideas of the American Founders, co-authored with wife Lorraine (1993); Justice Among Nations: On the Moral Basis of Power and Peace, co-authored with Peter J. Ahrensdorf (1999); and The Theological Basis of Liberal Modernity in Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws (2010).
J. Harvey Lomax is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Memphis. From 1998 to 2000 he was Visiting Research Professor in Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He is the author of The Paradox of Philosophic Education and the translator of Karl Loewith's Nietzsche's Philosophy of the Eternal Recurrence of the Same and of Heinrich Meier's Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss. The Hidden Dialogue.
Table of Contents
1. Sophistry as a Way of Life; Robert C. Bartlett
2. Aristotle on Theory and Practice; Christopher Bruell
3. Aristotle's Politics Book 7 on the Best Way of Life; Thomas L. Pangle
4. Inexhaustible Riches: Mining the Bible; J. Harvey Lomax
5. On the Philosophic Character of Tacitus' Imperial Political History and Science; James Nichols
6. Maimonides on Knowledge of Good and Evil: The Guide of the Perplexed I.2; Ronna Burger
7. Machiavelli in the Prince: His Way of Life in Question; Nathan Tarcov
8. Of Human Ends in Bacon's Essayes; Ralph Lerner
9. Hobbes's Natural Theology; Devin Stauffer
10. Rousseau's Happiness in Freedom; Hasso Hofmann
11. Heidegger on Nietzsche on Nihilism; Robert B. Pippin
12. How Benardete Read the Last Stage of Socrates' Philosophic Education; Laurence Lampert