Synopses & Reviews
Edward Shils (1910-1995) was one of the leading intellectual defenders of freedom in the twentieth century. Learned in history, politics, literature, economics, theology, and legal history, he taught for many years at the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought and at Peterhouse College, Cambridge. In these nine essays, Shils explores the importance of civility and tradition to a free society. The essays' significance is enormous, for Shils was one of the first and assuredly one of the most courageous writers to examine the natures of civility and civil society and their relation to a free, ordered, liberal democratic society. As H. R. Trevor-Roper has written, "Deeply concerned for the Western values of rationality, freedom, and progress, Shils was dismayed by the threat which they now faced: the threat posed by the absolute individualism into which Western Liberalism had degenerated." Among the essays are "Tradition and Liberty: Antinomy and Interdependence," "Max Weber and the World Since 1920," and "The Modern University and Liberal Democracy."
Edward Shils (1910-1995) was Professor of Sociology and Social Thought at the University of Chicago, Honorary Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and the author of many books, including The Calling of Sociology and The Intellectuals and the Powers
Steven Grosby is an Associate Professor at Clemson University.
Synopsis
Edward Shils was one of the leading intellectual defenders of freedom in the twentieth century. In these nine essays, he explores the importance of civility and tradition to a free society. The essays' significance is enormous, for Shils was one of the first and assuredly one of the most courageous writers to examine the nature of civility and civil society and their relation to a free, ordered, liberal democratic society.
Table of Contents
1,10.5,24_Introduction vii
Editor's Note xiii
Acknowledgments xv Observations on Some Tribulations of Civility 3
Ideology and Civility 25
Civility and Civil Society: Good Manners Between Persons and Concern for the Common Good in Public Affairs 63
Tradition and Liberty: Antinomy and Interdependence 103
The Antinomies of Liberalism 123
Nation, Nationality, Nationalism and Civil Society 188
Max Weber and the World Since 1920 225
The Modern University and Liberal Democracy 268
The Virtue of Civility 320
Principal Works of Edward Shils 357 Index 361