Philosophy in a Time of Lost Spirit : : Essays on Contemporary Theory / / Ron Beiner.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• VerfasserIn: Beiner, Ron,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©1997
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (242 p.)

In the last two centuries, our world would have been a safer place if philosophers such as Rousseau, Marx, and Nietzsche had not given intellectual encouragement to the radical ideologies of Jacobins, Stalinists, and fascists. Maybe the world would have been better off, from the standpoint of sound practice, if philosophers had engaged in only modest, decent theory, as did John Stuart Mill. Yet, as Ronald Beiner contends, the point of theory is not to think safe thoughts; the point is to open intellectual horizons.In Philosophy in a Time of Lost Spirit, Beiner reflects on the dualism of theory and practice. The purpose of the theorist is not to offer sensible guidance on the conduct of social life but to test the boundaries of our vision of social order. Whereas the liberal citizen should embody the practical virtues of prudence and moderation, the theorist should be radical, probing, and immoderate. Looking back at the liberal-communitarian debate of the 1980s, Beiner recognizes that the antidote to our spiritless times lies neither in the embrace of community over individualism nor of individualism over community: both individual and community need to be submitted to radical questioning. It is by exposing ourselves to the challenge of fearless thinking encountered at the philosophical extremities that we are most likely to understand our own world at a deeper level.In this collection of essays and reviews, Ronald Beiner helps us to think critically about the thought-worlds of our foremost contemporary thinkers, including Hannah Arendt, Allan Bloom, Michel Foucault, Hans-Georg Gadamer, J¦rgen Habermas, Will Kymlicka, Christopher Lasch, Richard Rorty, Judith Shklar, Leo Strauss, Charles Taylor, and Michael Walzer.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- I: Liberalism and Hyper-Liberalism -- 1. Liberalism in the Cross-Hairs of Theory -- 2. The Proper Bounds of Self -- 3. Reconciling Liberty and Equality -- 4. Cruelty First -- 5. Liberalism as Neutralism -- 6. Revising the Self -- 7. Liberalism, Pluralism, and Religion -- 8. Richard Rorty's Liberalism -- 9. Foucault's Hyper-Liberalism -- II: Interrogating Modernity -- 10. Do We Need a Philosophical Ethics? Theory, Prudence, and the Primacy of Ethos -- 11. Rescuing the Rationalist Heritage -- 12. Accepting Finitude -- 13. Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss: The Uncommenced Dialogue -- Appendix: Response from a Colleague, with a Rejoinder -- 14. Eros and the Bourgeoisie -- 15. Left-Wing Conservatism: The Legacy of Christopher Lasch -- 16. Hermeneutical Generosity and Social Criticism -- 17. Thin Ice -- III: Political Judgment Revisited -- 18. Practical Wisdom -- 19. Science and Wisdom -- 20. Rereading Hannah Arendt's Kant Lectures -- Notes -- Index