History as the Story of Freedom : : Philosophy in Intercultural Context / / Clark Butler.

• Superior document: Value Inquiry Book Series ; 42
• VerfasserIn: Butler, Clark,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden; , Boston : : BRILL,, 1997.
• Year of Publication: 1997
• Language: English
• Series: Value Inquiry Book Series ; 42.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

The purpose of this book is to advance responsible rehabilitation of the speculative philosophy of history. It challenges the idea popularized by thinkers such as and Claude Lévi-Strauss and Jean-François Lyotard that historical meta-mythology and meta-narrative are philosophically obsolete. As long as humanity, viewed anthropologically, lives by over-arching narrative, the quest for a version that survives rational criticism remains vital. Here human rights serve as the key to unlock such a version. Despite the fact that the Hegelian philosophy of history has often been derided, something very similar currently functions as the official ideology of the world community: the idea of history as the story of freedom. This book does not retell the world-historical story of freedom. Rather, it uncovers it, beginning with the current age of human rights and working backward through the great role-model civilizations of history. Its conclusion is that a forward retelling of the story of freedom as the story of human rights can be justified by dewesternizing the story. The book contains critical responses from specialized scholars and re-presentative of selected world cultures. The volume includes illustrations, and a guest Afterword by Donald Phillip Verene. It is a companion-volume to the author's Hegel's Logic: Between History and Dialectic (North-western University Press, 1996)

Table of Contents

Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Robert GINSBERG: Editorial Foreword -- INTRODUCTION -- ONE The Age of Human Rights -- Responses Jeffrey STRAYER: On the Death of Art -- David HALL: Relativism and the Pragmatic Concept of Truth -- R.G -- FREY: On Human Rights -- TWO Christianity and Philosophy -- Response Marc SHERRINGHAM: Modern Gnosticism: An Orthodox Reply -- THREE Rome and Stoicism -- Response Richard DOUBLE: A Faulty Case for Indeterminism -- FOUR Greece and Classicism -- Responses Dallas WILLARD: Against Nominalism -- Patricia FAGAN and John RUSSON: Interpreting Ancient Greek Culture: Two Classicists Reply -- FIVE Judaism and Enlightened Divine Despotism -- Responses Charles H -- LINEWEAVER: Before the Big Bang -- William HASKER: Theism Defended -- Kenneth SEESKIN: The Jewish World-View -- SIX India and Mystical De-personalization -- Responses Jeffrey STRAYER: Remarks on Zeno and Motion -- Michel HULIN: Hegel and the Orient -- SEVEN China and Divine Emperorship -- Response Chung-Ying CHENG: China and Divine Emperorship -- EIGHT Prehistory and Panpsychism -- Responses Alan R -- SANDSTROM: Prehistory and Paradise Lost in Empirical Anthropology -- Paul M -- CHURCHLAND: Panpsychism: A Brief Critique -- NINE History as the Story of Freedom -- TEN The Story of Freedom De-Westernized -- Donald Phillip VERENE: Afterword -- Appendix I A Weakly True Story of Rights? Appendix II Multiple Human Rights Stories -- About the Author -- About the Contributors -- References -- Index.