Perfection
Coming to Terms with Being Human
Published on 1. February 2010
Book
Hardback
340 pages
978-1-60258-244-6 (ISBN)
Description
In a masterful survey of the history of the idea of human perfection, prize-winning author and noted rhetorician Michael J. Hyde leads a fascinating excursion through Western philosophy, religion, science, and art. Eloquently and engagingly he delves into the canon of Western thought, drawing on figures from St. Augustine and John Rawls to Leonardo da Vinci and David Hume to Kenneth Burke and Mary Shelley. On the journey, Hyde expounds on the very notion and "Otherness" of God, the empirical and ontological workings of daily existence, the development of reason, and the bounds of beauty. In the end, he ponders the consequences of the perfection-driven impulse of medical science and considers the implications of the bourgeoning rhetoric of "our posthuman future." It is nothing short of a triumphant examination of why we humans are challenged to live a life of significant insignificance.
Reviews / Votes
"An expansive and daring book about the complexity of the human project, its possibilities, its limitations, and its inscrutable ambiguity." --Walter Brueggeman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia Theological Seminary Hyde (communication ethics, Wake Forest Univ.) argues that humans "embody a metaphysical desire for perfection," and he aims to show this by reviewing the pertinent thinking of a very large number of writers, from ancient history to the present, in philosophy, religion, science, and the arts--in a sense, the entire "Western canon." His review of the pertinent thinking of the included writers is interesting, engaging, and informative in a way that draws the reader in. To flesh out his inquiry, Hyde goes into detail in two "case studies" that illustrate the metaphysical desire for perfection: "The Rhetorical Situation of Terri Schiavo" and the recent motion picture As Good as It Gets . VERDICT This book should be of interest to a large readership from scholars to lay readers; highly recommended for philosophy and cultural studies collections in most libraries. -- Library Journal, 2010More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Waco
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
3 black & white photos, 6 line drawings
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-60258-244-6 (9781602582446)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2011
Baylor University Press
€33.99
Available for download
Person
Michael J. Hyde is University Distinguished Professor of Communication Ethics in the Department of Communication and is on the faculty of the Program for Bioethics, Health and Society in the School of Medicine, Wake Forest University. He is the author of The Life-Giving Gift of Acknowledgment, The Ethos of Rhetoric, and award-winning The Call of Conscience. He and his wife live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Content
Preface Chapter 1: Coming to Terms with Perfection Chapter 2: God on a Good Day Chapter 3: Interpreting the Call Chapter 4: The Otherness All Around Us Chapter 5: Reason Chapter 6: Beauty Chapter 7: The Lived Body Chapter 8: The Good Life, the Good Death Chapter 9: The Biotechnology Debate Chapter 10: On Being an Oxymoron Notes Index