Enlightening Revolutions
Essays in Honor of Ralph Lerner
Published on 1. May 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
412 pages
978-0-7391-2255-6 (ISBN)
Description
Enlightening Revolutions-a collection of outstanding essays by highly prominent scholars-examines the different ways in which the relation between politics and philosophy has been understood and enacted over the ages. The volume sheds light on key theoretical and historical issues: the intriguing position and historical influence of medieval Jewish and Islamic rationalism; the advent of modernity in the thought of Machiavelli and Hobbes; the prospects for greatness in modernity as seen by Adam Smith, Jonathan Swift, the Founding Fathers, and Alexis de Tocqueville; and the prospects for philosophic excellence in modern times as seen by, among others, Montesquieu and Leo Strauss, as well as through the eyes of Plato and the Bible. The volume is dedicated to Ralph Lerner, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. It honors Lerner's splendid teaching and scholarship over half a century, and testifies in some measure to his enlightening, enlivening, gracefully witty, and humanizing activity and example.
Reviews / Votes
A powerful collection of essays-scholarly and humane, probing and elegant-that honors by imitating the great virtues of Ralph Lerner as a teacher and scholar. -- Arthur Melzer, Michigan State University An outstanding group of essays on an unusually rich array of topics ranging from medieval political philosophy to Tocqueville. . . This deeply informed collection constitutes a worthy tribute to an extraordinary teacher and scholar. -- Susan Shell, Boston College This richly varied collection of essays on the problematic relationship of political theory and practice pays due honor to Ralph Lerner and to the enlightening stimulus of his lifework of scholarship and teaching. -- Thomas Pangle, University of TorontoMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
666 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7391-2255-6 (9780739122556)
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
Persons
Content
1 Part I: The Medieval Renaissance
Chapter 2 The Moral Status of Teaching and Writing
Chapter 3 Averroes on Law and Political Well-Being
Chapter 4 Prudence, Imagination, and Determination of Law in Alfarabi and Maimonides
Chapter 5 Averroes, Dante and the Dawn of European Enlightenment
6 Part II: The Modern Revolution
Chapter 7 Law and Innovation in Machiavelli's Prince
Chapter 8 Resistance to Punishment: Controversies Old and New
Chapter 9 The Right to Life and Human Dignity
10 Part III: The Place of Philosophy in Modernity
Chapter 10 Adam Smith on Natural Liberty and Moral Corruption: The Wisdom of Nature and Folly of Legislators?
Chapter 11 Swift Sailing
Chapter 12 Montesquieu's Prelude: An Interpretation of Book I of The Spirit of Laws
Chapter 14 Tocqueville's Understanding of "Conditions of Equality" and "Conditions of Inequality"
14 Part IV: Equality and Greatness in Tocqueville and America
Chapter 15 Who is Publius? The Debate Over the Constitution and the American Revolution
Chapter 16 Benjamin Franklin's Biblical Parable on Toleration
Chapter 17 Tocqueville as Politician: Revisiting the Revolution of 1789
Chapter 18 Is There a Right to Live as We Please? (So Long as We Respect the Right of Others to Do the Same)
Chapter 19 Two Nations Were in Her Womb: Contemporary Liberal Democracy and the Political Teaching of the Bible
Chapter 19 Democratic Greatness in the Founding
20 Part V. Learning from Antiquity and the Thought of Leo Strauss
Chapter 21 Justice Overruled: The Ambition of Xenophon's Cyrus the Great
Chapter 22 Plato and Relativism
Chapter 25 Leo Strauss in His Letters
Chapter 26 How Strauss Became Strauss
Chapter 27 The Writings of Ralph Lerner
Chapter 2 The Moral Status of Teaching and Writing
Chapter 3 Averroes on Law and Political Well-Being
Chapter 4 Prudence, Imagination, and Determination of Law in Alfarabi and Maimonides
Chapter 5 Averroes, Dante and the Dawn of European Enlightenment
6 Part II: The Modern Revolution
Chapter 7 Law and Innovation in Machiavelli's Prince
Chapter 8 Resistance to Punishment: Controversies Old and New
Chapter 9 The Right to Life and Human Dignity
10 Part III: The Place of Philosophy in Modernity
Chapter 10 Adam Smith on Natural Liberty and Moral Corruption: The Wisdom of Nature and Folly of Legislators?
Chapter 11 Swift Sailing
Chapter 12 Montesquieu's Prelude: An Interpretation of Book I of The Spirit of Laws
Chapter 14 Tocqueville's Understanding of "Conditions of Equality" and "Conditions of Inequality"
14 Part IV: Equality and Greatness in Tocqueville and America
Chapter 15 Who is Publius? The Debate Over the Constitution and the American Revolution
Chapter 16 Benjamin Franklin's Biblical Parable on Toleration
Chapter 17 Tocqueville as Politician: Revisiting the Revolution of 1789
Chapter 18 Is There a Right to Live as We Please? (So Long as We Respect the Right of Others to Do the Same)
Chapter 19 Two Nations Were in Her Womb: Contemporary Liberal Democracy and the Political Teaching of the Bible
Chapter 19 Democratic Greatness in the Founding
20 Part V. Learning from Antiquity and the Thought of Leo Strauss
Chapter 21 Justice Overruled: The Ambition of Xenophon's Cyrus the Great
Chapter 22 Plato and Relativism
Chapter 25 Leo Strauss in His Letters
Chapter 26 How Strauss Became Strauss
Chapter 27 The Writings of Ralph Lerner