Enlightened Individualism

Download or read book Enlightened Individualism written by Kyle Garton-Gundling and published by . This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reconciles seemingly conflicting views of Asian transcendence and American freedom to argue that post-WWII American writers envision a more enlightened individualism.

Download or read book Rugged Individualism written by David Davenport and published by Hoover Press. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, American "rugged individualism" is in a fight for its life on two battlegrounds: in the policy realm and in the intellectual world of ideas that may lead to new policies. In this book, the authors look at the political context in which rugged individualism flourishes or declines and offer a balanced assessment of its future prospects. They outline its path from its founding—marked by the Declaration of Independence—to today, focusing on different periods in our history when rugged individualism was thriving or was under attack. The authors ultimately look with some optimism toward new frontiers of the twenty-first century that may nourish rugged individualism. They assert that we cannot tip the delicate balance between equality and liberty so heavily in favor of equality that there is no liberty left for individual Americans to enjoy. In considering reasons to be pessimistic as well as reasons to be optimistic about it, they also suggest where supporters of rugged individualism might focus greater encouragement and resources.

Download or read book Gospel of the Open Road written by Robert C. Gordon, PhD and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2001-01-28 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gospel of the Open Road reclaims Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau as Americas spiritual birthright. It rescues them from literary history, and reveals them in their true light: as democracys prophets of the soul. Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau were religious seers who developed a new form of spirituality, and Gospel of the Open Road explains, in scholarly yet passionate fashion, the deep wisdom that is their enduring legacy. It presents them as a viable spiritual path for those who do not belong, and do not want to belong, to any organized religion.But this book does more. It draws fascinating parallels between the new spirituality taught by Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau and ancient spiritual wisdom as found in shamanism, Goddess worship, Tantra, Taoism, Confucianism, Vajrayana and Zen Buddhism, and Hinduism. This book is an evocative synthesis of humanitys most venerable spiritual wisdom and the most modern of philosophical, social, psychological, political, scientific, and Humanistic concepts. It traces the New Age spiritual revolution to its source in Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau, and explains how to apply their spiritual teachings to our everyday life here on Earth.

Download or read book The Myth of American Individualism written by Barry Alan Shain and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sharpening the debate over the values that formed America's founding political philosophy, Barry Alan Shain challenges us to reconsider what early Americans meant when they used such basic political concepts as the public good, liberty, and slavery. We have too readily assumed, he argues, that eighteenth-century Americans understood these and other terms in an individualistic manner. However, by exploring how these core elements of their political thought were employed in Revolutionary-era sermons, public documents, newspaper editorials, and political pamphlets, Shain reveals a very different understanding--one based on a reformed Protestant communalism. In this context, individual liberty was the freedom to order one's life in accord with the demanding ethical standards found in Scripture and confirmed by reason. This was in keeping with Americans' widespread acceptance of original sin and the related assumption that a well-lived life was only possible in a tightly knit, intrusive community made up of families, congregations, and local government bodies. Shain concludes that Revolutionary-era Americans defended a Protestant communal vision of human flourishing that stands in stark opposition to contemporary liberal individualism. This overlooked component of the American political inheritance, he further suggests, demands examination because it alters the historical ground upon which contemporary political alternatives often seek legitimation, and it facilitates our understanding of much of American history and of the foundational language still used in authoritative political documents.

Download or read book Genuine Individuals and Genuine Communities written by Jacquelyn Ann K. Kegley and published by Vanderbilt University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cogent blueprint for the development of a "public philosophy" that integrates shared principles and values into our troubled social structure and articulates a consensus vision of society's future. The continuing vitality of American thought stems, to a large extent, from the application of its historical roots embedded in contemporary problems and issues. Yet for some time the signal contributions of Josiah Royce (1855-1916) have been overlooked in the formulation and shaping of critical areas of public policy. In this brilliantly articulated new book, ethicist Jacquelyn Kegley carefully explicates and enlarges the scope of Roycean thought and shows that Royce's views on public philosophy have direct and valuable application to current social problems. Working from the assumption that issues of family, education, and health care are not merely exigent political tempests but areas of genuine, long-lasting concern, Kegley opens fresh perspectives on Royce's philosophy by introducing and applying his ideas to discussions of how we care for ourselves and our society today. She analyzes Roycean criteria that can be successfully used to nourish developmental stages within families, promote intellectual and social growth in schooling and scholarship, and sustain physical and mental well-being throughout the life cycle. Genuine Individuals and Genuine Communities should be a springboard for the reassessment of contemporary public policy and the reapplication of the American philosophical legacy to current issues and decisions. Kegley's work serves as a solid contribution both to public philosophy and to the continued vitality of American thought, and it extends the range of both.

Download or read book What is Enlightenment? written by Samuel Fleischacker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-02-11 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Have the courage to use your own understanding! - that is the motto of enlightenment." - Immanuel Kant The Enlightenment is one of the most important and contested periods in the history of philosophy. The problems it addressed, such as the proper extent of individual freedom and the challenging of tradition, resonate as much today as when they were first debated. Of all philosophers, it is arguably Kant who took such questions most seriously, addressing them above all in his celebrated short essay, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? In this engaging and lucid book, Samuel Fleischacker first explains and assesses Kant’s philosophy of Enlightenment. He then considers critics of Kant’s views - from Burke and Hegel to Horkheimer and Adorno - and figures he regards as having extended Kant’s notion of enlightenment, such as Feuerbach, Marx, Habermas, Foucault, and Rawls. Throughout, he demonstrates how Kant holds two distinct theories of enlightenment. On the one hand, Kant proposes a ‘minimal’ view, where to be enlightened is simply to engage in critical public discussion, allowing diversity of opinion to flourish. On the other, he argues that Kant elsewhere calls for a ‘maximal’ view of enlightenment, where, for example, an enlightened person cannot believe in a traditional religion. With great skill Fleischacker shows how these two views are taken in a multitude of directions by both critics and advocates of Kant’s philosophy. Arguing that Kant’s minimal enlightenment is a precondition for a healthy proliferation of cultures, religious faiths and political movements, What is Enlightenment? is a fascinating introduction to a key aspect of Kant’s thought and a compelling analysis of philosophical thinking about the Enlightenment. Including helpful chapter summaries and guides to further reading, it is ideal for anyone studying Kant or the philosophy of the Enlightenment, as well as those in related disciplines such as politics, history and religious studies.

Download or read book Routledge Library Editions: Philosophy of Education written by Various Authors and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-07-30 with total page 3282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This set of 21 volumes, originally published between 1955 and 1997, amalgamates several topics on the philosophy of education, with a particular focus on religious education, curriculum studies, and critical thinking. This collection of books from some of the leading scholars in the field provides a comprehensive overview of the subject and will be of particular interest to students of philosophy, education and those undertaking teaching qualifications.