In Search of Humanity

Essays in Honor of Clifford Orwin

Contributions by Ryan K. Balot, Timothy W. Burns Baylor University, Paul A. Cantor University of Virginia, Brent Edwin Cusher, Donald Forbes, Steven Forde University of North Texas, Bryan-Paul Frost, Kenneth Hart Green University of Toronto, Ran Halévi, L Joseph Hebert, Henry Higuera, Robert Howse, S. N. Jaffe, Christopher Kelly, Michael S. Kochin, Noah Lawrence, Mark J. Lutz, Arthur M. Melzer, Jeffrey Metzger, Miguel Morgado, Waller R. Newell, Michael Palmer, Lorraine Smith Pangle, Thomas L. Pangle, Marc F. Plattner, William B. Parsons, Linda R. Rabieh, Andrea Radasanu, Michael Rosano, Diana J. Schaub Loyola University Maryland, Susan Meld Shell, Nathan Tarcov University of Chicago, Richard Velkley Celia Scott Weatherhead P Edited by Andrea Radasanu

Publication date:

18 March 2015

Length of book:

562 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

234x161mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739184165

This collection of essays, offered in honor of the distinguished career of prominent political philosophy professor Clifford Orwin, provides a wide context in which to consider the rise of “humanity” as one of the chief modern virtues. A relative of—and also a replacement for—formerly more prominent other-regarding virtues like justice and generosity, humanity and later compassion become the true north of the modern moral compass. Contributors to this volume consider various aspects of this virtue, by comparison with what came before and with attention to its development from early to late modernity, and up to the present.

I. Ancient Inquiries into Humanity
1. Civilization and the Gods in the Eumenides
By Mark J. Lutz
2. Philosophy and “Humanity”: Reflections on Thucydidean Piety, Justice, and Necessity
By Ryan Balot
3. Preliminary Observations on the Treaties in Thucydides’ Work
By Robert Howse and Noah Laurence
4. Reflections on the Humanity (and Inhumanity) of Thucydides
By S. N. Jaffe
5. The Spartan Alcibiades: Brasidas and the Prospect of Regime Change in Sparta in Thucydides’ War
By Michael Palmer
6. The Tragedy of Demosthenes in Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War
By Andrea Radasanu
7. Moral Indignation, Magnanimity, and Philosophy in the Trial of the Armenian King
By Lorraine Smith Pangle
8. Humanity and Divinity in Xenophon’s Defense of Socrates
By Thomas L. Pangle
9. Education after Freedom
By Michael S. Kochin

II. The Taming of Mother Teresa: From Charity to Modern Visions of Humanity
10. Martin Luther King, Augustine, and Civil Disobedience
By Timothy W. Burns
11. “La Carità Propria”and the Uncertain Foundations of Unarmed Principalities
By William B. Parsons Jr.
12. Machiavelli’s Humanity
By Nathan Tarcov
13. “Choice of Loss”: The Revaluation of Roman Values in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
By Paul A. Cantor
14. “When Vice Makes Mercy”: Classical, Christian, and Modern Humanism in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure”
By L. Joseph Hebert, Jr.
15. “Tis charity to show”: Shakespeare’s Kindly Art in The Taming of the Shrew
By Diana J. Schaub
16. New Virtues for Masters of Nature
By Henry Higuera
17. The Model of Human Nature and the Revision of Premises in Spinoza’s Ethics
By Richard Velkley
18. Interpreting Honor Politically
By Ran Halévi

III. Compassion and the Angst of Late Modernity
19. Locke’s Compassion—and Rousseau’s
By Steven Forde
20. Rousseau’s Rome: How the Model of All Free Peoples Governed Themselves
By Bryan-Paul Frost
21. Rousseau and the Case for and against Cosmopolitan Humanitarianism
By Christopher Kelly
22. Hegel as Educator: Reading the Phenomenology of Spirit as a Pedagogical Classic
By Waller R. Newell
23. Reason, Will, and the Image of Humanity: The Criticism of Rationalism by Dostoevsky’s Underground Man and Nietzsche’s Zarathustra
By Jeffrey Metzger
24. Is It Possible to Reconcile Reason and Revelation? Their Mutual Relations in the Thought of Leo Strauss
By Kenneth Hart Green
25. History, Technology, and Justice: George Grant’s Discovery of Rousseau
By Hugh Donald Forbes
26. “Gods of Vengeance and Compassion”: The Withering Criticism of Compassion in Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian
By Brent Edwin Cusher

IV. Liberalism, Humanitarianism and Contemporary Affairs
27. Character vs. Free Will: Aristotle and Kant on Moral Responsibility
By Arthur M. Melzer
28. A Kantian Critique of “Public Reason”
By Susan Meld Shell
29. On the Uses and Abuses of the Notion of Sovereignty
By Miguel Morgado
30. Europe’s Democratic Odyssey
By Marc F. Plattner
31. Humane Warfare: An Ancient Perspective on a Modern Dilemma
By Linda R. Rabieh
32. A Polemic for Pedagogy? Or Socratic Pedagogy and Postmodern Partisanship in Liberal Education
By Michael Rosano

It is uncommon to encounter a Festschrift honoring a scholar who has authored only one book—albeit an outstanding one—even when his work also includes numerous important scholarly articles on various topics. The diverse and generally excellent contributions to the present substantial volume make clear why Clifford Orwin is an exception to that rule. . . . The contributions to this volume attest to a life, and career, well lived.