Concepts of Nature

Ancient and Modern

Contributions by Barry Cooper, Thomas W. Smith University of South Florida St. Petersburg, Glenn Hughes St. Marys University, Melissa Moschella, Jeremy Seth Geddert, Jesse Covington, James R. Stoner, Christopher O. Tollefsen, Susan Meld Shell, Geoffrey M. Vaughan, Charles T. Rubin, Amy Gilbert Richards, Stephen M. Fields SJ, Anna Bonta Moreland, Randall S. Rosenberg, Gregory R. Beabout Edited by R. J. Snell, Steven F. McGuire Eastern University

Publication date:

07 October 2016

Length of book:

250 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

239x160mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781498527545

If natural law arguments struggle to gain traction in contemporary moral and political discourse, could it be because we moderns do not share the understanding of nature on which that language was developed? Building on the work of important thinkers of the last half-century, including Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, John Finnis, and Bernard Lonergan, the essays in Concepts of Nature compare and contrast classical, medieval, and modern conceptions of nature in order to better understand how and why the concept of nature no longer seems to provide a limit or standard for human action. These essays also evaluate whether a rearticulation of pre-modern ideas (or perhaps a reconciliation or reconstitution on modern terms) is desirable and/or possible.

Edited by R. J. Snell and Steven F. McGuire, this book will be of interest to intellectual historians, political theorists, theologians, and philosophers.

Table of Contents
Introduction
R. J. Snell and Steven F. McGuire
1.Voegelin’s Analysis of Human Nature in Aristotle
Barry Cooper
Response by Thomas W. Smith
2.Nature, Human Nature, and Human Dignity in Light of the Primary Experience of the Cosmos
Glenn Hughes
Response by Melissa Moschella
3.Natural Rights and History: Hugo Grotius’ Modern Translation of Aristotle
Jeremy Seth Geddert
Response by Jesse Covington
4.Categories and Causes: Physics and Politics for Aristotle and for Us
James R. Stoner, Jr.
Response by Christopher O. Tollefsen
5.Rousseau on Nature, Freedom and the Moral Life
Susan Meld Shell
Response by Geoffrey M. Vaughan
6.Nature, History and the Problem of Progress in H.G. Wells
Charles T. Rubin
Response by Amy Gilbert Richards
7.Nature in Louis Dupré’s Model of Modernity
Stephen M Fields, SJ
Response by Anna Bonta Moreland
8.From Pure Nature to Concrete Subject: The Question of God in the Secular Age
Randall S. Rosenberg
Response by Gregory R. Beabout

With this collection, philosopher R. J. Snell and political scientist Steven McGuire (both Eastern Univ.) investigate the differing conceptions of nature found in the Western philosophical tradition as a means of determining whether human nature can still serve as an effective standard for moral and political discourse. From its beginnings in classical philosophy to the Enlightenment, Western thought has been preoccupied with the idea of nature and its relation to human action. Though there is some reference to the medieval Christian contribution, most of the essays concentrate on the profound conflict between the ancients and the moderns on this issue. Because this was a central theme in the writings of Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, two masters of 20th-century political theory, it is not surprising that several essays reflect their influence. The collection also includes essays on some unfamiliar voices: there is a study of Louis Dupré’s treatment of modernity, an analysis of the idea of progress in H. G. Wells’s fiction, and an examination of secularism and the God question in the philosophy of Bernard Lonergan. This collection will provide more questions than answers, but the contributors should be applauded for asking the right questions. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.