Reverence

Reverence PDF Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199350809
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Reverence is an ancient virtue that survives among us in half-forgotten patterns of civility and moments of inarticulate awe. Reverence gives meaning to much that we do, yet the word has almost passed out of our vocabulary. Reverence, says philosopher and classicist Paul Woodruff, begins in an understanding of human limitations. From this grows the capacity to be in awe of whatever we believe lies outside our control -- God, truth, justice, nature, even death. It is a quality of character that is especially important in leadership and in teaching, although it figures in virtually every human relationship. It transcends religious boundaries and can be found outside religion altogether. Woodruff draws on thinking about this lost virtue in ancient Greek and Chinese traditions and applies lessons from these highly reverent cultures to today's world. The book covers reverence in a variety of contexts -- the arts, leadership, teaching, warfare, and the home -- and shows how essential a quality it is to a well-functioning society. First published by Oxford University Press in 2001, this new edition of Reverence is revised and expanded. It contains a foreword by Betty Sue Flowers, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, a new preface, two new chapters -- one on the sacred and one on compassion -- and an epilogue focused on renewing reverence in our own lives.

Reverence

Reverence PDF Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199350809
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book Here

Book Description
Reverence is an ancient virtue that survives among us in half-forgotten patterns of civility and moments of inarticulate awe. Reverence gives meaning to much that we do, yet the word has almost passed out of our vocabulary. Reverence, says philosopher and classicist Paul Woodruff, begins in an understanding of human limitations. From this grows the capacity to be in awe of whatever we believe lies outside our control -- God, truth, justice, nature, even death. It is a quality of character that is especially important in leadership and in teaching, although it figures in virtually every human relationship. It transcends religious boundaries and can be found outside religion altogether. Woodruff draws on thinking about this lost virtue in ancient Greek and Chinese traditions and applies lessons from these highly reverent cultures to today's world. The book covers reverence in a variety of contexts -- the arts, leadership, teaching, warfare, and the home -- and shows how essential a quality it is to a well-functioning society. First published by Oxford University Press in 2001, this new edition of Reverence is revised and expanded. It contains a foreword by Betty Sue Flowers, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, a new preface, two new chapters -- one on the sacred and one on compassion -- and an epilogue focused on renewing reverence in our own lives.

First Democracy

First Democracy PDF Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195304543
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
This brilliant analysis of the nature of democracy draws on the hard-earned lessons of the ancient Greeks.

The Ajax Dilemma

The Ajax Dilemma PDF Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199912416
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
We live in a world where CEOs give themselves million dollar bonuses even as their companies go bankrupt and ordinary workers are laid off; where athletes make millions while teachers struggle to survive; a world, in short, where rewards are often unfairly meted out. In The Ajax Dilemma, Paul Woodruff examines one of today's most pressing moral issues: how to distribute rewards and public recognition without damaging the social fabric. How should we honor those whose behavior and achievement is essential to our overall success? Is it fair or right to lavish rewards on the superstar at the expense of the hardworking rank-and-file? How do we distinguish an impartial fairness from what is truly just? Woodruff builds his answer to these questions around the ancient conflict between Ajax and Odysseus over the armor of the slain warrior Achilles. King Agamemnon arranges a speech contest to decide the issue. Ajax, the loyal workhorse, loses the contest, and the priceless armor, to Odysseus, the brilliantly deceptive strategist who will lead the Greeks to victory. Deeply insulted, Ajax goes on a rampage and commits suicide, and in his rage we see the resentment of every loyal worker who has been passed over in favor of those who are more gifted, or whose skills are more highly valued. How should we deal with the "Ajax dilemma"? Woodruff argues that while we can never create a perfect system for distributing just rewards, we can recognize the essential role that wisdom, compassion, moderation, and respect must play if we are to restore the basic sense of justice on which all communities depend. This short, thoughtful book, written with Woodruff's characteristic elegance, investigates some of the most bitterly divisive issues in American today.

The Garden of Leaders

The Garden of Leaders PDF Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190883642
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
The Garden of Leaders explores two related questions: What is leadership? And what sort of education could prepare young people to be leaders? Paul Woodruff argues that higher education--particularly but not exclusively in the liberal arts--should set its main focus on cultivating leadership in students. Woodruff advances a new view of liberal arts education that places leadership at the root of everything it does, so that students will be prepared to lead in their lives and careers--and not necessarily in management roles. Woodruff views the contemporary university as sorely lacking an emphasis on leadership, and presents three core sets of recommendations for how they can and should foster it. First, Woodruff posits co-curricular groups, activities, and projects as essential activities for students to gain confidence and leadership skills. Administrations should encourage students to engage in activities outside the classroom, convert coached sports teams into student-led clubs as far as possible, and discourage social organizations that are segregated by race or sex. Second, Woodruff advocates for a different curriculum for all undergraduates, no matter their major-arguing that they need to be taught leadership in the forms of key skills including communication (including good writing, listening, and speaking), as well as exposure to key material in history literature, social science, and ethics. Students should be asked to consider the hardest ethical dilemmas that leaders face, toggling between Machiavelli and great ethical thinkers such as Confucius and Socrates. Third, Woodruff calls for the teaching methods used by instructors to re-orient themselves around the question of leadership, particularly by emphasizing teamwork. Professors should respect their students' independence, avoid tyrannical teaching, and remember that all teachers teach ethics simply by the examples they set in dealing with students. Whether in engineering, music, or classics, The Garden of Leaders advances leadership as a core value that should be at the heart of the educational enterprise-contending that while a college campus can be many things, it should at the very least be a ground upon which new leaders can grow.

The Necessity of Theater

The Necessity of Theater PDF Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199715750
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
What is unique and essential about theater? What separates it from other arts? Do we need "theater" in some fundamental way? The art of theater, as Paul Woodruff says in this elegant and unique book, is as necessary - and as powerful - as language itself. Defining theater broadly, including sporting events and social rituals, he treats traditional theater as only one possibility in an art that - at its most powerful - can change lives and (as some peoples believe) bring a divine presence to earth. The Necessity of Theater analyzes the unique power of theater by separating it into the twin arts of watching and being watched, practiced together in harmony by watchers and the watched. Whereas performers practice the art of being watched - making their actions worth watching, and paying attention to action, choice, plot, character, mimesis, and the sacredness of performance space - audiences practice the art of watching: paying close attention. A good audience is emotionally engaged as spectators; their engagement takes a form of empathy that can lead to a special kind of human wisdom. As Plato implied, theater cannot teach us transcendent truths, but it can teach us about ourselves. Characteristically thoughtful, probing, and original, Paul Woodruff makes the case for theater as a unique form of expression connected to our most human instincts. The Necessity of Theater should appeal to anyone seriously interested or involved in theater or performance more broadly.

Facing Evil

Facing Evil PDF Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Open Court Publishing
ISBN: 9780812695175
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
From slavery to the Holocaust to the destruction of the World Trade Center, the specter of human evil continues to haunt and defy all attempts at explanation. This collection of lectures - given at a symposium on evil by prominent scholars, writers, theologians and philosophers - resonates powerfully as we continue to confront the devastation wrought by even a single individual caught in the grip of evil.

The Ethics of Giving

The Ethics of Giving PDF Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190648872
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
In giving to charity, should we strive to do the greatest good or promote a lesser good? This is a unique collection of new papers on philanthropy from a range of philosophical perspectives, including intuitionism, virtue ethics, Kantian ethics, utilitarianism, theories of justice, and ideals of personal integrity.

On Justice, Power & Human Nature

On Justice, Power & Human Nature PDF Author: Thucydides
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company Incorporated
ISBN: 9780872201699
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
Designed for students with little or no background in ancient Greek language and culture, this collection of extracts from The History of the Peloponnesian War includes those passages that shed most light on Thucydides' political theory--famous as well as important but lesser-known pieces frequently overlooked by nonspecialists. Newly translated into spare, vigorous English, and situated within a connective narrative framework, Woodruff's selections will be of special interest to instructors in political theory and Greek civilization. Includes maps, notes, glossary.

The Hippias Major

The Hippias Major PDF Author: Plato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Values
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description


Paul Woodruff

Paul Woodruff PDF Author: Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities Paul Woodruff
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781503147751
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
Veterans' issues are front and center now, after Iraq and Afghanistan, as they were not after Vietnam. This is a good time to put before the public the texts of these two plays, which were started during the author's tour of duty in Vietnam and finished soon after. A soldier returns from a long war, expecting a welcome, and no one recognizes him. In his own house he is treated like a beggar. This is the ancient story of Ulysses, but it also expresses how many veterans feel today. How can any civilian understand what soldiers have seen and done? How can civilians take back into their arms veterans who have blood on their hands? In Ithaca in Black and White we see a modern Ulysses as he discovers that he has no place in the home he has dreamed about, but he finds promise in a fresh courtship of his former wife and a journey onward. The play won an award in Austin, Texas, as the best new script of 1983. Geoffroy's Jerusalem tells the tale of a crusade that began with a noble cause and ended with the tawdry sack of a great city, Byzantium. The chief of staff of the army tries to persuade God, in scene after scene, that the corruption of the war was not his fault. War easily gets out of hand, and the violence generals plan so easily goes beyond their intentions. We in the audience sympathize with Geoffroy, but, like him, we are horrified by what he had brought about.