The Virtues of Abandon

The Virtues of Abandon PDF Author: Charly Coleman
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080479121X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
France in the eighteenth century glittered, but also seethed, with new goods and new ideas. In the halls of Versailles, the streets of Paris, and the soul of the Enlightenment itself, a vitriolic struggle was being waged over the question of ownership—of property, of position, even of personhood. Those who championed man's possession of material, spiritual, and existential goods faced the successive assaults of radical Christian mystics, philosophical materialists, and political revolutionaries. The Virtues of Abandon traces the aims and activities of these three seemingly disparate groups, and the current of anti-individualism that permeated theology, philosophy, and politics throughout the period. Fired by the desire to abandon the self, men and women sought new ways to relate to God, nature, and nation. They joined illicit mystic cults that engaged in rituals of physical mortification and sexual license, committed suicides in the throes of materialist fatalism, drank potions to induce consciousness-altering dreams, railed against the degrading effects of unfettered consumption, and ultimately renounced the feudal privileges that had for centuries defined their social existence. The explosive denouement was the French Revolution, during which God and king were toppled from their thrones.

The Virtues of Abandon

The Virtues of Abandon PDF Author: Charly Coleman
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080479121X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
France in the eighteenth century glittered, but also seethed, with new goods and new ideas. In the halls of Versailles, the streets of Paris, and the soul of the Enlightenment itself, a vitriolic struggle was being waged over the question of ownership—of property, of position, even of personhood. Those who championed man's possession of material, spiritual, and existential goods faced the successive assaults of radical Christian mystics, philosophical materialists, and political revolutionaries. The Virtues of Abandon traces the aims and activities of these three seemingly disparate groups, and the current of anti-individualism that permeated theology, philosophy, and politics throughout the period. Fired by the desire to abandon the self, men and women sought new ways to relate to God, nature, and nation. They joined illicit mystic cults that engaged in rituals of physical mortification and sexual license, committed suicides in the throes of materialist fatalism, drank potions to induce consciousness-altering dreams, railed against the degrading effects of unfettered consumption, and ultimately renounced the feudal privileges that had for centuries defined their social existence. The explosive denouement was the French Revolution, during which God and king were toppled from their thrones.

Wild Abandon

Wild Abandon PDF Author: Joe Dunthorne
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735234221
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Kate and Albert have always lived on the secluded communal farm run by their father. But now, after twenty years, the community is disintegrating, taking their parents' marriage with it. To escape, Kate, at seventeen, flees to a suburbia she knows only through fiction; and Albert, at eleven, dives into preparations for the end of the world that he is sure is coming. Don- the father of the family, leader, and maker of elaborate speeches- is faced with the prospect of saving his community, his marriage, his son from apocalyptic visions, ad his daughter from impending men. He convinces himself that the only way to save his world is... to throw the biggest party of his life. But will anyone show up?

The Treasure of the City of Ladies

The Treasure of the City of Ladies PDF Author: Christine de Pizan
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141961015
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Written by Europe’s first professional woman writer, The Treasure of the City of Ladies offers advice and guidance to women of all ages and from all levels of medieval society, from royal courtiers to prostitutes. It paints an intricate picture of daily life in the courts and streets of fifteenth-century France and gives a fascinating glimpse into the practical considerations of running a household, dressing appropriately and maintaining a reputation in all circumstances. Christine de Pizan’s book provides a valuable counterbalance to male accounts of life in the middle ages and demonstrates, often with dry humour, how a woman’s position in society could be made less precarious by following the correct etiquette.

Barbarian Virtues

Barbarian Virtues PDF Author: Matthew Frye Jacobson
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0809016281
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
This book is an examination of national identity in a crucial period. The United States first announced its power on the international scene at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 and first demonstrated that power during World War I. The years in between were a period of dramatic change, when the dynamics of industrialization rapidly accelerated the rate at which Americans were coming in contact with foreign peoples, both at home and abroad. In this work, the author shows how American conceptions of peoplehood, citizenship, and national identity were transformed in these crucial years by escalating economic and military involvements abroad and by the massive influx of immigrants at home. Drawing upon a diverse range of sources, not only traditional political documents, but also novels, travelogues, academic treatises, and art, he demonstrates the close relationship between immigration and expansionism. By bridging these two areas, so often left separate, he rethinks the texture of American political life in a keenly argued and persuasive history. This book shows how these years set the stage for today's attitudes and ideas about "Americanism" and about immigrants and foreign policy, from Border Watch to the Gulf War.

Integrity and the Virtues of Reason

Integrity and the Virtues of Reason PDF Author: Greg Scherkoske
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107354749
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
Many people have claimed that integrity requires sticking to one's convictions come what may. Greg Scherkoske challenges this claim, arguing that it creates problems in distinguishing integrity from fanaticism, close-mindedness or mere inertia. Rather, integrity requires sticking to one's convictions to the extent that they are justifiable and likely to be correct. In contrast to traditional views of integrity, Scherkoske contends that it is an epistemic virtue intimately connected to what we know and have reason to believe, rather than an essentially moral virtue connected to our values. He situates integrity in the context of shared cognitive and practical agency and shows that the relationship between integrity and impartial morality is not as antagonistic as many have thought - which has important implications for the 'integrity objection' to impartial moral theories. This original and provocative study will be of great interest to advanced students and scholars of ethics.

Friendship and Virtue Ethics in the Book of Job

Friendship and Virtue Ethics in the Book of Job PDF Author: Patricia Vesely
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108476473
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Examines friendship as a moral category in the Book of Job through an Aristotelian virtue ethics perspective.

Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence

Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence PDF Author: Rev. Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade
Publisher: TAN Books
ISBN: 1618902733
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
Written to help those who despair of ever becoming holy, Fr. de Caussade explains in Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence how surrendering our will to God is key to attaining peace and holiness in this life, and that it is readily available to all people-- from beginners to those well advanced in the spiritual life. This edition contains over 150 letters from Fr. de Caussade to his spiritual children on the practice of self-abandonment. These exchagnes provide insights and practical tips for applying the timeless lessons found in this classic guide to achieving holiness.

A Companion to Jesuit Mysticism

A Companion to Jesuit Mysticism PDF Author: Robert Aleksander Maryks
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004340750
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
In A Companion to Jesuit Mysticism, Robert A. Maryks provides thirteen unique essays discussing the Jesuit mystical tradition, a somewhat neglected aspect of Jesuit historiography that stretches as far back as the order’s co-founder, Ignatius of Loyola, his spiritual visions at Manresa, and ultimately the mystical perspective contained in his Spiritual Exercises.

Virtues in Action

Virtues in Action PDF Author: M. Austin
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137280298
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
In recent decades, many philosophers have considered the strengths and weaknesses of a virtue-centered approach to moral theory. Much less attention has been given to how such an approach bears on issues in applied ethics. The essays in this volume apply a virtue-centered perspective to a variety of contemporary moral issues, and in so doing offer a fresh and illuminating perspective. Some of the essays focus on a particular virtue and its application to one or more realms of applied ethics, such as temperance and sex or humility and environmental ethics. Other chapters focus on an issue in applied ethics and bring several virtues into a discussion of that issue or realm of life, such as sport, education, and business. Finally, several of the chapters engage relevant psychological research as well as current neuroscience, which enhances the strength of the philosophical arguments.

The Tyranny of Virtue

The Tyranny of Virtue PDF Author: Robert Boyers
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 198212718X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
From public intellectual and professor Robert Boyers, a thought-provoking volume of nine essays that elegantly and fiercely addresses recent developments in American culture and argues for the tolerance of difference that is at the heart of the liberal tradition. Written from the perspective of a liberal intellectual who has spent a lifetime as a writer, editor, and college professor, The Tyranny of Virtue is a precise and nuanced insider’s look at shifts in American culture—most especially in the American academy—that so many people find alarming. Part memoir and part polemic, an anatomy of important and dangerous ideas, and a cri de coeur lamenting the erosion of standard liberal values, Boyers’s collection of essays is devoted to such subjects as tolerance, identity, privilege, appropriation, diversity, and ableism that have turned academic life into a minefield. Why, Robert Boyers asks, are a great many liberals, people who should know better, invested in the drawing up of enemies lists and driven by the conviction that on critical issues no dispute may be tolerated? In stories, anecdotes, and character profiles, a public intellectual and longtime professor takes on those in his own progressive cohort who labor in the grip of a poisonous and illiberal fundamentalism. The end result is a finely tuned work of cultural intervention from the front lines.