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Author: Christian Smith
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022623200X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353
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Book Description
A study of what motivates humans and the activity that gives rise to human social life and social structures. In his 2010 book What Is a Person?, Christian Smith argued that sociology had for too long neglected this fundamental question. Prevailing social theories, he wrote, do not adequately “capture our deep subjective experience as persons, crucial dimensions of the richness of our own lived lives, what thinkers in previous ages might have called our ‘souls’ or ‘hearts.’” Building on Smith’s previous work, To Flourish or Destruct examines the motivations intrinsic to this subjective experience: Why do people do what they do? How can we explain the activity that gives rise to all human social life and social structures? Smith argues that our actions stem from a motivation to realize what he calls natural human goods: ends that are, by nature, constitutionally good for all human beings. He goes on to explore the ways we can and do fail to realize these ends—a failure that can result in varying gradations of evil. Rooted in critical realism and informed by work in philosophy, psychology, and other fields, Smith’s ambitious book situates the idea of personhood at the center of our attempts to understand how we might shape good human lives and societies. Praise for To Flourish or Destruct “This major work in sociology theory should be read by social scientists in all disciplines. Highly recommended.” —Choice “To Flourish or Destruct poses a powerful and important challenge to the entire discipline of sociology. Smith is becoming the anchor of a humanist renewal in sociology and although he is not alone in this movement, what makes To Flourish or Destruct different is a coherent, new, oppositional perspective that draws on critical realism to affirm both human personhood and the ever-present moral element in human affairs. Smith’s Personalism could become the banner around which a very different kind of sociology develops, one that respects the centered consciousness that is human personhood.” —Douglas Porpora, Drexel University “This book represents a major advance in sociology and more specifically within critical realism, which is gradually emerging as a full-fledged alternative in the social sciences. I am fundamentally convinced by this book.” —George Steinmetz, University of Michigan
Author: Christian Smith
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022675992X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Get Book Here
Book Description
In his 2010 book What Is a Person?, Christian Smith argued that sociology had for too long neglected this fundamental question. Prevailing social theories, he wrote, do not adequately “capture our deep subjective experience as persons, crucial dimensions of the richness of our own lived lives, what thinkers in previous ages might have called our ‘souls’ or ‘hearts.’” Building on Smith’s previous work, To Flourish or Destruct examines the motivations intrinsic to this subjective experience: Why do people do what they do? How can we explain the activity that gives rise to all human social life and social structures? Smith argues that our actions stem from a motivation to realize what he calls natural human goods: ends that are, by nature, constitutionally good for all human beings. He goes on to explore the ways we can and do fail to realize these ends—a failure that can result in varying gradations of evil. Rooted in critical realism and informed by work in philosophy, psychology, and other fields, Smith’s ambitious book situates the idea of personhood at the center of our attempts to understand how we might shape good human lives and societies.
Author: Christian Smith
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022623200X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Get Book Here
Book Description
A study of what motivates humans and the activity that gives rise to human social life and social structures. In his 2010 book What Is a Person?, Christian Smith argued that sociology had for too long neglected this fundamental question. Prevailing social theories, he wrote, do not adequately “capture our deep subjective experience as persons, crucial dimensions of the richness of our own lived lives, what thinkers in previous ages might have called our ‘souls’ or ‘hearts.’” Building on Smith’s previous work, To Flourish or Destruct examines the motivations intrinsic to this subjective experience: Why do people do what they do? How can we explain the activity that gives rise to all human social life and social structures? Smith argues that our actions stem from a motivation to realize what he calls natural human goods: ends that are, by nature, constitutionally good for all human beings. He goes on to explore the ways we can and do fail to realize these ends—a failure that can result in varying gradations of evil. Rooted in critical realism and informed by work in philosophy, psychology, and other fields, Smith’s ambitious book situates the idea of personhood at the center of our attempts to understand how we might shape good human lives and societies. Praise for To Flourish or Destruct “This major work in sociology theory should be read by social scientists in all disciplines. Highly recommended.” —Choice “To Flourish or Destruct poses a powerful and important challenge to the entire discipline of sociology. Smith is becoming the anchor of a humanist renewal in sociology and although he is not alone in this movement, what makes To Flourish or Destruct different is a coherent, new, oppositional perspective that draws on critical realism to affirm both human personhood and the ever-present moral element in human affairs. Smith’s Personalism could become the banner around which a very different kind of sociology develops, one that respects the centered consciousness that is human personhood.” —Douglas Porpora, Drexel University “This book represents a major advance in sociology and more specifically within critical realism, which is gradually emerging as a full-fledged alternative in the social sciences. I am fundamentally convinced by this book.” —George Steinmetz, University of Michigan
Author: Arttu Mäkipää
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000911098
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
This book investigates the link between human capabilities and the preconditions for social progress through an engagement with the theological anthropology of Swiss theologian Emil Brunner (1889–1966). It places Brunner’s thought in dialogue with selected contributors from the contemporary social sciences, examining approaches from economics, sociology and philosophy as put forward by Gary S. Becker, Christian Smith and Martha Nussbaum. This dialogic format helps to crystallise both agreements and differences and thus facilitate greater understanding between theology and other disciplines. Questions explored in the discussion relate to the emergence of human nature (the person) and the capabilities human beings possess, as well as how these develop in a social context. The author focuses in particular on the impact of sin (the Fall) and considers the mixed blessings of economic progress. By providing pointers on how to bring back the human person in social disciplines, the book hopes to contribute to improved understanding of the ethical dimension of social progress and human flourishing. It will be of particular interest to scholars of analytic and systematic theology, but also scholars from economics and social sciences with openness to theological engagement.
Author: Erik W. Dailey
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532649274
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 202
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Book Description
What does it mean, as a person of faith, to maintain and even strengthen one's physical body? What does it mean to "glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:20) in a time when bodily perfection is popularly defined by advertising firms, while food degradation has led to the worldwide obesity epidemic? This work addresses those questions and many others through theological engagement with fitness and sport, offering a critical examination of the two and their theological intersections. Where is God in sport and fitness? What value might sport and fitness have for the Christian Church? Is there a good to be found?
Author: Christian Smith
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691191646
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
A groundbreaking new theory of religion Religion remains an important influence in the world today, yet the social sciences are still not adequately equipped to understand and explain it. This book advances an innovative theory of religion that goes beyond the problematic theoretical paradigms of the past. Drawing on the philosophy of critical realism and personalist social theory, Christian Smith explores why humans are religious in the first place—uniquely so as a species—and offers an account of secularization and religious innovation and persistence that breaks the logjam in which religious scholarship has been stuck for so long. Certain to stimulate debate and inspire promising new avenues of scholarship, Religion features a wealth of illustrations and examples that help to make its concepts accessible to readers. This superbly written book brings sound theoretical thinking to a perennially thorny subject, and a new vitality and focus to its study.
Author: Filip De Cavel
Publisher: LIT Verlag
ISBN: 3643962835
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
The preacher's weekly assignment is brutally repetitive: Fill the blank page by Sunday, at least twice a month, if not, even more. This book offers a biblical, theological and empirical grounding to support the preacher's self-reflective, listening, and sermonizing practices in order for the preacher to be aware of his/her spirituality of listening and discernment.
Author: Stephen Buetow
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000645398
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 183
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Book Description
This innovative book provides a new conceptual analysis of loneliness – a condition associated with severe health consequences, including increased morbidity and early death. Arguing that social connection is not the only answer, it explores pathways for transforming loneliness to healthy solitude. The first part of the book draws on the humanities and arts, including psychology, philosophy, and literature to analyse the common, and potentially serious, problem of loneliness. It makes the case that the condition is less a deficiency than a state of self-disconnection that modernity feeds through social forces. The second part of the book looks at how person-centred health care can help educate persons to transform loneliness into healthy solitude. It provides an analysis of self-connection and spiritual connection, discussing how these forms of contact can mitigate risks associated with both lack of social connection, and social connection itself, such as self-disconnection and rejection by others. It goes on to demonstrate that connection to the self and spirit can make aloneness a resource and facilitate access to benefits of connecting with others. This thought-provoking book provides students, scholars, and practitioners from a range of health and social care backgrounds with a new way of thinking about, researching, and practising with lonely people.
Author: Douglas V. Porpora
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 131639042X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253
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Book Description
Critical realism is a philosophy of science that positions itself against the major alternative philosophies underlying contemporary sociology. This book offers a general critique of sociology, particularly sociology in the United States, from a critical realist perspective. It also acts as an introduction to critical realism for students and scholars of sociology. Written in a lively, accessible style, Douglas V. Porpora argues that sociology currently operates with deficient accounts of truth, culture, structure, agency, and causality that are all better served by a critical realist perspective. This approach argues against the alternative sociological perspectives, in particular the dominant positivism which privileges statistical techniques and experimental design over ethnographic and historical approaches. However, the book also compares critical realism favourably with a range of other approaches, including poststructuralism, pragmatism, interpretivism, practice theory, and relational sociology. Numerous sociological examples are included, and each chapter addresses well-known and current work in sociology.
Author: Ismael Al-Amoudi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351233688
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 394
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Book Description
This volume is the first of a trilogy which investigates, from a broadly realist perspective, the place, and challenges, of the human in contemporary social orders. The authors, all members of the Centre for Social Ontology, ask what is specific about humanity’s nature and worth, and what are their main challenges in contemporary societies? Examining the ways in which recent advances in technology threaten to blur and displace the boundaries constitutive of our shared humanity, Realist Responses to Post-Human Society: Ex Machina explores the philosophical and ethical questions raised by these developments, and discusses the dangers posed by the combination of transhumanism with post-humanist social theories and antihumanist practices, institutions and ideologies.
Author: Michael Stausberg
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040183271
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 287
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Book Description
What is religion and how does it originate? What are its functions and how does it work? These are some of the key questions addressed by theories of religion. Far from being a past concern, a series of new answers have been proposed since the beginning of our present millennium by evolutionary biologists and psychologists, philosophers, sociologists, and scholars of religion. In 21st Century Theories of Religion, Michael Stausberg is joined by leading scholars from Europe and North America to present and critically discuss fifteen contemporary theories. Contributions introduce the theoreticians, unpack their arguments, review their reception, and engage in critical debates. The volume provides a cutting-edge point of entry into a key conversation that no student and scholar of religion/s can afford to ignore.
