Herodotus in the Anthropocene

Herodotus in the Anthropocene PDF Author: Joel Alden Schlosser
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022670484X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
We are living in the age of the Anthropocene, in which human activities are recognized for effecting potentially catastrophic environmental change. In this book, Joel Alden Schlosser argues that our current state of affairs calls for a creative political response, and he finds inspiration in an unexpected source: the ancient writings of the Greek historian Herodotus. Focusing on the Histories, written in the fifth century BCE, Schlosser identifies a cluster of concepts that allow us to better grasp the dynamic complexity of a world in flux. Schlosser shows that the Histories, which chronicle the interactions among the Greek city-states and their neighbors that culminated in the Persian Wars, illuminate a telling paradox: at those times when humans appear capable of exerting more influence than ever before, they must also assert collective agency to avoid their own downfall. Here, success depends on nomoi, or the culture, customs, and laws that organize human communities and make them adaptable through cooperation. Nomoi arise through sustained contact between humans and their surroundings and function best when practiced willingly and with the support of strong commitments to the equality of all participants. Thus, nomoi are the very substance of political agency and, ultimately, the key to freedom and ecological survival because they guide communities to work together to respond to challenges. An ingenious contribution to political theory, political philosophy, and ecology, Herodotus in the Anthropocene reminds us that the best perspective on the present can often be gained through the lens of the past.

Herodotus in the Anthropocene

Herodotus in the Anthropocene PDF Author: Joel Alden Schlosser
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022670484X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Get Book Here

Book Description
We are living in the age of the Anthropocene, in which human activities are recognized for effecting potentially catastrophic environmental change. In this book, Joel Alden Schlosser argues that our current state of affairs calls for a creative political response, and he finds inspiration in an unexpected source: the ancient writings of the Greek historian Herodotus. Focusing on the Histories, written in the fifth century BCE, Schlosser identifies a cluster of concepts that allow us to better grasp the dynamic complexity of a world in flux. Schlosser shows that the Histories, which chronicle the interactions among the Greek city-states and their neighbors that culminated in the Persian Wars, illuminate a telling paradox: at those times when humans appear capable of exerting more influence than ever before, they must also assert collective agency to avoid their own downfall. Here, success depends on nomoi, or the culture, customs, and laws that organize human communities and make them adaptable through cooperation. Nomoi arise through sustained contact between humans and their surroundings and function best when practiced willingly and with the support of strong commitments to the equality of all participants. Thus, nomoi are the very substance of political agency and, ultimately, the key to freedom and ecological survival because they guide communities to work together to respond to challenges. An ingenious contribution to political theory, political philosophy, and ecology, Herodotus in the Anthropocene reminds us that the best perspective on the present can often be gained through the lens of the past.

Herodotus in the Anthropocene

Herodotus in the Anthropocene PDF Author: Joel Alden Schlosser
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022670498X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Get Book Here

Book Description
We are living in the age of the Anthropocene, in which human activities are recognized for effecting potentially catastrophic environmental change. In this book, Joel Alden Schlosser argues that our current state of affairs calls for a creative political response, and he finds inspiration in an unexpected source: the ancient writings of the Greek historian Herodotus. Focusing on the Histories, written in the fifth century BCE, Schlosser identifies a cluster of concepts that allow us to better grasp the dynamic complexity of a world in flux. Schlosser shows that the Histories, which chronicle the interactions among the Greek city-states and their neighbors that culminated in the Persian Wars, illuminate a telling paradox: at those times when humans appear capable of exerting more influence than ever before, they must also assert collective agency to avoid their own downfall. Here, success depends on nomoi, or the culture, customs, and laws that organize human communities and make them adaptable through cooperation. Nomoi arise through sustained contact between humans and their surroundings and function best when practiced willingly and with the support of strong commitments to the equality of all participants. Thus, nomoi are the very substance of political agency and, ultimately, the key to freedom and ecological survival because they guide communities to work together to respond to challenges. An ingenious contribution to political theory, political philosophy, and ecology, Herodotus in the Anthropocene reminds us that the best perspective on the present can often be gained through the lens of the past.

Herodotus and the Presocratics

Herodotus and the Presocratics PDF Author: K. Scarlett Kingsley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 100933851X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Explores Herodotus' Histories in dialogue with contemporary philosophical debates. Combining close readings, reader reception, and genre studies, it expands our understanding of Herodotus' context and restores the Histories' place in Presocratic thought. In addition, the book elucidates philosophy's subsequent engagement with Herodotus' Histories.

Interspecies Politics

Interspecies Politics PDF Author: Rafi Youatt
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472131753
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Politics "with" the environment

Other Natures

Other Natures PDF Author: Clara Bosak-Schroeder
Publisher:
ISBN: 0520343484
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
Sources and methods -- Rulers and rivers -- Female feck -- Dietary entanglements -- Resisting luxury -- After the encounter -- Transformation in the natural history museum.

Artifact & Artifice

Artifact & Artifice PDF Author: Jonathan M. Hall
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022608096X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
Is it possible to trace the footprints of the historical Sokrates in Athens? Was there really an individual named Romulus, and if so, when did he found Rome? Is the tomb beneath the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica home to the apostle Peter? To answer these questions, we need both dirt and words—that is, archaeology and history. Bringing the two fields into conversation, Artifact and Artifice offers an exciting excursion into the relationship between ancient history and archaeology and reveals the possibilities and limitations of using archaeological evidence in writing about the past. Jonathan M. Hall employs a series of well-known cases to investigate how historians may ignore or minimize material evidence that contributes to our knowledge of antiquity unless it correlates with information gleaned from texts. Dismantling the myth that archaeological evidence cannot impart information on its own, he illuminates the methodological and political principles at stake in using such evidence and describes how the disciplines of history and classical archaeology may be enlisted to work together. He also provides a brief sketch of how the discipline of classical archaeology evolved and considers its present and future role in historical approaches to antiquity. Written in clear prose and packed with maps, photos, and drawings, Artifact and Artifice will be an essential book for undergraduates in the humanities.

Essays in Ancient and Modern Historiography

Essays in Ancient and Modern Historiography PDF Author: Arnaldo Momigliano
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226533859
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
"Originally published 1977 by Basil Blackwell Oxford in Great Britain and by Wesleyan University Press in the United States."

Demography and the Anthropocene

Demography and the Anthropocene PDF Author: Larry D. Barnett
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030694283
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
Environmentalists devote little attention at the moment to the size and growth of the human population. To counter this neglect, the monograph (i) includes original graphs showing population size and growth since 1920 in the world as a whole and the United States; (ii) assembles evidence tying the increasing number of people to ecosystem deterioration and its societal consequences; and (iii) analyzes sample-survey data to ascertain whether the current disregard of population pressures by U.S. environmentalists reflects the thinking of Americans generally. However, even if a nation took steps primarily intended to lower childbearing and immigration, the findings of social science research indicate that the steps would not have a substantial, lasting impact. The discussion, which suggests an indirect way by which government may reduce fertility, underlines for environmental scholars the importance of studying their subject in a multidisciplinary, collaborative setting.

Greek Historiography

Greek Historiography PDF Author: Thomas F. Scanlon
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119085802
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
This volume provides an accessible, comprehensive, and up-to-date survey of the ancient Greek genre of historical writing from its origins before Herodotus to the Greek historians of the Roman imperial era, seven centuries later. Focuses on the themes of power and human nature, causation, divine justice, leadership, civilization versus barbarism, legacy, and literary reception Includes thorough summaries alongside textual analysis that signpost key passages and highlight thematic connections, helping readers navigate their way through the original texts Situates historical writing among the forms of epic and lyric poetry, drama, philosophy, and science Uses the best current translations and includes a detailed list of further reading that includes important new scholarship

Classical Literature and Posthumanism

Classical Literature and Posthumanism PDF Author: Giulia Maria Chesi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350069515
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 514

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Book Description
The subject of the posthuman, of what it means to be or to cease to be human, is emerging as a shared point of debate at large in the natural and social sciences and the humanities. This volume asks what classical learning can bring to the table of posthuman studies, assembling chapters that explore how exactly the human self of Greek and Latin literature understands its own relation to animals, monsters, objects, cyborgs and robotic devices. With its widely diverse habitat of heterogeneous bodies, minds, and selves, classical literature again and again blurs the boundaries between the human and the non-human; not to equate and confound the human with its other, but playfully to highlight difference and hybridity, as an invitation to appraise the animal, monstrous or mechanical/machinic parts lodged within humans. This comprehensive collection unites contributors from across the globe, each delving into a different classical text or narrative and its configuration of human subjectivity-how human selves relate to other entities around them. For students and scholars of classical literature and the posthuman, this book is a first point of reference.