Jon Stewart

The Emergence of Subjectivity in the Ancient and Medieval World (eBook, ePUB)

An Interpretation of Western Civilization

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

The Emergence of Subjectivity in the Ancient and Medieval World: An Interpretation of Western Civilization represents a combination of different genres: cultural history, philosophical anthropology, and textbook. It follows a handful of different but interrelated themes through more than a dozen texts that were written over a period of several millennia and, by means of an analysis of these texts, presents a theory of the development of Western civilization from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The main line of argument traces the various self-conceptions of different cultures as they developed historically, reflecting different views of what it is to be human. The thesis of the volume is that through examination of these changes we can discern the gradual emergence of what we today call inwardness, subjectivity, and individual freedom. As human civilization took its first tenuous steps, it had a very limited conception of the individual. Instead, the dominant principle was that of the wider group: the family, clan, or people. Only in the course of history did the idea of what we now know as individuality begin to emerge, and it took millennia for this idea to be fully recognized and developed. The conception of human beings as having a sphere of inwardness and subjectivity subsequently had a sweeping impact on all aspects of culture, including philosophy, religion, law, and art: indeed, this notion largely constitutes what is today referred to as modernity. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that this modern conception of human subjectivity was not simply something given, but rather the result of a long process of historical and cultural development.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 432
• Erscheinungstermin: 24. März 2020
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780192596352
• Artikelnr.: 58869555

Autorenporträt

Jon Stewart is Research Fellow in the Institute of Philosophy at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He is the founder and general editor of the series Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources, Texts from Golden Age Denmark, and Danish Golden Age Studies, as well as the co-editor of the Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook and Kierkegaard Studies Monograph Series. He is the author of Hegel's Interpretation of the Religions of the World: The Logic of the Gods (OUP, 2018), Søren Kierkegaard: Subjectivity, Irony, and the Crisis of Modernity (OUP, 2015), and Kierkegaard's Relations to Hegel Reconsidered (CUP, 2003).

Inhaltsangabe

* 0: Introduction: The Humanities Questions of Identity and Difference
* I. Defining the Humanities
* I.A. Content: The Subject Matter of the Humanities
* I.B. Form: The Methodology of the Humanities
* II. The Human Mind and Its Objectification
* III. The Contribution of the Present Study
* III.A. A Philosophical Approach to Western Civilization
* III.B. The Notion of Subjectivity
* 1: The Epic of Gilgamesh
* I. The Initial Description of Gilgamesh and Uruk
* II. Enkidu and the Story of the Fall
* III. The Battle with Humbaba
* IV. The Death of Enkidu and the Nature of the Gods
* V. Gilgamesh's Journey
* VI. The Flood
* VII. Immortality Lost
* VIII. The Mesopotamians' Pessimistic World-View
* IX. Nature, Civilization, and Human Agency
* 2: The Hebrew Bible: Genesis and the Book of Job
* I. The Creation: The Conception of God
* II. The Creation: The Conception of Human Beings
* III. The Fall
* IV. The Flood
* V. The Tower of Babel
* VI. The Problem of Justice in Job
* VII. The Pessimistic World-View in Job
* VIII. The Legal Metaphor in Job
* IX. The Incongruities in the Work
* X. The Protest against the Gods
* XI. The Limited Conception of Individuality
* 3: Homer's Odyssey
* I. The Story and Structure of the Odyssey
* II. Odysseus and Kalypso
* III. The Lotus-Eaters
* IV. The Cyclops
* V. Circe
* VI. The Underworld
* VII. The Sirens
* VIII. The Warrior Ethic
* IX. The Greek View of Human Nature
* 4: Herodotus' Histories
* I. Scholarly History versus Mythology
* II. The Story of Gyges
* III. Solon and Croesus
* IV. The Relativity of Values
* V. The Story of Polycrates and Nemesis
* VI. The Debate about the Best Form of Government
* VII. Xerxes' Plans to Invade Greece
* VIII. Xerxes at the Hellespont
* IX. Justice as a Matter of Balance
* 5: Sophocles' Oedipus the King
* I. The Search for Knowledge
* II. Self-Knowledge and the Riddle of the Sphinx
* III. Natural Law versus Relativism
* IV. Human Agency and Culpability
* V. The Inevitability of Fate
* VI. Greek Ethics
* VII. Judging the Human Condition
* VIII. The Unquestioned Value of Science and Knowledge
* IX. Fate and the Good Life
* 6: Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War
* I. Thucydides' Goal and Method
* II. Pericles' Funeral Oration
* III. The Plague in Athens
* IV. The Political Repercussions for Pericles
* V. The Revolt in Corcyra
* VI. The Melian Dialogue
* VII. Human Nature and Ethics
* 7: Plato's Gorgias and Apology
* I. The Gorgias: Callicles' Argument
* II. Socrates' Refutation of the Arguments of Callicles
* III. A Mythological View of Judgment and Life after Death
* IV. Socrates' Divine Mission
* V. Socrates, the Gods, and the Daimon
* VI. Socrates' Defense of Philosophy
* VII. Socrates as the Gadfly of Athens
* VIII. Socrates on the Nature of Death and a New Conception of the
Self
* IX. The New Role of Subjectivity
* 8: Aristotle's Politics
* I. Introduction to the Politics
* II. The Nature of Human Beings and the State
* III. The Institution of Slavery
* IV. The Other Relations of the Household
* V. Political Science and the Forms of Government
* VI. Democracy and Oligarchy
* VII. The Best Form of Government
* VIII. The Limitations of Empiricism
* IX. Aristotle's Refutation of the Split between Nature and Law
* 9: Virgil's Aeneid
* I. The Fall of Troy
* II. Dido
* III. The Struggle of Duty and Inclination
* IV. Tartarus and the Question of Divine Justice
* V. Elysium
* VI. Anchises' Anticipation of Roman History
* VII. The Shield of Aeneas
* VIII. The Discovery of Inwardness
* 10: Seneca's Moral Letters
* I. Introduction to Seneca's Moral Letters
* II. Living According to Nature
* III. The Retreat to the Inward Sphere
* IV. The Cultivation of the Inward Virtues
* V. Stoic Indifference and Self-Sufficiency
* VI. The Stoic Conception of God and Human Beings
* VII. Seneca's Conception of Equality
* VIII. Providence and Divine Justice
* IX. Seneca's Modern Relevance
* 11: The New Testament: Matthew
* I. Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew
* II. Criticism of the Greco-Roman Warrior Ethic
* III. The Inversion of Values
* IV. The Development of Inwardness
* V. Christianity and Judaism
* VI. Jesus' Miracles: The Relation to Nature
* VII. The Notion of Offense
* VIII. The Messiah and the Kingdom of Heaven
* IX. Nietzsche's Criticism of Christian Ethics
* 12: Augustine's City of God
* I. Augustine and Virgil
* II. The Fall of Rome and the Gods
* III. Augustine's Philosophy of History
* IV. A New Conception of Ethics and the Expansion of Sinfulness
* V. A New Conception of the Origin of Evil
* VI. Augustine's Theodicy
* VII. The Prohibition of Suicide
* VIII. Augustine's Critical Evaluation of Roman Decadence
* IX. The Struggle for Meaning
* 13: Dante's Inferno
* I. Dante's Hell and the Underworlds of Homer and Virgil
* II. The Beginning of the Work
* III. Divine Justice
* IV. Divine Punishment
* V. The Changed Role of Pity
* VI. The Virtuous Pagans
* VII. The Changed Role of the Body
* VIII. A New Role for Odysseus
* IX. Understanding the Role of Humans in the Universe
* 14: The Dialectic of the Ancient and Modern Principles: Homer and the
Internet
* I. Content and Form in the Notion of Subjectivity
* II. Alienation
* III. The Modern Struggle to Establish Self-Identity
* IV. Narcissism and Overcoming the Limitations of Time and Space
* V. The Creation of Illusory Identities and the Erosion of the Other
* VI. The Rise of Relativism and the Disappearance of Truth
* VII. The Perceived Threat and the Creation of the Opposite Principle
* VIII. The Need for a Balance
* Endmatter
* Bibliography for Further Reading
* Index