Description
Book SynopsisEnlightening Revolutionsa collection of outstanding essays by highly prominent scholarsexamines the different ways in which the relation between politics and philosophy has been understood and enacted over the ages. The volume sheds light on key theoretical and historical issues: the intriguing position and historical influence of medieval Jewish and Islamic rationalism; the advent of modernity in the thought of Machiavelli and Hobbes; the prospects for greatness in modernity as seen by Adam Smith, Jonathan Swift, the Founding Fathers, and Alexis de Tocqueville; and the prospects for philosophic excellence in modern times as seen by, among others, Montesquieu and Leo Strauss, as well as through the eyes of Plato and the Bible. The volume is dedicated to Ralph Lerner, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. It honors Lerner''s splendid teaching and scholarship over half a century, and testifies in some measure to his enlightening, enlivening, gracefully witty, and humanizing ac
Trade ReviewA powerful collection of essays—scholarly and humane, probing and elegant—that honors by imitating the great virtues of Ralph Lerner as a teacher and scholar. -- Arthur Melzer, Michigan State University
An outstanding group of essays on an unusually rich array of topics ranging from medieval political philosophy to Tocqueville. . . This deeply informed collection constitutes a worthy tribute to an extraordinary teacher and scholar. -- Susan Shell, Boston College
This richly varied collection of essays on the problematic relationship of political theory and practice pays due honor to Ralph Lerner and to the enlightening stimulus of his lifework of scholarship and teaching. -- Thomas Pangle, University of Toronto
Table of Contents1 Part I: The Medieval Renaissance Chapter 2 The Moral Status of Teaching and Writing Chapter 3 Averroes on Law and Political Well-Being Chapter 4 Prudence, Imagination, and Determination of Law in Alfarabi and Maimonides Chapter 5 Averroes, Dante and the Dawn of European Enlightenment 6 Part II: The Modern Revolution Chapter 7 Law and Innovation in Machiavelli's Prince Chapter 8 Resistance to Punishment: Controversies Old and New Chapter 9 The Right to Life and Human Dignity 10 Part III: The Place of Philosophy in Modernity Chapter 10 Adam Smith on Natural Liberty and Moral Corruption: The Wisdom of Nature and Folly of Legislators? Chapter 11 Swift Sailing Chapter 12 Montesquieu's Prelude: An Interpretation of Book I of The Spirit of Laws Chapter 14 Tocqueville's Understanding of "Conditions of Equality" and "Conditions of Inequality" 14 Part IV: Equality and Greatness in Tocqueville and America Chapter 15 Who is Publius? The Debate Over the Constitution and the American Revolution Chapter 16 Benjamin Franklin's Biblical Parable on Toleration Chapter 17 Tocqueville as Politician: Revisiting the Revolution of 1789 Chapter 18 Is There a Right to Live as We Please? (So Long as We Respect the Right of Others to Do the Same) Chapter 19 Two Nations Were in Her Womb: Contemporary Liberal Democracy and the Political Teaching of the Bible Chapter 19 Democratic Greatness in the Founding 20 Part V. Learning from Antiquity and the Thought of Leo Strauss Chapter 21 Justice Overruled: The Ambition of Xenophon's Cyrus the Great Chapter 22 Plato and Relativism Chapter 25 Leo Strauss in His Letters Chapter 26 How Strauss Became Strauss Chapter 27 The Writings of Ralph Lerner
