Description
Book SynopsisExamining the writings of twentieth-century thinkers such as Raymond Aron, Isaiah Berlin, Norberto Bobbio, Michael Oakeshott, and Adam Michnik, Faces of Moderation argues that moderation remains crucial for today's encounters with new forms of extremism.
Trade Review"Superb and timely." * Peter Wehner,
New York Times *
"I've been inspired by Aurelian Craiutu's great book
Faces of Moderation." * David Brooks,
New York Times *
"[Craiutu] has written a work that challenges readers to consider the complexity of moderation, raising interesting questions about its effects and contexts, and has thereby enriched the discussion. In the spirit of the moderates, may the conversation continue so this virtue and others are better appreciated." *
Society *
"Stimulating and learned,
Faces of Moderation displays the virtue of moderation in the very act of highlighting exemplary cases of the virtue in action from throughout the twentieth-century, granting readers a grounded understanding of its uses and limits. Aurelian Craiutu's conclusion, with its call for moderation in a hyperpartisan age, is intellectually moving and lyrically written." * Samuel Moyn, Yale University *
"Aurelian Craiutu is devoted to rehabilitating what he believes to be, correctly in my view, the forgotten virtue of moderation. He demonstrates a considerable mastery of the topic and his knowledge of the central figures is impeccable." * Steven Smith, Yale University *
Table of ContentsPrologue. In Search of an Elusive Virtue
Chapter 1. The Ethos of Moderation
Chapter 2. The Lucidity of Moderation: Raymond Aron as a "Committed Observer"
Chapter 3. Moderation as an Antidote to Monism: Isaiah Berlin's Cold War Liberalism
Chapter 4. Meekness as a Face of Moderation: Norberto Bobbio's Politics of Dialogue
Chapter 5. Moderation and Trimming: Michael Oakeshott's Politics of Skepticism
Chapter 6. Radical Moderation and the Search for Moral Clarity: Adam Michnik's Lesson
Epilogue. Beyond the Golden Mean
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
