Description
Book SynopsisThis book disturbs the normal and depoliticized meaning of virtue through a genealogical reading of the debates, conceptual struggles, and ambiguities that were cleansed by virtue ethicists to produce today''s conception of excellence. This approach provides the narrative raw material to craft a new meaning of excellence as a creative actualization of the potentials for human prosperity. The fundamental question asked and addressed about excellence is how communities can use excellence as the organizing principle for political and economic development. The author explores how large-scale modern societies can be better administered in environments characterized by contingency and possibilities. At the very least, excellence in societal governance practice should involve the creation of possibilities for community and participation by all its members so that their potentialities can be drawn out for the common good. The book also explores the connection between excellence and creativi
Trade ReviewThe Principle of Excellence is a startlingly fresh synthesis of intercultural perspective and thought. Wariboko here sets theologian Paul Tillich’s writings in creative conversation with breath-taking array of 21st-century thinkers, resulting in sparkling new insights on Tillich, but also in a daring new vision of what the field of ethics might become. A most welcome contribution to ethics and theology today. -- Mark Lewis Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary
Nimi Wariboko's deployment of the idea of excellence for social ethical thinking is both original and refreshing. Excellence is typically identified with virtue ethics, but Wariboko brilliantly demonstrates the richness and wider utility of the idea and its plural semiotic provenances. No doubt, some may find his approach daring and provocative, even stepping on the toes of some major figures in the field, but that is precisely because this is a work that is hard to ignore. -- Simeon Ilesanmi, Wake Forest University
Nimi Wariboko opens new theoretical doors on the topic of virtue and excellence, unlocked by his command of classical intellectual traditions interwoven with perspectives born out of his discerning interpretations of his cross-cultural experiences. -- Max L. Stackhouse, professor of theology and public life emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary
This interdisciplinary book defies the usual categories. Rather than treating excellence as a virtue (à la MacIntyre), readers will find herein a philosophy of excellence that brings two traditions—one centered in ontology and the other in philosophical anthropology—into dialogue with each other. * Religious Studies Review *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Prologue Part 2 Part I: What is Excellence? Chapter 3 Chapter One: The Making of a New Meaning of Excellence Chapter 4 Chapter Two: Exegeting Excellence Chapter 5 Chapter Three: The Core Features of Excellence Chapter 6 Chapter Four: New Being: Participation and Imitation Chapter 7 Chapter Five: Justice, Love and Hope Part 8 Part II: Social Ethical Framework Chapter 9 Chapter Six: A Framework for Social Ethics Chapter 10 Chapter Seven: Social Practice as Boundary of Possibility Chapter 11 Chapter Eight: Excellence and Economic Development Chapter 12 Epilogue
