Description
Book SynopsisFor Pieper, the study of tradition is anything but antiquarian. He begins with a consideration of tradition in a changing world and is well aware of the need to confront the all-too-common perception that “tradition” is nowadays irrelevant. On the basis of his profound knowledge of the Western philosophical tradition from Plato and Aristotle through Augustine, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, and Descartes, to modern Existentialism and Marxism, Pieper is able to highlight the values established – and challenged – down through the centuries. He sees the need to re-examine these values, to rid them of the false interpretations and misunderstandings that threaten to consign them to oblivion. He attempts to restate them in language which, in fact, not only reflects the clarity of his mind but also expresses his conviction that these values, freshly examined and understood, provide a sound basis for healthy living and for our survival against the dangers that pose a serious threat to the very existence of Western civilization. He illustrates these values by examining the contrast between an exponent of them, like Socrates, and an opportunist, like the Sophist Protagoras; between the man of principle and the nihilistic pragmatist.
The book consists of a mixture of articles and speeches, produced by a man who, though often wooed by the academy, was not concerned with achieving personal status as an academic professor. He insisted, for the most part, in combining purely academic teaching with the education of teachers in teacher-training colleges. He would not be removed from close contact with “learners,” and he remained a “learner” himself – from tradition.
Table of Contents“Tradition in the changing world” (1960) “What is meant by the ‘Christian West’?” (1956) “What is, in truth, worth preserving” (1959) “Death and Immortality” (1959) “Immortality – a non-Christian idea?” (1959) “Doing and Signifying (1960) “Consecration of the World” (1958) “Life of the Spirit” (1955) “The Theory of Virtues as Statement about Man” (1962) “Hope – of What? (1957) “The Hidden Nature of Hope and Despair” (1955) “The Seed Requires Soil” (1954) “Religion and Freedom” (1960) “Leisure and Human existence” (1959) “The Necessary But Also Impossible Business of Teaching” (1958) * “On Plato’s Concept of Philosophy” (1955) “The equitable interpretation” (1955) “Platonic Figures”Callicles: the man with no rapport to truth (1954)The learners (1954) “Conversation as the place of truth” (1955) “On Plainess of Language in Philosophy” (1954) “Boethius Poems, translated by Konrad Weiß” (1956)* “The Good Publisher”. Birthday greeting to Jakob Hegner (1952) “Late apology to Rudolf Alexander Schröder” (1953)“Support and advancement through a single word”.
Romano Guardini’s 70th birthday (1955) * “Where do we stand today?” (1960) * Notes and Index
