Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy - Couverture rigide

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0739135686 ISBN 13 : 9780739135686

Editeur : Lexington Books, 2009

Synopsis

Matter and Form explores the relationship that has long existed between natural science and political philosophy. Platos Socrates articulates the Ideas or Forms as an account of the ultimate source of causality in the cosmos. Aristotles natural philosophy had a significant impact on his political philosophy: he argues that humans are by nature political animals, having their natural end in the city whose regime is hierarchically structured based on differences in moral and intellectual capacity. Medieval theorists attempt to synthesize classical natural and political philosophy with the revealed truths of scripture; they argue that divine reason structures an ordered universe, the awareness of which allows for psychic and political harmony among human beings.

Enlightenment thinkers challenge the natural philosophy of classical and medieval philosophers, ushering in a more liberal political order. For example, for Hobbes, there is no rest in nature as there are no Aristotelian forms or natural places that govern matter. Hobbes applies his mechanistic understanding of material nature to his understanding of human nature: individuals are by nature locked in an endless pursuit of power until death. However, from this mechanistic understanding of humanitys natural condition, Hobbes develops a social contract theory in which civil and political society is constituted from consent. Later thinkers, such as Locke and Rousseau, modify this Hobbesian premise in their pursuit of the protection of rights and a free society. Nevertheless, materialist conceptions of the cosmos have not always given rise to liberal democratic philosophies. Historicist influence on scientific inquiry in the nineteenth century is connected to Darwins theory of evolution; Darwin reasoned that over time the process of natural selection produces ever newer and more highly adapted species. Reflecting a form of social Darwinism, Nietzsche envisions an aristocratic order that draws its inspiration from art rather than the rationalism

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Ann Ward is associate professor of philosophy and classics-political studies at Campion College at the University of Regina; she is also author of Herodotus and the Philosophy of Empire, editor of Socrates: Reason or Unreason as the Foundation of European Identity, and co-editor with Lee Ward of The Ashgate Research Companion to Federalism.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Lexington Books
• Date d'édition: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0739135686
• ISBN 13: 9780739135686
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 256
• Éditeur: Ward Ann
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Allemagne