- Table View
- List View
Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization
by Samuel Gregg"Gregg's book is the closet thing I've encountered in a long time to a one-volume user's manual for operarting Western Civilization." —The Stream The genius of Western civilization is its unique synthesis of reason and faith. But today that synthesis is under attack—from the East by radical Islam (faith without reason) and from within the West itself by aggressive secularism (reason without faith). The stakes are incalculably high. The naïve and increasingly common assumption that reason and faith are incompatible is simply at odds with the facts of history. The revelation in the Hebrew Scriptures of a reasonable Creator imbued Judaism and Christianity with a conviction that the world is intelligible, leading to the flowering of reason and the invention of science in the West. It was no accident that the Enlightenment took place in the culture formed by the Jewish and Christian faiths. We can all see that faith without reason is benighted at best, fanatical and violent at worst. But too many forget that reason, stripped of faith, is subject to its own pathologies. A supposedly autonomous reason easily sinks into fanaticism, stifling dissent as bigoted and irrational and devouring the humane civilization fostered by the integration of reason and faith. The blood-soaked history of the twentieth century attests to the totalitarian forces unleashed by corrupted reason. But Samuel Gregg does more than lament the intellectual and spiritual ruin caused by the divorce of reason and faith. He shows that each of these foundational principles corrects the other’s excesses and enhances our comprehension of the truth in a continuous renewal of civilization. By recovering this balance, we can avoid a suicidal winner-take-all conflict between reason and faith and a future that will respect neither.
Reason, Ideology, and Democracy: A Study in Entangled Political Economy
by Meg Patrick Tuszynski Richard E. WagnerDemocratic political systems are often thought to be preferable to all others for supporting liberty. Around the world, nations that are more democratic tend to be freer across various aspects of life and human experience. This book undertakes a social scientific analysis of this claim and finds it to be wanting. The reality of democratic systems does not adhere to popular rhetoric. One of the key reasons for this is that our system is an entangled system, one in which the realm of the political and commercial are so intertwined that they cannot be easily separated. Businessmen have political interests, and politicians have commercial interests. The implication of this entanglement is that alleviating the problems that emerge in democratic systems is not a simple matter of rolling back damaging interventions. Due to the logic of entanglement, returning to a “free market” is not possible in most cases. The authors pull economics back to its classical roots to analyze the social orders that best allow people to live together. The world is not constantly aiming at placidity, as the prevailing economics of equilibrium would have us think. We live in a world of change and turbulence, so our social science requires a framework that deals with this turbulence robustly. Classical economists beginning with Adam Smith sought to uncover which forms of human association allowed us to live better together. The authors explain Smith’s observations, asking the same sorts of questions of readers today. Because the baseline assumption of entanglement does not allow one to divide the world so clearly into two distinct structures, the authors parallel Smith’s approach, focusing on forms of association rather than political or commercial structures. Focusing on human association, the authors help readers uncover the manifold structures humans have devised that allow them to tame the turbulence and live lives more harmoniously with others.
Reason in Law: Ninth Edition
by Lief H. Carter Thomas F. BurkeOver the nearly four decades it has been in print, Reason in Law has established itself as the place to start for understanding legal reasoning, a critical component of the rule of law. This ninth edition brings the book's analyses and examples up to date, adding new cases while retaining old ones whose lessons remain potent. It examines several recent controversial Supreme Court decisions, including rulings on the constitutionality and proper interpretation of the Affordable Care Act and Justice Scalia's powerful dissent in Maryland v. King. Also new to this edition are cases on same-sex marriage, the Voting Rights Act, and the legalization of marijuana. A new appendix explains the historical evolution of legal reasoning and the rule of law in civic life. The result is an indispensable introduction to the workings of the law.
Reason in the City of Difference (Questioning Cities)
by Gary BridgeIn the modernist city rationality ruled and subsumed difference in a logic of identity. In the postmodern city, reason is abandoned for an endless play of difference. Reason in the City of Difference poses an alternative to these extremes by drawing on classical American philosophical pragmatism (and its contemporary developments in feminism and the philosophy of communication) to explore the possibilities of a strengthening and deepening of reason in the contemporary city. This is a transactional rationality based on communication, rather than cognition, involving bodies as much as minds, and non-discursive, as well as discursive competences. It is a rationality that emerges out of difference and from within the city, rather than over and above it. Using pragmatist philosophy and a range of suggestive examples of urban scholarship, this fascinating book offers a new, alternative reading of the city.
Reason of State
by Thomas PooleThis historically embedded treatment of theoretical debates about prerogative and reason of state spans over four centuries of constitutional development. Commencing with the English Civil War and the constitutional theories of Hobbes and the Republicans, it moves through eighteenth-century arguments over jealousy of trade and commercial reason of state to early imperial concerns and the nineteenth-century debate on the legislative empire, to martial law and twentieth-century articulations of the state at the end of empire. It concludes with reflections on the contemporary post-imperial security state. The book synthesises a wealth of theoretical and empirical literature that allows a link to be made between the development of constitutional ideas and global realpolitik. It exposes the relationship between internal and external pressures and designs in the making of the modern constitutional polity and explores the relationship between law, politics and economics in a way that remains rare in constitutional scholarship.
The Reason of States: A Study in International Political Theory (Routledge Library Editions: International Relations #2)
by Michael DonelanOriginally published in 1978, this book examines how the states-system grew over generations, first within Europe, then world wide and how the idea of the state came to monopolise our vision of the world. It discusses the grounds for the division of humanity into separate states in reason and history and whether or not we can use terms like ‘obligation’ and ‘justice’ in seeking to understand our relations with people of other states.
Reason, Religion, and Democracy
by Dennis C. MuellerThe rise of religious fundamentalism in different parts of the world in recent years and its association with terrorism has led to renewed interest in the nature of religion and its compatibility with Western institutions. Much of the focus of this new interest has contrasted religion and science as systems of knowledge. This book also emphasizes the difference between religion and science as means for understanding causal relationships, but it focuses much more heavily on the challenge religious extremism poses for liberal democratic institutions. The treatment contains a discussion of human psychology, describes the salient characteristics of all religions, and contrasts religion and science as systems of thought. Historical sketches are used to establish a link between modernity and the use of the human capacity for reasoning to advance human welfare. The book describes the conditions under which democratic institutions can advance human welfare, and the nature of constitutional rights as protectors of individual freedoms. Extremist religions are shown to pose a threat to liberal democracy, a threat that has implications for immigration and education policies and the definition of citizenship.
Reason, Revelation and Law in Islamic and Western Theory and History (Islam and Global Studies)
by R. Charles Weller Anver M. EmonThis book engages the diverse meanings and interpretations of Islamic and Western law which have affected people and societies across the globe, past and present, in correlation to the epistemological groundings of those meanings and interpretations. The volume takes a distinctively comparative approach, advancing dialogue on crucial transnational and global debates over the history of Western and Islamic approaches to law, politics and society and their relevance for today. It discusses how fundamental concepts are understood and even translated from one historical or political context or one semantic domain to another. The book provides focused studies of key figures and theories in a manageable, accessible format useful for specialized academic courses and research as well as general audiences.
Reason, Revelation, and the Civic Order: Political Philosophy and the Claims of Faith
by Carson HollowayWhile the dominant approaches to the current study of political philosophy are various, with some friendlier to religious belief than others, almost all place constraints on the philosophic and political role of revelation. Mainstream secular political theorists do not entirely disregard religion. But to the extent that they pay attention, their treatment of religious belief is seen more as a political or philosophic problem to be addressed rather than as a positive body of thought from which we might derive important insights about the nature of politics and the truth of the human condition. In a one-of-a-kind collection, DeHart and Holloway bring together leading scholars from various fields, including political science, philosophy, and theology, to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy and to demonstrate the role that religion can and does play in political life. Contributing authors include such important thinkers as Peter Augustine Lawler, Robert C. Koons, J. Budziszewski, Francis J. Beckwith, and James Stoner.
Reason To Believe
by Mario CuomoThe former governor of New York offers a critical view of the 1994 Republican victory, arguing that only a practical assessment of government's strengths will solve such problems as the deficit and welfare dependency.
A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life
by Deval Patrick"I've simply seen too much goodness in this country--and have come so far in my own journey--not to believe in those ideals, and my faith in the future is sometimes restored under the darkest clouds." --Governor Deval Patrick. In January 2007, Deval Patrick became the first black governor of the state of Massachusetts, one of only two black governors elected in American history. But that was just one triumphant step in a long, improbable journey that began in a poor tenement on the South Side of Chicago. From a chaotic childhood to an elite boarding school in New England, from a sojourn doing relief work in Africa to the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, and then to a career in politics, Patrick has led an extraordinary life. In this heartfelt and inspirational book, he pays tribute to the family, friends, and strangers who, through words and deeds, have instilled in him transcendent lessons of faith, perseverance, and friendship. In doing so, he reminds us of the power of community and the imperative of idealism. With humility, humor, and grace, he offers a road map for attaining happiness, empowerment, and success while also making an appeal for readers to cultivate those achievements in others, to feel a greater stake in this world, and to shape a life worth living. Warm, nostalgic, and inspirational, A Reason to Believe is destined to become a timeless tribute to a uniquely American odyssey and a testament to what is possible in our lives and our communities if we are hopeful, generous, and resilient. GOVERNOR DEVAL PATRICK is donating a portion of the proceeds from A REASON TO BELIEVE to A Better Chance, a national organization dedicated to opening the doors to greater educational opportunities for young people of color. To learn more, visit www.abetterchance.org.
A Reason to Vote: Breaking The Two-party Stranglehold - And The Remarkable Rise Of America's Fastest Growing Political Party
by Robert RothThe Natural Law Party was founded in 1992 to create a new mainstream political party that would offer voters forward-looking, prevention-oriented, commonsense solutions to America's problems. Robert Roth's A Reason to Vote is the remarkable story of the party's founding and its successful efforts to enter the national political arena, as well as the party's point-by-point platform to lead the country into the next decade.
Reasonable Cause to Suspect: A Mother's Ordeal to Free Her Son from a Kurdish Prison
by Sally LaneIn a story of deceit, betrayal, and injustice, two parents are tried as terrorists for attempting to rescue their son from a Syrian war zone.On September 2, 2014, Jack Letts, an idealistic eighteen-year-old British Canadian, phoned his mother saying, “Mum, I’m in Syria.” Those chilling words from a raging war zone set in train his family’s eight-year-long battle to rescue Jack from his disastrous mistake.When an unscrupulous journalist invented the term “Jihadi Jack,” a false image of Jack spread throughout the world. Sally and John, Jack’s parents, faced the mammoth task of persuading a hostile public that their son was the victim of a smear campaign. He should, they argued, at least be allowed home to face a fair trial to address the claims against him. But the Canadian and British governments had other plans. Jack is currently detained in a Kurdish prison, while the Canadian government claims it doesn’t know if he is alive or dead. This is his parents’ story of their painful struggle to persuade the world to save the son they love.
Reasonable Disagreement: Two U.S. Senators and the Choices They Make (Politics and Policy in American Institutions #Vol. 2)
by Karl A. LambThis book examines the frequent reasonable disagreements of U.S. senators Paul Sarbanes and Dick Lugar, and finds in aspects of their life experiences reasons why they take particular positions and cast specific votes.
Reasonable Disagreement: A Theory of Political Morality
by Christopher McmahonThis book examines the ways in which reasonable people can disagree about the requirements of political morality. Christopher McMahon argues that there will be a 'zone of reasonable disagreement' surrounding most questions of political morality. Moral notions of right and wrong evolve over time as new zones of reasonable disagreement emerge out of old ones; thus political morality is both different in different societies with varying histories, and different now from what it was in the past. McMahon explores this feature of his theory in detail and traces its implications for the possibility of making moral judgments about other polities, past or present. His study sheds light on an important and often overlooked aspect of political life, and will be of interest to a wide range of readers in moral and political philosophy and in political theory.
A Reasonable Public Servant: Constitutional Foundations of Administrative Conduct in the United States
by Lily Xiao Lee David H. RosenbloomAn essential text for PA courses on Human Resource Management as well as Public Management and Law, this book illuminates the role of the reasonable public servant, who strives to perform authorized functions efficiently, yet in a manner that aligns with constitutional values embodied in the Bill of Rights. "A Reasonable Public Servant" provides a comprehensive review of Supreme Court opinions in explaining the reasonable conduct of a public servant and the development of clearly established constitutional and statutory rights that a reasonable public servant is expected to observe: property rights; procedural due process; freedom of critical speech; privacy; equal protection; and anti-discrimination laws. The author relies on the Court's opinions as the exemplar of public reason, and pays close attention to the manner in which the Court balances among competing value priorities - for example, the rights of a public servant as an employee as well as an individual citizen, and the efficiency needs of the government as an employer as well as a sovereign state. This book's detailed appendices include the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Reasonableness and Fairness
by Christopher McmahonWe all know, or think we know, what it means to say that something is 'reasonable' or 'fair', but what exactly are these concepts and how have they evolved and changed over the course of history? In this book, Christopher McMahon explores reasonableness, fairness, and justice as central concepts of the morality of reciprocal concern. He argues that the basis of this morality evolves as history unfolds, so that forms of interaction that might have been morally acceptable in the past are judged unacceptable today. The first part of his study examines the notions of reasonableness and fairness as they are employed in ordinary practical thought, and the second part develops a constructivist theory to explain why and how this part of morality can undergo historical development without arriving at any final form. His book will interest scholars of ethics, political theory, and the history of ideas.
Reasonableness and Responsibility: A Theory of Contract Law
by Martín HeviaIf, as John Rawls famously suggests, justice is the first virtue of social institutions, how are we to understand the institution of contract law? This book proposes a Rawlsian theory of contract law. It argues that justice requires that we understand contract rules in terms of the idea of reasonable, terms of interaction - that is, terms that would be accepted by reasonable persons moved by a desire for a social world in which they, as free and equal, can cooperate with others on terms they accept. On that basis, the book explains the main doctrines of contract law, including those governing third parties, in both the Common Law and the Civil Law.
Reasonableness in Liberal Political Philosophy
by Shaun P. YoungPreviously published as a special issue of the Critical Review of Social and Political Philosophy, this collection offers a thought-provoking critique of the role of the concept of reasonableness in liberal political theory, focusing on the proposed relationship between reasonableness and the establishment and preservation of a just and stable liberal polity.The essays explore the explicit and implicit use of the idea of reasonableness, presenting an analysis that incorporates normative and empirical observations and employs a number of different analytical approaches, including liberalism, feminism, environmentalism, Marxism, and communitarianism. This unique book provides in a single volume a critique that engages not only a vast array of issues but also a diversity of critical perspectives. It not only rectifies a deficiency in the existing scholarship, but also addresses the issues of socio-political justice and stability, offering new, insightful critiques that respond to the increasingly complex circumstances and conflicts that confront life in contemporary pluralistic societies. Reasonableness in Liberal Political Philosophy will be a valuable resource for those interested in liberal political theory and its potential usefulness in helping to secure a just and stable polity.
Reasoning from Race: Feminism, Law, and the Civil Rights Revolution
by Serena MayeriIn the 1960s and 1970s, analogies between sex discrimination and racial injustice became potent weapons in the battle for women s rights, as feminists borrowed rhetoric and legal arguments from the civil rights movement. Serena Mayeri s Reasoning from Race is the first history of this key strategy and its consequences for American law.
Reasoning Indian Politics: Philosopher Politicians to Politicians Seeking Philosophy
by Narendar Pani Anshuman BeheraThis volume examines the multiple forms of reasoning in Indian politics and explores a framework to understand them. In the process, it looks at a series of issues involving the relationship between politics and philosophy, including the status of political theory, political practices, identity politics, and political ontology. The book argues that in the years leading up to and soon after independence, the task of conceptualizing politics was largely in the domain of practising politicians who built theories and philosophical methods, and further took those visions into the practice of their politics. It maintains that Indian politicians since then have not been as inclined to articulate their theories or methods of politics. This book traces the transition from philosopher politicians to politicians seeking philosophy in Indian polity in the post-independence era and its implications for current practices. It views Indian political philosophy from the standpoints of political theorists, philosophers, and practitioners. With expert and scholarly contributions, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of Indian political thought and political philosophy, social sciences, and humanities.
Reasoning of State: Realists, Romantics and Rationality in International Relations (Cambridge Studies in International Relations #149)
by Brian C. RathbunScholars and citizens tend to assume that rationality guides the decision-making of our leaders. Brian C. Rathbun suggests, however, that if we understand rationality to be a cognitive style premised on a commitment to objectivity and active deliberation, rational leaders are in fact the exception not the norm. Using a unique combination of methods including laboratory bargaining experiments, archival-based case studies, quantitative textual analysis and high-level interviews, Rathbun questions some of the basic assumptions about rationality and leadership, with profound implications for the field of international relations. Case studies of Bismarck and Richelieu show that the rationality of realists makes them rare. An examination of Churchill and Reagan, romantics in international politics who sought to overcome obstacles in their path through force of will and personal agency, show what less rationality looks like in foreign policy making.
Reasoning Unbound: Thinking about Morality, Delusion and Democracy
by Jean-François BonnefonThis book argues that the science of reasoning will prove most useful if focused on studying what human reasoning does best - understanding people. Bonnefon argues that humanity's unique reasoning abilities developed in order to handle the complexities of cooperative social life. Accordingly, human beings became exquisite students of the minds of other people to predict the kind of decisions they make, and assess their character. In particular, this volume explores the inferences humans make about the moral character of others, how they delude themselves about their own moral character, and the ways in which they can see through the delusions of others. In conclusion, the book considers how to leverage the power of human reasoning in order to sustain democratic life. This work will interest scholars and students working in fields including theory of mind, decision-making, moral cognition, critical thinking, experimental philosophy, and behavioural economics, as well as policy makers interested in how reasoning impacts our political understanding.
The Reasoning Voter: Communication And Persuasion In Presidential Campaigns
by Samuel L. PopkinThe Reasoning Voter is an insider's look at campaigns, candidates, media, and voters that convincingly argues that voters make informed logical choices. Samuel L. Popkin analyzes three primary campaigns—Carter in 1976; Bush and Reagan in 1980; and Hart, Mondale, and Jackson in 1984—to arrive at a new model of the way voters sort through commercials and sound bites to choose a candidate. Drawing on insights from economics and cognitive psychology, he convincingly demonstrates that, as trivial as campaigns often appear, they provide voters with a surprising amount of information on a candidate's views and skills. For all their shortcomings, campaigns do matter.
The Reasoning Voter: Communication And Persuasion In Presidential Campaigns
by Samuel L. PopkinThe Reasoning Voter is an insider's look at campaigns, candidates, media, and voters that convincingly argues that voters make informed logical choices. Samuel L. Popkin analyzes three primary campaigns—Carter in 1976; Bush and Reagan in 1980; and Hart, Mondale, and Jackson in 1984—to arrive at a new model of the way voters sort through commercials and sound bites to choose a candidate. Drawing on insights from economics and cognitive psychology, he convincingly demonstrates that, as trivial as campaigns often appear, they provide voters with a surprising amount of information on a candidate's views and skills. For all their shortcomings, campaigns do matter.