Pettit’s logical and humane yet ultimately utopian approach to human organizations will leave many muttering, “If only!”
Pettit (Politics and Human Values/Princeton Univ.; On the People’s Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy, 2013, etc.) offers some clear definitions of justice and freedom and suggests what those definitions have meant in history—and could mean in the contemporary world.
The author writes extensively here about republicanism (lowercase r), but most of his arguments will do little to delight today’s GOP. He devotes an early chapter to the evolving notion of freedom, beginning in ancient Rome and moving through the Middle Ages and Renaissance. He arrives at a list of eight freedoms, some of which appear in our Bill of Rights but others of which derive from his definitions: “the freedom to change occupation and employment” and “the freedom to spend your leisure time in one or another activity.” Pettit emphasizes throughout that citizens must be equals, and he continually employs the example of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House to show how Nora’s liberty is not genuine since her “freedom” is always conditional upon Torvald’s largesse. In later chapters, Pettit discusses features of states based on freedom and justice, features that include civic protections, infrastructure and insurance (all, he writes, should receive a “basic level of social security, medical security, and judicial security”). He proceeds to a discussion about the relationship between freedom and democracy and argues that a constitution should remain in a perpetual state of revision. Near the end, he looks beyond the United States, considers how his ideas might play out on a world stage and urges the employment of “soft” rather than “hard” power in international relations. He ends by noting that “democracy is hard work” and by blasting unnamed news organizations that are the “enemies of democracy.”
Pettit’s logical and humane yet ultimately utopian approach to human organizations will leave many muttering, “If only!”Pub Date: March 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-393-06397-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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