The Needs of Strangers: An Essay on Privacy, Solidarity, and the Politics of Being HumanWhat do we need in order to survive? Whose needs do we have a right to speak for? Which needs can be satisfied through political actions, and which cannot? To answer these vital questions, Michael Ignatieff returns to the ancient languages of religion, art, and tragedy—and to important texts by Shakespeare, St. Augustine, and the great writers of the Enlightenment. Drawing on these sources, he has written an incisive, moving interpretation of community and democracy in a work that not only examines the breakdown of human solidarity but shows how it might be re-created. The Needs of Strangers restores philosophy to its proper place as a guide to the art of being human. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 16
Page 67
... Saint Anthony of Egypt who pushed the neglect of need to the extremes of masochism ? Anthony was the painter's patron saint , yet how could his life be the standard for a man living in the modern world of a prosperous north European ...
... Saint Anthony of Egypt who pushed the neglect of need to the extremes of masochism ? Anthony was the painter's patron saint , yet how could his life be the standard for a man living in the modern world of a prosperous north European ...
Page 70
... Saint Anthony on his back in Bosch's painting of the saint's temptation . ' There is also a strange autobiographical blasphemy , perhaps , in the second way- farer painting : the sign hanging over the doorway of the dilapi- dated tavern ...
... Saint Anthony on his back in Bosch's painting of the saint's temptation . ' There is also a strange autobiographical blasphemy , perhaps , in the second way- farer painting : the sign hanging over the doorway of the dilapi- dated tavern ...
Page 145
... Saints : Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity ( London : SCM Press , 1981 ) ; also Religion and Society in the Age of Saint Augustine ( London : Faber and Faber , 1972 ) . 8- Lucius Annaeus Seneca Letters from a Stoic ( London ...
... Saints : Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity ( London : SCM Press , 1981 ) ; also Religion and Society in the Age of Saint Augustine ( London : Faber and Faber , 1972 ) . 8- Lucius Annaeus Seneca Letters from a Stoic ( London ...
Contents
Tragedy and Utopia | 7 |
THE NATURAL AND THE SOCIAL | 25 |
BODY AND SPIRIT | 55 |
Copyright | |
5 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
The Needs of Strangers: An Essay on Privacy, Solidarity, and the Politics of ... Michael Ignatieff No preview available - 1986 |
The Needs of Strangers: An Essay on Privacy, Solidarity, and the Politics of ... Michael Ignatieff No preview available - 1986 |
Common terms and phrases
Adam Smith amour de soi Augustine Augustinian available from Penguin basic need beggar belonging blind body books available Bosch's Boswell Cambridge capacity capitalist certainty choice choose Christian citizens civic claim commercial society common Cordelia critique daughters David Hume death desire Discourse on Inequality division of labour duty economic equality Essays father flesh fraternity freedom give happiness Haywain heath Hieronymus Bosch human nature human needs Hume Treatise Hume's hunger individuals inequality insisted J. G. A. Pocock justice King Lear Lear's liberty live London madness man's Marx means metaphysical Michael Ignatieff modern moral necessity needs of strangers never obligation Paradise Pascal passion Philosophy pity poor question reason reconcile Religion religious republic respect retinue rich Rousseau Saint satisfaction scarcity secular self-command Social Contract solidarity species spiral of need spiritual need Stoic things Thou Tom O'Bedlam tragedy utopia virtue vision welfare yearning