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 23
Page 11
... hand , to be in need of something and not know that one is . Just as we often desire what we do not need , so we often need what we do not consciously desire . If we often deceive ourselves about what we need , we are likely to be ...
... hand , to be in need of something and not know that one is . Just as we often desire what we do not need , so we often need what we do not consciously desire . If we often deceive ourselves about what we need , we are likely to be ...
Page 39
... hand , would require him to confess his love . If this is what Lear intends , Cordelia's fault is not that she will not declare her love , but that she declares it all too plainly . Worse , her declaration reveals the ruthless ...
... hand , would require him to confess his love . If this is what Lear intends , Cordelia's fault is not that she will not declare her love , but that she declares it all too plainly . Worse , her declaration reveals the ruthless ...
Page 108
... hand face each other in stark antithesis . In March 1756 , a thirty - three - year - old professor at the University of Glasgow , unknown to the world but acknowledged by his friends as an ' ingenious and learned gentleman ' , wrote ...
... hand face each other in stark antithesis . In March 1756 , a thirty - three - year - old professor at the University of Glasgow , unknown to the world but acknowledged by his friends as an ' ingenious and learned gentleman ' , wrote ...
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