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. |
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Page 20
... King Lear , and in particular the king's speech which begins ' O , reason not the need ! ' The play is built around the contrast between the social world , where what a man needs depends on what is due to his rank and station , and the ...
... King Lear , and in particular the king's speech which begins ' O , reason not the need ! ' The play is built around the contrast between the social world , where what a man needs depends on what is due to his rank and station , and the ...
Page 33
... king ; and to reside with his daughters yet rule in their house . And there may be a ' darker purpose ' beneath even these contradictions : to set his rest upon the ' kind nursery ' of Cordelia , to be a king and to be free of care , to ...
... king ; and to reside with his daughters yet rule in their house . And there may be a ' darker purpose ' beneath even these contradictions : to set his rest upon the ' kind nursery ' of Cordelia , to be a king and to be free of care , to ...
Page 42
... king , there is one more step down , to the pity of common nakedness , the final equality of basic need . In the inspiration of his madness , Lear takes this final step , surrendering any thought for what was once due a king . His ...
... king , there is one more step down , to the pity of common nakedness , the final equality of basic need . In the inspiration of his madness , Lear takes this final step , surrendering any thought for what was once due a king . His ...
Contents
Tragedy and Utopia | 7 |
THE NATURAL AND THE SOCIAL | 25 |
BODY AND SPIRIT | 55 |
Copyright | |
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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