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
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Page 20
... obligation : 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 ...
... obligation : 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 ...
Page 27
... obligation ? For most people , obligations are a matter of custom , habit and historical inheritance as much as a matter of explicit moral commitment . But might there not be something more than custom , habit and inheritance ? Whatever ...
... obligation ? For most people , obligations are a matter of custom , habit and historical inheritance as much as a matter of explicit moral commitment . But might there not be something more than custom , habit and inheritance ? Whatever ...
Page 29
... obligations are to our families and friends and our fellow citizens , but what are our obligations to those ... obligation . The lives of a father , a daughter , a son are precious to us ; the lives of strangers count for little ...
... obligations are to our families and friends and our fellow citizens , but what are our obligations to those ... obligation . The lives of a father , a daughter , a son are precious to us ; the lives of strangers count for little ...
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