The Needs of StrangersThis thought provoking book uncovers a crisis in the political imagination, a wide-spread failure to provide the passionate sense of community "in which our need for belonging can be met." Seeking the answers to fundamental questions, Michael Ignatieff writes vividly both about ideas and about the people who tried to live by them from Augustine to Bosch, from Rosseau to Simone Weil. Incisive and moving, "The Needs of Strangers" returns philosophy to its proper place, as a guide to the art of being human. |
From inside the book
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Page 20
... Lear has something to teach us about the fragility of both natural and social obligation . King Lear is also a play about blindness , in particular our blindness to our own needs . What we need , Lear discovers , we can barely admit ...
... Lear has something to teach us about the fragility of both natural and social obligation . King Lear is also a play about blindness , in particular our blindness to our own needs . What we need , Lear discovers , we can barely admit ...
Page 33
... Lear now replies querulously . The centre of his self is beginning to crack . We have already seen him battering his head with his fists and crying , O Lear , Lear , Lear ! Beat at this gate , that let thy folly in And thy dear ...
... Lear now replies querulously . The centre of his self is beginning to crack . We have already seen him battering his head with his fists and crying , O Lear , Lear , Lear ! Beat at this gate , that let thy folly in And thy dear ...
Page 51
... Lear's claim , Tom's claim , that because they are human they deserve to live . This last claim , as Lear had to discover , is the weakest claim that people can make to each other : it is the claim addressed to anyone , and therefore to ...
... Lear's claim , Tom's claim , that because they are human they deserve to live . This last claim , as Lear had to discover , is the weakest claim that people can make to each other : it is the claim addressed to anyone , and therefore to ...
Contents
Tragedy and Utopia | 7 |
THE NATURAL AND THE SOCIAL | 25 |
THE BODY AND THE SPIRIT | 100 |
Copyright | |
3 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 autarky basic need beggar belonging blind body Bosch's Boswell Cambridge capacity capitalist certainty choice choose Christian citizens civic claim commercial society common consolation Cordelia creatures critique daughters David Hume death desire Discourse on Inequality division of labour duty economic equality father flesh fraternity freedom give happiness Haywain heath Hieronymus Bosch human nature human needs Hume Treatise Hume's hunger individuals inequality insisted invisible hand J. G. A. Pocock justice King Lear Lear's liberty live London madness man's Marx means metaphysical modern moral necessity needs of strangers never obligation Paradise Pascal passion Penguin Philosophy Physiocratic 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 spirit spiritual need Stoic things Thou Tom O'Bedlam tragedy utopia virtue vision welfare yearning