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
Results 1-3 of 26
Page 28
... common with each other beneath the infinity of our differences . We want to know what it means to be human , and we want to know what that knowledge commits us to in terms of duty . What distinguishes the language of needs is its claim ...
... common with each other beneath the infinity of our differences . We want to know what it means to be human , and we want to know what that knowledge commits us to in terms of duty . What distinguishes the language of needs is its claim ...
Page 43
... common possession . Pity is a complex human emotion , mingling compassion and contempt . The mad king expresses these opposite registers compassion for the essential wretchedness of natural man , and contempt for the pitiful identity ...
... common possession . Pity is a complex human emotion , mingling compassion and contempt . The mad king expresses these opposite registers compassion for the essential wretchedness of natural man , and contempt for the pitiful identity ...
Page 131
... common human identity on men and women prepared to die in defence of their claims of difference . There will be no end to the dying , and no time for the claim of our common species being , until each people is safe within its borders ...
... common human identity on men and women prepared to die in defence of their claims of difference . There will be no end to the dying , and no time for the claim of our common species being , until each people is safe within its borders ...
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