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 73
... desire is wholly fulfilled . Everything craves what belongs to its nature , and therefore desires its parts to be re - united . Since the human soul is united by nature to the body there is within it a natural appetite for that union ...
... desire is wholly fulfilled . Everything craves what belongs to its nature , and therefore desires its parts to be re - united . Since the human soul is united by nature to the body there is within it a natural appetite for that union ...
Page 91
... desire sated , sensation consecrates the chase , validates all toil . Without the certainties of pleasure , the very survival of the species would be stalled by rational doubt . In their beds , humans give themselves to the spiral of desire ...
... desire sated , sensation consecrates the chase , validates all toil . Without the certainties of pleasure , the very survival of the species would be stalled by rational doubt . In their beds , humans give themselves to the spiral of desire ...
Page 123
... desire within a set of democratic limits of need , and it does so for the sake of social solidarity , civic virtue , and the primacy of public over private life . It does so at a cost . Societies that constrain the economic desires of ...
... desire within a set of democratic limits of need , and it does so for the sake of social solidarity , civic virtue , and the primacy of public over private life . It does so at a cost . Societies that constrain the economic desires of ...
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