Toward Freedom and Dignity

Toward Freedom and Dignity PDF

Author: O. B. Hardison Jr.

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2019-12-01

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 1421430894

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Originally published in 1973. Toward Freedom and Dignity is a humanist's view of the humanities in an age of burgeoning technology. O. B. Hardison Jr. deals with the status of the humanities and their future—how they are regarded and how they may come to contribute to a genuinely humane society. He argues that humanistic studies are not a luxury in either education or society. They are central to the preparation of human beings for the kind of society that is possible if we manage to avoid an Orwellian technocracy. Social goals and priorities must be set in terms of the ideal of a culture truly adjusted to human needs and human limitations. In framing his argument, Hardison draws on ideas of the humanities since the Renaissance, especially on the philosophical humanities that emerged in Europe in the works of authors like Kant, Schiller, and Coleridge. He is untroubled by anti-humanistic trends in college curricula and the surrounding culture, and he contends that we have only one practical option: to ensure that culture evolves toward a more humane society, toward freedom and dignity.

Beyond Freedom and Dignity

Beyond Freedom and Dignity PDF

Author: B. F. Skinner

Publisher: Hackett Publishing

Published: 2002-03-15

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1603840818

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In this profound and profoundly controversial work, a landmark of 20th-century thought originally published in 1971, B. F. Skinner makes his definitive statement about humankind and society. Insisting that the problems of the world today can be solved only by dealing much more effectively with human behavior, Skinner argues that our traditional concepts of freedom and dignity must be sharply revised. They have played an important historical role in our struggle against many kinds of tyranny, he acknowledges, but they are now responsible for the futile defense of a presumed free and autonomous individual; they are perpetuating our use of punishment and blocking the development of more effective cultural practices. Basing his arguments on the massive results of the experimental analysis of behavior he pioneered, Skinner rejects traditional explanations of behavior in terms of states of mind, feelings, and other mental attributes in favor of explanations to be sought in the interaction between genetic endowment and personal history. He argues that instead of promoting freedom and dignity as personal attributes, we should direct our attention to the physical and social environments in which people live. It is the environment rather than humankind itself that must be changed if the traditional goals of the struggle for freedom and dignity are to be reached. Beyond Freedom and Dignity urges us to reexamine the ideals we have taken for granted and to consider the possibility of a radically behaviorist approach to human problems--one that has appeared to some incompatible with those ideals, but which envisions the building of a world in which humankind can attain its greatest possible achievements.

God, Freedom and Human Dignity

God, Freedom and Human Dignity PDF

Author: Ron Highfield

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2012-11-29

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0830864504

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Ron Highfield traces the genealogy of the modern self from Plato, Descartes and Locke to Charles Taylor's landmark Sources of the Self. What emerges is a stark portrait of the modern ideal of self-governance and the crisis it provokes for a Christian view of human identity, freedom and dignity found in God.

Stride Toward Freedom

Stride Toward Freedom PDF

Author: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0807000701

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MLK’s classic account of the first successful large-scale act of nonviolent resistance in America: the Montgomery bus boycott. A young Dr. King wrote Stride Toward Freedom just 2 years after the successful completion of the boycott. In his memoir about the event, he tells the stories that informed his radical political thinking before, during, and after the boycott—from first witnessing economic injustice as a teenager and watching his parents experience discrimination to his decision to begin working with the NAACP. Throughout, he demonstrates how activism and leadership can come from any experience at any age. Comprehensive and intimate, Stride Toward Freedom emphasizes the collective nature of the movement and includes King’s experiences learning from other activists working on the boycott, including Mrs. Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin. It traces the phenomenal journey of a community and shows how the 28-year-old Dr. King, with his conviction for equality and nonviolence, helped transform the nation and the world. This book was published with two different covers. Customers will be shipped one of them at random.

Identity

Identity PDF

Author: Francis Fukuyama

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2018-09-11

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0374717486

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The New York Times bestselling author of The Origins of Political Order offers a provocative examination of modern identity politics: its origins, its effects, and what it means for domestic and international affairs of state In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American institutions were in decay, as the state was progressively captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions were borne out by the rise to power of a series of political outsiders whose economic nationalism and authoritarian tendencies threatened to destabilize the entire international order. These populist nationalists seek direct charismatic connection to “the people,” who are usually defined in narrow identity terms that offer an irresistible call to an in-group and exclude large parts of the population as a whole. Demand for recognition of one’s identity is a master concept that unifies much of what is going on in world politics today. The universal recognition on which liberal democracy is based has been increasingly challenged by narrower forms of recognition based on nation, religion, sect, race, ethnicity, or gender, which have resulted in anti-immigrant populism, the upsurge of politicized Islam, the fractious “identity liberalism” of college campuses, and the emergence of white nationalism. Populist nationalism, said to be rooted in economic motivation, actually springs from the demand for recognition and therefore cannot simply be satisfied by economic means. The demand for identity cannot be transcended; we must begin to shape identity in a way that supports rather than undermines democracy. Identity is an urgent and necessary book—a sharp warning that unless we forge a universal understanding of human dignity, we will doom ourselves to continuing conflict.

Securing Dignity and Freedom Through Human Rights

Securing Dignity and Freedom Through Human Rights PDF

Author: Janelle M. Diller

Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers

Published: 2011-12-09

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 9004209395

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes that everyone’s dignity and freedom to develop as a person are secured through economic, social and cultural rights. This volume examines the origins of the article of the Declaration that introduced the purpose of economic, social and cultural rights in this way and recognized that every member of society is entitled to their realization through national effort and international cooperation. The article’s concepts have been the subject of significant articulation and interpretation. Accordingly, the book analyzes the meaning and application of economic, social and cultural rights and the nature of the related obligations developed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and other international instruments. The book also explores the contribution of the article's legal concepts to philosophical theories of social justice and increasingly to the practice expected of States, individually and in cooperation with international organizations and non-state actors in development and other activities. This volume should provide a convenient tool for human rights advocates, practitioners, lawyers, scholars, and others involved with and interested in the role of human rights in seeking economic, social and cultural security for all.

Freedom, Truth, and Human Dignity

Freedom, Truth, and Human Dignity PDF

Author: David L. Schindler

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2015-07-15

Total Pages: 491

ISBN-13: 0802871550

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Pope Paul VI characterized the Second Vatican Council s Declaration on Religious Freedom -- Dignitatis Humanae -- as one of the greatest documents of Vatican II. It is also perhaps the most intensely debated document of the Council; both the drafting of the Declaration of Religious Freedom and its reception have been marked by deep disagreements about what this teaching means for the Church. In this book David Schindler and Nicholas Healy promote a deeper understanding of this important document. In addition to presenting a new translation of the approved text of the Declaration, Freedom, Truth, and Human Dignity makes available for the first time in English the five drafts of the document that were presented to the Council bishops leading up to the final version. The book also includes an original interpretive essay on Dignitatis Humanae by Schindler and an essay on the genesis and redaction history of the text by Healy.