The Question of Sacrifice

The Question of Sacrifice
Title The Question of Sacrifice PDF eBook
Author Dennis King Keenan
Publisher
Pages 207
Release 2005
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 9780253345820

Download The Question of Sacrifice Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Keenan (Fairfield Univ.) has written a book on Emmanuel Levinas and journal articles on Nietzsche, Levinas, Derrida, and Kristeva. In the chapters of this new work, he treats these authors and more in a manner that reflects an almost excessive erudition and layered approach to the field of Continental philosophy. Full of irony, paradox, allusion, and parentheses, this collection of essays is finally short on clarity or coherence. Keenan squeezes out a lot of sparks, but offers little of the kind of illuminating light that advances understanding beyond cleverness and wordplay. Much of the writing in this book paraphrases the usual suspects' takes on each other, and on other well-known Continental philosophers, on topics relating (sometimes only vaguely) to sacrifice. The book is more like a whirlwind tour through a well-constructed bibliography than a sustained, nuanced, theoretical discussion of a more-or-less clear question. Some in the Continental philosophy community still find this style of writing satisfying. Those who may desire more light than heat will find this book a puzzling caricature of Continental writing. Summing Up: Optional. Graduate students and above. Not Recommended. Reviewed by P. Amato.

The Question of Sacrifice

The Question of Sacrifice
Title The Question of Sacrifice PDF eBook
Author Dennis King Keenan
Publisher Indiana University Press
Pages 236
Release 2005-06-14
Genre Family & Relationships
ISBN 9780253217691

Download The Question of Sacrifice Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

A philosophical exploration of the ethics and politics of sacrifice.

On Sacrifice

On Sacrifice
Title On Sacrifice PDF eBook
Author Moshe Halbertal
Publisher Princeton University Press
Pages 147
Release 2012-02-26
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 1400842352

Download On Sacrifice Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The idea and practice of sacrifice play a profound role in religion, ethics, and politics. In this brief book, philosopher Moshe Halbertal explores the meaning and implications of sacrifice, developing a theory of sacrifice as an offering and examining the relationship between sacrifice, ritual, violence, and love. On Sacrifice also looks at the place of self-sacrifice within ethical life and at the complex role of sacrifice as both a noble and destructive political ideal. In the religious domain, Halbertal argues, sacrifice is an offering, a gift given in the context of a hierarchical relationship. As such it is vulnerable to rejection, a trauma at the root of both ritual and violence. An offering is also an ambiguous gesture torn between a genuine expression of gratitude and love and an instrument of exchange, a tension that haunts the practice of sacrifice. In the moral and political domains, sacrifice is tied to the idea of self-transcendence, in which an individual sacrifices his or her self-interest for the sake of higher values and commitments. While self-sacrifice has great potential moral value, it can also be used to justify the most brutal acts. Halbertal attempts to unravel the relationship between self-sacrifice and violence, arguing that misguided self-sacrifice is far more problematic than exaggerated self-love. In his exploration of the positive and negative dimensions of self-sacrifice, Halbertal also addresses the role of past sacrifice in obligating future generations and in creating a bond for political associations, and considers the function of the modern state as a sacrificial community.

Philosophy and the End of Sacrifice

Philosophy and the End of Sacrifice
Title Philosophy and the End of Sacrifice PDF eBook
Author Peter Jackson
Publisher Equinox Publishing (UK)
Pages 0
Release 2016
Genre History
ISBN 9781781791257

Download Philosophy and the End of Sacrifice Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This volume addresses the means and ends of sacrificial speculation by inviting a selected group of specialist in the fields of philosophy, history of religions, and indology to examine philosophical modes of sacrificial speculation -- especially in Ancient India and Greece -- and consider the commonalities of their historical raison d'être. Scholars have long observed, yet without presenting any transcultural grand theory on the matter, that sacrifice seems to end with (or even continue as) philosophy in both Ancient India and Greece. How are we to understand this important transformation that so profoundly changed the way we think of religion (and philosophy as opposed to religion) today? Some of the complex topics inviting closer examination in this regard are the interiorisation of ritual, ascetism and self-sacrifice, sacrifice and cosmogony, the figure of the philosopher-sage, transformations and technologies of the self, analogical reasoning, the philosophy of ritual, vegetarianism, and metempsychosis.

Sacrifice Regained

Sacrifice Regained
Title Sacrifice Regained PDF eBook
Author Roger Crisp
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 349
Release 2019-09-03
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 019257695X

Download Sacrifice Regained Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Does being virtuous make you happy? Roger Crisp examines the answers to this ancient question provided by the so-called 'British Moralists', from Thomas Hobbes, around 1650, for the next two hundred years, until Jeremy Bentham. This involves elucidating their views on happiness (self-interest, or well-being) and on virtue (or morality), in order to bring out the relation of each to the other. Themes ran through many of these writers: psychological egoism, evaluative hedonism, and—after Hobbes—the acceptance of self-standing moral reasons. But there are exceptions, and even those taking the standard views adopt them for very different reasons and express them in various ways. As the ancients tended to believe that virtue and happiness largely coincide, so these modern authors are inclined to accept posthumous reward and punishment. Both positions sit uneasily with the common-sense idea that a person can truly sacrifice their own good for the sake of morality or for others. This book shows that David Hume—a hedonist whose ethics made no appeal to the afterlife—was the first major British moralist to allow for, indeed to recommend, such self-sacrifice. Morality and well-being of course remain central to modern ethics, and Crisp demonstrates how much there is to learn from this remarkable group of philosophers.

Talking to Strangers

Talking to Strangers
Title Talking to Strangers PDF eBook
Author Danielle Allen
Publisher University of Chicago Press
Pages 255
Release 2009-08-01
Genre Political Science
ISBN 0226014681

Download Talking to Strangers Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

"Don't talk to strangers" is the advice long given to children by parents of all classes and races. Today it has blossomed into a fundamental precept of civic education, reflecting interracial distrust, personal and political alienation, and a profound suspicion of others. In this powerful and eloquent essay, Danielle Allen, a 2002 MacArthur Fellow, takes this maxim back to Little Rock, rooting out the seeds of distrust to replace them with "a citizenship of political friendship." Returning to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954 and to the famous photograph of Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, being cursed by fellow "citizen" Hazel Bryan, Allen argues that we have yet to complete the transition to political friendship that this moment offered. By combining brief readings of philosophers and political theorists with personal reflections on race politics in Chicago, Allen proposes strikingly practical techniques of citizenship. These tools of political friendship, Allen contends, can help us become more trustworthy to others and overcome the fossilized distrust among us. Sacrifice is the key concept that bridges citizenship and trust, according to Allen. She uncovers the ordinary, daily sacrifices citizens make to keep democracy working—and offers methods for recognizing and reciprocating those sacrifices. Trenchant, incisive, and ultimately hopeful, Talking to Strangers is nothing less than a manifesto for a revitalized democratic citizenry.

The Story of Sacrifice

The Story of Sacrifice
Title The Story of Sacrifice PDF eBook
Author Liane M. Feldman
Publisher Mohr Siebeck
Pages 259
Release 2020-09-21
Genre Religion
ISBN 3161596366

Download The Story of Sacrifice Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The sacrificial instructions and purity laws in Leviticus have often been seen as later or secondary additions to an originally sparse Priestly narrative. In this volume, Liane M. Feldman argues that the ritual and narrative elements of the Pentateuchal Priestly source are mutually dependent, and that the internal logic and structure of the Priestly narrative makes sense only when they are read together. Bringing together insights from the fields of ritual theory and narratology, the author argues that the ritual materials in Leviticus should be understood and analyzed as literature. At the core of her study is the assertion that these sacrificial instructions and purity laws form the backbone of the Priestly story world, and that when these materials are read within their broader narrative context, the Priestly narrative is first and foremost a story about the origins and purpose of sacrifice.