| ISBN |
9781647921972 (paperback) |
|
9781647921989 (pdf) |
|
9781647921996 (epub) |
| Märkused |
Sisaldab bibliograafiat ja registrit |
|
"Humanity faces many pressing societal predicaments in the twenty-first century. These problems range from climate change, globalization and poverty, to managing pandemics, population aging, novel technologies (e.g. genome editing, artificial intelligence, etc.) and redressing historical and contemporary injustices (e.g. pertaining to colonialism, slavery and patriarchy). With so many pressing predicaments to address, one might be sceptical of the suggestion that engaging with the thinkers of the past can serve a critical pedagogical function for students in the humanities and social sciences today. "To tackle today's societal problems we must think cogently, creatively and ambitiously" the sceptic might reasonably contend. "We need forward, not backward-looking, thinking" our sceptic would assert. I agree with the claim that the problems of today require cogent, creative and ambitious forward-looking thinking. But I believe our sceptic is guilty of making a false dichotomy when they maintain that we must chose between the ideas of the past or those of the future, as if these two things are distinct and unrelated. Following John Dewey's sentiment in the passage above, I also believe the past can teach us many important lessons, such as revealing the mistakes we are prone to make in both diagnosing our societal problems, as well as how best to confront them. This book is written from the conviction that critically engaging with the past thinkers addressed in this book can serve an important, twenty-first century, pedagogical function. Fortunately for us, the ideas of the historical thinkers covered in this book-- which range from the Ancient Greeks and the social contract tradition, to conservatism, feminism, Black Political Thought, utilitarianism, and Marx-- offer a rich and varied treasure trove of cogent, creative and ambitious (as well as fallible, erroneous and short-sighted) political ideas. There is much we can learn from the way past thinkers grappled with what they saw as the pressing problems of their day"-- Provided by publisher |
| Märksõnad |
politoloogia
|
|
poliitiline filosoofia
|
|
poliitilised teooriad
|
| UDK |
32
|
|
