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A Joyfully Serious Man
The brilliant but turbulent life of a public intellectual who transformed the social sciences Robert Bellah (1927–2013) was one of the most influential social scientists of the twentieth century. Trained as a sociologist, he crossed disciplinary boundaries in pursuit of a greater comprehension of religion as both a cultural phenomenon and a way to fathom the depths of the human condition. A Joyfully Serious Man is the definitive biography of this towering figure in modern intellectual life, and a revelatory portrait of a man who led an adventurous yet turbulent life. Drawing on Bellah's personal papers as well as in-depth interviews with those who knew him, Matteo Bortolini tells the story...
Theology Compromised
Theological work, whatever else it may be, is always a reflection on social transformations. Not only pastors but also theologians work with the sources of the Christian traditions in one hand and a newspaper in the other. But how are we to understand the relationship between social transformations and the continuously “compromised” development of Christian ideals, as these are measured by doctrinal formulations? And how might a more deeply sociological perspective on this relationship inform theological work? Matthew Ryan Robinson and Evan F. Kuehn approach this question, not by reconstructing a history of ideas, but rather by telling a story about the development of churches and theolo...
Under the Spell of Freedom
In Under the Spell of Freedom, Hans Joas deconstructs the grand Hegelian narrative of human history as the self-realization of the idea of freedom, setting as a counterpart the sketches of a theory of the emergence of moral universalism. He takes the classical views of Hegel and his emphasis on the role of Protestant Christianity and the extremely negative views about Christianity in the work of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to elaborate on this new understanding of religion and freedom, which encompasses a range of intellectual traditions and avoids Eurocentrism. Joas answers the empirical question of when, where, why, and how such a moral universalism emerged and developed.
The Creativity of Action
Hans Joas is one of the foremost social theorists in Germany today. Based on Joas’s celebrated study of George Herbert Mead, this work reevaluates the contribution of American pragmatism and European philosophical anthropology to theories of action in the social sciences. Joas also establishes direct ties between Mead’s work and approaches drawn from German traditions of philosophical anthropology. Joas argues for adding a third model of action to the two predominant models of rational and normative action—one that emphasizes the creative character of human action. This model encompasses the other two, allowing for a more comprehensive theory of action. Joas elaborates some implications of his model for theories of social movements and social change and for the status of action theory in sociology in the face of competition from theories advanced by Luhmann and Habermas. The problem of action is of crucial importance in both sociology and philosophy, and this book—already widely debated in Germany—will add fresh impetus to the lively discussions current in the English-speaking world.
Introduction to the Origins of Biolaw. A European Perspective
Scientific Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, , language: English, abstract: In a society which practically values commercial productivity above almost all else, the right to life and human dignity of the weak, sick and infirm is increasingly at risk. This leads to an increasing debate of the concept of human dignity. Deeply rooted in philosophical, moral and religious ideas, human dignity is a concept which can be difficult to access for lawyers. At the same time it has been given pride of place in a number of legal systems, including in Article 1 of the German Constitution, the basic law. It also provides the fundament of international human rights treaties such as the European Convention on Human Rights. In this essay, some of the ideas behind human dignity as a concept are explained against the backdrop of both modern biolaw and international human rights.
The German Empire and Britain's Pacific Dominions, 1871-1919
Contains 25 essays written primarily by Australian and New Zealand historians, organized into three sections: the perceptions and policies of the great powers during the period from 1870 to 1919; the view of the world as perceived both by the Pacific Dominions and by the rising imperial power of Japan; and the complex character of the political culture of Imperial Germany and Australia's historiography on Dominion participation in WWI. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR
Jürgen Habermas: The foundations of Habermas's project
While the Frankfurt School's object of critique was culture (media, representation, thought), Habermas moved cultural critique toward social criticism and social solution, that is, society in terms of the workplace, language use, and the formation of social bodies. This volume begins with Habermas's development within the Frankfurt School (he was Adorno's assistant): his theories of alienated consumption and communicative action, and his defense of the unfinished Modernist project against the glossier postmodernism. Habermas then moved into law and politics, taking positions on the public sphere, democratic theory, culture and society, and feminism. Also discussed are Habermas's writings on ...
The ^APower of the Sacred
In The Power of the Sacred, Hans Joas develops a new sociological theory of religion by reconstructing existing scientific theories of religion, from the eighteenth century to the present. Through a critical reading and reasssessment of key texts, Joas proposes an alternative to the narratives of disenchantment and secularization which have dominated debates on the topic. He further offers the most thorough reconstruction of the meaning of this concept, demonstrates how problematic it is for an appropriate understanding of religion in modernity, and presents the basic features of an alternative.
The Active Society Revisited
The Active Society, published in 1968, is the most ambitious book in Amitai Etzioni's remarkable career. In this new collection of essays, Wilson Carey McWilliams brings together scholars in a range of disciplines to analyze the significance and shortcomings of this important work.
The Genesis of Values
One of the most important issues in public and academic debate is the concept of value and the difficulty in defining it. In this new book, the leading social theorist Hans Joas explores the nature of values in relation to some of the leading figures of twentieth-century philosophy and social theory. Seeking to synthesize utilitarian and normativist approaches, Joas argues that only by appreciating the creative nature of human action can we understand how values and value commitments arise. Values, Joas suggests, arise in experiences of self-formation and self-transcendence. He arrives at this thesis by tracing the tensions in the work of thinkers including Friedrich Nietzsche, William James...
