Human Dignity, Education, and Political Society

A Philosophical Defense of the Liberal Arts

Edited by James Greenaway - Contributions by Glenn Hughes; John von Heyking; Rebecca LeMoine; Lee Trepanier; S. F. McGuire; Ann Ward; Carol Browning Cooper and Alex Ambrose

A life of liberty and responsibility does not just happen, but requires a particular kind of education, one that aims at both a growth of the human soul and an enrichment of political society in justice and the common good. This we call a liberal education. Forgetfulness of liberty is also a forgetfulness of the multi-dimensional nature of the human person, and a diminution of political life. Keeping in mind what can be lost when liberal education is lost, this volume makes the case for recovering what is perennially noble and good in the liberal arts, and why the liberal arts always have a role to play in human flourishing.

Each of the authors herein focuses on the connection of three primary themes: human dignity, liberal education, and political society. Intentionally rooted in the hub that joins the three themes, each author seeks to unfold the contemporary significance of that hub. As a whole, the volume explores how the three themes are crucial to each other: how they illuminate each other, how they need each other, and how the loss of one jeopardizes the wellbeing of the others. In individual chapters, the authors engage various relevant aspects of liberal education. As a result, the volume is organized into three parts: Liberal Education and a Life Well Lived; Thinkers on Dignity and Education in History; Contemporary Topics in Dignity and Education.

As education is increasingly channeled into an ever more narrow focus on technical specialization, and measured against professional success, students themselves face a maelstrom of campus politics and competing political orthodoxies. These are among the issues that tend to militate against the operative liberty of the student to think and to speak as a person. This edited collection is offered as an invitation to think again about the liberal arts in order to recover the meaning of education as the authentic pursuit of the good life or eudemonia.

Lexington Books

Pages: 258 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-7936-1100-0 • Hardback • July 2020 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-7936-1101-7 • eBook • July 2020 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Education / History, Education / Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects, Education / Higher

Human Dignity, Education, and Political Society

A Philosophical Defense of the Liberal Arts

Hardback

eBook

Summary

A life of liberty and responsibility does not just happen, but requires a particular kind of education, one that aims at both a growth of the human soul and an enrichment of political society in justice and the common good. This we call a liberal education. Forgetfulness of liberty is also a forgetfulness of the multi-dimensional nature of the human person, and a diminution of political life. Keeping in mind what can be lost when liberal education is lost, this volume makes the case for recovering what is perennially noble and good in the liberal arts, and why the liberal arts always have a role to play in human flourishing.

Each of the authors herein focuses on the connection of three primary themes: human dignity, liberal education, and political society. Intentionally rooted in the hub that joins the three themes, each author seeks to unfold the contemporary significance of that hub. As a whole, the volume explores how the three themes are crucial to each other: how they illuminate each other, how they need each other, and how the loss of one jeopardizes the wellbeing of the others. In individual chapters, the authors engage various relevant aspects of liberal education. As a result, the volume is organized into three parts: Liberal Education and a Life Well Lived; Thinkers on Dignity and Education in History; Contemporary Topics in Dignity and Education.

As education is increasingly channeled into an ever more narrow focus on technical specialization, and measured against professional success, students themselves face a maelstrom of campus politics and competing political orthodoxies. These are among the issues that tend to militate against the operative liberty of the student to think and to speak as a person. This edited collection is offered as an invitation to think again about the liberal arts in order to recover the meaning of education as the authentic pursuit of the good life or eudemonia.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 258 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-7936-1100-0 • Hardback • July 2020 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-7936-1101-7 • eBook • July 2020 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Education / History, Education / Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects, Education / Higher

Author

James Greenaway is associate professor of philosophy at St. Mary’s University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Liberal Education as Invitation, James Greenaway

Part I: Liberal Education and a Life Well Lived

Chapter One: Dignity, Equality, and Liberal Arts Education, Glenn Hughes

Chapter Two: Liberal Education and the Recovery of Personal and Political Existence, James Greenaway

Chapter Three: Liberal Education, Friendship, and the “Political Art in the True Sense”, John von Heyking

Part II: Thinkers on Dignity and Education in History

Chapter Four: Leisure and Human Dignity in Ancient Greek Political Thought, Rebecca LeMoine

Chapter Five: Medieval Dignity, Modern Education, Lee Trepanier

Chapter Six: Kant, Dignity, and Liberal Education in a Technological Age, S. F. McGuire

Part III: Contemporary Topics in Dignity and Education

Chapter Seven: Human Dignity, Sexual Equality and the Education of the Soul in Plato’s Republic, Ann Ward

Chapter Eight: Childhood as the Paradigm for Political Education, Carol Browning Cooper

Chapter Nine: Reconciled to the World: Campus Ministry Publishing in an Age of Identity Politics, Alex Ambrose

Reviews

Human Dignity, Education, and Political Society: A Philosophical Defense of the Liberal Arts examines the value of a person, a liberal arts education, and the political self. Today, liberal arts education faces demands to demonstrate its value as a skill-set in the workplace. The introduction of the book redirects our attention to the challenges in life that fall outside the workplace. It turns to the intrinsic value of life, the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge, the great ideas through history, and the liberating quality of a liberal arts education. The collection includes nine well-written essays, divided into three parts, by scholars representing a wide range of expertise. Part one examines a well-lived life, by discussing equality, politics, and friendship. Part two is historical, exploring dignity in ancient Greece, in the medieval period, and in the modern era. Part three turns to contemporary topics, sexual equality, childhood education, political engagement, and identity politics on the college campus. This book will inform and empower legislators, administrators, faculty, and staff in higher education to argue for the value of a liberal arts education. More broadly, this text will appeal to parents and students interested in educating the whole person.
— Kirk Fitzpatrick, Professor of Philosophy, Southern Utah University