Jean Bethke Elshtain and Christopher Beem
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294962
- eISBN:
- 9780191598708
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294964.003.0016
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
For most Americans, intense sectarian commitments embodied in congregations were central and helped to fuel the penchant for political liberty. The replacement of citizenship with a state-sanctioned, ...
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For most Americans, intense sectarian commitments embodied in congregations were central and helped to fuel the penchant for political liberty. The replacement of citizenship with a state-sanctioned, consumerist-driven, perpetual childhood also explains our willingness, even eagerness, to orient our politics according to the dictates of pity–that is, the uncritical embrace of the victim. What we are seeing in this child-mindedness, this domestication of political imagery, is the reversal of the old standard in loco parentis: in the arenas of mental health, sexuality, values, we are all at sea, it seems, until others have clarified matters for us. As the epistemological status of civic claims has declined, it has become ever more difficult to counter the ethos of the “neutral” state; unless we can say that we understand that the good we seek reflects a truth, and that the grounds for that belief are universally accessible to all persons of good will, then there are no grounds for avoiding the counter-charge of coercion. Even the most ardent defenders of the procedural republic accept that democratic government requires a modicum of what is usually labeled civic virtue, but can one celebrate the idea of freedom as self-government without claiming that self-government and its exercise is good for its own sake?Less
For most Americans, intense sectarian commitments embodied in congregations were central and helped to fuel the penchant for political liberty. The replacement of citizenship with a state-sanctioned, consumerist-driven, perpetual childhood also explains our willingness, even eagerness, to orient our politics according to the dictates of pity–that is, the uncritical embrace of the victim. What we are seeing in this child-mindedness, this domestication of political imagery, is the reversal of the old standard in loco parentis: in the arenas of mental health, sexuality, values, we are all at sea, it seems, until others have clarified matters for us. As the epistemological status of civic claims has declined, it has become ever more difficult to counter the ethos of the “neutral” state; unless we can say that we understand that the good we seek reflects a truth, and that the grounds for that belief are universally accessible to all persons of good will, then there are no grounds for avoiding the counter-charge of coercion. Even the most ardent defenders of the procedural republic accept that democratic government requires a modicum of what is usually labeled civic virtue, but can one celebrate the idea of freedom as self-government without claiming that self-government and its exercise is good for its own sake?
Dorota M. Dutsch
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199533381
- eISBN:
- 9780191714757
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533381.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Ancient scholiasts and modern scholars have long been aware of a specialized feminine vocabulary (terms of endearment, a special word for ‘please’, and interjections) used by the authors of Roman ...
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Ancient scholiasts and modern scholars have long been aware of a specialized feminine vocabulary (terms of endearment, a special word for ‘please’, and interjections) used by the authors of Roman comedy. This study investigates the cultural implications of these linguistic choices for female characters. Lexical mannerisms are, it emerges, only one manifestation of a larger tendency to portray women as disregarding of interpersonal boundaries and moral principles in their attitudes towards others and themselves. Yet comedy also employs allegedly feminine features of speech as a way to undermine masculine identities, creating ambiguous figures such as the comic lover. Conversely, masculine points of view are often grafted onto the speech of comedic women. Most comedic roles thus represent both the dominant cultural discourse (male) and the voices this discourse attempts to exclude (female). The tension between these voices, which constitutes an implicit theme in the first half of this study, takes center stage in the second half. This part of the book explores the interfaces between the feminine discourses of Roman comedy and other ancient perceptions about gender and speech. Contemporary Roman notions of gender and boundaries, and Plautus' use of bacchanalia as a metaphor for acting, come into focus first. The narrative moves further away from Plautus and Terence, to examine Greek and Roman assumptions about identity and language, and then moves to propose that the Platonic concept of the chôra is a particularly useful lens for examining the feminine in Roman comedy.Less
Ancient scholiasts and modern scholars have long been aware of a specialized feminine vocabulary (terms of endearment, a special word for ‘please’, and interjections) used by the authors of Roman comedy. This study investigates the cultural implications of these linguistic choices for female characters. Lexical mannerisms are, it emerges, only one manifestation of a larger tendency to portray women as disregarding of interpersonal boundaries and moral principles in their attitudes towards others and themselves. Yet comedy also employs allegedly feminine features of speech as a way to undermine masculine identities, creating ambiguous figures such as the comic lover. Conversely, masculine points of view are often grafted onto the speech of comedic women. Most comedic roles thus represent both the dominant cultural discourse (male) and the voices this discourse attempts to exclude (female). The tension between these voices, which constitutes an implicit theme in the first half of this study, takes center stage in the second half. This part of the book explores the interfaces between the feminine discourses of Roman comedy and other ancient perceptions about gender and speech. Contemporary Roman notions of gender and boundaries, and Plautus' use of bacchanalia as a metaphor for acting, come into focus first. The narrative moves further away from Plautus and Terence, to examine Greek and Roman assumptions about identity and language, and then moves to propose that the Platonic concept of the chôra is a particularly useful lens for examining the feminine in Roman comedy.
Michael L. Frazer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390667
- eISBN:
- 9780199866687
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390667.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter elucidates the main ways in which Adam Smith’s sentimentalist theory of justice departs from Hume’s. It begins with an objection to grounding political commitments in sympathetic ...
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This chapter elucidates the main ways in which Adam Smith’s sentimentalist theory of justice departs from Hume’s. It begins with an objection to grounding political commitments in sympathetic sentiments voiced in the twentieth century by Hannah Arendt and John Rawls. Both Arendt and Rawls are concerned that, if our politics is inspired by a sense of sympathetic union with our fellow human beings, we will overlook the all-important distinctions among individuals necessary for an adequate conception of justice. The remainder of the chapter argues that, even if Hume’s sentimentalist theory of justice is liable to this criticism, Smith’s alternative theory is not. Smith’s is a distinctively liberal, rights-based conception of justice grounded in an understanding of sympathy and the moral sentiments which fully appreciates the distinctions among individuals in a way that Hume’s public-interest-based theory fails to do.Less
This chapter elucidates the main ways in which Adam Smith’s sentimentalist theory of justice departs from Hume’s. It begins with an objection to grounding political commitments in sympathetic sentiments voiced in the twentieth century by Hannah Arendt and John Rawls. Both Arendt and Rawls are concerned that, if our politics is inspired by a sense of sympathetic union with our fellow human beings, we will overlook the all-important distinctions among individuals necessary for an adequate conception of justice. The remainder of the chapter argues that, even if Hume’s sentimentalist theory of justice is liable to this criticism, Smith’s alternative theory is not. Smith’s is a distinctively liberal, rights-based conception of justice grounded in an understanding of sympathy and the moral sentiments which fully appreciates the distinctions among individuals in a way that Hume’s public-interest-based theory fails to do.
Lesel Dawson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199266128
- eISBN:
- 9780191708688
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199266128.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, Women's Literature
This chapter explores the ways in which the discourse of Platonic love and erotic melancholy advance different ideas about sexuality within amorous relationships and promote incompatible gender power ...
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This chapter explores the ways in which the discourse of Platonic love and erotic melancholy advance different ideas about sexuality within amorous relationships and promote incompatible gender power hierarchies. It begins with a discussion of the construction of love according to Neoplatonisms, before turning to an examination of two plays written during the Caroline period, when the cult of Platonic love was at its height. In ᾽Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ford depicts Giovanni's incestuous love for his sister as a type of Platonic mirroring which is also a form of narcissism. Alternatively, in The Platonic Lovers Davenant uses the hazardous physical symptoms of lovesickness to challenge the Neoplatonic construction of love, promoting a notion of heterosexual desire that is physiological and sexual, rather than abstract and spiritual.Less
This chapter explores the ways in which the discourse of Platonic love and erotic melancholy advance different ideas about sexuality within amorous relationships and promote incompatible gender power hierarchies. It begins with a discussion of the construction of love according to Neoplatonisms, before turning to an examination of two plays written during the Caroline period, when the cult of Platonic love was at its height. In ᾽Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ford depicts Giovanni's incestuous love for his sister as a type of Platonic mirroring which is also a form of narcissism. Alternatively, in The Platonic Lovers Davenant uses the hazardous physical symptoms of lovesickness to challenge the Neoplatonic construction of love, promoting a notion of heterosexual desire that is physiological and sexual, rather than abstract and spiritual.
Elliot Kendall
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199542642
- eISBN:
- 9780191715419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199542642.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
The book's final chapter explores the theorization and narrative representation of kingship in Confessio Amantis Book Seven. It contextualises Book Seven in relation to salient ideas of medieval ...
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The book's final chapter explores the theorization and narrative representation of kingship in Confessio Amantis Book Seven. It contextualises Book Seven in relation to salient ideas of medieval kingship, particularly involving counsel and Aristotelian theory of princely virtues and princely reason. The chapter argues that deep contradictions are produced by Book Seven's attempt to secure an ideal of uncentralized, ‘reciprocalist’ politics by means of royal sovereignty. These contradictions are concentrated in the curious, violent representation of royal pity in Book Seven. In the discussion of pity, kingship thus tends towards ‘magnificence’, although it is elsewhere more securely reciprocalist.Less
The book's final chapter explores the theorization and narrative representation of kingship in Confessio Amantis Book Seven. It contextualises Book Seven in relation to salient ideas of medieval kingship, particularly involving counsel and Aristotelian theory of princely virtues and princely reason. The chapter argues that deep contradictions are produced by Book Seven's attempt to secure an ideal of uncentralized, ‘reciprocalist’ politics by means of royal sovereignty. These contradictions are concentrated in the curious, violent representation of royal pity in Book Seven. In the discussion of pity, kingship thus tends towards ‘magnificence’, although it is elsewhere more securely reciprocalist.
Victoria Wohl
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691166506
- eISBN:
- 9781400866403
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691166506.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter asks about the ethics of (lyric and structural) beauty and the politics of pathos in two plays, Trojan Women and Hecuba. The first, Trojan Women, presents a tale of unmitigated misery ...
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This chapter asks about the ethics of (lyric and structural) beauty and the politics of pathos in two plays, Trojan Women and Hecuba. The first, Trojan Women, presents a tale of unmitigated misery and renders it self-consciously beautiful. But how are we to watch this sublime suffering? The play won't let us maintain a safe spectatorial distance; it demands that we watch with pity, but also suggests the insufficiency of that response. Our tears do no good. The insufficiency of pity is also a central theme of the second play, Hecuba. Here pity is shown to be not only politically ineffectual, but in fact morally dangerous: the beauty of tragic suffering generates a perverse investment in that suffering itself, and our longing for the beautiful symmetry of justice makes us complicit in a vicious act of injustice. Both plays thus propose that aesthetic judgments bear ethical and political consequences, but neither takes it for granted that beauty will make us just.Less
This chapter asks about the ethics of (lyric and structural) beauty and the politics of pathos in two plays, Trojan Women and Hecuba. The first, Trojan Women, presents a tale of unmitigated misery and renders it self-consciously beautiful. But how are we to watch this sublime suffering? The play won't let us maintain a safe spectatorial distance; it demands that we watch with pity, but also suggests the insufficiency of that response. Our tears do no good. The insufficiency of pity is also a central theme of the second play, Hecuba. Here pity is shown to be not only politically ineffectual, but in fact morally dangerous: the beauty of tragic suffering generates a perverse investment in that suffering itself, and our longing for the beautiful symmetry of justice makes us complicit in a vicious act of injustice. Both plays thus propose that aesthetic judgments bear ethical and political consequences, but neither takes it for granted that beauty will make us just.
Mark Philp and Z. A. Pelczynski
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199645060
- eISBN:
- 9780191741616
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199645060.003.0016
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Plamenatz distinguishes between the freedom secured in the Social Contract (freedom in a just society) and Emile (the freedom of the just man in the unjust society) and inquires whether a just man in ...
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Plamenatz distinguishes between the freedom secured in the Social Contract (freedom in a just society) and Emile (the freedom of the just man in the unjust society) and inquires whether a just man in an unjust society can really be free. Rousseau suggestion that only just principles can be rational and stable is examined, alongside the idea that morality is rational. Much that Rousseau says seems to root morality in feeling, rather than reason, but he also has a conception of an ordered life, lived in accord with coherent and realistic principles and pursuing coherent aims in conditions of equality, and that view, particularly the concern with equality, is more contentious. So too is the suggestion that the rich are more than ordinarily subject to vanity and are thus necessarily unfree.Less
Plamenatz distinguishes between the freedom secured in the Social Contract (freedom in a just society) and Emile (the freedom of the just man in the unjust society) and inquires whether a just man in an unjust society can really be free. Rousseau suggestion that only just principles can be rational and stable is examined, alongside the idea that morality is rational. Much that Rousseau says seems to root morality in feeling, rather than reason, but he also has a conception of an ordered life, lived in accord with coherent and realistic principles and pursuing coherent aims in conditions of equality, and that view, particularly the concern with equality, is more contentious. So too is the suggestion that the rich are more than ordinarily subject to vanity and are thus necessarily unfree.
A. C. Spearing
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198187240
- eISBN:
- 9780191719035
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187240.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter turns from narrative to lyric, traditionally seen as expressing its writer’s own feelings. The ‘sincerity-topos’ is studied in the troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn and as embodied in ...
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This chapter turns from narrative to lyric, traditionally seen as expressing its writer’s own feelings. The ‘sincerity-topos’ is studied in the troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn and as embodied in late-medieval English love lyrics. Analyses of lovers’ complaints reveal their increasing awareness of their textual nature; some function as dramatic monologues, but others undermine the illusion of a speaker’s voice and presence. The chapter concludes with a detailed analysis of Chaucer’s Complaint Unto Pity, demonstrating that the effect of its organization about a sovereign centre, its allegorical wit, and its incorporation of a textual petition can be valued only if it is read as writing, incorporating two incompatible discourses, not as the speech of a single narratorial persona.Less
This chapter turns from narrative to lyric, traditionally seen as expressing its writer’s own feelings. The ‘sincerity-topos’ is studied in the troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn and as embodied in late-medieval English love lyrics. Analyses of lovers’ complaints reveal their increasing awareness of their textual nature; some function as dramatic monologues, but others undermine the illusion of a speaker’s voice and presence. The chapter concludes with a detailed analysis of Chaucer’s Complaint Unto Pity, demonstrating that the effect of its organization about a sovereign centre, its allegorical wit, and its incorporation of a textual petition can be valued only if it is read as writing, incorporating two incompatible discourses, not as the speech of a single narratorial persona.
Martin Wiggins
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112280
- eISBN:
- 9780191670749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112280.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
In the period of nearly three decades between The Duchess of Malfi and the closure of the theatres in 1642, only one play made important and original use of the assassin: Thomas Middleton and William ...
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In the period of nearly three decades between The Duchess of Malfi and the closure of the theatres in 1642, only one play made important and original use of the assassin: Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's The Changeling. It is a treatment very different from John Webster's. Beatrice and De Flores who are, if anything, even more central than Flamineo and Bosola: the murder of Beatrice's fiancé Piracquo is the subject of the play. But whereas Webster was interested in the human experience of being a hired murderer, this play deals with the situation of using one. There are only a few other substantial treatments of the assassin from the late Jacobean and Caroline period: Philip Massinger's The Duke of Milan and John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. A number of plays recycled aspects of the characters of Webster's assassins. The gradual exclusion of hired murderers from these plays offers a context with which to best understand the decline of the stage assassin in the 1620s and 1630s.Less
In the period of nearly three decades between The Duchess of Malfi and the closure of the theatres in 1642, only one play made important and original use of the assassin: Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's The Changeling. It is a treatment very different from John Webster's. Beatrice and De Flores who are, if anything, even more central than Flamineo and Bosola: the murder of Beatrice's fiancé Piracquo is the subject of the play. But whereas Webster was interested in the human experience of being a hired murderer, this play deals with the situation of using one. There are only a few other substantial treatments of the assassin from the late Jacobean and Caroline period: Philip Massinger's The Duke of Milan and John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. A number of plays recycled aspects of the characters of Webster's assassins. The gradual exclusion of hired murderers from these plays offers a context with which to best understand the decline of the stage assassin in the 1620s and 1630s.
Caroline Franklin
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112303
- eISBN:
- 9780191670763
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112303.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
In both Marino Faliero and The Two Foscari, Lord Byron's heroes exemplify that notion of self-controlled manliness which emanated from an 18th-century interpretation of the classical tradition of ...
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In both Marino Faliero and The Two Foscari, Lord Byron's heroes exemplify that notion of self-controlled manliness which emanated from an 18th-century interpretation of the classical tradition of Stoicism. The virtue — or more properly virtù — of a great man guaranteed that public life was free from the corruption of the feminine. In both the Venetian plays, therefore, the sexual temptation of women must be repressed — Faliero's marriage is platonic. Marino Faliero's actions are designed to demonstrate the interrelatedness of masculine virtù and feminine virtue in the gendered republic. The women of the Venetian plays are proud, aristocratic republican matrons. In both plays Byron attempts to innovate by giving the heroine a more lofty role than merely the focusing of pity. Angiolina and Marina are articulate, rational, and in control of their emotions. The ‘feminine’ subjectivity of the heroines of the plays now lies in their capacity for value judgement.Less
In both Marino Faliero and The Two Foscari, Lord Byron's heroes exemplify that notion of self-controlled manliness which emanated from an 18th-century interpretation of the classical tradition of Stoicism. The virtue — or more properly virtù — of a great man guaranteed that public life was free from the corruption of the feminine. In both the Venetian plays, therefore, the sexual temptation of women must be repressed — Faliero's marriage is platonic. Marino Faliero's actions are designed to demonstrate the interrelatedness of masculine virtù and feminine virtue in the gendered republic. The women of the Venetian plays are proud, aristocratic republican matrons. In both plays Byron attempts to innovate by giving the heroine a more lofty role than merely the focusing of pity. Angiolina and Marina are articulate, rational, and in control of their emotions. The ‘feminine’ subjectivity of the heroines of the plays now lies in their capacity for value judgement.
Colin Burrow
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117940
- eISBN:
- 9780191671135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117940.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This book relates the whole tradition of epic romance back to Homer's poems Iliad and Odyssey. The core notion of this book is that both poems present a structure of emotion that is extremely hard to ...
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This book relates the whole tradition of epic romance back to Homer's poems Iliad and Odyssey. The core notion of this book is that both poems present a structure of emotion that is extremely hard to grasp; that they are both —with differing emphases, certainly, and with different priorities of representation—concerned with the nature of sympathy, and its relation to complex social rituals such as guest-friendship and supplication. Homeric pity has a multiplicity of aspects; at one moment a character pities another because of some perceived analogy between his or her condition and that of the sufferer, while at another, pity arises from a sense that there is a contingent affinity between two characters, that the pitiers know that they could be like the pitied at some future time, or that both parties share their subjection to death.Less
This book relates the whole tradition of epic romance back to Homer's poems Iliad and Odyssey. The core notion of this book is that both poems present a structure of emotion that is extremely hard to grasp; that they are both —with differing emphases, certainly, and with different priorities of representation—concerned with the nature of sympathy, and its relation to complex social rituals such as guest-friendship and supplication. Homeric pity has a multiplicity of aspects; at one moment a character pities another because of some perceived analogy between his or her condition and that of the sufferer, while at another, pity arises from a sense that there is a contingent affinity between two characters, that the pitiers know that they could be like the pitied at some future time, or that both parties share their subjection to death.
Colin Burrow
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117940
- eISBN:
- 9780191671135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117940.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
Each stage of John Milton's private musings moves with a drifting certainty towards the next stage of his deliberations, and the whole process seems to point towards an Arthurian romance. However, a ...
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Each stage of John Milton's private musings moves with a drifting certainty towards the next stage of his deliberations, and the whole process seems to point towards an Arthurian romance. However, a hard look at other passages in Milton's early writings where he actually envisages the subject-matter of earlier romance narratives—love, pitiful digressions, warriors leaving or not leaving ladies, heroes succumbing to love—indicates that he had little affection for the materials of romance. Homeric compassion leaves not a trace on Milton's view of the scene. And not civic virtue, nor martial furor keeps Hector fighting; but shame is the spur. Milton avoids the sentimental revision of Homer, and sidesteps the galloping rush of ‘piety’ towards ‘pity’ by yoking it with justice. However, the qualities with which he replaces these tender passions are alien to romance narrative forms.Less
Each stage of John Milton's private musings moves with a drifting certainty towards the next stage of his deliberations, and the whole process seems to point towards an Arthurian romance. However, a hard look at other passages in Milton's early writings where he actually envisages the subject-matter of earlier romance narratives—love, pitiful digressions, warriors leaving or not leaving ladies, heroes succumbing to love—indicates that he had little affection for the materials of romance. Homeric compassion leaves not a trace on Milton's view of the scene. And not civic virtue, nor martial furor keeps Hector fighting; but shame is the spur. Milton avoids the sentimental revision of Homer, and sidesteps the galloping rush of ‘piety’ towards ‘pity’ by yoking it with justice. However, the qualities with which he replaces these tender passions are alien to romance narrative forms.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780195145502
- eISBN:
- 9780199834969
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019514550X.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
What is compassion? I suggest that it is, as Adam Smith and David Hume once argued, a moral sentiment that is subject to a great many constraints and variations but is nonetheless “natural.” I also ...
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What is compassion? I suggest that it is, as Adam Smith and David Hume once argued, a moral sentiment that is subject to a great many constraints and variations but is nonetheless “natural.” I also consider Nietzsche's rather vehement attack on Mitleid (pity) and current social psychological literature on empathy.Less
What is compassion? I suggest that it is, as Adam Smith and David Hume once argued, a moral sentiment that is subject to a great many constraints and variations but is nonetheless “natural.” I also consider Nietzsche's rather vehement attack on Mitleid (pity) and current social psychological literature on empathy.
Walter Lowrie
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157771
- eISBN:
- 9781400845972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157771.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter tells the story of Kierkegaard's ill-fated courtship with Regina Olsen. It deals with Kierkegaard's mindset at the time and how he had coped with the challenges to his fleeting romance. ...
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This chapter tells the story of Kierkegaard's ill-fated courtship with Regina Olsen. It deals with Kierkegaard's mindset at the time and how he had coped with the challenges to his fleeting romance. The chapter covers five distinct periods of the courtship as delineated by Kierkegaard himself—from the first few months of the engagement, during which time Kierkegaard had been especially chivalrous and charming to Olsen, to Kierkegaard's own attempt to break it off, by attempting to wean her from him by pretending that he was a scoundrel who had only been playing with her affections. To conclude, the chapter forms comparisons between Kierkegaard and Hamlet, and invites the reader to engage in a purifying, Aristotelian “pity” for this unfortunate chapter in Kierkegaard's life.Less
This chapter tells the story of Kierkegaard's ill-fated courtship with Regina Olsen. It deals with Kierkegaard's mindset at the time and how he had coped with the challenges to his fleeting romance. The chapter covers five distinct periods of the courtship as delineated by Kierkegaard himself—from the first few months of the engagement, during which time Kierkegaard had been especially chivalrous and charming to Olsen, to Kierkegaard's own attempt to break it off, by attempting to wean her from him by pretending that he was a scoundrel who had only been playing with her affections. To conclude, the chapter forms comparisons between Kierkegaard and Hamlet, and invites the reader to engage in a purifying, Aristotelian “pity” for this unfortunate chapter in Kierkegaard's life.
Philippa Foot
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199252862
- eISBN:
- 9780191597435
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199252866.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Few philosophers in recent years have attempted to refute Friedrich Nietzsche's attack on Christian and other moralities. Nietzsche sees the morality derived from Christianity as harmful because it ...
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Few philosophers in recent years have attempted to refute Friedrich Nietzsche's attack on Christian and other moralities. Nietzsche sees the morality derived from Christianity as harmful because it is slavish, rooted in weakness, fear, malice, and a desire for punishment of oneself and others. He sees the preoccupation with others through pity and charity as a sign of spiritual ill health and argues that we should value the strong; hence his concept of the Übermensch, or Superman. The author criticizes these views.Less
Few philosophers in recent years have attempted to refute Friedrich Nietzsche's attack on Christian and other moralities. Nietzsche sees the morality derived from Christianity as harmful because it is slavish, rooted in weakness, fear, malice, and a desire for punishment of oneself and others. He sees the preoccupation with others through pity and charity as a sign of spiritual ill health and argues that we should value the strong; hence his concept of the Übermensch, or Superman. The author criticizes these views.
Ruth Abbey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195134087
- eISBN:
- 9780199785766
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195134087.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Just as he points to the power of egoism, so Friedrich Nietzsche is notorious for being a critic of pity. This chapter explores the dangers he detects in pity and its cognate emotions such as ...
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Just as he points to the power of egoism, so Friedrich Nietzsche is notorious for being a critic of pity. This chapter explores the dangers he detects in pity and its cognate emotions such as sympathy, empathy, and benevolence, in the middle period writings. The commonplace view that Nietzsche holds all such drives in contempt is questioned by a careful study of the middle period’s more nuanced portrayals of these emotions. While Nietzsche condemns the Christian-inspired morality of pity, he does not see all manifestations of fellow-feeling as base or spurious. The influence of La Rochefoucauld’s analysis of pity is discussed, and Nietzsche’s reflections of how to react to the suffering of a friend are also explored.Less
Just as he points to the power of egoism, so Friedrich Nietzsche is notorious for being a critic of pity. This chapter explores the dangers he detects in pity and its cognate emotions such as sympathy, empathy, and benevolence, in the middle period writings. The commonplace view that Nietzsche holds all such drives in contempt is questioned by a careful study of the middle period’s more nuanced portrayals of these emotions. While Nietzsche condemns the Christian-inspired morality of pity, he does not see all manifestations of fellow-feeling as base or spurious. The influence of La Rochefoucauld’s analysis of pity is discussed, and Nietzsche’s reflections of how to react to the suffering of a friend are also explored.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195160147
- eISBN:
- 9780199835065
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195160142.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
In this chapter, I discuss why resentment (ressentiment) is so important to Nietzsche’s theory and what is wrong with it. I also discuss Nietzsche on love and pity and his several metaphors of ...
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In this chapter, I discuss why resentment (ressentiment) is so important to Nietzsche’s theory and what is wrong with it. I also discuss Nietzsche on love and pity and his several metaphors of strength and weakness, masters and slaves, eagles and lambs, health and illness.Less
In this chapter, I discuss why resentment (ressentiment) is so important to Nietzsche’s theory and what is wrong with it. I also discuss Nietzsche on love and pity and his several metaphors of strength and weakness, masters and slaves, eagles and lambs, health and illness.
Philippa Foot
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198235088
- eISBN:
- 9780191597428
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198235089.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Foot discusses Nietzsche's immoralism in the light of the foregoing account of moral evaluation. She begins with a preliminary account of Plato's response to immoralism in the first two books of the ...
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Foot discusses Nietzsche's immoralism in the light of the foregoing account of moral evaluation. She begins with a preliminary account of Plato's response to immoralism in the first two books of the Republic. Foot distinguishes three theses in Nietzsche that may be called ‘immoralist’: the denial of free will, the attack on Christian or ‘pity’ morality, and the denial of intrinsic badness in acts; she discusses only the latter two. Regarding the attack on Christian morality, Foot argues that Nietzsche got the facts about human life wrong; regarding the claim that an act was right or wrong only in relation to the nature of the person who performs the act, Foot argues that this is a poisonous doctrine that has no sound basis in psychology. She concludes that Nietzsche's revaluation of all values might be valid for a different species, but cannot be valid for human beings.Less
Foot discusses Nietzsche's immoralism in the light of the foregoing account of moral evaluation. She begins with a preliminary account of Plato's response to immoralism in the first two books of the Republic. Foot distinguishes three theses in Nietzsche that may be called ‘immoralist’: the denial of free will, the attack on Christian or ‘pity’ morality, and the denial of intrinsic badness in acts; she discusses only the latter two. Regarding the attack on Christian morality, Foot argues that Nietzsche got the facts about human life wrong; regarding the claim that an act was right or wrong only in relation to the nature of the person who performs the act, Foot argues that this is a poisonous doctrine that has no sound basis in psychology. She concludes that Nietzsche's revaluation of all values might be valid for a different species, but cannot be valid for human beings.
John Richardson
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195171037
- eISBN:
- 9780199786084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195171039.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter focuses on Nietzsche's ethics and politics. It considers the particular genealogies Nietzsche gives for pity and altruism; his genealogies generally proceed through two stages: natural ...
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This chapter focuses on Nietzsche's ethics and politics. It considers the particular genealogies Nietzsche gives for pity and altruism; his genealogies generally proceed through two stages: natural and social selection. Whether/how those social virtues get selected naturally and how they are then exapted by social selection are examined. This Nietzschean story is compared with the Social Darwinists' account of how morality evolves. These Darwinists hold that the development of these social virtues represents “progress”, and that it shows us the way to progress still further. Nietzsche vehemently rejects this claim about progress, and even seems to dispute whether the notion itself is coherent. It is argued that his critique of progress leaves untouched kinds of personal and social progress in which he still believes. Nietzsche's ethical and political revaluings are discussed.Less
This chapter focuses on Nietzsche's ethics and politics. It considers the particular genealogies Nietzsche gives for pity and altruism; his genealogies generally proceed through two stages: natural and social selection. Whether/how those social virtues get selected naturally and how they are then exapted by social selection are examined. This Nietzschean story is compared with the Social Darwinists' account of how morality evolves. These Darwinists hold that the development of these social virtues represents “progress”, and that it shows us the way to progress still further. Nietzsche vehemently rejects this claim about progress, and even seems to dispute whether the notion itself is coherent. It is argued that his critique of progress leaves untouched kinds of personal and social progress in which he still believes. Nietzsche's ethical and political revaluings are discussed.
Michael Winterbottom
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198152804
- eISBN:
- 9780191715143
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198152804.003.0009
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The peroration was the last part of an oration, and typically would have been preceded by proem, narrative, and proofs. This articulation of a speech had been canonical for centuries before the time ...
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The peroration was the last part of an oration, and typically would have been preceded by proem, narrative, and proofs. This articulation of a speech had been canonical for centuries before the time of Cicero. Around 80 BC, Cicero came to write his youthful De Inventione, he passed on from some Greek source the recommendation assumed in the Palamedes, that a peroration should contain a recapitulation and arousal of pity. His schema only becomes tripartite because anger is given equal weight with pity. The logical step was to produce a twofold scheme, where recapitulation was balanced by arousal of emotion in general; and that is what is found in Cicero's later Partitiones Oratoriae, as well as in later writers like Quintilian. This chapter discusses Cicero's actual perorations without much attention to the precepts he or others laid down for them.Less
The peroration was the last part of an oration, and typically would have been preceded by proem, narrative, and proofs. This articulation of a speech had been canonical for centuries before the time of Cicero. Around 80 BC, Cicero came to write his youthful De Inventione, he passed on from some Greek source the recommendation assumed in the Palamedes, that a peroration should contain a recapitulation and arousal of pity. His schema only becomes tripartite because anger is given equal weight with pity. The logical step was to produce a twofold scheme, where recapitulation was balanced by arousal of emotion in general; and that is what is found in Cicero's later Partitiones Oratoriae, as well as in later writers like Quintilian. This chapter discusses Cicero's actual perorations without much attention to the precepts he or others laid down for them.
