Daniel B. Schwartz
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142913
- eISBN:
- 9781400842261
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142913.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This concluding chapter considers the current vogue in appropriations of Spinoza. Broadly speaking, the chapter finds in the recent literature two basic positions on Spinoza's place in the world of ...
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This concluding chapter considers the current vogue in appropriations of Spinoza. Broadly speaking, the chapter finds in the recent literature two basic positions on Spinoza's place in the world of Jewish secularism: the “presentists,” who seek to vouch for Spinoza's anticipation of the modern, secular Jew and drive home his relevance to the contemporary culture wars; and the “contextualists,” who look askance at interpretations of Spinoza as a Jewish precursor, judging such readings guilty of everything from historical anachronism at the very least to a groundless “Judaizing” of the Amsterdam philosopher more problematically. This chapter, as with the rest of this volume, maintains a contextualist stance, and discusses this position in more depth in the larger context of the contemporary revival of Spinoza in modern Jewish culture.Less
This concluding chapter considers the current vogue in appropriations of Spinoza. Broadly speaking, the chapter finds in the recent literature two basic positions on Spinoza's place in the world of Jewish secularism: the “presentists,” who seek to vouch for Spinoza's anticipation of the modern, secular Jew and drive home his relevance to the contemporary culture wars; and the “contextualists,” who look askance at interpretations of Spinoza as a Jewish precursor, judging such readings guilty of everything from historical anachronism at the very least to a groundless “Judaizing” of the Amsterdam philosopher more problematically. This chapter, as with the rest of this volume, maintains a contextualist stance, and discusses this position in more depth in the larger context of the contemporary revival of Spinoza in modern Jewish culture.
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780853238058
- eISBN:
- 9781846312960
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853238058.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This part of the book focuses on the theoretical and methodological preparation for the discourse analysis of the construction of sociology. It discusses the rationale for considering sociology as ...
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This part of the book focuses on the theoretical and methodological preparation for the discourse analysis of the construction of sociology. It discusses the rationale for considering sociology as being related to social knowledge within the context of the discourse of modernity. Presentists focus on the inner form of sociological knowledge, which have been created and carried forward by past sociologists. In contrast, historicists insist on the application of historical methods to sociology's past.Less
This part of the book focuses on the theoretical and methodological preparation for the discourse analysis of the construction of sociology. It discusses the rationale for considering sociology as being related to social knowledge within the context of the discourse of modernity. Presentists focus on the inner form of sociological knowledge, which have been created and carried forward by past sociologists. In contrast, historicists insist on the application of historical methods to sociology's past.
Hazem Zohny
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- October 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198862086
- eISBN:
- 9780191927195
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198862086.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, General
This chapter discusses future and present morality, differentiating between Presentists and Anticipators. Both Presentists and Anticipators reflect some truth about the future. However, there is a ...
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This chapter discusses future and present morality, differentiating between Presentists and Anticipators. Both Presentists and Anticipators reflect some truth about the future. However, there is a lot to be said for Presentists, and for the claim that this book — and the way ethicists have been allured by future visions — is a little bit morally bad. This is because questions of distributive justice — of justly allocating resources — are relevant to what ethicists focus on. And ethicists — especially the applied variety who appeal to the implications of moral theories or principles for specific situations — have been overly preoccupied by the promises and perils of emerging and future technologies. Specifically, while applied ethicists readily delve into the science behind artificial intelligence, gene editing, brain-machine interfaces, and nanotech, they have not bothered learning much about economic theories and the conflicting values and difficult trade-offs directly raised by economic policy. One reason for this is that applied ethicists largely relegate the ethics of economics to economists or political philosophers, where libertarians, socialists, and those in-between fight it out by appealing to large, abstract principles or assumptions about things like the proper role of the state.Less
This chapter discusses future and present morality, differentiating between Presentists and Anticipators. Both Presentists and Anticipators reflect some truth about the future. However, there is a lot to be said for Presentists, and for the claim that this book — and the way ethicists have been allured by future visions — is a little bit morally bad. This is because questions of distributive justice — of justly allocating resources — are relevant to what ethicists focus on. And ethicists — especially the applied variety who appeal to the implications of moral theories or principles for specific situations — have been overly preoccupied by the promises and perils of emerging and future technologies. Specifically, while applied ethicists readily delve into the science behind artificial intelligence, gene editing, brain-machine interfaces, and nanotech, they have not bothered learning much about economic theories and the conflicting values and difficult trade-offs directly raised by economic policy. One reason for this is that applied ethicists largely relegate the ethics of economics to economists or political philosophers, where libertarians, socialists, and those in-between fight it out by appealing to large, abstract principles or assumptions about things like the proper role of the state.
