Ernest Gellner and contemporary social thought / edited by Siniša Malešević and Mark Haugaard.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Malešević, Siniša

Haugaard, Mark, 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gellner, Ernest.

Social sciences--Philosophy.

Social sciences.

Physical Description:

xiii, 274 pages ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Ernest Gellner & contemporary social thought

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

Ernest Gellner was a unique scholar whose work covered areas as diverse as social anthropology, analytical philosophy, the sociology of the Islamic world, nationalism, psychoanalysis, postmodernism, East European transformations and kinship structures. Despite this diversity, there is an exceptional degree of unity and coherence in Gellner's work with his distinctly modernist, rationalist and liberal world-view evident in everything he wrote. His central problematic remains constant: understanding how the modern world came into being and to what extent it is unique relative to all other social forms. Ten years after his death, this book brings together leading social theorists to evaluate the significance of Gellner's legacy and to re-examine his central concerns It corrects many misunderstandings and critically engages with Gellner's legacy to provide a cutting edge contribution to understanding our contemporary post-9/11, global, late modern, social condition.

Contents:

Introduction: an intellectual rebel with a cause / Mark Haugaard, Sinisa Malesevic 1

Part I Civil society, coercion and liberty 29

1 Ernest Gellner on liberty and modernity / Alan Macfarlane 31

2 Predation and production in European imperialism / Michael Mann 50

3 Power, modernity and liberal democracy / Mark Haugaard 75

4 Gellner versus Marxism: a major concern or a fleeting affair? / Peter Skalnik 103

Part II Ideology, nationalism and modernity 123

5 Nationalism: restructuring Gellner's theory / Nicos Mouzelis 125

6 Between the book and the new sword: Gellner, violence and ideology / Sinisa Malesevic 140

7 Ernest Gellner and the multicultural mess / Thomas Hylland Eriksen 168

Part III Islam, postmodernism and Gellner's metaphysic 187

8 Islam, modernity and science / Michael Lessnoff 189

9 Truth, reason and the spectre of contingency / Kevin Ryan 227

10 Gellner's metaphysic / John A. Hall 253.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521882910

0521882915

9780521709415

0521709415

OCLC:

166626229