Magnanimity and statesmanship / edited by Carson Holloway.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Holloway, Carson, 1969-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political leadership.

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Physical Description:

ix, 229 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, MD : Lexington Books, [2008]

Summary:

Magnanimity and Statesmanship is a collection of papers on the virtue of Aristotelian magnanimity (or greatness of soul) and its relationship to the history of political philosophy and to the art of statesmanship. Aristotle's account of the "great-souled man" may seem somewhat alien to the sensibilities of a modern democracy. There is, after all, an inegalitarian element in the great-souled man's confidence in his moral excellence and hence in his superior worthiness to hold public office. Nevertheless, even modern democratic thinkers admit that democracy needs, at least in certain crtiical phases in its development, political leaders who far excel their fellow citizens in virtue and wisdom.

This book traces the path of magnanimity in the history of political philosophy and examines certain statesmen in light of this virtue, all with a view to addressing the following questions: What is magnanimity, and what it is relationship to political life? Is magnanimity compatible with Christianity or with the modern commitment to equality? Does modernity still stand in need of such a virtue? Can magnanimity flourish under modern conditions? Are there examples of political leaders whose lives exemplify this virtue and the study of whose political conduct can deepen our understanding of it?

Contents:

Introduction / Carson Holloway

Magnanimity in classical and Christian political thought

Aristotle's magnanimous man / Carson Holloway

Magnanimity and statesmanship : the Ciceronian difference / James Fetter and Walter Nicgorski

Thomas Aquinas on magnanimous and prudent statesmanship / Kenneth L. Deutsch

Magnanimity and modernity

Hobbes on magnanimity and statesmanship : replacing virtue with science / Geoffrey M. Vaughan

Tocqueville on greatness and justice / Peter Augustine Lawler

The magnanimous overman : on Nietzsche's transformation of Aristotle's greatness of soul / Jeffrey Church and Catherine H. Zuckert

Magnanimous statesmen

Magnanimity and martyrdom : the death and life of Thomas More / James R. Stoner Jr.

George Washington's greatness and Aristotelian virtue : enduring lessons for constitutional democracy / Paul Carrese

Lincoln and biblical magnanimity / Joseph R. Fornieri

The statesman as great-souled man : Winston Churchill / Will Morrisey

Index

About the editor and contributors.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780739117415

0739117416

OCLC:

174112639