The Science of Modern Virtue: On Descartes, Darwin, and Locke

Published by Cornell University Press 2013

The Science of Modern Virtue

On Descartes, Darwin, and Locke

Edited by: Peter Lawler and Marc Guerra

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501757914

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Science of Modern Virtue examines the influence that the philosopher Rene Descartes, the political theorist John Locke, and the biologist Charles Darwin have had on our modern understanding of human beings and human virtue. Written by leading thinkers from a variety of fields, the volume is a study of the complex relation between modern science and modern virtue, between a kind of modern thought and a kind of modern action. Offering more than a series of substantive introductions to Descartes', Locke's, and Darwin's accounts of who we are and the kind of virtue to which we can aspire, the book invites readers to think about the ways in which the writings of these seminal thinkers shaped the democratic and technological world in which modern human beings live.

Thirteen scholars in this volume learnedly explore questions drawn from the diverse disciplines of political science, philosophy, theology, biology, and metaphysics. Let the reader be warned: The authors of these essays are anything but consensual in their analysis. Considered together, the chapters in this volume carry on a lively internal debate that mirrors theoretical modernity's ongoing discussion about the true nature of human beings and the science of virtue. Some authors powerfully argue that Locke's and Darwin's thought is amenable to the claims made about human beings and human virtue by classical philosophers such as Aristotle and classical Christian theologians such as Thomas Aquinas. Others make the opposite case, drawing attention to the ways in which Descartes, Locke, and Darwin knowingly and dialectically depart from central teachings of both classical philosophy and classical Christian theology.

Author / Editor information

Peter Augustine Lawler is Dana Professor of Government at Berry College. He is executive editor of the journal, Perspectives on Political Science and the author of numerous books, most recently Modern and American Dignity and What That Means for Our Future. He is the author of the blog Rightly Understood on BigThink.com, and he contributes to the blog Postmodern Conservative on FirstThings.com.

Marc D. Guerra, PhD, is Associate Professor and Chair of the Theology Department at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author, most recently, of Christians as Political Animals and Pope Benedict XVI and the Politics of Modernity.

Reviews

Susan J. McWilliams, Pomona College:

This is an excellent volume that is at once eclectic and unifying, comforting and troubling. In good Socratic tradition, it is a deeply subversive work.

James W. Ceaser, University of Virginia:

The reader is treated to a series of reflections not only on one of the great questions of philosophy, but also on one of the great themes giving shape to and driving modern culture.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
PREFACE. Modern Science on Who We Are as Free and/or Relational Beings Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
1. LOCKE, DARWIN, AND THE SCIENCE OF MODERN VIRTUE Peter Augustine Lawler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. THE VIRTUE OF SCIENCE AND THE SCIENCE OF VIRTUE. DESCARTES' OVERCOMING OF SOCRATES Thomas Hibbs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
3. NOTES ON "THE VIRTUE OF SCIENCE AND THE SCIENCE OF VIRTUE" Daniel P. Maher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
4. MORE CARTESIAN THAN DESCARTES. REFLECTIONS ON SPINOZA IN THE SPIRIT OF TOCOUEVILLE Samuel Goldman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
5. LOCKE'S EXPLANATION OF HOW THE SCIENCE OF CIVIL SOCIETY CORRECTS THE NATURAL AUTHORITY OF VIRTUE James R. Stoner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
6. THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN EQUALITY IN LOCKE'S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Sara M. Henary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	92
7. LOCKE, DARWIN, AND THE SOCIAL INDIVIDUALISM OF VIRTUE Lauren K. Hall Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
8. DESCARTES, LOCKE, AND THE VIRTUE OF THE INDIVIDUAL Marc D. Guerra Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
9. SCIENCE, VIRTUE, AND THE BIRTH OF MODERNITY OR, ON THE TECHNO-THEO-LOGIC OF MODERN NEUROSCIENCE Jeffrey P. Bishop Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
10. THE MUTUAL SACRIFICE OF SCIENCE AND VIRTUE Ralph Hancock Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
11. THE SCIENTIFIC LIFE AS A MORAL LIFE? VIRTUE AND THE CARTESIAN SCIENTIST Tobin L. Craig Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
12. THE DARWINIAN SCIENCE OF ARISTOTELIAN VIRTUE Larry Arnhart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208
13. LOGON DIDONAI THE CASE OF THE DARWINIAN CONSERVATIVE Paul Seaton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	282
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 340
Keywords: modern understanding of humans; human virtue; rene descartes; john locke; charles darwin; seminal thinkers; modern thought; theoretical modernity; christian theology

eBook

Published: November 1, 2013
ISBN: 9781501757914