Rethinking the Human

by Molina, J. Michelle

• ISBN13: 9780945454441
• ISBN10: 0945454449
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-01
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

In our globalized world, differing conceptions of human nature and human values raise questions as to whether universal and partisan claims and perspectives can be reconciled, whether interreligious and intercultural conversations can help build human community, and whether a pluralistic ethos can transcend uncompromising notions as to what is true, good, and just. In this volume, world-class scholars from religious studies, the humanities, and the social sciences explore what it means to be human through a multiplicity of lives in time and place as different as fourth-century BCE China and the world of an Alzheimer patient today. Refusing the binary, these essays go beyond description to theories of aging and acceptance, ethics in caregiving, and the role of ritual in healing the inevitable divide between the human and the ideal.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Introduction: An Ambivalent Philosophy of the Concrete	p. 1
Caregiving: The Divided Meaning of Being Human and the Divided Self of the Caregiver	p. 17
The life of Humans and the Life of Roaming Spirits	p. 31
The Secret of a Woman of Ninety: Rethinking the Very Long Life	p. 51
Against Universals: The Dialects of (Women's) Human Rights and Human Capabilities	p. 69
The Haunted World of Humanity: Ritual Theory from Early China	p. 95
Notes on Contributors	p. 113
Index	p. 117
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