Democracy Reconsidered

by Busch, Elizabeth Kaufer; Alvis, David; Bayles, Martha; Ceaser, James W.; Cohen, Eric; Evans, Jocelyn Jones; Hartle, Ann; Knippenberg, Joseph M.; Lawler, Peter Augustine; McKeen, Gayle; Papazian, Michael; Ramsey, David; Scott, Carl Eric; Seaton, Paul; Seer

• ISBN13: 9780739124819
• ISBN10: 0739124811
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-16
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

Democracy Reconsidered provides an enlightening study of democracy in America's post-modern context. Elizabeth Kaufer Busch and Peter Augustine Lawler explore some of the foundational principles of democracy as they have been borne out in American society. The essays included in this volume examine the lessons that novelists, philosophers, and political theorists have for democratic societies as they progress towards postmodern skepticism or even disbelief in the absolute principles that form the foundation of democracies.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Kaufer Busch is assistant professor of American studies and government and codirector of the Center for American Studies and Civic Leadership at Christopher Newport University. Peter Augustine Lawler is Dana Professor of Government at Berry College.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why a Reconsideration of Democracy Is Needed	p. vii
Democratic Relativism: A Crisis of Self-Evidence
Our Crisis of Self-Evidence	p. 3
The American Context of Leo Strauss's Natural Right and History	p. 13
Gender Feminism in America: A Reconsideration of Nietzsche's Anti-feminism	p. 27
Anti-Snobs and Anti-Artists	p. 49
Democracy's Transformation of the Human Character and Soul
Autonomy and Cruelty: Rorty and Montaigne on the Social Bond	p. 67
Democracy and Philosophy as a Way of Life	p. 79
A Tale of Two Liberals: Rediscovering American Liberalism in Flannery O'Connor's The Barber	p. 87
The Rift in the Modern Mind: Tocqueville and Percy on the Rise of the Cartesian Self	p. 101
Educating the Democratic Mind and Spirit
Religion and Community in Liberal Education and Liberal Democracy	p. 121
A Plea to Protect and Promote the Small Liberal Arts College as Such	p. 137
Liberal Education and the Democratic Man	p. 147
Liberal Education: A Friendly Critic of Liberal Democracy	p. 155
Democracy in American Politics and Society
Friendly Critics: Tocqueville and Croly on American Political Parties	p. 173
Bioethics and the American Character	p. 193
with a response by Eric Stone entitled "Of Revulsion and Joy"	p. 210
Progress or Tyranny? The Goodridge Dissents	p. 215
Women against Liberation: Opposing Feminism in a Democratic Age	p. 233
Bibliography	p. 261
Index of Proper Names	p. 275
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