Taking Responsibility

by Davis, Winston

• ISBN13: 9780813920511
• ISBN10: 0813920515
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Virginia Pr

Summary

Responsibility has become the "queen of modern virtues," Winston Davis argues, even if there is no consensus as to what responsibility means. This illuminating collection of essays encompasses conceptions of responsibility around the globe, as discussed by leading scholars in the fields of philosophy, anthropology, intellectual history, religious studies, classics, and law. Including "Law as Response to Thou" by Walter Brueggemann, "Jewish Philosophers after Heidegger: Levinas and Jonas on Responsibility" by Lawrence Vogel, "The American Founders' Responsibility" by Ralph Lerner, and "Religious Freedom and Civic Responsibility" by Amy Gutmann, Taking Responsibility provides a rich dialogue of diverse voices describing the many historical senses of responsibility as well as the vastly different approaches to being responsible that we experience in the modern world.

Author Biography

Winston Davis is the Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion at Washington and Lee University

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction: The Dimensions and Dilemmas of a Modern Virtue	1	(30)
Winston Davis
PART I. RESPONSIBILITY: LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
The American Founders' Responsibility	31	(16)
Ralph Lerner
Religious Freedom and Civic Responsibility	47	(16)
Amy Gutmann
Torts and Gods: Idolatry in the Law	63	(24)
Denis J. Brion
PART II. RESPONSIBILITY IN THE WEST
Law as Response to Thou	87	(19)
Walter Brueggemann
Democracy, Tragedy, and Responsibility: The Greek Case	106	(15)
Kevin Crotty
Jewish Philosophies after Heidegger: Levinas and Jonas on Responsibility	121	(28)
Lawrence Vogel
PART III. RESPONSIBILITY IN THE NON-WESTERN WORLD
Rooted Responsibility: Locating Moral Authority in North India	149	(29)
Ann Grodzins Gold
The Genesis and Decay of Responsibility in Buddhism	178	(18)
Sallie B. King
The Single Thread of a New Confucianism: Private Virtue and Public Responsibility	196	(17)
Vivian-Lee Nyitray
The Mistake Will Note Be Repeated: Hiroshima and Japanese War Responsibility	213	(18)
James H. Foard
Civic Responsibility in Political Society: An Islamic Paradigm	231	(22)
Abdulaziz Sachedina
Religion and Public Life in Africa: A Comparative Perspective on the Ethics of Responsibility	253	(20)
Simeon O. Ilesanmi
Afterword: Responsibility in a Postmodern World	273	(22)
Winston Davis
Notes on Contributors	295	(4)
Index	299