Human Dignity, Education, and Political Society

A Philosophical Defense of the Liberal Arts

Edited by James Greenaway - Contributions by Glenn Hughes; John von Heyking; Rebecca LeMoine; Lee Trepanier; S. F. McGuire; Ann Ward; Carol Browning Cooper and Alex Ambrose

A life of liberty and responsibility does not just happen, but requires a particular kind of education, one that aims at both a growth of the human soul and an enrichment of political society in justice and the common good. This we call a liberal education. Forgetfulness of liberty is also a forgetfulness of the multi-dimensional nature of the human person, and a diminution of political life. Keeping in mind what can be lost when liberal education is lost, this volume makes the case for recovering what is perennially noble and good in the liberal arts, and why the liberal arts always have a role to play in human flourishing.

Each of the authors herein focuses on the connection of three primary themes: human dignity, liberal education, and political society. Intentionally rooted in the hub that joins the three themes, each author seeks to unfold the contemporary significance of that hub. As a whole, the volume explores how the three themes are crucial to each other: how they illuminate each other, how they need each other, and how the loss of one jeopardizes the wellbeing of the others. In individual chapters, the authors engage various relevant aspects of liberal education. As a result, the volume is organized into three parts: Liberal Education and a Life Well Lived; Thinkers on Dignity and Education in History; Contemporary Topics in Dignity and Education.

As education is increasingly channeled into an ever more narrow focus on technical specialization, and measured against professional success, students themselves face a maelstrom of campus politics and competing political orthodoxies. These are among the issues that tend to militate against the operative liberty of the student to think and to speak as a person. This edited collection is offered as an invitation to think again about the liberal arts in order to recover the meaning of education as the authentic pursuit of the good life or eudemonia.

Lexington Books

Pages: 252 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-7936-1100-0 • Hardback • July 2020 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-7936-1101-7 • eBook • July 2020 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Education / History, Education / Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects, Education / Higher

Human Dignity, Education, and Political Society

A Philosophical Defense of the Liberal Arts

Hardback

eBook

Summary

A life of liberty and responsibility does not just happen, but requires a particular kind of education, one that aims at both a growth of the human soul and an enrichment of political society in justice and the common good. This we call a liberal education. Forgetfulness of liberty is also a forgetfulness of the multi-dimensional nature of the human person, and a diminution of political life. Keeping in mind what can be lost when liberal education is lost, this volume makes the case for recovering what is perennially noble and good in the liberal arts, and why the liberal arts always have a role to play in human flourishing.

Each of the authors herein focuses on the connection of three primary themes: human dignity, liberal education, and political society. Intentionally rooted in the hub that joins the three themes, each author seeks to unfold the contemporary significance of that hub. As a whole, the volume explores how the three themes are crucial to each other: how they illuminate each other, how they need each other, and how the loss of one jeopardizes the wellbeing of the others. In individual chapters, the authors engage various relevant aspects of liberal education. As a result, the volume is organized into three parts: Liberal Education and a Life Well Lived; Thinkers on Dignity and Education in History; Contemporary Topics in Dignity and Education.

As education is increasingly channeled into an ever more narrow focus on technical specialization, and measured against professional success, students themselves face a maelstrom of campus politics and competing political orthodoxies. These are among the issues that tend to militate against the operative liberty of the student to think and to speak as a person. This edited collection is offered as an invitation to think again about the liberal arts in order to recover the meaning of education as the authentic pursuit of the good life or eudemonia.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 252 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-7936-1100-0 • Hardback • July 2020 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-7936-1101-7 • eBook • July 2020 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Education / History, Education / Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects, Education / Higher

Author

James Greenaway is associate professor of philosophy at St. Mary’s University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Liberal Education as Invitation, James Greenaway

Part I: Liberal Education and a Life Well Lived

Chapter One: Dignity, Equality, and Liberal Arts Education, Glenn Hughes

Chapter Two: Liberal Education and the Recovery of Personal and Political Existence, James Greenaway

Chapter Three: Liberal Education, Friendship, and the “Political Art in the True Sense”, John von Heyking

Part II: Thinkers on Dignity and Education in History

Chapter Four: Leisure and Human Dignity in Ancient Greek Political Thought, Rebecca LeMoine

Chapter Five: Medieval Dignity, Modern Education, Lee Trepanier

Chapter Six: Kant, Dignity, and Liberal Education in a Technological Age, S. F. McGuire

Part III: Contemporary Topics in Dignity and Education

Chapter Seven: Human Dignity, Sexual Equality and the Education of the Soul in Plato’s Republic, Ann Ward

Chapter Eight: Childhood as the Paradigm for Political Education, Carol Browning Cooper

Chapter Nine: Reconciled to the World: Campus Ministry Publishing in an Age of Identity Politics, Alex Ambrose

Reviews

Human Dignity, Education, and Political Society is a timely and important volume that offers a philosophical defense of liberal arts education. The contributors are established educators and scholars who offer a broad range of arguments and perspectives in favor of classical liberal education while never forgetting the importance of education for preparation for the world of work. What makes this volume unique and necessary for pragmatic times, however, is the overarching theme and argument of the volume: while a large part of education is preparation for life, liberal education extends beyond what is meant by career preparation and utility to a life informed by what it means to live well. This is a must read by anyone interested in higher education and the fate of future generations of students.
— Khalil Habib, Hillsdale College

Part meditation on human nature, part call to arms, Human Dignity, Education, and Political Society: A Philosophical Defense of the Liberal Arts lays out a compelling defense of liberal arts education as an essential feature of a life well-lived. Editor James Greenaway has assembled an impressive group of contributors, each of whom tackles a different facet of the relationship between liberal arts education and our conception of the human being as a creature possessing inherent dignity. Human Dignity, Education, and Political Society offers readers an examination of the history of liberal arts education in ancient, medieval, and modern thought, as well as pointing towards how the lessons of the past can be applied to the challenges facing liberal arts education in the modern university. This volume is essential reading for those tasked with preserving and promulgating philosophic traditions.
— Kimberly Hurd Hale, Coastal Carolina University

Human Dignity, Education, and Political Society: A Philosophical Defense of the Liberal Arts examines the value of a person, a liberal arts education, and the political self. Today, liberal arts education faces demands to demonstrate its value as a skill-set in the workplace. The introduction of the book redirects our attention to the challenges in life that fall outside the workplace. It turns to the intrinsic value of life, the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge, the great ideas through history, and the liberating quality of a liberal arts education. The collection includes nine well-written essays, divided into three parts, by scholars representing a wide range of expertise. Part one examines a well-lived life, by discussing equality, politics, and friendship. Part two is historical, exploring dignity in ancient Greece, in the medieval period, and in the modern era. Part three turns to contemporary topics, sexual equality, childhood education, political engagement, and identity politics on the college campus. This book will inform and empower legislators, administrators, faculty, and staff in higher education to argue for the value of a liberal arts education. More broadly, this text will appeal to parents and students interested in educating the whole person.
— Kirk Fitzpatrick, Professor of Philosophy, Southern Utah University

James Greenaway and his collaborators provide a stunning case for liberal education as the indispensable means of preserving our humanity. At a time when the notion of human dignity is under threat and political society teeters on the brink, it is reassuring to discover that the bonds of friendship remain between those who are joined in the search for what is enduring in human life. The opening reflections on the liberal arts as the path of liberation from imprisonment is a powerful metaphor for the enlargement they can bring about in all our lives.
— David Walsh, Catholic University of America