{"product_id":"the-ennobling-of-democracy-the-challenge-of-the-postmodern-age-the-johns-hopkins-series-in-constitutional-thought-9780801842627","title":"The Ennobling of Democracy: The Challenge of the Postmodern Age (The Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought)","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith the end of the Cold War  says Thomas L. Pangle  liberal democracy was deprived of its traditional enemy  and forced to re-examine its internal structure and fundamental aims. One result has been the moral-relativist \"postmodernism\" of mainstream Western intellectuals. Focusing on Lyotard  Vattimo  and Rorty  The Ennobling of Democracy offers a searching critique of postmodernism and its implications for political life and thought. Pangle carefully examines the political dimensions of postmodernist teachings  including the rejection of the natural-rights doctrines of the Enlightenment  the discounting of public purposefulness  and the disenchantment with claims of civic virtue and reason. He argues that a serious challenge has been posed to postmodernism by the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe  which have directly experienced heroic political leadership  maintained a prominent place for religion  and preserved a belief in the virtues and duties of citizenship. They consequently make demands on Western thought that postmodernism has been unable to meet. Drawing on the classical republican ideal  Pangle opens the door to a bold new synthesis in political philosophy. He argues that by reappropriating classical civic rationalism--and especially classical philosophy of education--a framework may be established to integrate the most significant findings of modern rationalism into a conception of humanity that encompasses  in an unprecedented way  the entire scope of the human condition. \"Pangles argument forces me to articulate and deepen my own views. The book  consequently  is a fine example of the dialectic which it is part of Pangles purpose to defend  and will make an important contribution to civic education.\"-- Wilson Carey McWilliams  Rutgers University\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647393030197,"sku":"ByrdShop_080184262X","price":67.35,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780801842627.jpg?v=1781692267","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-ennobling-of-democracy-the-challenge-of-the-postmodern-age-the-johns-hopkins-series-in-constitutional-thought-9780801842627","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}