Title Socratic Citizenship

Published Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2001

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Description 1 online resource (392 pages) Contents Cover Page -- Half-title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter One: What is Socratic Citizenship? -- Chapter Two: John Stuart Mill -- Chapter Three: Friedrich Nietzsche -- Chapter Four: Max Weber -- Chapter Five: Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index Summary Publisher Description (unedited publisher data) individuals, disinclined to fulfill the obligations of citizenship or the responsibilities of self-government. In response, the critics urge community involvement and renewed education in the civic virtues. But what kind of civic engagement do we want, and what sort of citizenship should we encourage? In Socratic Citizenship, Dana Villa takes issue with those who would reduce citizenship to community involvement or to political participation for its own sake. He argues that we need to place more value on a form of conscientious, moderately alienated citizenship invented by Socrates, one that is critical in orientation and dissident in practice. Taking Plato's Apology of Socrates as his starting point, Villa argues that Socrates was the first to show, in his words and deeds, how moral and intellectual integrity can go hand in hand, and how they can constitute importantly civic--and not just philosophical or moral--virtues. More specifically, Socrates urged that good citizens should value this sort of integrity more highly than such apparent virtues as patriotism, political participation, piety, and unwavering obedience to the law. Yet Socrates' radical redefinition of citizenship has had relatively little influence on Western political thought. Villa considers how the Socratic idea of the thinking citizen is treated by five of the most influential political thinkers of the past two centuries--John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Nietzsche, Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, and Leo Strauss. In doing so, he not only deepens our understanding of these thinkers' work and of modern ideas of citizenship, he also shows how the fragile Socratic idea of citizenship has been lost through a persistent devaluation of independent thought and action in public life. Engaging current debates among political and social theorists, this insightful book shows how we must reconceive the idea of good citizenship if we are to begin to address the shaky fundamentals of civic culture in America today Notes Description based upon print version of record Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-354) and index Subject Socrates -- Political and social views SUBJECT Socrates fast Socrates v469-v399 gnd Flaemmings, Friederich gnd Socrates. nli Socrates -- Political science. nli Socrate, (0469?-0399? av. J.-C.) ram Socrates. swd Apologia. swd Subject Citizenship. Citizenship -- History Political participation -- History Political participation Political and social views Citizenship Politische Philosophie Politische Beteiligung Zivilcourage Bürgerliche Gesellschaft Bürgerpflicht Burgerschap. Filosofische aspecten. Citoyenneté. Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780691218175 069121817X

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