Wretched Aristotle: Using the Past to Rescue the Future

247 Pages·2009·1.09 MB·English

by  Jude Dougherty

Wretched Aristotle
Aristotle: Ludovisi Collection.
Wretched Aristotle
Using the Past to
Rescue the Future
Jude P. Dougherty
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dougherty, Jude P., 1930–
Wretched Aristotle : using the past to rescue the future / Jude P. Dougherty.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7391-4006-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-7391-4008-6 (electronic)
1. Aristotle—Influence. 2. Civilization—History. 3. Civilization, Western—21st
century. I. Title.
B485.D68 2009
909’.09821—dc22 2009025152
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992.
For Mary W. Rakow

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
PART I THE RELEVANCE OF ANTIQUITY
1 Wretched Aristotle 11
2 Tom Wolfe’s Epictetus 21
3 Aristotle in North America 29
4 Ora et Labora: Benedict’s Legacy 37
5 Ancients and Moderns on the Subject of Property 49
PART II THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN SOCIETY
6 The Ontology of the Artifact 59
7 The Failure of Positivism and the Enduring Legacy of Comte 65
8 Judicial Decision within the Rule of Law 77
9 Modern Interpretations of Religion:
The Legacy of Hume and Kant 91
10 Santayana on the Role of Religion in Society 101
11 Indestructible Islam 115
12 Science and the Shaping of Modernity:
The Reciprocal Influence of Science and Culture 127
vii
viii Contents
PART III CONTEMPORARY MORAL ISSUES
13 The Use and Abuse of Analogy and Metaphor in
Scientific Explanation 145
14 Morality with and without God 153
15 Responsibility: Recognition and Limits 163
16 National Identity 173
17 The Fragility of Democracy 185
18 The Socialist Mind 201
19 The Natural Basis of the Theological Virtue of Hope 211
Bibliography 219
Index 229
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges the following for permission to repro-
duce in whole or in part the articles previously published by him:
Modern Age (ISI Publications)
“Santayana on the Role of Religion in Society,” Vol. 37 (2), Winter 1996,
116–123.
“Indestructible Islam,” Vol. 44 (4), Fall 2002, 324–332.
“Socialist Man: A Psychological Profile,” Vol. 46 (1–2) Winter/Spring 2004,
12–22.
“Using the Past to Rescue the future,” Vol. 49 (1), Winter 2007, 3–11.
“Science and the Shaping of Modernity,” Vol. 51 (2), Spring 2009 (in
press).
“Wretched Aristotle: Using the Past to Rescue the Future,” in On Wings of
Faith and Reason: The Christian Difference in Culture and Science, ed.
Craig Steven Titus, Arlington, Va.: The Institute for the Psychological
Sciences Press, 2008.
ix