What is the best way to govern ourselves? The history of the West has been shaped by the struggle to answer this question; according to Pierre Manent. A major achievement by one of Europe's most influential political philosophers; Metamorphoses of the City is a sweeping interpretation of Europe's ambition since ancient times to generate ever better forms of collective self-government; and a reflection on what it means to be modern.Manent's genealogy of the nation-state begins with the Greek city-state; the polis. With its creation; humans ceased to organize themselves solely by family and kinship systems and instead began to live politically. Eventually; as the polis exhausted its possibilities in warfare and civil strife; cities evolved into empires; epitomized by Rome; and empires in turn gave way to the universal Catholic Church and finally the nation-state. Through readings of Aristotle; Augustine; Montaigne; and others; Manent charts an intellectual history of these political forms; allowing us to see that the dynamic of competition among them is a central force in the evolution of Western civilization.Scarred by the legacy of world wars; submerged in an increasingly technical transnational bureaucracy; indecisive in the face of proliferating crises of representative democracy; the European nation-state; Manent says; is nearing the end of its line. What new metamorphosis of the city will supplant it remains to be seen.
#286405 in Books Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2011-09-15 2011-08-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.40 x 1.70 x 6.80l; 2.56 #File Name: 0674061438784 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Th9s book is a masterwork that picks up where Max ...By Harold J. BershadyTh9s book is a masterwork that picks up where Max Weber left off. It is extraordinary in its erudition; passion; scope and clarity. This book will be illuminating and instructive for anyone; believer or n on-believer; interested in the place of religion in human life. Alas; this is Bellah's last book. It sets a standard for studies yet to come.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. An EPIC; rigorous scientific and humanistic REVIEW of HUMANITy's voyage and mental maturationBy A. D.Incredible voyage. Buckminster Fuller said UNIVERSE is everything experienced so far by all of humanity... this book is a glimpse of the UNIVERSE touching a little bit from everything that is relevant in the HUMANITY'S VOYAGE of growth and of becoming...HUMAN. Rigorous; wide; scientific; humanistic and with a touch of EPIC6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. meticulously constructed work by a true subject matter expertBy Greg Smith (aka sowhatfaith)Religion in Human Evolution is a meticulously constructed academic tome (700+ pages) that effectively explores Bellah's understanding of how religion developed within the larger framework of human evolution from the paleolithic to the axial age. The account of religious beginnings and formation is interdisciplinary and comparative; displaying the author's incredible knowledge of the subject matter. Finally; the extended treatment of four axial cases (Israel; Greece; China; and India) provides a solid summary of recent scholarship while also displaying the author's humility (e.g.; his appraisal of his own limited knowledge about ancient India prior to his research for this book - p. 481).
