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This book highlights the problem of one-dimensional, reductionistic life of the modern individual. An expression of crisis in our world, it discusses the imperative need to have a more comprehensive, non-reductionist life where the Other is incorporated, especially the relationship between the Other and the Self, based on virtues like love, empathy, equality, and compassion.
The volume sheds light on how the world has forgone the art of living for a mutilated sense of well-being, the rise of conformity and complacency in human thought, and the lack of democratic dissent and citizenry responsibility in our contemporary societies, which is now characterized by mass immaturity, propelled by a process of thoughtlessness. It discusses how humans need to be aware of the life they lead, to think about Otherness of the Other not just as another virtue but also as a crucial element in the survival of humanity, for people to coexist with the world around them as equals. Furthermore, it advocates meaningful and thoughtful existence, in touch with the Nature we coexist with, to ensure that humanity is not robbed of its noble spirit as we live to survive in our techno-capitalist societies.
An introspective read, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of moral and ethical philosophy, political philosophy, and political science.
List of contents
Introduction
1 Age of Mediocrity
2 The Power of Agape
3 The Art of Maturity
4 Paideia and Epistemic Humility
5 The Otherness of the Other
6 The Silence of Wisdom
7 An Examined Civilization
8 The Nobility of Spirit
9 Empathy and Conquest
10 An Ontology of Fragility
11 The Meaning of Life
12 The Solitude of Nonviolence
Index
About the author
Ramin Jahanbegloo is an Iranian–Canadian philosopher. He is presently the executive director of the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Nonviolence and Peace Studies and the vice-dean of the School of Law at Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India. He is the winner of the Peace Prize from the United Nations Association in Spain (2009) for his extensive academic work in promoting dialogue among cultures and his advocacy for nonviolence. More recently, he is the winner of the Josep Palau i Fabre International Essay Prize. Some of his most recent publications are Gadflies in the Public Space (2016), The Decline of Civilization (2017), Letters to a Young Philosopher (2017), On Forgiveness and Revenge (2017) and The Global Gandhi: Essays in Comparative Political Philosophy (2018).
Summary
This book highlights the problem of one dimensional, reductionistic life of the modern individual. An expression of crisis in our world, it discusses the imperative need to have a more comprehensive, non-reductionist life where the Other is incorporated, based on virtues like love, empathy, equality, and compassion.
