An Interview with Stephen Macedo

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-357
Author(s):  
Mitja Sardocč
Keyword(s):  
Civic Education ◽  
Human Values ◽  
University Center ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Liberal Conception ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Politics Of Difference ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Civic Liberalism ◽  
The University

In this interview, Stephen J. Macedo, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values, and Director of the University Center for Human Values, at Princeton University, critically discusses some of the main lines of criticism addressed to contemporary liberal political theory and develops further a liberal conception of civic education presented in his book Diversity and Distrust. The main issues addressed in the interview present a detailed and well-documented critique of the hands-off stance toward diversity of the ‘politics of difference’ and articulate a pervasive defense of the project of ‘civic liberalism’ that supports a liberal agenda for civic education, necessary to sustain our liberal democratic regimes.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Stephen Macedo
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
Human Values ◽  
World Culture ◽  
University Center ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Ecological Success ◽  
The University

This introductory chapter provides an overview of professor Robert Boyd's approach to the study of human evolution that focuses on the population dynamics of culturally transmitted information. Putting aside the more familiar question of human uniqueness, Boyd asks why humans so exceed other species when it comes to broad indices of ecological success, such as humans' ability to adapt to and thrive in such a wide variety of habitats across the globe. Humans adapt to a vast variety of changing environments not mainly by applying individual intelligence to solve problems, but rather via “cumulative cultural adaptation” and, over the longer term, Darwinian selection among cultures with different social norms and moral values. Not only are humans part of the natural world, argues Boyd, but human culture is part of the natural world. Culture makes humans “a different kind of animal,” and “culture is as much a part of human biology as our peculiar pelvis or the thick enamel that covers our molars.” The chapter then outlines the lectures and discussions that follow, which originated as the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Princeton University in April of 2016, organized under the auspices of the University Center for Human Values.

Book Reviews

2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 1168-1170
Keyword(s):  
Public Affairs ◽  
Fair Allocation ◽  
Equivalent Income ◽  
University Center ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
University Of Oslo ◽  
The University ◽  
Beyond Gdp

Geir B. Asheim of the University of Oslo reviews “Beyond GDP: Measuring Welfare and Assessing Sustainability”, by Marc Fleurbaey and Didier Blanchet. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Examines recent developments in the fields of social choice, fair allocation, sustainability, and happiness, and explores how the construction of a reasonable alternative to gross domestic product can be imagined. Discusses a wealth of indicators; measuring sustainability; a price for everything?; equivalent income, or how to value what has no price; is happiness all that matters?; and empowering capabilities. Fleurbaey is Robert E. Kuenne Professor of Economics and Humanistic Studies and Professor of Public Affairs for the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. Blanchet is Editor-in-Chief of Economie et Statistique and a research affiliate to the Centre de Recherche en Economie et Statistique.”

Confucian Perfectionism

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Chan
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Moral Rights ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Philosophical Foundations ◽  
Liberal Conception ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Conception Of The Good ◽  
The Right

Since the very beginning, Confucianism has been troubled by a serious gap between its political ideals and the reality of societal circumstances. Contemporary Confucians must develop a viable method of governance that can retain the spirit of the Confucian ideal while tackling problems arising from nonideal modern situations. The best way to meet this challenge, this book argues, is to adopt liberal democratic institutions that are shaped by the Confucian conception of the good rather than the liberal conception of the right. The book examines and reconstructs both Confucian political thought and liberal democratic institutions, blending them to form a new Confucian political philosophy. The book decouples liberal democratic institutions from their popular liberal philosophical foundations in fundamental moral rights, such as popular sovereignty, political equality, and individual sovereignty. Instead, it grounds them on Confucian principles and redefines their roles and functions, thus mixing Confucianism with liberal democratic institutions in a way that strengthens both. The book then explores the implications of this new yet traditional political philosophy for fundamental issues in modern politics, including authority, democracy, human rights, civil liberties, and social justice. The book critically reconfigures the Confucian political philosophy of the classical period for the contemporary era.

Betrayal of betrothed in Sunetra Gupta’s Memories of rain

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. RUBY VANEESA ◽  
Dr. S. AYYAPPA RAJA
Keyword(s):  
Rabindranath Tagore ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
The University

Sunetra Gupta was born in Calcutta in 1965 and is an established translator of the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. She is a well known novelist, essayist and scientist. She is working as Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology at Oxford University in the Department of Zoology. From Princeton University she got graduation in 1987 and from the University of London she received Ph.D. in 1992. Her father, Dhruba Gupta had a profound influence on every view of her thinking

Byzantine-period lamps from Antioch-on-the-Orontes and its hinterland

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ani Eblighatian
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Art Museum ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The University ◽  
Roman Syria

The paper is an off-shoot of the author's PhD project on lamps from Roman Syria (at the University of Geneva in Switzerland), centered mainly on the collection preserved at the Art Museum of Princeton University in the United States. One of the outcomes of the research is a review of parallels from archaeological sites and museum collections and despite the incomplete documentation i most cases, much new insight could be gleaned, for the author's doctoral research and for other issues related to lychnological studies. The present paper collects the data on oil lamps from byzantine layers excavated in 1932–1939 at Antioch-on-the-Orontes and at sites in its vicinity (published only in part so far) and considers the finds in their archaeological context.

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