Past Reflections on Shakespeare and Morality

2018 ◽  
pp. 181-200
Author(s):  
Neema Parvini
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Divine Providence ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Positive View ◽  
William Hazlitt ◽  
Ethical Choices ◽  
Humanist Tradition ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
Secular Humanist

This chapter surveys and evaluates the major studies on Shakespeare and morality from 1775 to 1964. In so doing, it demonstrates that there are three main traditions of thinking about Shakespeare and morality: the Protestant tradition foregrounding divine providence (Elizabeth Griffith, Charles Knight, Bishop Charles Wordsworth, Richard G. Moulton, and Harold Ford), the Catholic tradition foregrounding moral conscience (Richard Simpson, Henry Sebastian Bowden, Arthur Temple Cadoux, Alfred Harbage, and John Vyvyan) and the secular-humanist tradition foregrounding human nature (William Hazlitt, Frank Chapman Sharp, George H. Morrison, and Roland Mushat Frye). It finds a number of reoccurring conclusions in the available criticism: that Shakespeare stresses the importance of viable alternatives in ethical choices; that he emphasises the psychological interiority of morality; and that he has a positive view of humanity. Critics also found that it is not possible to pin Shakespeare down to any Christian doctrine, and it is not clear whether or not the worlds of his plays allow for redemption, and his sinners seldom seek it.

Relation of Field Dependence to the “Philosophies of Human Nature”

1969 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-198
Author(s):  
Robert B. Duke
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Field Dependence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Field Independence ◽  
Personality Variables ◽  
Positive View ◽  
Embedded Figures Test ◽  
Embedded Figures ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
The One

To study the function of personality variables in the perception of other people, 52 undergraduate males were administered the Philosophies of Human Nature Scale and the Embedded-figures Test. Relatively low but significant positive correlations were found between field independence and trustworthiness, altruism, and the positive view of human nature. There was no significant correlation between field independence and strength of will, independence, complexity, and variability. Apparently, the personality of the one perceiving is relevant to what is perceived in the other person.

The Nature of Man and the Christian's Self-Esteem

1973 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
William M. Counts
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Self Worth

A great dilemma facing Christian psychotherapists is how to promote self-esteem without surrendering the Christian doctrine of the sinfulness of man. A healthy self-image and deep distrust of human nature seem antithetical. This article attempts to show that the frequently neglected Christian concept of man proves a valuable ally in building self-esteem and that the Christian doctrine of sin is not so undercutting to self-worth as supposed. In fact, the Christian concept proves far more consistent, helpful, and realistic than the views of contemporary psychologists.

4. Liberalism

2021 ◽  
pp. 103-136
Author(s):  
Georg Sørensen ◽  
Jørgen Møller ◽  
Robert Jackson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
World Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Positive View ◽  
Liberal Tradition ◽  
Liberal Thought

This chapter examines the liberal tradition in international relations (IR). It first considers the basic liberal assumptions, including a positive view of human nature and the belief that IR can be cooperative rather than conflictual. In their conceptions of international cooperation, liberal theorists emphasize different features of world politics. The chapter explores the ideas associated with four strands of liberal thought, namely: sociological liberalism, interdependence liberalism, institutional liberalism, and republican liberalism. It also discusses the debate between proponents of liberalism and neorealism, and it identifies a general distinction between weak liberal theories that are close to neorealism and strong liberal theories that challenge neorealism. Finally, it reviews the liberal view of world order and the notion that there is a ‘dark’ side of democracy.

4. Liberalism

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Jackson ◽  
Georg Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
World Order ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Positive View ◽  
Liberal Tradition ◽  
Liberal Thought

This chapter examines the liberal tradition in international relations (IR). It first considers the basic liberal assumptions, including a positive view of human nature and the belief that IR can be cooperative rather than conflictual. In their conceptions of international cooperation, liberal theorists emphasize different features of world politics. The chapter explores the ideas associated with four strands of liberal thought, namely: sociological liberalism, interdependence liberalism, institutional liberalism, and republican liberalism. It also discusses the debate between proponents of liberalism and neorealism, the liberal view of world order, and the prospects for the liberal tradition as a research programme in IR.

Kierkegaard and the Sheer Phenomenon of Love

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Søltoft
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Original Form ◽  
Positive View ◽  
God's Love ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
Falling In Love

AbstractIn this article we will argue that Kierkegaard has a positive view of love as a sheer natural and universal phenomenon. This sheer phenomenon of love is rooted in God’s love and is implanted in human nature by its Creator. Therefore this natural urge to love, that manifests itself both as a lack and a surplus, should not be juxtaposed to Christian neighbor love. For Kierkegaard there is one love, but this one love, hidden in the ground in every person, puts on different shapes and lets itself be known through these different forms. In this article we are interested in the dreaming and searching desire as described in “The Immediate Erotic Stages or The Musical-Erotic” in the first part of Either/Or, as these first and unconscious forms of love are the presupposition for falling in love, another form of love that is investigated in the article. We will argue the original form of love is preferential love, but that neighbor love, as a non-preferential type of love, springs from the same love that is given by God and hidden in every person.

Christ and the Interim State

2019 ◽  
pp. 93-116
Author(s):  
Timothy Pawl
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Divine Nature ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Hypostatic Union

Traditional Christian doctrine teaches that Christ was dead for three days, and that, during those days, he descended into hell. Does this teaching, when conjoined with Conciliar Christology, imply the truth of a contradiction? This chapter considers an argument attempting to show that it does. The argument can be put as follows. Relations require the existence of their relata; so the Son cannot assume something or hypostatically unite it to his divine nature if it isn’t. But during the three days that Christ was dead—during that interim state—there was no human nature there to be assumed. And so, at least for those three days, the hypostatic union was not. But then, it follows that the hypostatic union is not permanent, and that the natures are separable, contrary to Conciliar Christology. Thus, there is a difficulty for Extended Conciliar Christology. The chapter provides six replies to that argument, weighing the costs and benefits of each reply.

Contradictions

2020 ◽  
pp. 154-163
Author(s):  
Michael Moriarty
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Moral Ideals ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Radical Scepticism

The conflict between the greatness and the wretchedness of human nature is considered on a more philosophical level. The Stoics do justice to our moral ideals but the Pyrrhonists (whom Pascal sees as implicitly putting humankind on a level with non-human animals) seem better to describe human beings in the mass. The quest for an essence of human nature is compromised by an awareness of the power of custom to determine our beliefs and values. Even our belief in fundamental principles may be based on custom. Yet radical scepticism is in practice unacceptable. The clash between dogmatism (the belief that we have knowledge) and scepticism is irreconcilable. Only the Christian doctrine of the Fall can enable us to get out of this impasse.

4. Liberalism

2018 ◽  
pp. 107-142
Author(s):  
Robert Jackson ◽  
Georg Sørensen ◽  
Jørgen Møller
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
World Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Positive View ◽  
Liberal Tradition ◽  
Liberal Thought

This chapter examines the liberal tradition in international relations (IR). It first considers the basic liberal assumptions, including a positive view of human nature and the belief that IR can be cooperative rather than conflictual. In their conceptions of international cooperation, liberal theorists emphasize different features of world politics. The chapter explores the ideas associated with four strands of liberal thought, namely: sociological liberalism, interdependence liberalism, institutional liberalism, and republican liberalism. It also discusses the debate between proponents of liberalism and neorealism, and it identifies a general distinction between weak liberal theories that are close to neorealism and strong liberal theories that challenge neorealism. Finally, it reviews the liberal view of world order and the notion that there is a ‘dark’ side of democracy.

scholarly journals The specificity of early Christian ideas about divine providence in the context of ancient philosophy (from the 1st to the 3rd centuries)

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-321
Author(s):  
Hegumen Anthony Kamenchuk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Property ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Divine Providence ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The World ◽  
Christian Understanding ◽  
Key Features ◽  
The Individual

This article outlines the key features of the Christian understanding of divine providence in comparison with the philosophical trends of Antiquity from the 1st to the 3rd centuries (before Neoplatonism). The author identifies three paradigms of understanding divine providence in the ancient pagan philosophy of this period (atheistic, pantheistic and deistic) and in this context defines the Christian paradigm as “dialogical panentheism”. According to the author, Christianity at its core offers a worldview, which is uncharacteristic for paganism: the cosmos is focused on the implementation of a dialogue between man and God and the achievement of existential intimacy between the Creator and creation. It is also noted that Christianity, in contrast to ancient thought, placed an emphasis on the fact that the fundamental property of the higher Deity is His openness in relation to the Other, and not just self-contemplating or self-contained calmness. This, in turn, determines two other aspects in the Christian doctrine of providence: the all-pervading participation of God in the life of the world and His concern for the individual and those who are flawed. The author also says that the Orthodox understanding of providence is a harmonious middle between the extremes of pantheism and deism.

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