On Being Human and When a Man Comes to Himself - Softcover

Wilson, Woodrow

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1617200565 ISBN 13: 9781617200564

Publisher: Gray Rabbit Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

Before he became the 28th President of the United States (1913-21), the 34th Governor of New Jersey (1911-13), or even the 13th President of Princeton University (1902-10), Woodrow Wilson was a scholar and professor. In 1885, he received his Ph.D. in history and political science from Johns Hopkins University, and in 1897, he was granted tenure at Princeton University. As an educator, and a person of deep faith (his father was a Presbyterian reverend), Woodrow Wilson believed firmly in the importance of the humanities to human flourishing and freedom. In "On Being Human," Wilson sets out his vision for the good life, and offers insight into the foundations of his later political policies. "On Being Human" is among the most personal of Wilson's public writings, revealing an enthusiastic nature at odds with his later staid persona. While the essay makes little direct reference to faith, it does reveal Wilson's view of the good life, which is both hopeful and historical, and draws on both Aristotle's notion of "the golden mean" and Augustine's view of the ordo amorum (the order of the loves)—specifically, that the good life consists largely in a well-balanced, harmonious ordering of one's passions and priorities. Wilson's ideal is "the truly human man: a man in whom there is a just balance of faculties, a catholic sympathy—no brawler, no fanatic, no Pharisee, not too credulous in hope, not too desperate in purpose, warm, but not hasty, ardent, and full of definite power, but not running about to be pleased and deceived by every new thing." "When a Man Comes to Himself," written just a few years later, reveals the wholesome and regenerating change which a man undergoes when he "comes to himself." It is not only after periods of recklessness or infatuation, when he has played the spendthrift or the fool, that a man comes to himself. He comes to himself after experiences of which he alone may be aware.

About this title

From the Author:

(THOMAS) WOODROW WILSON, PH.D., LITT.D., LL.D. (1856-1924) was born in Virginia and graduated from Princeton University. Eventually turning from law practice to postgraduate work in political science at Johns Hopkins University, he received his Ph.D. in 1886.

With the aid of the New Jersey Democratic machine, he secured the gubernatorial nomination and went on to win the governorship of New Jersey. Wilson's gubernatorial record brought him to the forefront of national politics, and he was elected to the presidency in 1912 and was subsequently re-elected in 1916.

Wilson's writings on history and jurisprudence include Division and Reunion, 1829-1889 (1893), George Washington (1896), the five-volume History of the American People (1902), and Constitutional Government in the United States (1908). These books are distinguished by a wide knowledge of constitutional law and by the severe and polished literary style that also characterizes An Old Master and Other Political Essays (1893) and Mere Literature and Other Essays (1893).

From the Back Cover:

With the aid of the New Jersey Democratic machine, he secured the gubernatorial nomination and went on to win the governorship of New Jersey. Wilson's gubernatorial record brought him to the forefront of national politics, and he was elected to the presidency in 1912 and was subsequently re-elected in 1916.

Wilson's writings on history and jurisprudence include Division and Reunion, 1829-1889 (1893), George Washington (1896), the five-volume History of the American People (1902), and Constitutional Government in the United States (1908). These books are distinguished by a wide knowledge of constitutional law and by the severe and polished literary style that also characterizes An Old Master and Other Political Essays (1893) and Mere Literature and Other Essays (1893).

About this edition

• Publisher: Gray Rabbit Publishing
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1617200565
• ISBN 13: 9781617200564
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 38