Democracy and the Ethical Life

Ryn, Claes G.

ISBN 10: 0813207118 / ISBN 13: 9780813207117

Published by The Catholic University of America Press, 1990

About this Item

Num Pages: 208 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: HPQ; HRAB1; JPA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade); (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 216 x 146 x 17. Weight in Grams: 340. . 1992. New ed. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780813207117

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Democracy and the Ethical Life
• Publisher: The Catholic University of America Press
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813207118
• ISBN 13: 9780813207117
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 2nd Edition
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This study goes to the heart of ethics and politics. Strongly argued and lucidly written, the book makes a crucial distinction between two forms of democracy. The author defends constitutional democracy as potentially supportive of the ethical life, while he criticizes the plebiscitary form of democracyas undermiining man's moral nature. The book includes an extensive interpretation and refutation of the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and offers a new perspective on the American Constitution and the relationship between moral community and self-interest. This edition includes an important new section on the common good and the state of Western democracy.

About the Author

Claes G. Ryn is professor of politics at The Catholic University of America, where he was chairman of his department. He has published widely in the Untied States and abroad. His other books include Will, Imagination and Reason and The New Jacobinism. He gave the "Distinguished Foreign Scholar" lectures at Peking University. Ryn is chairman of the National Humanities Institute and editor of Humanitas.