Acts of Hope: Creating Authority in Literature, Law, and Politics
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Book Overview
To which institutions or social practices should we grant authority? When should we instead assert our own sense of what is right or good or necessary? In this book, James Boyd White shows how texts by some of our most important thinkers and writers--including Plato, Shakespeare, Dickinson, Mandela, and Lincoln--answer these questions, not in the abstract, but in the way they wrestle with the claims of the world and self in particular historical and cultural contexts. As they define afresh the institutions or practices for which they claim (or resist) authority, they create authorities of their own, in the very modes of thought and expression they employ. They imagine their world anew and transform the languages that give it meaning. In so doing, White maintains, these works teach us about how to read and judge claims of authority made by others upon us; how to decide to which institutions and practices we should grant authority; and how to create authorities of our own through our thoughts and arguments. Elegant and accessible, this book will appeal to anyone wanting to better understand one of the primary processes of our social and political lives.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0226895114
ISBN13:9780226895116
Release Date:October 1995
Publisher:University of Chicago Press
Length:368 Pages
Weight:1.05 lbs.
Dimensions:0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"
Customer Reviews
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Acts of Hope
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
i love this book this is coming from a person who loves to read ... this is one of the best books that i have ever read and i have a whole library full of books this is the book i most recomend u to buy !
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