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Andrew Bard Schmookler Debating the Good Society: A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide
The MIT Press 07/05/1999 0262194147 / 9780262194143 Hardcover Near fine Near fine Hardcover
New. Near fine in publisher's cloth in like dust jacket. Available in our UK premises for prompt dispatch worldwide.NPR host Schmookler (The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution, SUNY, 1995. 2d ed.) has cleverly created a fictional Internet discussion group as the means of presenting a vital topic: the good society. The participants take different positions on the sources of goodness and social order. On one side, the traditionalists argue that human nature is sinful and authority is imperative. On the other side are those who argue that humans are by nature good and will on their own form a good society. Anyone even minimally aware of the state of the world knows that the truth lies in between, and that is where Schmookler leads his audience. One's position here determines one's view of the function of law, authority, education, public policy, and more. Books like this make for an enlightened citizenry and should be welcomed in most libraries.AJohn Moryl, Yeshiva Univ. Lib., New York Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. .... From Kirkus Reviews The author of Out of Weakness (1988) and several other books about society and power, war and peace, here explores and moderates the major points of long-standing disagreements between pessimistic conservatives and optimistic liberals. The books fictional format adds contemporary appeal to this ancient debate, as we hear from a wide variety of people and opinions allegedly interacting in an Internet chat room. Most of the contributors are even more abnormally intelligent than NPR listeners (the author is an NPR host and sounds like one), making their points with quotes from Plato, Blake, Kant, Nietzsche, even Hillary Clinton. Schmooklers hefty tome is quite engaging, but too dense to read in large increments. Specific instances of the order versus freedom theme arise in law, politics, evolution, cultural expression, and child rearing, the latter allowing Schmookler to make long digressions about his family and to introduce the nature versus nurture controversy. As a father, he wants to avoid the extremes of being a totalitarian control freak or the best-friend daddy of a slacker. We wait to see whether his son, the ``Adam'' and litmus of all these philosophical debates, will cure himself of his addiction to Nintendo games, or whether the author will have to play God and lay down the law. A teacher deplores youthful rebellion and defends school rules: ``If we didnt get them used to discipline at the outset, just think of how wild theyd be then!'' Arguing in favor of letting the young find their way, a cartoon depicts older pigs snorting at the young pigs escaping under their fencebut the sign above them reads ``Acme Sausage Company.'' The only winner of the debate is the reader, who learns from this valuable book that truths lie in the middle. -- Copyright ®1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Price:
1.90 GBP
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