Classical Horizons, livre ebook

Argues that classical social theory has its intellectual and moral roots in classical Greece.

Argues that classical social theory has its intellectual and moral roots in classical Greece.

2003 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title

This work relocates the origins of nineteenth-century social theory in classical Greece and focuses on three figures: Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim, all of whom wrote dissertations on the culture and structure of ancient society. Greek philosophy, art, and politics inspired their ideas, stirred their imaginations, and defined their intellectual horizons. McCarthy rediscovers the forgotten dreams and classical horizons of these European social theorists and uncovers the close connections between sociology and philosophy, offering new insights into the methods, theories, and approaches of modern social science.

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION: CRITIQUE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND RETURN TO CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
1. KARL MARX: ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY AND THE CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
Science and Nature in Democritus and Epicurus
Nature, Praxis, and Social Objectivity
Classical Needs and Neoclassical Aesthetics
Ancient and Modern Democracy
Greek Social Justice and Political Economy in Capital
Rationalization of Production and the Logic of Capital
Greek Physics and Marx's Dialectical Science
Classical Antiquity and the Ancient Mode of Production
2. MAX WEBER: GREEK TRAGEDY AND THE RATIONALIZATION OF SOCIETY
Classical Antiquity and Ancient Capitalism
Capitalism and Democracy in the Greek Polis
Decline of the Roman Empire and the Rise of Modern Capitalism
Nietzsche and the Origins of Greek Tragedy
Existential Nihilism and the Perspectivism of Science
History of Western Science from Plato to the Present
Prophets of Positivism and the Politics of Science
Rationalization and the Eclipse of Reason
Classical Humanism and Historical Economics
3. EMILE DURKHEIM: GREEK POLIS AND THE SOLIDARITY OF THE CONSCIENCE COLLECTIVE
Aristotle,Montesquieu, and the Foundations of Sociology
Origins of Society in Rousseau and Aristotle
Epistemology and Existentialism in Kant and Schopenhauer
Platonic Rationalism and the Sophistry of Pragmatism
Collective Representations as Social Epistemology
Hellenic Solidarity and Modern Anomie
Classical Pedagogy and Modern Politics
Classical Justice Informing Social Democracy
4. AWAKENING CLASSICAL DREAMS: SYNTHESIS OF ANCIENT JUSTICE AND MODERN SOCIAL SCIENCE
Notes

Index