What should a nation do when it fears an old foe is arming itself to the teeth? Should it sit by ... more What should a nation do when it fears an old foe is arming itself to the teeth? Should it sit by waiting to be attacked, or should it strike first in the hope of thwarting, or at least weakening the force of the attack? International law requires that an attack be either underway or imminent before a nation can strike in self-defense. Military action in the absence of an imminent threat has been traditionally considered as military aggression, which the Nuremburg Tribunal called “the supreme international crime.”1 Yet almost 60 years later, in the run up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the American media accepted without question the Bush administration’s doctrine of “preemptive war.”
The German mystics were particularly important for Kierkegaard because of the proximity of German... more The German mystics were particularly important for Kierkegaard because of the proximity of Germany to Denmark and because of their influence on both German idealism and the Pietist tradition in which Kierkegaard was raised. This article is the first attempt to look at the issue of how the views of the German mystics may have influenced Kierkegaard’s though. It begins with an introduction to what one could call mystical epistemology, but then looks more specifically at the epistemology of two medieval German mystics, Meister Eckhart and Johannes Tauler, and at Kierkegaard’s exposure to the German mystical tradition. Finally, it presents an account of Kierkegaard’s own religious epistemology that makes clear that it is largely indistinguishable from the epistemology of Ekhardt and Tauler.
Acknowledgments Preface Sigla 1. Introduction: Kierkegaard as Epistemologist 2. The Knowing Subje... more Acknowledgments Preface Sigla 1. Introduction: Kierkegaard as Epistemologist 2. The Knowing Subject 3. Defining Knowledge 4. Objective Knowledge 5. Redefining Knowledge 6. Subjective Knowledge 7. Conclusion: The Implications of Kierkegaard's Epistemology Works Cited Index
The decline of Marxism has left an ideological vacuum in Eastern Europe and many scholars in this... more The decline of Marxism has left an ideological vacuum in Eastern Europe and many scholars in this part of the world have begun to turn to Kierkegaard for insights into the nature of genuine community or of the role of the individual in society. This move may seem odd to those who view Kierkegaard as the father of twentieth-century existentialism. Fortunately, however, existentialism is just as dead as Marxism and so are many of the other ‘-isms’ (e.g. positivism, Freudianism, structuralism) that define what has come to be known as ‘modernity’. This means that the task of identifying the social and political significance of Kierkegaard’s thought has become less problematic than it was when interpretations of Kierkegaard were so often laden with anachronistic existentialist ideas.
One of the most significant developments in the latter part of the 20th century and the first par... more One of the most significant developments in the latter part of the 20th century and the first part of this new millennium has been the triumph of short-term over long-term thinking. We are increasingly a culture that looks neither to the past nor to the future, but only to the next “quarter,” or to the next Delphic pronouncement by Alan Greenspan. This cultural construction of time has given rise to social, political and personal problems of unprecedented magnitude. The short-term focus of contemporary American capitalism is causing us to behave, both individually and collectively, in an increasingly irrational and thus self-destructive manner. Ours is now the most violent, crime-ridden society in the industrialized world. Capitalism is sometimes blamed for this, yet there are other capitalist societies that do not suffer the same evils we suffer. I argue that we can learn from these societies how to correct some of the ills of our own system and in this way construct a new paradigm of the market, a paradigm for the new millennium, a more mature, rational version of capitalism that would focus on the long rather than the short term.
What should a nation do when it fears an old foe is arming itself to the teeth? Should it sit by ... more What should a nation do when it fears an old foe is arming itself to the teeth? Should it sit by waiting to be attacked, or should it strike first in the hope of thwarting, or at least weakening the force of the attack? International law requires that an attack be either underway or imminent before a nation can strike in self-defense. Military action in the absence of an imminent threat has been traditionally considered as military aggression, which the Nuremburg Tribunal called “the supreme international crime.”1 Yet almost 60 years later, in the run up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the American media accepted without question the Bush administration’s doctrine of “preemptive war.”
The German mystics were particularly important for Kierkegaard because of the proximity of German... more The German mystics were particularly important for Kierkegaard because of the proximity of Germany to Denmark and because of their influence on both German idealism and the Pietist tradition in which Kierkegaard was raised. This article is the first attempt to look at the issue of how the views of the German mystics may have influenced Kierkegaard’s though. It begins with an introduction to what one could call mystical epistemology, but then looks more specifically at the epistemology of two medieval German mystics, Meister Eckhart and Johannes Tauler, and at Kierkegaard’s exposure to the German mystical tradition. Finally, it presents an account of Kierkegaard’s own religious epistemology that makes clear that it is largely indistinguishable from the epistemology of Ekhardt and Tauler.
Acknowledgments Preface Sigla 1. Introduction: Kierkegaard as Epistemologist 2. The Knowing Subje... more Acknowledgments Preface Sigla 1. Introduction: Kierkegaard as Epistemologist 2. The Knowing Subject 3. Defining Knowledge 4. Objective Knowledge 5. Redefining Knowledge 6. Subjective Knowledge 7. Conclusion: The Implications of Kierkegaard's Epistemology Works Cited Index
The decline of Marxism has left an ideological vacuum in Eastern Europe and many scholars in this... more The decline of Marxism has left an ideological vacuum in Eastern Europe and many scholars in this part of the world have begun to turn to Kierkegaard for insights into the nature of genuine community or of the role of the individual in society. This move may seem odd to those who view Kierkegaard as the father of twentieth-century existentialism. Fortunately, however, existentialism is just as dead as Marxism and so are many of the other ‘-isms’ (e.g. positivism, Freudianism, structuralism) that define what has come to be known as ‘modernity’. This means that the task of identifying the social and political significance of Kierkegaard’s thought has become less problematic than it was when interpretations of Kierkegaard were so often laden with anachronistic existentialist ideas.
One of the most significant developments in the latter part of the 20th century and the first par... more One of the most significant developments in the latter part of the 20th century and the first part of this new millennium has been the triumph of short-term over long-term thinking. We are increasingly a culture that looks neither to the past nor to the future, but only to the next “quarter,” or to the next Delphic pronouncement by Alan Greenspan. This cultural construction of time has given rise to social, political and personal problems of unprecedented magnitude. The short-term focus of contemporary American capitalism is causing us to behave, both individually and collectively, in an increasingly irrational and thus self-destructive manner. Ours is now the most violent, crime-ridden society in the industrialized world. Capitalism is sometimes blamed for this, yet there are other capitalist societies that do not suffer the same evils we suffer. I argue that we can learn from these societies how to correct some of the ills of our own system and in this way construct a new paradigm of the market, a paradigm for the new millennium, a more mature, rational version of capitalism that would focus on the long rather than the short term.
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