Publisher's Synopsis
This book brings together a distinguished group of philosophers and theologians to critique several aspects of modernism. Modernism in philosophy is characterized by skepticism and anti-realism in epistemology, and by relativism in ethics and politics. The contributors are influenced by the philosophical tradition inspired by, but not exclusively based upon, the thought of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, and carried on by such contemporary thinkers as Jacques Maritain, Étienne Gilson, and Yves Simon. This tradition supports the views that realism is true; that knowledge (including scientific knowledge) is objective; that there are ethical absolute which can be known; that moral character matters; and that the traditional view of the relationship between the individual and the community--human beings are social by nature and not just by choice--is essentially correct.
From this background, the contributors address a wide range of issues in the contemporary discussion, such as: the foundation and assumptions of Cartesianism; the defense of realism; the American political tradition, including key themes of individual rights versus the common good; pluralism, liberalism, and secularism; the problem of skepticism; and social construct theory.
ABOUT THE EDITOR:
Brendan Sweetman is associate professor of philosophy at Rockhurst College. He is coauthor ofTruth and Religious Belief: Conversations on the Philosophy of Religionand coeditor ofContemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistemology.
THE CONTRIBUTORS:
Christopher M. Cullen, S.J., Donald T. DeMarco, John X. Evans, William J. Fossati, Edward J. Furton, Robert Geis, Terry Hall, Curtis L. Hancock, James G. Hanink, John F. X. Knasas, Joseph W. Koterski, S.J., Michael P. Moreland, Matthew Pugh, Peter A. Redpath, James V. Schall, S.J., Brendan Sweetman, Deborah Wallace, and Henk E. S. Woldring.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:
""This fine volumes covers a wide range of issues that contrast the modern intellect as the creator of its own ideas to the realist intellect as receptacle of a reality it does not create. This book has the refreshing sense of scholars engaged not merely in a battle of words but in a genuine pursuit of attainable common truths.""--Crisis
""The Failure of Modernismis the kind of book that contemporary professors of philosophy and their students should read. . . . In [it], Brendan Sweetman has put together much more than a multifaceted critique of modern philosophy; the book challenges the very premises on which modernism rests.""--American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly
