The Reopening of the American Mind: On Skepticism and ConstitutionalismRodopi, 1998 - 274 páginas The Reopening of the American Mind: On Skepticism and Constitutionalism explores the connection of moderate skepticism with attachment to constitutionalism through the thought of five writers. The features of this skepticism were concisely delineated by James Madison in the 37th Federalist as a recognition of the complexity of political matters, the limitations of human reason, and the shortcomings of language. The position was first articulated by Cicero who connected it with the idea of a mixed or republican constitution developed by trial and error over generations. Cicero was influential in the world of David Hume, Edmund Burke, and Madison. The skeptical/constitutional connection found its most articulate recent advocate in Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and underlay his advocacy of judicial restraint. Current events have revived interest in the primacy of the legislative branch in balancing interests and rights, in the States as laboratories for democracy, and in an experimental approach to the solution of social problems in what might be called a reopening of the American mind. The five central chapters explore the skeptical/constitutional connection and the spirit of moderation in these political thinkers. Without an appreciation of this tradition of avoiding dogmatism, people will continue to demand simple answers to complex problems. The book is not, however, primarily a tract for the times but a reflection on the on-going search for a more civil world. |
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... judgment . It is not destructive skepticism , or a skepticism based upon a cynical view of human beings and of the possibilities of knowing anything about them . But it is not a plea for academic dogmatism either . The key issue ...
... judgment . It is not destructive skepticism , or a skepticism based upon a cynical view of human beings and of the possibilities of knowing anything about them . But it is not a plea for academic dogmatism either . The key issue ...
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... judgment . In my own governmental experience , his is the right way : reasoned prin- ciples , such data as you can get , a sense of the indeterminacy of the ever new context in which the issue presents itself , and then the judgment ...
... judgment . In my own governmental experience , his is the right way : reasoned prin- ciples , such data as you can get , a sense of the indeterminacy of the ever new context in which the issue presents itself , and then the judgment ...
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... judgment as to how far to follow one or another in the case at hand . All principles are false , because all are true— in a sense and to a degree ; hence , none is true in a sense and to a degree which would deny to others a similarly ...
... judgment as to how far to follow one or another in the case at hand . All principles are false , because all are true— in a sense and to a degree ; hence , none is true in a sense and to a degree which would deny to others a similarly ...
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... judgment . " How much consensus exists about who has this " good judgment " ? Cicero and Burke each undertook the defence of an oppressed national group , and Frankfurter took especial inter- est in legal developments throughout the ...
... judgment . " How much consensus exists about who has this " good judgment " ? Cicero and Burke each undertook the defence of an oppressed national group , and Frankfurter took especial inter- est in legal developments throughout the ...
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... judgment , I wish to contrast focus on a pattern of words or symbols with focus on an activity of choosing . I have not cited the vast literature familiar to any interested student of philosophy . " In what follows , the key organizing ...
... judgment , I wish to contrast focus on a pattern of words or symbols with focus on an activity of choosing . I have not cited the vast literature familiar to any interested student of philosophy . " In what follows , the key organizing ...
Contenido
1 | |
14 | |
28 | |
Ciceros Life | 53 |
Other Works | 89 |
Toward Humanity | 106 |
FELIX FRANKFURTER | 135 |
The Status of Frankfurter | 139 |
Legal Reasoning | 191 |
Due Process | 201 |
Exemplars | 207 |
Conclusion | 216 |
Bibliographical and Critical Appendix | 218 |
POSTSCRIPTS | 221 |
NOTES | 231 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 251 |
Biographical Sketch | 142 |
The Canonical Figures | 151 |
The Harvard Publications and Their Applications | 159 |
The Flag Salute Cases | 175 |
Democracy | 184 |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | 267 |
INDEX | 269 |
95 | 271 |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
The Reopening of the American Mind: On Skepticism and Constitutionalism James W. Vice Vista previa limitada - 2021 |
The Reopening of the American Mind: On Skepticism and Constitutionalism James W. Vice Vista previa limitada - 1998 |
Términos y frases comunes
academic skepticism Academica action American argument Aristotle asserted biography Black Brandeis Burke's Cambridge Cardozo century character Chicago Press choice Cicero civil common concern Constitution David Hume democracy democratic developed dialogue discussion distinction doctrines Due Process Clause economic Edmund Burke essay experience F.A. Hayek fact Federal Federalist Felix Frankfurter Frankfurter's freedom Harvard Holmes Hugo Black human Hume's ideas important individual institutions interest interpretation issues James Madison John judge judgment judicial judicial restraint Justice Laelius legislation Leo Strauss liberty logic Lucullus matter meaning ment nature opinion person philosophy political popular position practical praise principles problems procedures Pyrrhonic quoted reason recognize reference Republic responsibility role Roman Roosevelt rule Sacco and Vanzetti Scipio sense simply social society Supreme Court symbols theory things thought tion Tocqueville tradition trans truth understanding University of Chicago University Press wisdom words writings York
Pasajes populares
Página 23 - As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and his passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other ; and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves.
Página 78 - But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
Página 133 - Many of our men of speculation, instead of exploding general prejudices, employ their sagacity to discover the latent wisdom which prevails in them. If they find what they seek, and they seldom fail, they think it more wise to continue the prejudice with the reason involved, than to cast away the coat of prejudice, and to leave nothing but the naked reason...
Página 82 - ... whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.
Página 118 - England, Sir, is a nation, which still I hope respects, and formerly adored, her freedom. The colonists emigrated from you when this part of your character was most predominant ; and they took this bias and direction the moment they parted from your hands. They are therefore not only devoted to liberty, but to liberty according to English ideas, and on English principles.
Página 128 - The science of constructing a commonwealth, or renovating it, or reforming it, is, like every other experimental science, not to be taught a priori. Nor is it a short experience that can instruct us in that practical science; because the real effects of moral causes are not always immediate...
Página 87 - The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.
Página 180 - Even so, they are not of the very essence of a scheme of ordered liberty. To abolish them is not to violate a "principle of justice so rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranked as fundamental.
Página 23 - By a faction I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.
Página 24 - ... there are particular moments in public affairs, when the people, stimulated by some irregular passion, or some illicit advantage, or misled by the artful misrepresentations of interested men, may call for measures which they themselves will afterwards be the most ready to lament and condemn.