Robert Spaemann Book order

The German philosopher Robert Spaemann is one of the most important living thinkers in Europe today. This volume presents a selection of essays that span his career, from his first published academic essay on the origin of sociology (1953) to his more recent work in anthropology and thephilosophy of religion. Spaemann is best known for his work on topical questions in ethics, politics, and education, but the light he casts on these questions derives from his more fundamental studies in metaphysics, the philosophy of nature, anthropology, and the philosophy of religion.At the core of the essays contained in this book is the concept of nature and the notion of the human person. Both are best understood, according to Spaemann, in light of the metaphysics and anthropology found in the classical and Christian tradition, which provides an account of the intelligibilityand integrity of things and beings in the world that safeguards their value against the modern threat of reductionism and fragmentation. A Robert Spaemann Reader shows that Spaemann's profound intellectual formation in this tradition yields penetrating insights into a wide range of subjects,including God, education, art, human action, freedom, evolution, politics, and human dignity.

What does it mean to love someone? What does the concept of human dignity mean, and what are its consequences? What marks the end of a person's life? Is personhood more than consciousness? These perplexing questions lurk beneath the surface of everyday life, surfacing only to demand urgent attention in crises. Renowned German philosopher Robert Spaemann addresses these and other foundational enigmas in three eloquent short essays. Speaking wisdom to controversy, he offers carefully considered, novel approaches to key philosophical and theological questions about the nature of human love (-The Paradoxes of Love-), dignity (-Human Dignity and Human Nature-), and death (-Is Brain Death the Death of a Human Person?-).

Exploring the essence of humanity, this book delves into various avenues for understanding our nature. It poses critical questions about whether to examine genetics and DNA, the history of human adaptation and evolution, or the significance of cultural achievements and social structures. By engaging with these diverse perspectives, the text invites readers to reflect on the complexities of what it means to be human.

An examination and defense of the concept of personality, long central to Western moral culture but now increasingly under attack, by a leading European philosopher. Persons takes issue with major contemporary philosophers, especially in the English-speaking world (such as Parfit and Singer), who have contributed to the eclipse of the idea, and traces the debate back to the foundations of modern philosophy in Descartes and Locke. Robert Spaemann offers extended discussions of the sources of the idea in Christian theology and its development in Western philosophy. He also provides a number of pointed discussions of pressing practical questions--for example, our treatment of the severely disabled human and the moral status of intelligent non-human animals. The book covers a great deal of ground before coming to a focused all human beings are persons.

In this work, the author takes the reader on a quest for the fundamental principles of ethics. He draws on both ancient and modern philisophy, from Artistotle, Plato and Aquinas to Kant and Hegel to discover the intimate relationship between ethics and ontology - the science of being.