The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen by Stephen K White

The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen by Stephen K White

In The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen, Stephen K. White contends that Western democracies face novel challenges demanding our reexamination of the role of citizens. Such reflection involves our neither denying, in the name of tradition, the force of what is new, nor imagining that we can adequately confront change by simply rejecting the traditions of modern Western political thought. White offers an incisive interpretation of our late-modern ethical-political condition and explains how a distinctive “ethos,” or spirit, of citizenship might constitute part of an exemplary response. This ethos requires reworking basic figures of the modern political imagination, including our conception of the self, citizenship, and democratic politics. Essentially, White argues that the intense focus in the past three decades on finding general principles of justice for diversity-rich societies needs to be complemented by an exploration of what sort of ethos would be needed to adequately sustain any such principles. He proposes that Western citizens adopt an ethos that is defined by such virtues as (moral) attentiveness, self-restraint, and existential gratitude. Accessible, pithy, and erudite, The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen will appeal to a wide audience.

Anti-utopian, pragmatic, and thoroughly idealistic, Stephen White outlines a repertoire of democratic practices for a world without transcendent guaranteesNuanced yet accessible, detailed yet synthetic, The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen is a clear statement from a mature intellectual of an important and unique position: a signature book. -- Bonnie Honig, author of Democracy and the Foreigner

Stephen K. White is James Hart Professor of Political Theory at the University of Virginia.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780674032637
ISBN 10	0674032632
Title	The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen
Author	Stephen K White
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	Harvard University Press
Year published	2009-03-01
Number of pages	150
Prizes	Nominated for Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards 2010
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.