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- Title
CHAPTER 11: Josef Pieper's Defense of the Geisteswissenschaften.
- Authors
Rehman, Rashad
- Abstract
This chapter asks the following question: What are the conditions, within and fostered by contemporary educational institutions, for social justice to be grounded philosophically and put into concrete action? In answering this question, I argue that a defense of the liberal arts is a plausible candidate for grounding the possibility of "social justice," understood as fulfilling an obligation to another in virtue of their intrinsically being owed that obligation. The liberal arts are not merely mechanical, specialized disciplines; instead, they embody a philosophical anthropology in which human beings are responsible, reflective and contemplative individuals capable of intrinsically meaningful actions. It is to this end that I argue that Josef Pieper's defense of the Geisteswissenschaften (liberal arts), and the philosophical anthropology which underlies it, is a plausible way to ground social justice. I begin this chapter by outlining what the liberal arts are and how they have been challenged implicitly and explicitly. I then outline a specific consequence of this explicated in Bryan Metcalfe's dissertation Pedagogy of Mythos (2013). Having done this, I outline Pieper's defense of the liberal arts, offer objections to his defense and respond to them. In the end, I conclude that while Pieper's defense grounds a requisite philosophical anthropology for social justice, a contemporary defense of the liberal arts will always be needed, especially given contemporary "sophistry." I finish this chapter in the hope that this alwayscontemporary defense can be done with an aim to change, while maintaining peaceful, civil discourse.
- Subjects
PIEPER, Josef, 1904-1997; SOCIAL justice; HUMAN rights; SOCIAL democracy; SOCIAL problems
- Publication
Value Inquiry Book Series, 2019, Vol 342, p203
- ISSN
0929-8436
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1163/9789004417588_013