Equality by Default: An Essay on Modernity as Confinement

By Philippe Bénéton and Philippe : B

Book Overview

For most of our contemporaries, to speak of modernity is to think immediately of liberty, equality, and democracy -- and to assume that all is well. But things are not so simple. For while the culture... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932236333
• ISBN13: 9781932236330
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
• Length: 217 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Equality, Tolerance, Morality

Three words - among many others - whose meanings have been significantly watered down over recent decades. Bénéton does an excellent job describing how the traditional definitions of these concepts have regressed almost to a Nietzschean "last man" extent: all differences between individuals are supposedly equal, no one choice is better than any other, and achieving "greatness" of any kind is therefore both impossible and pointless. With "Equality by Default," Bénéton - a true philosopher - has successfully described precisely why modernity can be viewed "as confinement." For those who, like myself, view the recent surge in moral relativism as a threat to modern society, you will not be disappointed by this book.

A splendid account of late modernity

As the subtitle of the book states, "an essay on modernity as confinement," this book focuses primarily on modernity. By "equality by default", the author examines egalitarianism in a modern sense, in which the Self is elevated to a divine level, authority has been eroded, science is the only accepted form of reason, and procedure has subjugated form. I would recommend this book particularly to any intellectual conservative, anyone who has read and liked Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, or anyone in particular who feels unfulfilled by the modern world.