Bibliograph

The seekers, the story of man's continuing quest to understand his world, Daniel J. Boorstin

Type

Label

The seekers, the story of man's continuing quest to understand his world, Daniel J. Boorstin

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-277) and index

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The seekers

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

38580254

Responsibility statement

Daniel J. Boorstin

Review

"Throughout history, from the time of Socrates to our own modern age, the human race has sought the answers to fundamental questions of life: Who are we? Why are we here?" "Boorstin says our Western culture has seen three grand epics of Seeking. First there was the heroic way of prophets and philosophers - men like Moses or Job or Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, as well as those in the communities of the early church universities and the Protestant Reformation - seeking salvation or truth from the god above or the reason within each of us." "Then came an age of communal seeking, with people like Thucydides and Thomas More and Machiavelli and Voltaire pursuing civilization and the liberal spirit." "Finally, there was an age of the social sciences, when man seemed ruled by the forces of history. Here are the absorbing stories of exceptional men such as Marx, Spengler, and Toynbee, Carlyle and Emerson, and Malraux, Bergson, and Einstein." "These great thinkers still have the power to speak to us, not always so much for their answers as for their way of asking the questions that never cease either to intrigue or to obsess us."--Jacket

Sub title

the story of man's continuing quest to understand his world

Table Of Contents

Bk. 1. An Ancient Heritage -- part I. The Way of Prophets: A Higher Authority -- From Seer to Prophet: Moses' Test of Obedience -- A Covenanting God: Isaiah's Test of Faith -- Struggles of the Believer: Job -- A World Self-Explained: Evil in the East -- part II. The Way of Philosophers: A Wondrous Instrument Within -- Socrates' Discovery of Ignorance -- The Life in the Spoken Word -- Plato's Other-World of Ideas -- Paths to Utopia: Virtues Writ Large -- Aristotle: An Outsider in Athens -- On Paths of Common Sense -- Aristotle's God for a Changeful World -- part III. The Christian Way: Experiments in Community -- Fellowship of the Faithful: The Church -- Islands of Faith: Monasteries -- The Way of Disputation: Universities

Target audience

adult

Classification

Creator