November, 2009

The Bright Side of Modernity: Pluralism, Freedom, and Equality

by Jack Goldstone
The Conversation
November 18th, 2009

One of the great accomplishments of modernity is the institutionalization of pluralism and religious tolerance.  While not unknown in antiquity or pre-modern times, pluralism and tolerance usually meant no more than the official state religious order granting a protected but clearly second-class status to adherents of other faiths.  Thus in Rome up to the 4th [...]

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Modernity’s Darkness, Distinctness, and Technology

by Stephen Davies
The Conversation
November 17th, 2009

It is truly gratifying to be part of such a stimulating conversation. I have a number of questions that spring to mind from points made in its course or which come out of works that the participants have previously published. One that Jason Kuznicki poses and Jack Goldstone responds to is that of the dark [...]

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What Greece, Rome, and Christianity Didn’t Give Us

by Jason Kuznicki
The Conversation
November 16th, 2009

Jack Goldstone writes,
There is a long tradition, which Pagden seems to still hold to but which Davies and I seek to overturn, of seeing considerable continuity between the democracy of the Greeks and that of our own day, and among the urbane, cosmopolitan debates among literate non-nobles that could be found in the streets of [...]

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Modernity Comes Suddenly

by Stephen Davies
The Conversation
November 13th, 2009

What should be clear now is that I and my three interlocutors actually agree on a great deal. I will try to clarify exactly what it is we disagree about before having a look at the big issue and research agenda that is generated by the area we agree on.
Jack Goldstone and I both think [...]

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