Antiquity and Modernity
Classical Receptions
1. Edition October 2008
200 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Short Description
This book explores the relationship between antiquity and modernity, examining a broad range of thought in the process. The first part considers the development of ideas about the difference between ancient and modern, whether conceptualized in economic, political, cultural, social or psychological terms, and it explores the way that modernity comes to be defined by this difference. The second part examines the uses of the past and of narratives of historical development in the modern era, both in the foundation myths of modernity and in the critiques offered by those who sought to promote alternative forms of society.
The nature, faults and future of modern civilization and how these connect to the past are tackled in this broad-reaching volume.
* Presents a study of modernity that examines classical influences
* Incorporates political, economic, social, and psychological theories
* Highlights writings from a wide range of thinkers, including Adam Smith, Marx, Mill, Nietzsche, Weber, and Freud
Note on References.
1. Untimely Knowledge.
2. The Great Transformation: ancient and modern economics.
3. Before Alienation: the classical critique of modern society.
4. An Aesthetic Education: the failings of modern culture.
5. History as Nightmare: conceptions of progress and decline.
6. Allusion and Appropriation: the rhetorical uses of antiquity.
Bibliography of Sources.
Bibliography.
Index of Persons.
Index of Subjects
-Catharine Edwards, Birkbeck College
"Morley's study opens a fascinating window onto the history of the shifting ideas of antiquity and the correlative sciences of modernity - onto the ever-changing and still ongoing dilemma of their mutual dependency. Probing the uncertain 'logic of modernity,' Morley obliges us to ask whether, if we have never been modern, was antiquity ever ancient? This is a much-needed reassessment of the classical European traditions of economic, sociological, and political theory."
-James I. Porter, University of Michigan