Freedom and History

H. D. Lewis

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000456332
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Idealism in Philosophy

First published in 1962, Freedom and History expresses a deep concern about freedom and the way it is imperilled by misunderstandings. The cause of freedom has not always been well served by its friends; by presenting one -sided ideas of freedom they have often paved the way for extreme forms of collectivism and despotism. Professor Lewis examines works of T.H. Green and compares Green with Locke and Rousseau, to show how much the attitude of Green and other idealists to questions of education, the family, punishment, slavery, and war was affected by the individualism that underlay their thought and the failure to pay due heed to the facts of moral perplexity. This in turn is seen to owe much to the optimism of late nineteenth century thinkers and the belief in inevitable progress. The volume also discusses the nature of history, objectivity in history, religion and history, and law and morality. Author subjects the works of writers like Reinhold Niebuhr, Barbara Wootton, Ian Ramsey, Leonard Hodgson to close critical examination and presents his own ideas about the relation of theology to historical fact. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of political philosophy, religion, theology, ethics, moral philosophy, and philosophy in general.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• I. Does the Good Will define its own content?—a study of T. H. Green’s Prolegomena to Ethics
• II. The idea of a Universal Mind—a discussion of G. F. Stout’s God and Nature
• III. Individualism and Collectivism—a study of T. H. Green
• IV. The Individualism of T. H. Green
• V. T. H. Green and Rousseau
• VI. Conscience and Dissent
• VII. Extreme views about History
• VIII. The Historian and his Interests
• IX. Can History be Objective?
• X. History and the Gospel—a review of the work of Emil Brunner
• XI. Faith and History—a study of Reinhold Niebuhr
• XII. Freedom and Responsibility
• XIII. Responsibility and Mental Health—a review of recent work by Barbara Wootton
• XIV. The Moral Status of Man
• XV. Faith and Freedom—a discussion of Leonard Hodgson’s Gifford Lectures
• XVI. Freedom and Immortality—a review of recent work by I. T. Ramsey
• XVII. What is Theology?
• Index