Border Crossings

Comparative political theory is at best an embryonic and marginalized endeavor. As practiced in most Western universities, the study of political theory generally involves a rehearsal of the canon of Western political thought from Plato to Marx. Only rarely are practitioners of political thought willing (and professionally encouraged) to transgress the canon and thereby the cultural boundaries of North America and Europe in the direction of genuine comparative investigation. Border Crossings presents an effort to remedy this situation, fully launching a new era in political theory. Thirteen scholars from around the world examine the various political traditions of West, South, and East Asia and engage in a reflective cross-cultural discussion that belies the assumptions of an Asian 'essence' and of an unbridgeable gulf between West and non-West. The denial of essential differences does not, however, amount to an endorsement of essential sameness. As viewed and as practiced by contributors to this ground-breaking volume, comparative political theorizing must steer a course between uniformity and radical separation―this is the path of 'border crossings.'

Politics & Social Sciences

Dallmayr University of Notre Dame, Fred

Politics & Government

Lexington Books

Achieving Our World: Toward a Global and Plural Democracy

In an age marked by global hegemony and festering civilization clashes, Fred Dallmayr's Achieving Our World charts a path toward a cosmopolitan democracy respectful of local differences. Dallmayr draws upon and develops insights from a number of fields: political theory, the study of international politics, recent Continental philosophy, and an array of critical cultural disciplines to illustrate and elucidate his thesis. In Achieving Our World, Dallmayr contends that a genuinely global and plural democracy and 'civic culture' is the only viable and promising path for humankind in the new millennium.

Philosophy

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Small Wonder: Global Power and Its Discontents (New Critical Theory)

Small Wonder presents the dangers of the 'underside of modernity': the unleashing of unlimited lust for (global) power and wealth. Relying on leading critical intellectuals, Dallmayr offers a critique of the self-deceptions of our age, arguing in favor of the cultivation of the 'small wonder' of everyday life.

The book records the author’s personal and intellectual maturation over a period of nine decades. This maturation was never purely self-propelled, but always occurred in response to teachings and experiences. Situated as a “being-in-the-world”, the author’s experiences reach from World War II via the Cold War to recent “terror wars.” Intellectually, he participated in and reacted to a number of major perspectives: from phenomenology, existentialism, and critical theory to hermeneutics, postmodernism, and post-secularism. Exchanges with multiples interlocutors helped to shape his distinctive outlook or profile; which privileges self-other contacts over the ego, dialogue over monologue, and dialogical cosmopolitanism over chauvinistic power politics. Implicit in this emerging profile is a preference for potentiality over actuality and of relationality over static identity. Shunning doctrinal formulas or finished “systems”, the author’s life thus is shown to be simply a journey, an adventure to what comes, an itinerary (mentis in Deum).

On the Boundary: A Life Remembered

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Hamilton Books

G.W.F. Hegel: Modernity and Politics (Modernity and Political Thought)

Dallmayr argues that G W F Hegel is perhaps the leading philosopher of modernity and explores his philosophy as it pertains to the meaning of modernity and postmodernity: its celebration of individual freedom and the importance of a network of social relationships, public justice and civic virtue.  This important text explains Hegel′s work in the context of current theoretical and philosophical debates about modernity, illustrating his response to contemporary issues and recognizing him as a major figure in the history of political thought.

Sage Publications, Inc.

Globalization is often seen as a process of universal standardization under the auspices of market economics, technology, and hegemonic power. Resisting this process without endorsing parochial self-enclosure, Fred Dallmayr explores alternative visions that are rooted in distinct vernacular traditions and facilitate cross-cultural learning in an open-ended global arena.

Alternative Visions

Against Apocalypse: Recovering Humanity's Wholeness

The book denounces the irresponsible recklessness of some geopolitical agendas which are pushing the world relentlessly toward a major global war, and possibly toward nuclear destruction or apocalypse. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has recently placed the "Doomsday Clock" at three minutes to midnight. Signs pointing toward a possible grand disaster are multiple: everywhere one looks in our world today one finds ethnic and religious conflicts, bloody mayhem, incipient genocide, proxy wars and "hybrid" wars", renewal of the Cold War. Add to these ills global economic crises, massive streams of refugees, and the threats posed by global warming - and the picture of a world in complete disorder is complete. Thus, it is high time for humankind to wake up. Starting from the portrayal of global "anomie", the book issues a call to people everywhere to oppose the rush to destruction and to return to political sanity and the quest for peace. This is a call to global public responsibility. In ethical terms, it says that people everywhere have an obligation to prevent apocalypse and to "maintain" our world or "hold the world together" in all its dimensions - including the dimensions of human and social life, natural ecology, and human spiritual aspirations (or openness to the divine). Differently out: in lieu of the prevailing disorder and brokenness, the book urges us to search for a new "wholeness" and just peace. The book is intercultural and also inter-disciplinary. Since the aim is holistic - to hold the world together - the book necessarily has to draw on many disciplines: including philosophy, theology, social science, history, and literature. In terms of Western philosophical and intellectual legacies, it draws mainly on the teachings of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida. It also offers a completely new interpretation of the work of Thomas Hobbes, unearthing in this work an ethical demand to exit from the state of perpetual warfare in the direction of a shared commonwealth. The text also relies on the teachings of Christian theology (both Catholic and Protestant), invoking at crucial junctures the works of Karl Barth, Raimon Panikkar, and others. In terms of non-Western intellectual and spiritual legacies, the book offers new interpretations of leading texts in the Indian and Chinese traditions. Thus, emphasis is placed on the ideas of "world maintenance" (loka-samgraha) in Hinduism and of "All-Under-Heaven" in classical Chinese thought. Although a central thrust of the text is for a new wholeness, the goal is not a uniform synthesis where everything would be swallowed up in a bland unity. Rather the issue is how to preserve diversity of the world in its rightful integrity, by linking all elements in a complex web of interconnections and "relationality".

Religion & Spirituality

The book denounces the irresponsible recklessness of some geopolitical agendas which are pushing the world relentlessly toward a major global war, and possibly toward nuclear destruction or apocalypse. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has recently placed the "Doomsday Clock" at three minutes to midnight. Signs pointing toward a possible grand disaster are multiple: everywhere one looks in our world today one finds ethnic and religious conflicts, bloody mayhem, incipient genocide, proxy wars and "hybrid" wars", renewal of the Cold War. Add to these ills global economic crises, massive streams of refugees, and the threats posed by global warming - and the picture of a world in complete disorder is complete. Thus, it is high time for humankind to wake up. Starting from the portrayal of global "anomie", the book issues a call to people everywhere to oppose the rush to destruction and to return to political sanity and the quest for peace. This is a call to global public responsibility. In ethical terms, it says that people everywhere have an obligation to prevent apocalypse and to "maintain" our world or "hold the world together" in all its dimensions - including the dimensions of human and social life, natural ecology, and human spiritual aspirations (or openness to the divine). Differently out: in lieu of the prevailing disorder and brokenness, the book urges us to search for a new "wholeness" and just peace.The book is intercultural and also inter-disciplinary. Since the aim is holistic - to hold the world together - the book necessarily has to draw on many disciplines: including philosophy, theology, social science, history, and literature. In terms of Western philosophical and intellectual legacies, it draws mainly on the teachings of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida. It also offers a completely new interpretation of the work of Thomas Hobbes, unearthing in this work an ethical demand to exit from the state of perpetual warfare in the direction of a shared commonwealth. The text also relies on the teachings of Christian theology (both Catholic and Protestant), invoking at crucial junctures the works of Karl Barth, Raimon Panikkar, and others. In terms of non-Western intellectual and spiritual legacies, the book offers new interpretations of leading texts in the Indian and Chinese traditions. Thus, emphasis is placed on the ideas of "world maintenance" (loka-samgraha) in Hinduism and of "All-Under-Heaven" in classical Chinese thought. Although a central thrust of the text is for a new wholeness, the goal is not a uniform synthesis where everything would be swallowed up in a bland unity. Rather the issue is how to preserve diversity of the world in its rightful integrity, by linking all elements in a complex web of interconnections and "relationality".

Against the background of the present political and cultural disarray, this book asks: What can be learned from past historical examples of such decay? How can political life be restored now to its original purpose: the promotion of the "good life" or the "common good?" Taking up these key questions, the volume performs a deep dive into the historical and literary record, tracing out the collision of institutions and society, and the development of philosophical and ethical accounts of what constitutes politics, the state, the public, and individuals. Throughout history, there have been a multiple trajectories for understanding the basic relationship between the state, power, society, and the ethical: the multivalent theories, unsurprisingly, have clashed and created rifts. At the same time, despite conflict and tumult, from ancient Athens and Tudor England, to the rise of fascism and authoritarianism in the previous and current centuries, a riptide of hope and praxes has endured that grounds the possibility of a society founded on solidarity. Towards this end, Fred Dallmayr pleads for the renewal of politics through the legacy of the "cardinal virtues" acting as chief remedy for the present disarray.

Political Life in Dark Times: A Call for Renewal (Faith and Politics: Political Theology in a New Key)

History

World

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Books by Dallmayr University of Notre Dame, Fred

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dallmayr University of Notre Dame, Fred. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Border Crossings

Achieving Our World: Toward a Global and Plural Democracy

Achieving Our World: Toward a Global and Plural Democracy

Small Wonder: Global Power and Its Discontents (New Critical Theory)

On the Boundary: A Life Remembered

G.W.F. Hegel: Modernity and Politics (Modernity and Political Thought)

Alternative Visions

Against Apocalypse: Recovering Humanity's Wholeness

Against Apocalypse: Recovering Humanity's Wholeness

Political Life in Dark Times: A Call for Renewal (Faith and Politics: Political Theology in a New Key)