Overview

The pursuit and love of death has characterized Western culture since Homeric times. Foundations of Violence enters the ancient world of Homer, Plato and Aristotle to explore the genealogy of violence in Western thought. It uncovers the origins of ideas of death from the 'beautiful death' of Homeric heroes through to the gendered misery of war. Jantzen examines the tensions between those who tried to eliminate fear of death by denying its significance, and those like Plotinus who looked to another world for life and beauty.

Full Product Details

Author:   Grace M Jantzen (University of Manchester, UK) ,  Grace M. Jantzen
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.740kg
ISBN:  

9780415290333

ISBN 10:   0415290333
Pages:   400
Publication Date:   20 May 2004
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Section 1: Beauty, Gender and Death 1. Redeeming the Present: The Therapy of Philosophy 2. Symptoms of a Deathly Symbolic 3. Denaturalizing Death 4. Towards a Poetics of Natality Section 2: Out of the Cave Introduction 5. The Rage of Achilles 6. Odysseus on the Barren Sea 7. The Murderous Misery of War 8. Whose Tragedy? 9. Parmenides Meets the Goddess 10. How to Give Birth Like a Man 11. The Open Sea of Beauty 12. The Fault Lines of Flourishing Section 3: Eternal Rome? Introduction 13. Anxiety about Nothing(ness): Lucretius and the Fear of Death 14. 'If We Wish to be Men': Roman Constructions of Gender 15. Valour and Gender in the Pax Augusta 16. Dissent in Rome 17. Stoical Death: Seneca's Conscience 18. Spectacles of Death 19. Violence to Eternity: Plotinus and the Mystical Way Bibliography

Reviews

'[it] should definitely be published. It is bold. It will be provocative, polemical, generating all sorts of debate and discussion... the book will be hugely popular with a range of readers.' - Pamela Sue Anderson, Regent's Park College, Oxford

'This is one of those books that can change the way people think. It's good training in critical thinking and history of ideas for upper level undergraduates and above, and a fascinating story for the sophisticated general reader.' - Reviews in Religion and Theology

Author Information

Grace M Jantzen is Research Professor of Religion, Culture and Gender at the University of Manchester.

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