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The Activity of Being: An Essay On Aristotle's Ontology
by Aryeh KosmanUnderstanding “what something is” has long occupied philosophers, and no Western thinker has had more influence on the nature of being than Aristotle. Focusing on a reinterpretation of the concept of energeia as “activity,” Aryeh Kosman reexamines Aristotle’s ontology and some of our most basic assumptions about the great philosopher’s thought.
Activity in Marx’s Philosophy
by Norman D. LivergoodThis essay attempts to demonstrate the significance of the principle of activity in the philosophy of Karl Marx. The principle of activity in Marx has both a general and a specific meaning. In general the princi pIe refers to the activist element in Marxian practice motivating both Marx and his contemporary devotees. The specific facet of the principle relates to Marx's philosophy - the principle of activity being that con cept which underlies the entire system. Activity for Marx is both a philosophie concept and an element of human experience demanded by his system. Marx, that is, not only theorizes about activity but also illustrates his theory in hislife. Hence, we find the principle of activity both in his writings and in his doings. Marx most often used the words Action, Tätigkeit, or Praxis to refer to the principle of activity. No major philosopher has fully dealt with the concept of action. We sometimes suppose that action only occurs when we can observe some outward result or motion. Spinoza's definition of action disallows this narrow interpretation of activity.
Activity in Marx’s Philosophy
by Norman D. LivergoodThis essay attempts to demonstrate the significance of the principle of activity in the philosophy of Karl Marx. The principle of activity in Marx has both a general and a specific meaning. In general the princi ple refers to the activist element in Marxian practice motivating both Marx and his contemporary devotees. The specific facet of the principle relates to Marx's philosophy - the principle of activity being that con cept which underlies the entire system. Activity for Marx is both a philosophic concept and an element of human experience demanded by his system. Marx, that is, not only theorizes about activity but also illustrates his theory in hislife. Hence, we find the principle of activity both in his writings and in his doings. the words Action, Tiitigkeit, or Praxis to refer to Marx most often used the principle of activity. No major philosopher has fully dealt with the concept of action. We sometimes suppose that action only occurs when we can observe some outward result or motion. Spinoza's definition of action disallows this narrow interpretation of activity. I say that we act when anything is done, either within us or without us, of which we are the adequate cause, that is to say ... when from our nature anything follows, either within us or without, which by that nature alone can be clearly and 1 distinctly understood.
Activity and Sign: Grounding Mathematics Education
by Michael H. G. Hoffmann Johannes Lenhard Falk SeegerThe advancement of a scientific discipline depends not only on the "big heroes" of a discipline, but also on a community’s ability to reflect on what has been done in the past and what should be done in the future. This volume combines perspectives on both. It celebrates the merits of Michael Otte as one of the most important founding fathers of mathematics education by bringing together all the new and fascinating perspectives created through his career as a bridge builder in the field of interdisciplinary research and cooperation. The perspectives elaborated here are for the greatest part motivated by the impressing variety of Otte’s thoughts; however, the idea is not to look back, but to find out where the research agenda might lead us in the future. This volume provides new sources of knowledge based on Michael Otte’s fundamental insight that understanding the problems of mathematics education – how to teach, how to learn, how to communicate, how to do, and how to represent mathematics – depends on means, mainly philosophical and semiotic, that have to be created first of all, and to be reflected from the perspectives of a multitude of diverse disciplines.
Activists Speak Out: Reflections on the Pursuit of Change in America
by NA NAIn Activists Speak Out, a group of fifteen American activists speak candidly about how and why they struggle for change. Their causes and strategies vary - in the areas of civil rights, gay and lesbian rights, the environment, women's issues, health, youth, education, labor, freedom of expression and the arts. But the lessons learned resonate across geographic and ideological boundaries. Whether working as grass-roots organizers or corporate insiders, in cities or in rural areas, the through-line of their observations is constant: Change is slow, and may take shape in unexpected ways. Small victories count. And, whatever the initial motivation to become engaged in the struggle for change - anger, compassion, frustration - the very process of engagement is itself transformative. You cross that line, and nothing is ever the same.
The Activist Humanist: Form and Method in the Climate Crisis
by Caroline LevineAn argument that humanists have the tools—and the responsibility—to mobilize political power to tackle climate changeAs climate catastrophes intensify, why do literary and cultural studies scholars so often remain committed to the separation of aesthetic study from the nitty-gritty of political change? In this thought-provoking book, Caroline Levine makes the case for an alternative view, arguing that humanists have the tools to mobilize political power—and the responsibility to use those tools to avert the worst impacts of global warming. Building on the theory developed in her award-winning book, Forms, Levine shows how formalist methods can be used in the fight for climate justice.Countering scholars in the environmental humanities who embrace only “modest gestures of care”—and who seem to have moved directly to “mourning” our inevitable environmental losses—Levine argues that large-scale, practical environmental activism should be integral to humanists’ work. She identifies three major infrastructural forms crucial to sustaining collective life: routines, pathways, and enclosures. Crisscrossing between art works and public works—from urban transportation to television series and from food security programs to rhyming couplets—she considers which forms might support stability and predictability in the face of growing precarity. Finally, bridging the gap between academic and practical work, Levine offers a series of questions and exercises intended to guide readers into political action. The Activist Humanist provides an essential handbook for prospective activist-scholars.
The Activist Humanist: Form and Method in the Climate Crisis
by Caroline LevineAn argument that humanists have the tools—and the responsibility—to mobilize political power to tackle climate changeAs climate catastrophes intensify, why do literary and cultural studies scholars so often remain committed to the separation of aesthetic study from the nitty-gritty of political change? In this thought-provoking book, Caroline Levine makes the case for an alternative view, arguing that humanists have the tools to mobilize political power—and the responsibility to use those tools to avert the worst impacts of global warming. Building on the theory developed in her award-winning book, Forms, Levine shows how formalist methods can be used in the fight for climate justice.Countering scholars in the environmental humanities who embrace only “modest gestures of care”—and who seem to have moved directly to “mourning” our inevitable environmental losses—Levine argues that large-scale, practical environmental activism should be integral to humanists’ work. She identifies three major infrastructural forms crucial to sustaining collective life: routines, pathways, and enclosures. Crisscrossing between art works and public works—from urban transportation to television series and from food security programs to rhyming couplets—she considers which forms might support stability and predictability in the face of growing precarity. Finally, bridging the gap between academic and practical work, Levine offers a series of questions and exercises intended to guide readers into political action. The Activist Humanist provides an essential handbook for prospective activist-scholars.
Activist Citizenship Education: A Framework for Creating Justice Citizens
by Keith HeggartThis book explores alternative models of civics and citizenship education. Specifically, it uses Justice Citizens, a participatory research and film-making project, as a tool to examine young people’s ideas about active citizenship and participation in public spaces. It introduces a framework that seeks to explore the diverse and apparently contradictory nature of young people’s active citizenship. The framework draws on complexity theory combined with critical pedagogy and democratic education to formulate an approach to developing active citizenship among young people. This approach extends theories of both critical pedagogy and education for citizenship, and by doing so seeks to explain the variegated nature of young people’s engagement with civil society. This book contains a valuable repository of ideas and resources for application for teachers to use in schools and classrooms. Academics engaged in initial teacher education, at both primary and secondary levels, will find the framework of use when describing the importance and new approaches to civics and citizenship education within the current school and policy environments.
Activist Business Ethics
by Jacques CoryJacques Cory's second book Activist Business Ethics expands upon the theoretical concepts developed in his first book Business Ethics: The Ethical Revolution of Minority Shareholders published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in March 2001. Activist business ethics is needed in order to remedy the wrongdoing committed to stakeholders and minority shareholders. This will be achieved by cooperation between ethical businessmen, activist academics, stakeholders and minority shareholders. We should treat others as we would want others to treat us, not through interest, but by conviction. Yet this principle is not the guideline of many companies in the modern business world, despite the fact that most religions and philosophers have advocated it in the last 3,000 years. How can we convince or compel modern business to apply this principle? And is it essential to the success of economy? In order to answer these questions this book examines the evolution of activist business ethics in business, in democracies, in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, in philosophy and psychology. The book examines international aspects, the personification of stakeholders, the predominance of values and ethics for CEOs and the inefficient safeguards of the stakeholders' interests. The book presents new vehicles for the safeguard of those interests, such as the Internet, Transparency, Ethical Funds and Activist Associations, and future activist vehicles, such as the Supervision Board and the Institute of Ethics. Today everybody is a stakeholder and a minority shareholder of a company, directly or through our pension funds, or as a client, a supplier, a member of a community and a citizen. The principal premise of the book is, therefore, that ultimately the wrongdoers act against themselves. The book is woven with many references on ethics and business ethics from the professional and classic world literature, the Bible and other religious texts, poetry, maxims, and folk tales; showing that ethical problems are similar throughout the ages and cultures, but some of the solutions given in this book are new and original. Activist Business Ethics is primarily intended for the academic market and is particularly appropriate for academics in business administration, ethics and finance. It should also appeal strongly to the professional business/finance market, and to stakeholders and minority shareholders as well, who are aware of the wrongdoing committed to them and who want to remedy the situation by activist conduct.
Activist Business Ethics
by International Business Programs“The truth can wait, for it lives a long life” (Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher, 1788-1860) The philosopher Schopenhauer believed in the eventual triumph of truth, despite the disappointments engendered by his indifferent contemporaries. Two centuries later, we live in a time of accelerated changes, and we do not have the long life to wait for the truth. Activist business ethics, business ethics with a more activist militant approach, is needed in order to remedy the wrongdoing committed to the stakeholders and minority shareholders. This will be achieved by cooperation between ethical businessmen and businesswomen, activist academics and associations of stakeholders and minority shareholders. We should treat others as we would want them to treat us, not through interest, but by conviction. Yet this principle is not the guideline of many companies in the modern business world, although most of religions and philosophers have preconized it in the last 3,000 years. How could we convince or compel modern business to apply this principle and is it essential to the success of economy? In order to answer these questions this book examines the evolution of activist business ethics in business, democracies, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and other religions, as well as in philosophy, psychology and psychoanalysis. The book examines international aspects, the personification of stakeholders, the predominance of values and ethics for CEOs and the inefficient safeguards of the stakeholders’ interests.
Active Perception in the History of Philosophy: From Plato to Modern Philosophy (Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind #14)
by José Filipe Silva Mikko YrjönsuuriThe aim of the present work is to show the roots of the conception of perception as an active process, tracing the history of its development from Plato to modern philosophy. The contributors inquire into what activity is taken to mean in different theories, challenging traditional historical accounts of perception that stress the passivity of percipients in coming to know the external world. Special attention is paid to the psychological and physiological mechanisms of perception, rational and non-rational perception and the role of awareness in the perceptual process.Perception has often been conceived as a process in which the passive aspects - such as the reception of sensory stimuli - were stressed and the active ones overlooked. However, during recent decades research in cognitive science and philosophy of mind has emphasized the activity of the subject in the process of sense perception, often associating this activity to the notions of attention and intentionality. Although it is recognized that there are ancient roots to the view that perception is fundamentally active, the history remains largely unexplored.The book is directed to all those interested in contemporary debates in the fields of philosophy of mind and cognitive psychology who would like to become acquainted with the historical background of active perception, but for historical reliability the aim is to make no compromises.
The Active Image: Architecture and Engineering in the Age of Modeling (Philosophy of Engineering and Technology #28)
by Sabine Ammon Remei Capdevila-WerningThe “active image” refers to the operative nature of images, thus capturing the vast array of “actions” that images perform. This volume features essays that present a new approach to image theory. It explores the many ways images become active in architecture and engineering design processes and how, in the age of computer-based modeling, images play an indispensable role.The contributors examine different types of images, be they pictures, sketches, renderings, maps, plans, and photographs; be they analog or digital, planar or three-dimensional, ephemeral, realistic or imaginary. Their essays investigate how images serve as means of representing, as tools for thinking and reasoning, as ways of imagining the inexistent, as means of communicating and conveying information and how images may also perform functions and have an agency in their own.The essays discuss the role of images from the perspective of philosophy, theory and history of architecture, history of science, media theory, cognitive sciences, design studies, and visual studies, offering a multidisciplinary approach to imagery and showing the various methodologies and interpretations in current research. In addition, they offer valuable insight to better understand how images operate and function in the arts and sciences in general.
Active Hermeneutics: Seeking Understanding in an Age of Objectivism (Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies)
by Stanley E. Porter Jason C. RobinsonHermeneutics, as a discipline of the humanities, is often assumed to be in thrall to the same subjectivity of every interpretive method, in direct contrast to the objectivity prized by the natural sciences. This book argues that there is a false dichotomy here, and that ancient and modern ideas of knowledge can be utilized to create a new active form of hermeneutics. One capable of creating a standard by which to judge better and worse models of understanding. This book explores decisive aspects over which the future of hermeneutics—a future inexplicably tied to a history of hermeneutics—will continue to struggle, namely the limits and possibilities of situated human understanding. This book is located in the middle of a number of major, converging discussions within contemporary intellectual discourse. Drawing upon a wide range of ancient and modern hermeneutical thought, including Aristotle, Bernstein, Heidegger, Kant, and Gadamer, the result is a hermeneutical approach that pushes beyond the traditional limits of human understanding. This is a bold attempt to move hermeneutics into a new phase. As such, it will be of significant interest to scholars and academics working in General Hermeneutics, Theology, and the Philosophy of Religion.
Active Hermeneutics: Seeking Understanding in an Age of Objectivism (Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies)
by Stanley E. Porter Jason C. RobinsonHermeneutics, as a discipline of the humanities, is often assumed to be in thrall to the same subjectivity of every interpretive method, in direct contrast to the objectivity prized by the natural sciences. This book argues that there is a false dichotomy here, and that ancient and modern ideas of knowledge can be utilized to create a new active form of hermeneutics. One capable of creating a standard by which to judge better and worse models of understanding. This book explores decisive aspects over which the future of hermeneutics—a future inexplicably tied to a history of hermeneutics—will continue to struggle, namely the limits and possibilities of situated human understanding. This book is located in the middle of a number of major, converging discussions within contemporary intellectual discourse. Drawing upon a wide range of ancient and modern hermeneutical thought, including Aristotle, Bernstein, Heidegger, Kant, and Gadamer, the result is a hermeneutical approach that pushes beyond the traditional limits of human understanding. This is a bold attempt to move hermeneutics into a new phase. As such, it will be of significant interest to scholars and academics working in General Hermeneutics, Theology, and the Philosophy of Religion.
Active Conceptual Modeling of Learning: Next Generation Learning-Base System Development (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #4512)
by Peter P. Chen Leah Y. WongThis volume is a collection of papers presented during the first International ACM-L Workshop, which was held in Tucson, Arizona, during the 25th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, ER 2006. Included in this state-of-the-art survey are 11 revised full papers, carefully reviewed and selected from the workshop presentations. These are rounded off with four invited lectures and an introductory overview, and represent the current thinking in conceptual modeling research.
Active Cognition: Challenges to an Aristotelian Tradition (Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind #23)
by Véronique Decaix Ana María Mora-MárquezThis edited work draws on a range of contributed expertise to trace the fortune of an Aristotelian thesis over different periods in the history of philosophy. It presents eight cases of direct or indirect challenges to the Aristotelian passive account of human cognition, taking the reader from late antiquity to the 20th century. Chapters analyse the (often indirect) effect of Aristotle’s account of cognition on later periods. In his influential De anima, Aristotle describes human cognition, both sensitive and intellectual, as the reception of a form in the cognitive subject. Aristotle’s account has been commonly interpreted as fundamentally passive – the cognitive subject is a passive actor upon which a cognitive process is acted by the object. However, at least from the time of Alexander of Aphrodisias onwards, this interpretation has been challenged by authors who posit a fundamental active aspect of cognition. Readers will discover how one or more of three concerns – ontological superiority, direct realism and moral responsibility – drive the active accounts of cognition. Contributed chapters from top scholars examine how these three concerns lead thinkers to take issue with the idea that cognition is a passive process. The authors consider Jesuit accounts of cognition, Malebranche on judgment, and Wittgenstein on perception, as well as Stumpf on active cognition, among other relevant works. This book is ideally suited to scholars of philosophy, especially those with an interest in medieval epistemology, the influence of Aristotle, philosophy of mind and theories of cognition.
“Active and Passive Potency” in Thomistic Angelology
by H.P. KainzA. "SEPARATE SUBSTANCES" AND lOR" ANGELS"? It is interesting to note that, in an expressly theological treatise such as the Summa theologiae, St. Thomas generally uses the term "angel", in preference to "separate substance"; while in works with a less explicit theological intent - e. g. the Summa contra gentiles and the De substantiis separatis 1 - he generally prefers the term "separate substance". But at any rate there is little doubt that the two terms, "separate sub stance" and "angel" have a certain interchangeability and equivalence in the works of St. Thomas. In other words, "the separate substance" is equivalent to "the angel, insofar as its existence and attributes are knowable through human reason alone". And this has led Karl Barth 2 to charge that St. Thomas' angelology is primarily a philosophical presenta tion, with little relevance to theology. 1 We might say that these works are "philosophical" insofar as arguments from reason are emphasized in them, rather than arguments from revelation or faith. However, as Lescoe points out (in the Introduction to his edition of the De substantUs separatis, p. 8), the treatise on separate substances leads up to theological subject-matter in Ch. 's XVII ff- namely, an exposition of Catholic teaching as found in Sacred Scripture, the Fathers, and especially Dionysius. And Chenu maintains that the Summa contra gentiles is basically a theological work, because it not only leads up to theological subject-matter in Bk.
Active and Passive Citizens: A Defense of Majoritarian Democracy (The University Center for Human Values Series #56)
by Richard TuckA powerful case for why majority rule—not representation—is the defining feature of democratic politicsThe idea that democratic governance rests on active self-rule by citizens plays surprisingly little part in current theories of democracy, which instead stress the importance of representation by elected, appointed, or randomly selected bodies such as legislatures, courts, and juries. This would have astonished eighteenth-century theorists of democracy, who viewed universal suffrage and majoritarian voting as the sole criteria for democratic politics. Active and Passive Citizens defends the view of these earlier thinkers, asserting that individual agency is the very essence of democracy.In this provocative and lucidly argued book, Richard Tuck draws on the distinction made by the Abbé Sieyès, a leading political theorist of the French Revolution, between &“active&” citizens (the electorate) and &“passive&” ones (those who are represented by the institutions of the state). Tuck traces our current representative view of democracy to Sieyès and contrasts him with Rousseau, a theorist of active self-rule by the people. Tuck argues that modern theories of democracy have effectively turned us into passive citizens and calls for a renewal of a majoritarian democracy that realizes the full potential of active citizenship.Based on the prestigious Tanner Lectures delivered at Princeton University&’s Center for Human Values, Active and Passive Citizens is edited and introduced by Stephen Macedo and includes commentary by political theorists Simone Chambers, Joshua Cohen, John Ferejohn, and Melissa Schwartzberg.
Activating Cultural and Social Change: The Pedagogies of Human Rights (Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies)
by Baden OffordIn this thought-provoking book, a diverse range of educators, activists, academics, and community advocates provide theoretical and practical ways of activating our knowledge and understanding of how to build a human rights culture. Addressing approaches and applications to human rights within current socio-cultural, political, socio-legal, environmental, educational, and global contexts, these chapters explore tensions, contradictions, and complexities within human rights education. The book establishes cultural and educational practices as intrinsically linked to human rights consciousness and social justice, showing how signature pedagogies used by human rights practitioners can be intellectual, creative, or a combination of both. Across three sections, the book discusses ways of bringing about holistic, relevant, and compelling approaches for challenging and understanding structures of power, which have become a global system, while also suggesting a move from abstract human rights principles, declarations, and instruments to meaningful changes that do not dehumanise and distance us from intrinsic and extrinsic oppressions, denial of identity and community, and other forms of human rights abuse. Offering new critical cultural studies approaches on how a human rights consciousness arises and is practised, this book will be of great interest to scholars and students of cultural studies, education studies, critical sociology, human rights education, and human rights studies.
Activating Cultural and Social Change: The Pedagogies of Human Rights (Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies)
by Baden Offord Caroline Fleay Lisa Hartley Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes Dean ChanIn this thought-provoking book, a diverse range of educators, activists, academics, and community advocates provide theoretical and practical ways of activating our knowledge and understanding of how to build a human rights culture. Addressing approaches and applications to human rights within current socio-cultural, political, socio-legal, environmental, educational, and global contexts, these chapters explore tensions, contradictions, and complexities within human rights education. The book establishes cultural and educational practices as intrinsically linked to human rights consciousness and social justice, showing how signature pedagogies used by human rights practitioners can be intellectual, creative, or a combination of both. Across three sections, the book discusses ways of bringing about holistic, relevant, and compelling approaches for challenging and understanding structures of power, which have become a global system, while also suggesting a move from abstract human rights principles, declarations, and instruments to meaningful changes that do not dehumanise and distance us from intrinsic and extrinsic oppressions, denial of identity and community, and other forms of human rights abuse. Offering new critical cultural studies approaches on how a human rights consciousness arises and is practised, this book will be of great interest to scholars and students of cultural studies, education studies, critical sociology, human rights education, and human rights studies.
Actions and Objects from Hobbes to Richardson
by Jonathan KramnickHow do minds cause events in the world? How does wanting to write a letter cause a person's hands to move across the page, or believing something to be true cause a person to make a promise? In Actions and Objects, Jonathan Kramnick examines the literature and philosophy of action during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when philosophers and novelists, poets and scientists were all concerned with the place of the mind in the world. These writers asked whether belief, desire, and emotion were part of nature—and thus subject to laws of cause and effect—or in a special place outside the natural order. Kramnick puts particular emphasis on those who tried to make actions compatible with external determination and to blur the boundary between mind and matter. He follows a long tradition of examining the close relation between literary and philosophical writing during the period, but fundamentally revises the terrain. Rather than emphasizing psychological depth and interiority or asking how literary works were understood as true or fictional, he situates literature alongside philosophy as jointly interested in discovering how minds work.
Actionable Postcolonial Theory In Education (PDF)
by V. AndreottiActionable Postcolonial Theory In Education
Actionable Postcolonial Theory in Education (Postcolonial Studies in Education)
by V. AndreottiAndreotti illustrates how postcolonial theory is applied in the contexts of educational research/critique and in pioneering pedagogical projects. She offers an accessible and useful overview and comparison of theoretical debates related to critiques of Western/Northern hegemony.
Action versus Contemplation: Why an Ancient Debate Still Matters
by Jennifer Summit Blakey Vermeule“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” Blaise Pascal wrote in 1654. But then there’s Walt Whitman, in 1856: “Whoever you are, come forth! Or man or woman come forth! / You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house.” It is truly an ancient debate: Is it better to be active or contemplative? To do or to think? To make an impact, or to understand the world more deeply? Aristotle argued for contemplation as the highest state of human flourishing. But it was through action that his student Alexander the Great conquered the known world. Which should we aim at? Centuries later, this argument underlies a surprising number of the questions we face in contemporary life. Should students study the humanities, or train for a job? Should adults work for money or for meaning? And in tumultuous times, should any of us sit on the sidelines, pondering great books, or throw ourselves into protests and petition drives? With Action versus Contemplation, Jennifer Summit and Blakey Vermeule address the question in a refreshingly unexpected way: by refusing to take sides. Rather, they argue for a rethinking of the very opposition. The active and the contemplative can—and should—be vibrantly alive in each of us, fused rather than sundered. Writing in a personable, accessible style, Summit and Vermeule guide readers through the long history of this debate from Plato to Pixar, drawing compelling connections to the questions and problems of today. Rather than playing one against the other, they argue, we can discover how the two can nourish, invigorate, and give meaning to each other, as they have for the many writers, artists, and thinkers, past and present, whose examples give the book its rich, lively texture of interplay and reference. This is not a self-help book. It won’t give you instructions on how to live your life. Instead, it will do something better: it will remind you of the richness of a life that embraces action and contemplation, company and solitude, living in the moment and planning for the future. Which is better? Readers of this book will discover the answer: both.
Action versus Contemplation: Why an Ancient Debate Still Matters
by Jennifer Summit Blakey Vermeule“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” Blaise Pascal wrote in 1654. But then there’s Walt Whitman, in 1856: “Whoever you are, come forth! Or man or woman come forth! / You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house.” It is truly an ancient debate: Is it better to be active or contemplative? To do or to think? To make an impact, or to understand the world more deeply? Aristotle argued for contemplation as the highest state of human flourishing. But it was through action that his student Alexander the Great conquered the known world. Which should we aim at? Centuries later, this argument underlies a surprising number of the questions we face in contemporary life. Should students study the humanities, or train for a job? Should adults work for money or for meaning? And in tumultuous times, should any of us sit on the sidelines, pondering great books, or throw ourselves into protests and petition drives? With Action versus Contemplation, Jennifer Summit and Blakey Vermeule address the question in a refreshingly unexpected way: by refusing to take sides. Rather, they argue for a rethinking of the very opposition. The active and the contemplative can—and should—be vibrantly alive in each of us, fused rather than sundered. Writing in a personable, accessible style, Summit and Vermeule guide readers through the long history of this debate from Plato to Pixar, drawing compelling connections to the questions and problems of today. Rather than playing one against the other, they argue, we can discover how the two can nourish, invigorate, and give meaning to each other, as they have for the many writers, artists, and thinkers, past and present, whose examples give the book its rich, lively texture of interplay and reference. This is not a self-help book. It won’t give you instructions on how to live your life. Instead, it will do something better: it will remind you of the richness of a life that embraces action and contemplation, company and solitude, living in the moment and planning for the future. Which is better? Readers of this book will discover the answer: both.