The Human Person and a Culture of Freedom

Twenty-first-century society faces profound challenges, and the future seems anything but secure. The rapid advance of technology has far outpaced mankind's moral and religious development. There is greater material wealth now than in past centuries, yet poverty remains an international problem. Wars persist and global peace seems increasingly unattainable as terrorism and civil strife become more prevalent. Numerous forms of entertainment made possible by modern industrialization and technology divert attention away from the things that really matter and invert the objective hierarchy of values. Underlying all these threats to the foundations of civilization one can find one or another theoretical conception of man and human freedom. This volume presents a rich and diverse collection of essays on the theoretical foundations of human freedom. From several distinct perspectives, the authors examine various aspects of the deeper anthropological questions at the root of a number of critical social challenges confronting modernity. Readers interested in educational theory, church and state, the nature of love and friendship, questions of authority and the common good, law and human rights, and virtue theory and the various types of freedom will find this collection of special interest.