Life in Common: An Essay in General Anthropology (European Horizons)
by Tzvetan Todorov
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"In Life in Common Tzvetan Todorov explores the construction of the self and offers new perspectives on current debates about otherness. Through the seventeenth century, solitude was considered the human condition in the Western philosophical tradition. The self was not dependent on others to perceive itself as complete. Todorov sees a reversal of this thinking beginning with the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the eighteenth century. For the first time the self was defined as show more incomplete without the other, the fundamental requisite for human identity. Todorov traces the far-reaching implications of Rousseau's new vision of the self and society through the political, philosophical, and psychoanalytical theories of Adam Smith, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Georges Bataille, Melanie Klein, and others, and the relevant literary works of Karl Philipp Moritz, the Marquis de Sade, and Marcel Proust. In a study of the bond between parent and child, Todorov develops a compelling vision of the self as social."--BOOK JACKET. show lessTags
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Tzvetan Todorov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria on March 1, 1939. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Sofia and then moved to France to pursue postgraduate work. He completed his doctorate at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in 1966 and he began teaching at the National Center for Scientific Research in 1968. In show more 1983, he helped found the Center for Arts and Language Research, involving scholars from both institutions. He was a literary theorist and historian. He wrote numerous books including The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other, On Human Diversity, Facing the Extreme: Moral Life in the Concentration Camps, A French Tragedy: Scenes of Civil War Summer 1944, The New World Disorder: Reflections of a European, and Fear of the Barbarians: Beyond the Clash of Civilizations. He died of multiple system atrophy, a progressive brain disorder, on February 7, 2017 at the age of 77. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- La vie commune : essai d'anthropologie générale
- Original publication date
- 1995
- Dedication*
- a François Flahault
- First words*
- Studiando le grandi tradizioni del pensiero filosofico europeo riguardo alla definizione di ciò che è umano, si giunge a una conclusione inaspettata: la dimensione sociale, l'emento della vita in comune, non è generalmente... (show all) considerato necessario per l'uomo.
- Quotations*
- Non esiste un io costituitosi in precedenza, come un capitale ricevuto in eredità che si potrebbe dilapidare distribuendolo ad altri, o rinchiudere accuratamente nel proprio retrobottega per poterne apporfittare a piacimento... (show all). L'io esiste soltanto nelle sue relazioni con gli altri e grazie ad esse; intensificare lo scambio sociale significa intensificare l'io.
L'antropologia, così come viene praticata comunemente oggi, non è mai "generale". Questa parola può però essere utilizzata anche nel suo senso letterale di "conoscenza dell'uomo" per indicare l'idea che ciascuno di noi si... (show all) forma dell'essere umano, idea che soggiace alle diverse esplorazioni delle scienze umane come anche ai discorsi morali o politici o, infine, alla filosofia. Di questo genere di antropologia tratta il mio saggio. - Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)La vita comune non può garantirci - e anche questo solo nel migliore dei casi - che una fragile felicità.
- Original language
- Italian
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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