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9781538169803

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Drawing expertly on an astonishing array of sources--ancient, modern, and postmodern--Philip Harold proposes a provocative thesis: the eclipse of the classical language of friendship, virtue, and the good by the now-dominant language of values is one of the hidden causes of our current cultural crisis. After this book, the burden of argument will now fall on those who wish to defend this language.--D.C. Schindler, professor of metaphysics and anthropology, The John Paul II Institute, and author, The Politics of the Real A compelling argument that the individualism which vitiates liberalism is not so simple as an attachment to a false theory of human nature, but rather is found in our own deeply rooted commitments, as if to something completely obvious, to delusory and unstable notions of value, sovereignty, and even morality.--Michael Pakaluk, Catholic University of America Thanks to a careful genealogy hailing back to unexpected ancestors like Martin Luther, this book deconstructs values-speech. It reveals how well-meaning people are hoist by their own petard when their values-speech ultimately encourages the kind of subjectivism, relativism, and social rivalry that they would like to eliminate. Harold replaces values with the common good, looked for in friendship and actuated in loyalty. This is a book I wish I'd written.--Remi Brague, author of Curing Mad Truths

A compelling argument that the individualism which vitiates liberalism is not so simple as an attachment to a false theory of human nature, but rather is found in our own deeply rooted commitments, as if to something completely obvious, to delusory and unstable notions of value, sovereignty, and even morality.--Michael Pakaluk, Catholic University of America Thanks to a careful genealogy hailing back to unexpected ancestors like Martin Luther, this book deconstructs values-speech. It reveals how well-meaning people are hoist by their own petard when their values-speech ultimately encourages the kind of subjectivism, relativism, and social rivalry that they would like to eliminate. Harold replaces values with the common good, looked for in friendship and actuated in loyalty. This is a book I wish I'd written.--Remi Brague, author of Curing Mad Truths

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Philip J. Harold is dean of Constantin College of Liberal Arts at the University of Dallas and was formerly professor and associate dean in the School of Informatics, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Robert Morris University. His previous books include Other People’s Money: Politics in Pennsylvania and Prophetic Politics: Emmanuel Levinas and the Sanctification of Suffering.

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