Reasons Inquisition: On Doubtful Ground is an exploration in the literature of political philosophy before and after Alfarabi and ranging from Thucydides to Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin. These studies, most of them previously unpublished, open inquiries into theory and practice, reason and revelation, and the relation between thinkers ancient and modern. Readers may be surprised to see the Platonist Alfarabi presented as a critic of Plato's theory in the name of practice, while Alfarabi and Hobbes are shown to have a common interest in a theory commensurate with action. Strauss, Voegelin and Lucien Febvre all explore the problem of reason and revelation in relation to the limits of human knowledge. An ambitious study of Shakespeare's Macbeth explores the ambiguity of both nature and knowledge in relation to male and female, good and evil, present and future. The contrast between ancients and moderns is explicit in questions of the modern aspects of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and of Rousseau's reversal of Plato. Kierkegaard and Heidegger bring radical modernity into focus against a Platonic background in the closing essay. These diverse essays attempt to follow the thinkers and themes explored in turning a critical gaze upon reason itself.
Christopher A. Colmo is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Dominican University in River Forest Illinois.
Part I. Theory and Practice Chapter 1. Theory and Practice: Alfarabi's Plato Revisited Chapter 2. The Platonism of Alfarabi Chapter 3. Neoplatonism and Alfarabi's Politics Chapter 4. Beyond Theory and Practice: The Natural and the Voluntary in Alfarabi's Philosophy of Aristotle Chapter 5. Plato's Phaedrus and the Rhetoric of the Human Things Chapter 6. Theory and Practice in Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed Chapter 7. East Meets West: Alfarabi and Hobbes Part II. Reason and Revelation Chapter 8. Reason and Revelation in the Thought of Leo Strauss Chapter 9. A Man's World: Women in Macbeth Chapter 10. Lucien Febvre and the Right to Unbelief Chapter 11. Reasoning about Revelation Chapter 12. History and Gnosis: Voegelin's Reply to Bultmann Chapter 13. On Voegelin's Interpretation of Political Reality Part III. Ancients and Moderns Chapter 14. Thucydides and the Political Chapter 15. War and Peace: The Relevance of Aristotle Chapter 16. Marlowe's Doctor Faustus Chapter 17. Politics and Education: Rousseau's Emile and the Reversal of Plato Chapter 18. About Subjectivity
"Bringing together years of reflection in a rich volume, Christopher Colmo exemplifies how perceptive and learned readers can draw on thinkers from vastly different historical periods and intellectual traditions to revisit timeless philosophical questions. The reader of this volume will gain valuable insights by following this transhistorical dialogue between eminent thinkers masterfully curated by Christopher Colmo." -- Rasoul Namazi, Duke Kunshan University
