Essays and Dramas: An Inquiry into Passions Engendered by the Idea of Reason - Paperback

by Paul C. Johnston (Author)

All people tell stories, which stories engender emotion, which emotion issues forth into action. On the basis of the stories that they tell, they navigate through the currents of life. This book is about one group of people in particular -- us, we people of and from Europe -- and two stories that we tell, one classifiable under the heading of "the idea of reason" and the other under the heading of "contract doctrine." The influence upon us of these stories was benign at first. Such, however, is no longer the case. The long run influence of these stories has turned out to be catastrophic. How do we deal with the catastrophe? Free ourselves from the straight-jacket of contract doctrine, reach a better understanding of the actual effects of the idea of reason, tell a different story - all of which I attempt to do in this book -- is my answer to the above question.