Human Nature and the Human Condition
1959
First Published
4.60
Average Rating
222
Number of Pages
Since the publication of The Modern Temper thirty years ago, Joseph Wood Krutch has maintained and enhanced his distinguished place in American letters. Now, for the first time since the publication of The Measure of Man-which won the National Book Award as the most important work of nonfiction in 1954 Dr. Krutch has written a book about his central concern, the nature of man and society. In HUMAN NATURE AND THE HUMAN CONDITION, he contributes a searching commentary on American life today. This book focuses on concepts familiar to all of us. and, characteristically. Dr. Krutch probes them in highly original and concrete fashion. Sympathetic and incorruptible, he writes about such vital contemporary problems as prosperity and the cult of the "high standard of living" (how synonymous is with the "good life"?): the problem of the threatened loss of our belief in the dignity of man; the peculiar nature of American materialism; the question of more "leisure" for whom and for what; and the meaning of the welfare state. The Measure of Man was a defense of the reality of human choice and will against HUMAN NATURE AND THE HUMAN CONDITION upholds the validity of value judgments against Relativism, which Dr. Krutch considers the great "religion" of our time. His thesis is that good and evil, the beautiful and the ugly are not merely relative to a particular culture-the "prejudices of a given society"-but have meaning in relation to a permanent human nature. In developing this theme, Joseph Wood Krutch reveals himself as a modern humanist who brings alive the enduring principles of humanity.
Avg Rating
4.60
Number of Ratings
5
5 STARS
60%
4 STARS
40%
3 STARS
0%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads
Author
Joseph Wood Krutch
Author · 10 books
Works of American critic, naturalist, and writer Joseph Wood Krutch include The Modern Temper (1929) and The Measure of Man (1954). He worked as a professor at Columbia University from 1937 to 1953. Moving to Arizona in 1952, he wrote books about natural issues of ecology, the southwestern desert environment, and the natural history of the Grand Canyon, winning renown as a naturalist and conservationist. Krutch is possibly best known for A Desert Year , which won the John Burroughs medal in 1954. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph\_...
