Political philosophy in the moment : narratives of freedom from Plato to Arendt / Jim Josefson.

"Political Philosophy In the Moment uncovers the political power of narrative by both telling and explaining the stories that frame our ability to be 'in the moment.' In a series of eleven short stories, Jim Josefson presents the history of political philosophy and Hannah Arendt's alternative, an aesthetic form of politics. In the early stories, Josefson recounts how the four main traditions of political philosophy (Platonism, Aristotelianism, liberalism and historicism) promise truth but deny us the freedom available in reality. Then, he reviews the alternative narratives offered by thinkers like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Heidegger, which influenced Arendt's view. The final chapters chart Arendt's route back to the Moment, the freedom to read and tell a fuller story about the beauty and horrors that appear in the world. A page-turning book of short stories and a tour through the greatest works of political philosophy, Political Philosophy In the Moment makes political philosophy as approachable, comprehensible, and welcoming as a fairy-tale, ideally suited for graduate students of contemporary political theory and political philosophy"--Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The unbearable lightness of being -- The tambourine man and the tinker -- Being in the momentary -- Phenomenology of the undead -- Report by John Deere -- Thus woke Sara Thurston -- The fountainhead and the spring -- The pass, the ground, the clearing -- The stroller and the great disaster -- The beaten path of thought -- The return.