NEH Enduring Questions Course on "What Is Civility?"

FAIN: AQ-50761-12

Emory University (Atlanta, GA 30322-1018)
Ann Hartle (Project Director: September 2011 to August 2015)

The development of an undergraduate philosophy course on the question, What is civility?

Ann Hartle, a professor of philosophy with a specialty in the early modern period, develops an introductory course on the idea of civility, "placing it within the context of the social bond in modern liberal societies." Recognizing that the concept was "presupposed in pre-modern life," Professor Hartle argues that civility became a fully articulated problem "with the advent of liberal society, that is, with the origins of the freedom of the individual to pursue the good life in his own way." She also notes that the "meaning of civility depends upon the kind of unity and the level of diversity that a given society seeks to enjoy." The course addresses the problem through a series of related questions about the nature of the social bond, especially in democratic societies; the difficulties of civility in a multicultural and religiously plural society; the role of education in fostering civility; and the relationship between citizenship and civility. The first unit of the course, on pre-modern forms of civility, is based on close readings of Aristotle's Politics and Josef Pieper's Leisure, the Basis of Culture; the latter focuses on the importance of education, study, and contemplation for civilized life in ancient and Christian cultures. The second unit, on civility in early modern philosophy, considers essays by Montaigne and Rousseau's The Social Contract, which provide classic formulations about the roles of individual freedom and religion in social and civil life. Professor Hartle states that she will probably add recent works on religion and civility to this unit during the course development phase. The third unit, on contemporary problems of civility, utilizes Michael Oakeshott, On Human Conduct, and Richard Rorty, Contingency, Irony, Solidarity, which address distinctions between varieties of human association and propose alternative conceptions of liberal society. In addition to standard classroom activities and assignments, the students plan and conduct discussion sessions for the university community.

Media Coverage

Award of NEH Enduring Questions Grant (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Department webpage manager
Publication: Department of Philosophy, Emory University, News
Date: 5/1/2012
Abstract: Announcement of grant award on Department of Philosophy Webpage, News
URL: http://www.philosophy.emory.edu/

Associated Products

What is civility? (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: What is civility?
Author: Ann Hartle
Abstract: Tentative syllabus for course on civility includes Aristotle's Ethics and Politics, Pieper's Leisure the Basis of Culture, Montaigne's Essays, Oakeshott's On Human Conduct, Shils's The Virtue of Civility.
Year: 2012
Audience: K - 12
Audience: Undergraduate

Death and the Disinterested Spectator: An Inquiry into the Nature of Philosophy (Book)
Title: Death and the Disinterested Spectator: An Inquiry into the Nature of Philosophy
Author: Hartle, Ann
Year: 1986
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=9780887062841
Primary URL Description: WorldCat entry
Publisher: Albany: State University of New York Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780887062841

Liberal Education and the Civil Character (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Liberal Education and the Civil Character
Author: Ann Hartle
Abstract: If we wish to understand what civility is, we need to see it in its origins, its emergence as a new moral character at the beginning of the modern era. This character was first displayed and given expression in the Essays of Michel de Montaigne. Civility is actually the overcoming of the will to power, the natural desire to dominate others, not a mask for covering over that natural political attitude. Without civility, there is only the will to power. And in order for civility to exist, there must be something higher, more important, than politics and the struggle for power. I begin with a brief philosophical history of the virtue of civility. Then I address the question of what civility is and what the conditions are for a civil society. Finally, I take up the relationship between civility and liberal education.
Date: 04/15/2016

Liberal Education and the Civil Character (Article)
Title: Liberal Education and the Civil Character
Author: Ann Hartle
Abstract: If we wish to understand what civility is, we need to see it in its origins, its emergence as a new moral character at the beginning of the modern era. This character was first displayed and given expression in the Essays of Michel de Montaigne. Civility is actually the overcoming of the will to power, the natural desire to dominate others, not a mask for covering over that natural political attitude. Without civility, there is only the will to power. And in order for civility to exist, there must be something higher, more important, than politics and the struggle for power. I begin with a brief philosophical history of the virtue of civility. Then I address the question of what civility is and what the conditions are for a civil society. Finally, I take up the relationship between civility and liberal education.
Year: 2016
Format: Journal
Publisher: Perspectives on Political Science

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