Böcker av Daniel A. Dombrowski

Despite their influence in our culture, sports inspire dramatically less philosophical consideration than such ostensibly weightier topics as religion, politics, or science. Arguing that athletic playfulness coexists with serious underpinnings, and that both demand more substantive attention, Daniel Dombrowski harnesses the insights of ancient Greek thinkers to illuminate contemporary athletics. Dombrowski contends that the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus shed important light on issues--such as the pursuit of excellence, the concept of play, and the power of accepting physical limitations while also improving one's body--that remain just as relevant in our sports-obsessed age as they were in ancient Greece. Bringing these concepts to bear on contemporary concerns, Dombrowski considers such questions as whether athletic competition can be a moral substitute for war, whether it necessarily constitutes war by other means, and whether it encourages fascist tendencies or ethical virtue. The first volume to philosophically explore twenty-first-century sport in the context of its ancient predecessor, Contemporary Athletics and Ancient Greek Ideals reveals that their relationship has great and previously untapped potential to inform our understanding of human nature.

Arguing that war is philosophically irreconcilable with Christianity, this title contradicts just war theorists, whose position can be traced to Church figures notably Tomas Acquinas. While the roots of pacifism lie in the teachings of Jesus, it relies as much on philosophical argument as on theological exegesis or speculation.

The Catholic church has always opposed abortion, but - contrary to popular belief - not always for the same reasons. This study argues that the Catholic anti-abortion stance is justified neither by modern embryology nor by ancient church teachings. It embraces and evaluates the complexities of historical Catholic positions on abortion.

Daniel A. Dombrowski brings together the thought of the 20th-century philosophy's greatest political liberal, John Rawls, with the thought of the great process philosophers, Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne. He shows that political liberalism is intimately linked with process philosophy, renaming it 'process liberalism'. He justifies this process liberalism in contrast to four potentially troublesome sources or influences: metaphysics, religion, right-wing politics and left-wing politics. Dombrowski engages a series of interlocutors and alternative positions including Franklin I. Gamwell, Timothy D. Snyder, Martin Heidegger and Karl Marx. In conclusion, he offers a compelling, intricate and resourceful argument for nonhuman animal rights based on Rawlsian principles, which in turn forms the basis of a future environmental ethics.

Explores the political philosophy of John Rawls in relation to public policy issues, including war, mental disability, nonhuman animals, legacy, and affirmative action. Pays special attention to the relationship of religion to these issues and to the processual characteristics of Rawls's method.