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Complacency

Classics and Its Displacement in Higher Education
By John T. Hamilton
Series: Critical Antiquities
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Complacency by John T. Hamilton critically examines the role of complacency in the decline of classical studies within academia. Drawing on philosopher Simon Blackburn's concept of complacency as a core academic vice, Hamilton explores the historical status of ancient Greek and Roman subjects as foundational to learning, and compares this with the contemporary dominance of mathematics and natural sciences. The book investigates how classical methods, rooted in qualitative analysis, contrast with the quantitative approaches of big data and statistical reasoning, revealing a modern academic complacency that dismisses humanist subjectivity and promotes self-sufficiency. Hamilton challenges readers to reconsider scholarly stagnation and its ethical and political implications in today's educational landscape.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$4299
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is suitable for scholars and students interested in classics, educational philosophy, and academic culture, as well as readers curious about the humanistic critique of modern scientific dominance in universities.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Complacency is a critical reflection on complacency and its role in the decline of classics in the academy.

In response to philosopher Simon Blackburn’s portrayal of complacency as a vice that impairs university study at its core, John T. Hamilton examines the history of complacency in classics and its implications for our contemporary moment.

The subjects, philosophies, and literatures of ancient Greece and Rome were once treated as the foundation of learning, with everything else devolving from them. Hamilton investigates what this model of superiority, derived from the golden age of the classical tradition, shares with the current hegemony of mathematics and the natural sciences.

He considers how the qualitative methods of classics relate to the quantitative positivism of big data, statistical reasoning, and presumably neutral abstraction, which often dismiss humanist subjectivity, legitimize self-sufficiency, and promote a fresh brand of academic complacency.

In acknowledging the reduced status of classics in higher education today, he questions how scholarly striation and stagnation continue to bolster personal, ethical, and political complacency in our present era.

Series: Critical Antiquities

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  • Complacency
    Complacency
    Complacency is a critical reflection on complacency and its role in the decline of classics in the academy. In response to philosopher Simon Blackburn’s portrayal of complacency as a vice that impairs university study at its core, John T. Hamilton examines the history of complacency in classics and its implications for our contemporary moment. The subjects, philosophies, and literatures of...
    By John T. Hamilton
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  • Human
    Human
    Acclaimed author and translator Sophus Helle considers an ancient creation story with themes of humanity, class warfare, and catastrophic climate change. The Babylonian poem Atra-hasis is a forgotten masterpiece of political thought. Written in Akkadian in what is now southern Iraq during the early second millennium BCE, Atra-hasis gives us a glimpse of how ancient poets understood the society growing...
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  • Transit
    Transit
    How an ancient Indigenous earthwork travelled from Ohio to Washington state in the mid-1970s. In Transit, Chadwick Allen chronicles the surprising history of how the ancient snake effigy known as Serpent Mound, located in what is now southern Ohio, travelled to Seattle, Washington in the 1970s, at the height of American Indian activism associated with the Red Power movement. Allen...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Reviews praise Complacency for its engaging and thought-provoking analysis. The Bryn Mawr Classical Review commends Hamilton's concise chapters and inspiring call for classicists to rethink their work and discipline's role. Duncan Kennedy of the University of Bristol highlights the book's inventive exploration of complacency, especially its novel focus on imagery of 'flatness', offering readers both diversion and challenge. Overall, reviews note the book's nimble critique and fresh perspectives on complacency within academia.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780226818627

Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 22 April 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: University of Chicago Press

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 13.0mm

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 172g

Pages: 144

Collections

Ancient & Classical History Education & Reference John T. Hamilton Non-Fiction Series: Critical Antiquities

About the Author

John T. Hamilton is the William R. Kenan Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. He is the author of Soliciting Darkness; Music, Madness, and the Unworking of Language; Security; and Philology of the Flesh, the latter also published by the University of Chicago Press.

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