Solitude: A Philosophical Encounter

Front Cover
Open Court Publishing, 1994 - Philosophy - 375 pages
The author identifies five intrinsic virtues of solitude: Freedom of Action; Attunement to Self; Attunement to Nature; Reflective Perspective; and Creativity. The common objections to solitude - that it is empty, pointless, vain, foolish, lonely, dangerous, unnatural, morbid, self-indulgent, selfish, escapist, evasive of social responsibility, irrelevant for post-modern women, and culturally limited to alienated privilege in late stages of capitalism - are each given their say and then critically dismantled. Professor Koch's discussion includes an overview of historical restrictions on solitude for women, as well as contemporary women's writings on solitude, and a detailed study of the role of solitude in the classics of ancient Taoism.
 

Contents

THE NATURE OF SOLITUDE
5
Dimensions
13
Loneliness Isolation Privacy Alienation 5
29
Disengagement
49
Engaged Disengagement
57
The Symmetry of Engagement and Disengagement
81
Images of Solitude
93
EVALUATING SOLITUDE
97
The Arguments Apriori
153
Arguments from Experience
181
Some History
201
Responses
219
Women and Solitude
249
A Universal Value?
275
EPILOGUE
299
NOTES
301

The Virtues of Solitude
99
The Completions of Encounter
137
VERY SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
363
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