FYS 066 How Is Greatness Possible?

Alexis de Tocqueville summed up the problem of greatness in democracies as follows: "ambitious men in democracies are less engrossed than any others with the interests and the judgment of posterity...they care much more for success than for fame." What he called fame might well be called greatness. Starting from the Kantian premise that greatness is possible only because human values make it possible this course examines the various social psychological historical and philosophical requisites for greatness and failure on a grand scale in democracies as well as in other forms of society.

Instructor

Schneiderman