باغ ناتمام: میراث اومانیسم

by Tzvetan Todorov, تزوتان تودوروف, مؤسسه خط ممتد اندیشه (Translator)

Modern humanity made a deal with the devil, according to Tzvetan Todorov. We got freedom, but we also lost God and common society, and we have only a helpless and dizzying individualism to guide us. The central problem facing us now is how to survive the poison pill we swallowed when we tasted freedom. There are four basic responses, Todorov claims: conservatism, scientism, individualism, and humanism. As the reader soon learns from his characterizations, Todorov's allegiance is firmly with the humanists. Imperfect Garden takes up the standard of humanism, and Todorov situates himself alongside Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Montaigne.

For Todorov, as with the best of the humanists, life in the world is a garden that needs our tending. And though by its nature it is imperfect, at times bearing rotten and sour fruit, it can always be improved with our care, diligence, and love. Ultimately, Todorov proposes that humanism is a wager, à la Pascal: we will be no worse off for striving to mend the human condition, but we risk everything if we don't. --Eric de Place

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Research, History

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

In Bulgarian Цветан Тодоров. Todorov was a Franco-Bulgarian historian, philosopher and literary theoretician. Among his most influential works is his theory on the fantastic, the uncanny and marvellous.

Reviews

[Meg]

Read this for my theological ethics class - it's in the "to reread" list because I think it really merits going back through before I give it a rating.
However, I just want to say that this is may be the most beautiful cover out of all those on the books I own. Shelling out the cash for the hardcover was worth it just to be able to stare at the hardcover all the time.

[Mirela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man… this was hard to read… yet good at the same time. Got lots of quotes out of it. I recommend reading a couple of Rousseau, Montaigne and Montesquieu

I take from this book that we tend to change when we need to but in a selfish way… there is no helping others and evolution unless it helps us first.That is our human nature

[Ramona Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great but challenging read! Before reading this book, it was helpful to have read Rousseau, Descartes Tocqueville, and Montaigne. I have not read Constant, who was the most compelling. Using the concept of the wager, similar to Pascal's wager, made the book's format easy to follow.

[Hristiana Demireva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасна книга! Научна, конкретна, критична, стегната, същевременно топла и нежна. Идеална и за "нефилософи", интересуващи се от материята.

[Pau Romeu Miguel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro que expone la cosmovisión humanista desde sus virtudes y límites. Aún así, hay sombras que no están del todo desarrolladas en el libro.

[Trina]

Tzvetan Todorov's 1988 work appeared in lecture slides of 'Bilingualism and Emotion: Different Language, Different Selves', conducted 02/11/2011.