Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books.
Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
Details
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Equality by Default: An E... has been added to your Cart
Want it Wednesday, Dec. 31? Order within and choose this date at checkout.
Ship to:
Select a shipping address:
To see addresses, please
or
Please enter a valid US zip code.
or
+ $3.99 shipping
Used: Like New | Details
Sold by Wordery USA
Condition: Used: Like New
Comment: International shipping available. This fine copy is in our depot and should be with you within 10-13 working days via Air Mail.

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 3 images

Equality by Default: An Essay on Modernity as Confinement (Crosscurrents) Paperback – July 14, 2004

by Philippe Beneton (Author), Ralph C Hancock (Translator)
4.2 out of 5 stars 6 customer reviews
See all 2 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Hardcover
"Please retry"
$25.00
$25.00 $123.16
Paperback
"Please retry"
$15.00
$10.18 $10.90
Best Books of the Year So Far
Looking for something great to read? Browse our editors' picks for the Best Books of the Year So Far in fiction, nonfiction, mysteries, children's books, and much more.
$15.00 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Frequently Bought Together

  • Equality by Default: An Essay on Modernity as Confinement (Crosscurrents)
  • +
  • Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
  • +
  • The Republic of Plato: Second Edition
Total price: $38.76
One of these items ships sooner than the other. Show details
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
    Aristotle
    4.2 out of 5 stars 28
    Paperback
    $11.64 Prime
  2. The Republic of Plato: Second Edition
    Plato
    4.5 out of 5 stars 99
    Paperback
    $12.12 Prime
  3. Gideon's Trumpet
    Anthony Lewis
    4.5 out of 5 stars 78
    Paperback
    $13.95 Prime
  4. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Eighth Edition: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
    Kate L. Turabian
    4.5 out of 5 stars 565
    #1 Best Seller in Medical Research
    Paperback
    $12.98 Prime
  5. Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation: An Introduction to Theory and History (9th Edition)
    Joseph S. Nye Jr.
    4.7 out of 5 stars 19
    Paperback
    $88.09 Prime
  6. Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science (Fully Revised and Updated)
    Charles Wheelan
    4.5 out of 5 stars 525
    Paperback
    $10.09 Prime
Next
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
The latest book club pick from Oprah
"The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead is a magnificent novel chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. See more

Product Details

  • Series: Crosscurrents
  • Paperback: 217 pages
  • Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute; 1 edition (July 14, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1932236333
  • ISBN-13: 978-1932236330
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,365 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsEquality, Tolerance, Morality
By nhanc on August 16, 2005
Format: Paperback
Three words - among many others - whose meanings have been significantly watered down over recent decades. Bénéton does an excellent job describing how the traditional definitions of these concepts have regressed almost to a Nietzschean "last man" extent: all differences between individuals are supposedly equal, no one choice is better than any other, and achieving "greatness" of any kind is therefore both impossible and pointless. With "Equality by Default," Bénéton - a true philosopher - has successfully described precisely why modernity can be viewed "as confinement." For those who, like myself, view the recent surge in moral relativism as a threat to modern society, you will not be disappointed by this book.
Comment 14 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsexcellent reflection on modern subjectivism
By Steve M in SLC on November 15, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Beneton begins his reflection by comparing the once grounded concept of equality, that is, that which is naturally inherent by virtue of the dignity that comes with being a human being to the modern notion that is grounded merely in assertion. This seems to have come about by way of disagreement on what the natural end of man is. As such, no one can even suggest to another how one should order his or her life which stifles debate, limits self-reflection (as there is no true object of which to reflect upon), and turns everyone in on themselves to the point of a radical autonomy. This is equality by default. It is the modern man trying to navigate himself through life by choosing among an equally valid (in his mind) set of options. The only question left at this point is, why choose? There is no 'best way to live', no Socratic sense of the 'good life'. Beneton explores this modern mindset through the context of academics, economics, science, technology, politics, and media (not necessarily in that order). When you consider this modern mindset, it is the effect of the media that is particularly troubling. This is because if you lack a principled trajectory in life, you will be prone to the guidance of outside stimuli, and this is where we get confinement...tethered by our most base instincts as they are glorified in the media. I think the following quote by Francois Brune sums this up best:

"Everything that is massively disseminated in the media seems massively to constitute the age, whether it is a matter of anonymous opinions, "progressive" morals, or new modes of existence.Read more ›
Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsEnlightenment ideals perverted
By Brett Williams on November 2, 2015
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Sounding much like Alan Bloom, Bénéton opens with the pleasant but passionless nature of his law students. We find in Bénéton’s argument the success of Enlightenment social philosophy so complete that we no longer debate the fundamental basis of its products. Nor, he claims, do we see just how perverse they have become over time. The vital questions at stake since Aristotle, wrestled with by the Middle Ages, contested by Hobbes, Locke and Jefferson, are now blasé matters of mere opinion and taken for granted - “whatever.”

Like Louis Dumont’s Essay on Individualism, Bénéton’s book is really an essay on the spin-offs of Enlightenment’s central idea of individualism, in this case, equality. Bénéton argues the evolving radicalization of this notion has not unified and elevated us, but separated and isolated us. Equality is no longer due to an essential human essence – what the Stoics called a “divine spark.” Instead, equality means that no one is better than anyone else, with a celebration of petty differences, none of which could be so vital as to raise one over another. Our ideals, claims Bénéton, have become hollow, without substance. His best work is in showing the toxicity of modern relativity and the void it has created in all those once-high-minded ideals, now paid lip service.

Bénéton shows us one reason for our confusion is that those who set the trajectory for modernity severed from the ancients, did not and could not build a solid foundation for moral action based on reasoned arguments. (This very much depresses me.) Every attempt from David Hume to John Rawls has been a patch, striving to fix what they broke.Read more ›
Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.