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Philosophy Political

The Unconscious Civilization

by (author) John Ralston Saul

Publisher
House of Anansi Press Inc
Initial publish date
Aug 2005
Category
Political, General, Democracy
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780887847318
    Publish Date
    Aug 2005
    List Price
    $19.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780887848964
    Publish Date
    Nov 1995
    List Price
    $16.95

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Description

Governor General's Award Winner

Tenth Anniverary Edition, with a new preface

Our society, John Ralston Saul argues in his 1995 CBC Massey Lectures, is only superficially based on the individual and democracy. Increasingly it is conformist and corporatist, a society in which legitimacy lies with specialist or interest groups and decisions are made through constant negotiations between these groups.

The paradox of our situation is that knowledge has not made us conscious. Instead, we have sought refuge in a world of illusion where language is cut off from reality. Reconnecting language to reality, clarifying what we mean by individualism and democracy, making these realities central to the citizen's life, identifying ideologies in order to control them, these are among the first elements of equilibrium which Saul proposes in these lectures.

About the author

John Ralston Saul is one of Canada’s leading social and political commentators. He is the author of numerous books on philosophy and contemporary politics, including Voltaire’s Bastards, Reflections Of A Siamese Twin, and most recently The Collapse of Globalism. Saul was the Massey lecturer in 1995, and won the 1996 Governor General’s Award for nonfiction for The Unconscious Civilization, based on those lectures. He is the former president of PEN Canada and the creator of the acclaimed LaFontaine Baldwin Lecture series. A regular speaker and panelist across Canada and internationally, John Ralston Saul currently lives in Toronto.

John Ralston Saul's profile page

Awards

  • Winner, Governor General's Award: Nonfiction
  • Winner, Gordon Montador Award