At War With Time: Western Thought from The Sages to the 21st Century - Hardcover

Social Critic Craig Eisendrath Reveals Age-Old Thought Patterns that Keep Westerners from Tackling Today's Global Challenges;

Traces of a New Philosophy Found in Science, Arts;

Ever heard of the "permanence complex"? What sounds like a psychological disorder is a philosophical term coined by social critic Craig Eisendrath that describes how Western civilization copes—or does not cope—with change. As the author reveals in his new book At War With Time, an incisive cross-disciplinary review of Western thought, our ancestors have spent the past 4,000 years shielding themselves against the idea of a changing world. Such denial in contemporary society leads to the individual refusal of responsibility—truly a danger for our global society. Eisendrath claims that this paradigm is about to be replaced by a powerful new philosophy of which traces can be found across modern science and social theory. In At War With Time, Craig Eisendrath proposes that intellectual commitment should translate into political activism. The book will be released to stores on October 16, with a press conference at the Franklin Inn Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

At War With Time is both the first cross-disciplinary attempt to understand Western history through its relationship with change and a seminal search for a philosophy that inspires Westerners with a new sense of social responsibility. In a sweeping review of Western intellectual milestones that span the centuries from the Gilgamesh Epic and the New Testament to Kant, Hegel, and the latest advances in modern science and social theory, Craig Eisendrath shows how our ancestors found meaning in the face of crisis by adhering to "beliefs of permanence," such as the idea of an eternal soul, an almighty God, fixed natural laws and historical purpose. These ideas have not simply been undermined by modern science and history, he argues, they are being replaced by a new philosophy that promotes "a world that is responsible for its own laws and the increasing growth of complexity."

Eisendrath writes, "This is a universe in process, and in which we are learning, and of which at this time, and probably forever, we will achieve only partial understanding. What this new mode of thinking does make clear is that this uncertain, incompletely understood historical moment is ours to live in, and to improve if we can." If he is right, this evolution would allow Westerners to make peace with their age-old aversion to change and find new meaning in today’s evermore complex world.

As terrorist attacks and nuclear proliferation increasingly threaten the notion of a permanent world, Western society has never been more pressured to respond to the global challenges of its time. At War With Time seeks to bring together the threads of modern thought in a unique effort to inspire a new sense of activism and a constructive approach to our future.

In response to crisis, thoughtful people search inside themselves for confidence or security. For many, traditional beliefs, which provided comfort for earlier generations, no longer work. These beliefs include a faith in God, in the soul, and in eternal ideas; a belief that science can deliver sure answers; and confidence that history will inevitably have a favorable outcome. Together, these beliefs form what I call a "permanence complex." With these beliefs in question, many people are beset with the uncertainty which marks our age.

For over four thousand years, Western thinkers and religious leaders have used these beliefs to provide answers to many of life’s problems and to develop the basis of our social institutions. The cataclysmic events of the last hundred years, such as the Holocaust and other human-rights horrors, have assaulted aspects of these beliefs, particularly in the essential goodness of the human soul and in the inevitability of historical progress. (. . . ) No new philosophy has yet arisen to turn this situation around. The influential philosophic movement known as "deconstructionism," while attacking notions of permanence, has failed to provide an adequate basis for a sense of reality, personal identity, or social commitment. Despite a few celebrity "public intellectuals," the universities, for the most part, have abandoned their public role. Where is help to be found in our age?"