Faking It

ISBN-13: 9780521613705 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 290 str.

William Ian Miller

Opis

In this book polymath William Ian Miller probes one of the dirty little secrets of humanity: that we are all faking it much more than anyone would care to admit. He writes with wit and wisdom about the vain anxiety of being exposed as frauds in our professions, cads in our loves, and hypocrites to our creeds. He finds, however, that we are more than mere fools for wanting so badly to look good to ourselves and others. Sometimes, when we are faking it, our vanity leads to virtue, and we actually achieve something worthy of esteem and praise William Ian Miller is the Thomas G. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. He has also taught at Harvard, Yale, Chicago, and the Universities of Bergen and Tel Aviv. His previous books include The Mystery of Courage (Harvard University Press, 2000) and The Anantomy of Disgust (Harvard University Press, 1997).

Recenzje

'… a fascinating and highly entertaining account of the small and not so small deceptions, hypocrisies and downright fakes through which we live our lives … Miller's jargon-free style, with its heavy reliance upon his own experiences of all these situations and more, is charming and immediately persuasive … it is as a literary critic that Miller is most impressive … he draws upon an ambitious range of names from across literature … Miller's pithy contribution to the ongoing debate surrounding T. S. Eliot and anti-Semitism, in a chapter on the historically recurring fear that a Jew might 'pass' as Christian, is particularly insightful. There is plenty that is amusing and playful about the arguments presented in this book … he has an eye for the seriousness of attempts to fake it too … These short examples can do little justice to the massive scope that Miller sets out for this book … Miller's demonstration of our dependence upon acts of fraud is invaluable in this field.' Manuscript

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: split in two; 2. Hypocrisy and Jesus; 3. Anti-hypocrisy: looking bad in order to be good; 4. Virtues with natural immunities to hypocrisy; 5. Naked truth: hey, wanna …?; 6. In divine services and other ritualized performances; 7. Say it like you mean it: mandatory faking and apology; 8. Flattery and praise; 9. Hoist with his own petard; 10. The self, the double, and the sense of self; 11. At the core at last: the primordial Jew; 12. Passing and wishing you were what you are not; 13. Authentic moments with the beautiful and sublime?; 14. The alchemist: role as addiction; 15. 'I love you': taking a bullet vs. biting one; 16. Boys crying and girls playing dumb; 17. Acting our roles: mimicry, makeup, and pills; 18. False (im)modesty; 19. Caught in the act; Afterword.