Jagiellonian University in Kraków

English abstract: John Gray’s three controversial, widely discussed books, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals (2002), The Silence of Animals: On Progress and Other Myths (2013) and The Soul of the Marionette: A Short Inquiry into Human Freedom (2015), create a natural trilogy. They all have a similar structure, consisting of a kaleidoscope of ideas, digressions, associations and recurring motifs. This article provides a brief analysis and a thorough critique of this trilogy. The strong and the weak points of the most recent volume are emphasized. A number of objections, reservations and doubts concerning the ideas presented in the three books are formulated. Critical arguments relating to, among other things, Gray’s inconsistent statements on the phenomenon of tragedy, the sources of humanism and its respect for the truth, the issue of freedom and the author’s alleged rejection of traditional morality are put forward.

Keywords: humanism, liberalism, morality, freedom, progress, truth

Language: English

Published: Number 3(32)/2022, pp. 72-87

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.3.72

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Number of downloads: 384

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

University of Gdańsk

English abstract: The author of the article by analyzing and interpreting Constant’s texts performs detailed reconstruction of the idea of freedom included in these texts. The author shows a close connection between Constant’s idea of freedom and of ideas developed by the French thinker and politician in his work on religion. Known classifications (made by Constant) between the individual and political freedom and between freedom of the ancient and modern thereby obtain specific philosophical justification.

Keywords: Benjamin Constant, freedom, religion, freedom of the ancient and modern, individual and political freedom

Language: Polish

Published: Number 2(11)/2015, pp. 69-85.

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Number of downloads: 460