Possibility’s Parents: Stories at the End of Liberalism (Politics, Literature, & Film)

This book links the questions people ask about why things exist, why the world is the way it is, and whether and how it is possible to change their society or world with the societal myths they develop and teach to answer those questions and organize and bring order to their communal lives. It also is about the need for change in western societies’ current organizing concept, classical (Lockean) liberalism. Despite the attempts of numerous insightful political thinkers, the myth of classical liberalism has developed so many cracks that it cannot be put back together again. If not entirely failed, it is at this point unsalvageable in its present form. Never the thought of just one person, the liberal model of individual religious, political, and economic freedom developed over hundreds of years starting with Martin Luther’s dictum that every man should be his own priest. Although, classical liberalism means different things to different people, at its most basic level, this model sees human beings as individuals who exist prior to government and have rights over government and the social good. That is, the individual right always trumps the moral and social good and individuals have few obligations to one another unless they actively choose to undertake them. Possibility’s Parents argues that Lockean liberalism has reached the end of its logic in ways that make it unable to handle the western world’s most pressing problems and that novelists whose writing includes the form and texture of myth have important insights to offer on the way forward. Contents Preface Chapter One: Did You Ever Wonder What the World Would Be Like Without You in It?: An Introduction Chapter Two: Have You Ever Noticed That There Are Stories within Stories within Stories? Chapter Three: Do You Believe in God? Chapter Four: Do You Believe in Magic? Chapter Five: Do You Believe in Dragons? Chapter Six: Why Can’t People Accept Each Other? Chapter Seven: What Can I Do? Glossary Bibliography Index About the Authors This book analyzes works of late 20th century literature to unearth themes related to western classical liberal societies. The analysis suggests new ways of thinking about building political philosophies capable of replacing the classical liberal model.