The Importances Of The Past: A Meditation On The Authority Of Tradition (suny Series In Philosophy)

This book examines tradition, the authority of the past, by tracing the process through which emotion and imagination transform everyday experience into an awareness of one's dependence on the work of predecessors. The King Arthur legend serves as a case study, outlining how this authority of tradition creates and sustains meaningful structures of social order.George Allan is Professor of Philosophy and Dean of the College at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.