Papers by Marty Sulek
Philanthropia, 2014
The humanities and normative theory played a prominent role in creating the field of philanthropi... more The humanities and normative theory played a prominent role in creating the field of philanthropic studies. However, the leading outlets for research in this field now publish little scholarship from disciplines such as history, religious studies, philosophy, literature, and ethics-favoring instead disciplines from the social sciences, public policy, and managerial studies. Our review begins by documenting this phenomenon
International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, 2010
International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, 2023
Protagoras of Abdera (±490-420 BC) is one of the more overlooked figures in ancient Greek philoso... more Protagoras of Abdera (±490-420 BC) is one of the more overlooked figures in ancient Greek philosophy relative to his importance, but particularly with regard to political theory as it relates to civil society. Aristotle (384-322 BC) is generally held to be the first political scientist (Strauss 1978, p. 21), given his systematic treatment of civil society in Politics (1252a7) and elsewhere. However, this assessment overlooks the critical contributions of earlier Greek thinkers such as Protagoras, widely acknowledged by both ancients and moderns as the first and greatest of the sophists and the chief harbinger of the “Sophistic Enlightenment” in mid-5th century Athens (Coby, 1987). While Protagoras was a towering figure in pre-Socratic political philosophy, analysis of his political theory has been impaired by two factors. First, virtually nothing from his authentic writings survives. Second, most of what we know about Protagoras comes from commentaries of later authors, mostly derived from Plato (424/3-348/7). In his Socratic dialogues, the sophists are portrayed as atheistic moral relativists and clever speakers who subvert the laws by teaching their students how to employ eristic rhetoric to evade legal and civic obligations. While there is some truth to this depiction, Protagoras is far more complex and interesting.
International Encyclopedia of Civil Society / Springer, 2023
In his Inquiry into the principles of morals, David Hume observes:
The epithets, sociable, goo... more In his Inquiry into the principles of morals, David Hume observes:
The epithets, sociable, good-natured, humane, merciful, grateful, friendly, generous, beneficent, or their equivalents, are known in all languages, and universally express the highest merit which human nature is capable of attaining.
§ II ‘Of Benevolence’ (1854, vol. IV, p. 237)
By whatever we choose to name it, charity has been a ubiquitous feature of human society throughout human history. Indeed, contemporary conceptions of charity in civil society are deeply rooted in historical traditions that have decisively informed their normative basis (Salamon and Anheier 1998, pp. 226-231). This entry therefore traces the historical origin and development of ‘charity’ through the various epithets by which it has been known in the world’s major cultural and religious traditions.
International Encyclopedia of Civil Society / Springer, 2023
Contemporary conceptions of civil society may be arranged into three distinct, but mutually suppo... more Contemporary conceptions of civil society may be arranged into three distinct, but mutually supportive, categories encompassing associational life, the public sphere, and the good society (Edwards, pg. 91). ‘Associational life’ theories, primarily found in the social sciences, define civil society as a function of the various organizations that constitute the voluntary, non-profit sector. ‘Public sphere’ theories, by comparison, view civil society as the site of public debate – including independent media, civic forums, or even just plain talk among citizens – where consensus is forged through open-ended discussion of issues of public concern. ‘Good society’ theories, finally, view civil society as a normative concept describing the type of society in which people would (or should) ideally like to live as free and reasonable citizens. Aristotle addresses all three modern conceptions of civil society in his extant works: the ideal of the good society in Politics and Nicomachean Ethics, associational life in Politics and Athenian Constitution (‘AC’), and the public sphere as an arena of debate in Rhetoric.
Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership, 2021
This paper provides the most comprehensive mapping to date of the current state of nonprofit mana... more This paper provides the most comprehensive mapping to date of the current state of nonprofit management and philanthropic studies (NMPS) education programs in Canada. One of the more significant findings of this study is both the number and types of Canadian NMPS programs offered in the historically French-speaking province of Quebec, versus the predominantly English-speaking parts of the rest of Canada. We hypothesize that differences in the structure of civil society between English-and French-speaking parts of the country may have led to a differentiation in both the number and types of NMPS programs offered in the two regions. Canada is an apparent hybrid of the "welfare partnership" model found in many "continental European" countries, such as France, and the Anglo-Saxon model predominantly found in the United States, the United Kingdom, and some other members of the British Commonwealth. Given this hybridity, we compare the course offerings of French and English-speaking Canadian NMPS programs with those of other member countries of the Organisation for Economic CoOperation and Development (OCED) employing Esping-Anderson's regime types as a comparative framework. This comparison reveals no strong correlations between these regime types and the nature of their NMPS curricular offerings. We follow this analysis with a more comprehensive comparison of American and Canadian NMPS education and offer a brief historical overview of the latter. We found significant differences in the NMPS education between these two countries, both qualitative and quantitative. Most significantly, a much larger propor
International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, 2010
Voluntas, 2000
This research note addresses issues, concerns, and opportunities for teachers and researchers of ... more This research note addresses issues, concerns, and opportunities for teachers and researchers of the third sector in Central and Eastern Europe, drawing on experiences in Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, and Hungary. The paper briefly outlines the development of the third sector in the aforementioned countries, and describes the current state of third sector teaching and research there. It then frames the
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2010
The academic study of philanthropy presupposes a comprehensive definition that guides inquiry int... more The academic study of philanthropy presupposes a comprehensive definition that guides inquiry into what, exactly, philanthropy is and why it matters. at present, though, no such well-thought-out definition exists. Scholars tend to explore various facets of philanthropy, according to their particular academic interests, but without a comprehensive understanding of its full meaning. This article attempts to correct this lack of synoptic understanding by surveying prominent instances of usage and definitions of philanthrôpía in the classical greek era and synthesizing them into a overall framework for understanding its full classical meaning. In so doing, philanthrôpía is revealed to be a signal word, the meaning of which significantly evolved to reflect historically dominant philosophical and cultural trends in classical greek society. This article concludes the exploration of this subject begun in an article published in the previous issue of NVSQ, titled "On the Modern Meaning of Philanthropy."
Historical inquiries into religious giving are generally limited to the point at which a society ... more Historical inquiries into religious giving are generally limited to the point at which a society becomes literate and begins keeping written records. With the analytical tools of linguistics, though, plausible inferences may be also drawn regarding the religious rituals and giving practices of pre-literate societies. This paper examines linguistic and mythographic evidence indicating that Prometheus in Hesiod and Mātariśvan in the Rig Veda are cognate figures, pointing to the existence of a Proto-Prometheus dating to at least the last point of Graeco-Aryan unity, around 2500 BCE. One of the strongest points of correspondence between Prometheus and Mātariśvan is their role in founding the ritual of sacrifice to the Gods with burnt offerings; a ritual also closely associated with the private provision of public feasts in both archaic Greece and Vedic India. Establishing the existence of a Graeco-Aryan Proto-Prometheus, therefore, also implies the existence of religious giving in that society.
The academic study of philanthropy presupposes a comprehensive definition that guides inquiry int... more The academic study of philanthropy presupposes a comprehensive definition that guides inquiry into what, exactly, philanthropy is and why it matters. At present, though, no such well-thought-out definition exists. Scholars tend to explore various facets of philanthropy, according to their particular academic interests, but without a comprehensive understanding of its full meaning. This article attempts to correct this lack of synoptic understanding by surveying prominent instances of usage and definitions of philanthropy in the modern era and synthesizing them into a overall framework for understanding its full modern meaning. In so doing, philanthropy is revealed to be a signal word, the evolution in the meaning of which reflects historically dominant philosophical and cultural trends in modern Western society. The subject of this article is further explored in a forthcoming article, to be published in the next issue of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, titled “On the Classical Meaning of Philanthrôpía.”
The academic study of philanthropy presupposes a comprehensive definition that guides inquiry int... more The academic study of philanthropy presupposes a comprehensive definition that guides inquiry into what, exactly, philanthropy is and why it matters. At present, though, no such well-thought-out definition exists. Scholars tend to explore various facets of philanthropy, according to their particular academic interests, but without a comprehensive understanding of its full meaning. This article attempts to correct this lack of synoptic understanding by surveying prominent instances of usage and definitions of philanthrôpía in the classical Greek era and synthesizing them into a overall framework for understanding its full classical meaning. In so doing, philanthrôpía is revealed to be a signal word, the meaning of which significantly evolved to reflect historically dominant philosophical and cultural trends in classical Greek society. This article concludes the exploration of this subject begun in an article published in the previous issue of NVSQ, titled “On the Modern Meaning of Philanthropy.”
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) is one of the most important philosophers of antiquity, and a founding fi... more Aristotle (384–322 BCE) is one of the most important philosophers of antiquity, and a founding figure of Western philosophy. A student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander the Great, Aristotle founded the Lyceum, one of the earliest and most influential philosophical schools of the ancient world. He is the first political thinker to employ civil society [politikês koinônías] as a theoretical concept, and, by some accounts, he also invented political science as a distinct academic discipline. This article examines Aristotle's conception of civil society, and how it fits into his political philosophy.
On many levels, the Crimean War of 1854-6 marks a significant historical watershed between the Ro... more On many levels, the Crimean War of 1854-6 marks a significant historical watershed between the Romantic and the Modern. It has the singular distinction of being the only major war fought by Great Britain in Europe between the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) and the beginning of the Great War (1914). Given this historical juxtaposition, the Crimean War may be seen as a bridge, or intermediate stage, between the romantic ideal of the heroic still prevalent in the Napoleonic era, and the increasing disillusionment with war triggered by the realities of armed conflict in an age of rapid technological advance, culminating in the collective trauma of the First World War. Given its unique historical status in the English-speaking world, the Crimean War exercised a particularly decisive influence on the conception and conduct of war within the British Empire, as well as in the United States. This includes several significant innovations in the collection and provision of wartime humanitarian assistance.
A translation of S. Tromp de Ruiter's classical philological study of the historical development ... more A translation of S. Tromp de Ruiter's classical philological study of the historical development of the meaning and usage of philanthropia in ancient Greek.
This research note addresses issues, concerns, and opportunities for teachers and researchers of ... more This research note addresses issues, concerns, and opportunities for teachers and researchers of the third sector in Central and Eastern Europe, drawing on experiences in Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, and Hungary. The paper briefly outlines the development of the third sector in the aforementioned countries, and describes the current state of third sector teaching and research there. It then frames the chal lenges for the region's teachers and researchers, and proposes an appropriate role for the West, commenting upon the West's relevance within Central and Eastern Europe.
Book Reviews by Marty Sulek
A review of the recently published book by Mohan & Breeze that is one of the first comprehensive ... more A review of the recently published book by Mohan & Breeze that is one of the first comprehensive examinations of the state of charity and the nonprofit sector in the UK.
Books by Marty Sulek
A New Politics for Philosophy: Perspectives on Plato, Nietzsche, and Strauss, 2022
Protagoras of Abdêra (c. 490 – c. 420 BCE) is widely regarded by both ancients and moderns as the... more Protagoras of Abdêra (c. 490 – c. 420 BCE) is widely regarded by both ancients and moderns as the first and greatest of the sophists, and the chief harbinger of the 5th century Greek Enlightenment. So influential did his philosophical humanism become that it was literally chiseled into stone as the dominant political ideology of Periclean Athens. Indeed, the philosophical idealism expressed by Socrates and Plato, rooted in the Parmenidean doctrine of being, may be largely read as a reaction to – and critique of – the philosophical pragmatism of Protagoras, rooted in the Heraclitean doctrine of flux. Despite the wide renown and influence of Protagoras in the classical age, very little of his authentic writings survives. All that remain are a few disconnected fragments, the titles of several of his books, commentaries on his thought, and depictions of Protagoras by later authors, many of which are likely apocryphal. One of the most notable of these depictions – though its veracity has long been regarded with suspicion – is, of course, Plato’s Socratic dialogue, Protagoras.
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Papers by Marty Sulek
The epithets, sociable, good-natured, humane, merciful, grateful, friendly, generous, beneficent, or their equivalents, are known in all languages, and universally express the highest merit which human nature is capable of attaining.
§ II ‘Of Benevolence’ (1854, vol. IV, p. 237)
By whatever we choose to name it, charity has been a ubiquitous feature of human society throughout human history. Indeed, contemporary conceptions of charity in civil society are deeply rooted in historical traditions that have decisively informed their normative basis (Salamon and Anheier 1998, pp. 226-231). This entry therefore traces the historical origin and development of ‘charity’ through the various epithets by which it has been known in the world’s major cultural and religious traditions.
Book Reviews by Marty Sulek
Books by Marty Sulek
The epithets, sociable, good-natured, humane, merciful, grateful, friendly, generous, beneficent, or their equivalents, are known in all languages, and universally express the highest merit which human nature is capable of attaining.
§ II ‘Of Benevolence’ (1854, vol. IV, p. 237)
By whatever we choose to name it, charity has been a ubiquitous feature of human society throughout human history. Indeed, contemporary conceptions of charity in civil society are deeply rooted in historical traditions that have decisively informed their normative basis (Salamon and Anheier 1998, pp. 226-231). This entry therefore traces the historical origin and development of ‘charity’ through the various epithets by which it has been known in the world’s major cultural and religious traditions.