Public Spirit Research Articles

Confucianism and Familism: A Comment on the Debate Between Liu and Guo

The debate in Dao between LIU Qingping and GUO Qiyong (see Liu 2007 and Guo 2007) touches on a question that has accompanied Confucianism since the downfall of the Chinese empire: Is Confucianism “familism”? Has it been the ideology of the zongfa 宗法 system? Has, under its influence, xiao 孝 been the “cardinal virtue” of historical China? Has xiao been the entrance door not only to submissiveness and traditionalism, but also to nepotism and corruption, and has it prevented the growth of public spirit? This suspicion has been uttered not only by Chinese May Fourth thinkers like WU Yu 吳虞. It has also had a long European history, starting with Montesquieu and Herder and leading via Hegel to Weber, with a broad and lasting impact on the humanities and the social sciences (see Opielka 2004). Familism is not a peculiarity of China, but no other of the great ethical systems that have evolved in the history of mankind has been so closely identified with it as has Confucianism. However, while the influence of familism in Chinese history with all its concomitants can hardly be doubted, the Confucian part in it is not as evident as, for example, LIU Qingping’s articles suggest. Familism is certainly older than Confucianism and not necessarily dependent on it. Confucianism itself had, relative to the specific thinker or text and to the historical circumstances, not only a fostering, but also a moderating influence on familism, and it could even take on an explicitly critical attitude. On the one hand, the most prominent modern examples for radical criticism of the family system in the name of Confucianism are KANG Youwei 康有為 and XIONG Shili 熊十力. On the other hand, we have a strong accent on parental authority and kinship loyalty in periods of weak central government, e.g. in the Chinese “middle ages” (Knapp 2006). In general, Confucianism has tried to protect family structures and at the same time prevent their making themselves independent. The overall historical balance is open to dispute. As to the classical Confucian texts, family is, in general, certainly a first-rank topic. It is the place not only of the primary experience in moral action, but also a realm of particular Dao (2008) 7:41–44 DOI 10.1007/s11712-008-9039-z

J. ロックにおけるプライドと市民社会（文明社会）

‘There is something troubling in this type of case, in that the desire for honour, command, power and glory usually exist in men of the greatest spirit and most brilliant intellectual talent. Therefore one must be all the more careful not to do wrong in this way,’ Cicero said in On Duties referring to Julius Caesar. Agreeing with him, John Locke tries to tame the dangerous aspect of ‘the desire for honour, command, power and glory,’ that is, human pride. However he sees this passion as indispensable to human freedom and therefore a free civil society, in contrast to Thomas Hobbes, who attributed the cause of the Civil War to this passion. In Some Thoughts Concerning Education, Locke outlines a free civil society on the basis of human pride. In a polite and civilized society where the ‘Law of Opinion or Reputation’ prevails, human pride can be moderated and cultivated into public spirit based on individual autonomy and freedom. For Locke, civil society is not merely a counterpart to absolute monarchy, but also a basis of human civility, that is, a civilized society.

Cultural Colonies: France and the Romanian Imagination

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Notes 1. Far from depicting this relationship as being one-sided, it must be emphasized that while Romania long enjoyed its ties to France, France also depended on Romania as a satellite of its cultural empire in the nineteenth century. The French hoped to enhance their country's international prestige by preserving the balance of power in Eastern Europe. 2. Paul E. Michelson points out that “most of the accounts which present themselves as historical analyses of this crucial subject are in the nature of historical myth rather than descriptions of historical reality” (8–9). This remark certainly holds true for P. Eliade's study, which put forth the claim that Romanian development “was not merely a question of borrowing or imitating France, but a wholesale transformation by adoption. The transformation of ‘The Rumanian public spirit’ owed ‘exclusively’ to French influence and no other” (16). Ultimately Eliade develops a theory of myth and functions of myth in society. What does this say about his own understanding of Romanian national identity, itself containing a mythical dimension, i.e. highly mythified? 3. The Ottoman Empire and Poland represented, however, important entities to the French security system. The French could hardly afford to ignore the area in between and thus the Principalities were a cause of concern given the capricious princes who often forgot their position as Ottoman functionaries and pursued interests counter to the Empire (see Campbell 11). 4. See Jules Michelet, Principautés danubiennes; Edgar Quinet, Les Roumains; and Marin Bucur, Jules Michelet si revolutionarii Români (Cluj: Napoca, 1982).

Elephant Pipes and Israelite Tablets: the controversy between the United States Bureau of Ethnography and the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences

The Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, founded in 1867, is a classic example of the small urban-based associations that characterized the democratic spread of knowledge throughout the United States in the post-Civil War era. Among their missions was to promote the gospel of scientific truth among the citizens of America. Members facilitated research, sponsored lectures and introduced responsible data collection. They sought to turn relic hunters and ‘arrow head’ collectors into serious archaeologists (C. E. Putnam 1885: 35–36) who would ‘share their wealth’. In the words of W. H. Pratt, one of the four founders: ‘Personal proprietorship is rather antagonistic to a liberal public spirit and true interest in the increase and diffusion of knowledge’ (McDonald 1992: 4). Therefore, the establishment of a museum became one of their missions.

Between Individualism and Community

AbstractMedia consumption in Denmark as well as other western democracies seems to be in transition in several ways. Fewer people keep up with politics and societal developments. Still, on the other hand, people show considerable political confidence and belief in personal political skills as well as in possibilities for making a “difference”. Often this phenomenon is given a theoretical foundation in the notion of “reflexive individualization”.This chapter draws the contours of an emerging role of political citizenship and identity: The individualized citizen. Embodied here is a character which is highly engaged and interested in politics, but at the same time does not follow along with current events in the media.The media continues to play an important role as a central tie between laymen and political authorities but its status and functioning is changing and its decisive role in democracy might be in decay.The individualized citizen represents a subjectivization and individualization of the political. The awareness and the scope and horizon of political orientations and engagement is increasingly turned on towards personal interests - possibly resulting in an erosion of the public spirit or the common good. The final section of the chapter also discusses possible consequences of a gradual cut between political elites and ordinary citizens.

KyungSung(京城) in the 1910s shown in the periodical 『Joseon and Manchuria』

KyungSung was a city with a population of 170 thousand Japanese inhabitants in the year of 1910 under the rule of Japan. As you can see in the number, many Japanese lived in KyungSung at that time with Korean. The study about the lives in the city is the theme in the spotlight these days, but that of using documents left by Japanese is not that active.<BR> In this situation, I would like to direct our notice to the Japanese magazine『 Joseon and Manchuria』. That periodical was founded in 1908 by Shakuo Ikuo(釋尾旭邦). a Japanese who had been living in Korea, and had been published until January in 1941. In total, 398 volumes had been published. Considering the duration, though it was written from the point of Japanese, it is a noticeable and essential material to understand the process of the changes of living conditions and peoples’ values, and daily lives under the rule of Japanese.<BR> As the first step in the study of 『Joseon and Manchurian』, I have researched what the scene of KyungSung was like and the lives of Korean and Japanese in KyungSung, focusing on the articles of the magazine in the 1910s. The result is as follows.<BR> By contrasting the uncivilizedness of Korea and the prosperity of the Japanese settlements, the record of travel written by a Japanese, an article of the magazine in those days, took pride in Japan being a civilized imperialist power which colonized Korea.<BR> What is noticeable from the point of the periodical is continuously bringing up the inequality between the classes, that of the ruling class against the general citizens. In this context the magazine gave a full account of the lives of the lower-class Japanese living in KyungSung in the 1910s It introduced the lives of unemployed vegabonds, Joseon Nyoubo(Japanese women who had relations with Japanese man, while staying in Joseon), singing and dancing girls, licensed prostitutes, taking pity upon them. On the other hand the periodical criticized the privileges of Japanese government officials, Japanese millionaires, and their vanity with luxurious habits.<BR> 『Joseon and Manchuria』charged, first of all, evil practices and misconducts of the nobility of Joseon. Besides that the magazine called Korean ‘Yobo’ meaning slyness, laziness, cold-heartedness, arrogance, self-interest, lack of public spirit. The word included all the uncivilizedness. It showed one side of the period with biased imperialistic views. Thirdly the magazine tried to suggest blueprints of ‘assimilation’, by introducing the examples of marriages by the peoples from the two countries, and showing the exchange of popculture and mixed use of the two languages.<BR> Thus 『Joseon and Manchuria』shows that KyungSung in the 1910s appeared to be modern, but had a growing conflicts by the two peoples and classes. It means that Japan was discharging its contradictions at KyungSung in those days. Though the Japanese officials thought ‘the principle of assimilation’ impossible at that time, Shakuo’s belief in western civilization and his hope for making Korean Japanese shows one side of the utopia which Japanese in Korea dreamed in modern times.

First Principles: Substantive Ethics for Healthcare Organizations

Healthcare organizations (HCOs) often face ethical dilemmas, but ethical principles analogous to those of clinical ethics have not been established to guide resolution of such dilemmas. To date, most progress in business and organizational ethics has been made in developing processes that promote responsible behavior in complex organizations. In this article we offer a normative framework to guide value-laden decision making of HCOs. We propose four substantive principles--provide care with compassion, treat employees with respect, act in a public spirit, and spend resources reasonably--that are derived from the roles that HCOs are expected to play as caregivers, employers, citizens, and managers, respectively. We anticipate that these principles can clarify and resolve tensions between different spheres of HCOs' responsibility, help to promote organizational values and trust in HCOs, and aid discussions about the appropriate roles of HCOs in our society.

Sentimental Police: Struggles for "Sound Policy and Economy" Amidst the Torpor of Philanthropy in Mathew Carey's Philadelphia

Sentimental PoliceStruggles for "Sound Policy and Economy" Amidst the Torpor of Philanthropy in Mathew Carey's Philadelphia S. D. Kimmel The Gospel is the most economical police on earth. Home Missionary Society, 1839 Wealth is attended with power, by which bargains and proceedings contrary to universal righteousness are supported; and hence oppression, carried on with worldly policy and order, clothes itself with the name of justice and becomes like a seed of discord in the soul. John Woolman, A Plea for the Poor, 1793 Like Benjamin Franklin, Mathew Carey dedicated himself to philanthropic work after he retired from a profitable career in publishing.1 Franklin had [End Page 164] employed Carey in 1780 at his press in Passy, France, during Carey's first political exile from Ireland. Fleeing British political imprisonment in Ireland for the last time in 1784, Carey, a Roman Catholic, made the transatlantic journey to settle in Philadelphia, and by the 1820s had established his wealth and independence as the largest and most successful publisher in the early United States. Upon retirement, like the colonial Quaker philanthropist John Woolman before him, Carey devoted his talents as a publicist to advocating the cause of the poor. Between 1828 and his death in 1839, Carey decried the lack of public spirit and philanthropy among the wealthy of Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, and sought to arouse, in his words, "the sleeping charity and benevolence of thousands of wealthy persons, possessed of ample means to dispel the gloom of destitute families, dry up the tears of widows and orphans, and rescue their fellow beings from the depths of despair." Although Carey feared censure for emphasizing the "destitution" or "torpor" of public spirit in Philadelphia, he committed himself to "full and free exposure" of the decay of charitable societies and their lack of support among the city's wealthy citizens, believing that concealment of such realities would undermine the character of a democratic republican political economy.2 [End Page 165] Through his advocacy for the poor, Carey exposed to his contemporaries a fundamental problem of power at the core of the early nineteenth century's developing liberal system of police. This problem of police was not new to the nineteenth century, as evidenced by John Woolman's eloquent words written in the 1760s, which criticized the ways wealth united with power, "carried on with worldly policy and order" and "clothed . . . with the name of justice," could undergird oppression. In 1837 when Carey in his own Plea for the Poor noted "the miserable clamour about the idleness of the poor, of which the direct and dire effects are . . . to harden the hearts of the rich, and to debar the poor of the succour to which their sufferings furnish so fair a claim," he gave expression to a "seed of discord in [his] soul" that had been nurtured to maturity by witnessing the ways oppression had refined its capacities to conceal itself behind the names of justice and sound policy during the 1820s and 1830s. Carey's work to expose operations of power concealed behind the cloak of sound policy provides the pivotal frame for this article, which seeks to clarify the strategic significance of practices of democratic republican and liberal republican political economy that diverged early in the nineteenth century. By exploring the connection between Carey's critique of what he termed the "new school of political economists" and his analysis of the failures of public spirit and philanthropy, this article makes visible the constitution of a liberal regime of police that would later become naturalized as the "invisible [End Page 166] hand" of the market. Through Carey's critique, we can begin to understand how the coercive force of today's dominant ideology of free-market economics came to be concealed behind, and thus protected from criticism by, the totem force of a hand whose police powers remain largely beyond public supervision.3 Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Portrait of Mathew Carey, by John Neagle. Courtesy Library Company of Philadelphia. Before the middle of the nineteenth century, when the development of professionalized urban forces of uniformed men considerably narrowed the meaning of police to the work...

“The Creation of a Right Public Spirit”: The Hampton Institute's Pioneering Use of Sponsored Films, 1912–1917

This study documents the Hampton Institute's use of silent films as part of its orchestrated persuasive campaign efforts from 1912 to 1917. Although none of the films produced during this period are known to survive, descriptive accounts indicate the films carried a message of black uplift through black self-help via industrial education to both black and white audiences. With one exception, Hampton's use of promotional films helped it achieve its goals. That one exception was the addition of Hampton footage as an epilogue to The Birth of a Nation. In spite of this one slip, Hampton's commitment to filmmaking represented an early, enlightened vision concerning the potential power of the then fledgling medium as a public relations vehicle.

National Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750–1914. By Roberto Romani. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. ix+348. $65.00.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewNational Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750–1914. By Roberto Romani. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. ix+348. $65.00.Carol E. HarrisonCarol E. HarrisonUniversity of South Carolina Search for more articles by this author University of South CarolinaPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 76, Number 3September 2004 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/425445 Views: 7Total views on this site Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

“SICK MAN OF EUROPE” OR “JAPAN OF THE NEAR EAST”?: CONSTRUCTING OTTOMAN MODERNITY IN THE HAMIDIAN AND YOUNG TURK ERAS

The [Japanese] government, adorned with great intelligence and ideological firmness in progress, has implemented and promoted European [methods] of commerce and industry in its own country, and has turned the whole of Japan into a factory of progress, thanks to many [educational institutions]; it has attempted to secure and develop Japan's capacity for advancement by using means to serve the needs of the society such as benevolent institutions, railways, and in short, innumerable modes of civilization.—Malumat, mouthpiece for Yıldız Palace, 1897We should take note of Japan, this nation which has become rivals with the Great Powers in thirty to forty years. One should pay attention to that—that a nation not separating patriotic public spirit and the good of the homeland from its life is surely such that [though] sustaining wounds, setting out against any type of danger that threatens its existence, it certainly preserves its national independence. The Japanese successes of Port Arthur…are a product of this patriotic zeal.—Şura-yı Ümmet, Ottoman newspaper, Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), 1904While the despot of Turkey and the despot of Russia tremble and hide…it has come to pass in the Far East among this admirable people that, like the Turks, have been treated…as barbarians…[that] the Japanese tended to develop in all the Far East their material and moral influences, “to make themselves the guardians, otherwise the masters, of the yellow world.”…And that is how one has to see this vast intellectual and moral organization…. They whose civilization, achieved in half a century, has become superior to European civilization which has fallen into decay; they who do not have to reproach massacres, who do not have to gag any mouths out of which a liberal word came, who do not have to exile or suppress patriots…. Indeed, for our part, it is this “yellow” civilization that we wish to see universalized because it is the fruit of a principled, faithful and highly intelligent organization, because it is based on a conception of human destinies that excludes holy icons and false sentimentalities, because, above all, it is the daughter of a constitutional government which Ottoman patriots—all their efforts striving for this goal—will conclude by understanding the absolute necessity for the poor Turkish people that Hamidian terrorism be plunged into the mire.—Mechveret Supplément Français, French organ of the CUP, 1905

Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750-1914, by Roberto Romani

<i>Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750-1914</i>, by Roberto Romani

The Changing Process of the Homeland Art Movement and Variations in Homeland Concept in Wakayama City in the Early Days of the Showa Era

In this paper, I explore various aspects of the geographical concept of homeland and the case of some homeland movements in Wakayama city in the early days of the Showa era.Generally, homeland is considered to be an important geographical concept because it is deeply related to forming individual and national identities. More precisely, I regard a homeland not only as the center of one's identity, but also as the other place upon which one's ideals or desires are projected. That is, one can realize a homeland in another place. To consider this ambivalent geographical concept, I focus attention on individual and social relationships, imaginary and material factors, and some geographical points of view: moving, positionalities, spatial scales, and so on.In 1931, Iba Takeshi, who advocated promoting the Homeland Movement, founded a magazine, Nanki Art, in Wakayama city. Nanki, another name for Kishu, is the old name for the geographical region covering Wakayama city and the areas to its south. He said that his lovely homeland of Nanki was suffering severely low cultural activity, despite the fact that Nanki had flourished culturally during the old Edo period. This was because most cultural activities had become excessively concentrated in Tokyo in modern Japan. Influenced by discussions of Romain Rolland's People's Theatre, Iba dreamed of his homeland of Nanki becoming a center of culture that could produce better works and a happier life than Tokyo. Thus, he published an enlightening magazine to stimulate a renaissance in his homeland, including many high cultural works created by famous writers and painters. Ironically, he had been a Tokyo dweller, and Nanki had not been his birthplace. When moving to Wakayama city from Tokyo, however, he felt that Nanki was his homeland. Thus, the homeland of Nanki for Iba was not his birthplace but an other place. Therefore, this homeland concept had the ambivalent nature, that was to say, he regarded it as a culturally inferior place, yet idealized it as a region that had the potential for new creations.After this magazine was discontinued in 1934, some of its contributors and local intellectuals organized a cultural group called 10th Day Club. This group hoped to boost Wakayama city's cultural life and improve its comfort level. The group's key person was Kitamura Susumu, who had contributed some writings to Nanki Art and, in 1933, had returned from Tokyo to his birthplace of Wakayama city because he had felt a fondness for his homeland. He also felt that there was a possibility of leading a humanistic life, as opposed to the mechanical lifestyle of Tokyo. However, on his return, he criticized Wakayama as a confused and dirty city. He wanted to emphasize the city's attractions for tourists and boost the City Beautiful Movement. At first, the concept of homeland for him had been almost the same as Iba's, but, because his practices had a closer relationship to a real homeland, he gradually noticed his homeland's negative aspects. Furthermore, he criticized Wakayama people because he felt that they were too egotistical and needed to possess a public spirit from his city dweller's point of view.To compensate for his disillusionment, he gradually focused on his homeland's great history, and paid attention to the discussions of the Homeland Education Movement, which was concerned with nourishing the public spirit, the love for one's homeland, and the national soul. Because of these changes, The 10th Day Club's activities eventually ceased. The Research Institute of Kishu Culture was established in Wakayama city in 1936, and was joined by several intellectuals involved with participants of the Homeland Movement and many local teachers.

Pasipriešinimo židiniai : pogrindinė spauda 1944-1987 metais

During the Soviet period, the resistance to occupation developed in various nonviolent ways. In order to resist denationalization, to preserve traditional national values and historical memory, to deny the pattern of life and ideology imposed by the authorities, and to protect human rights, there was a demand for press which would reflect real situation. During the 20th century, Lithuanian press was published only for 33 years under the independent state of Lithuania. After the second Soviet occupation, the free printed word with its firm traditions in Lithuania was revived in the under ground. The underground journalists and the military resistant press contributed a lot not only to the enlightenment of society, but also to the development of a new attitude of the society to the Lithuanian democratic traditions, to spreading information about the virtue of the Constitution of 1922, and about the necessity of restoring the democratic republic. In this respect, the underground military-resistant press was democratic mostly in its purport, supporting not the authoritarian regime, but democratic traditions. The military-resistant press repeatedly highlighted that it was not the superior force and not the arms as the determining factors in the freedom fight, but the patriotism and the spiritual disposition of the nation. This was the mission assigned to the independent, uncensored underground press. Lithuanian underground press in its volume, especially in the period of 1975-1980, had a status not only in the USSR, but also in the entire Eastern Europe. The Chronicle (Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania) was the underground publication which existed in the Soviet Union for the longest period of time without interruption. The informative mission of the underground press (directly and non-directly reaching the West and then returning to Lithuania via the foreign radio broad casts) significantly contributed to developing the consciousness and public spirit of the society, to diminishing fear and indifference, and to increasing the understanding of democratic values. Finally, after the intensive changes started taking place within the Soviet Union, the uncensored. underground press was substituted by the uncen sored alternative press.

Théâtre et esprit public : les représentations du Mariage de Figaro à Paris (1784-1797)

Although Beaumarchais played a considerable role in the war of American independence and in the diffusion of its principles in France, in particular through the Courrier de l'Europe which published the first French translation of the United States' Declaration of Independence on August 20th 1776, the 'Voltigeur des Lumières3 (Enlightenment Acrobat) hardly used the concept of public spirit. However, an analysis of performances of the Mariage de Figaro in Paris between 1784 and 1797 makes it possible to apprehend the evolution of the concept during the Revolution from two points of view. Firstly that of the theatre as a space in which an authority emanating from an assembled audience can be exercised. Secondly, that of the resistance of the assembled audience's spirit which is unlike public opinion and the written press that tend to imply an audience which is scattered or confined to private spaces, with regard to its formation, direction or manipulation. The specificity of this cultural practise, based on the three poles of the actor, the audience and the author, turns the audience and actors into co-authors and the playwright himself can help to modify the show's meaning through performance by adding or suppressing parts. A play's meaning is elaborated by the author but also by the actors and the audience who interact in a given socio-political context.

Roberto Romani. National Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750–1914. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2002. Pp. ix, 348. $65.00. ISBN 0-521-81000-0.

Roberto Romani. National Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750–1914. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2002. Pp. ix, 348. $65.00. ISBN 0-521-81000-0.

Direct Democracy During the Progressive Era: A Crack in the Populist Veneer?

Since its inaugural use in Oregon in 1904, direct democracy—as practiced in twenty-seven American states—has garnered its share of defenders and critics. While the debate over the merits and drawbacks of citizen lawmaking remains as contentious as ever, critics and proponents alike usually concur that two extra-legislative tools—the “citizen” initiative and the “popular” referendum—were most effectively used to counteract the legislative might of special interests during the Progressive Era. Citing the clout of corporate monopolies that dominated numerous state legislatures at the turn of the century, contemporary observers of direct democracy approvingly note how citizen groups during the Progressive Era used the mechanisms to take on an array of vested interests. As evidence, they submit the popular adoption of numerous progressive reforms during the 1910s, such as the direct primary, women's suffrage, prohibition, the abolition of the poll tax, home rule for cities and towns, eighthour workdays for women and miners, and the regulation of public utility and railroad monopolies. Circumventing their partisan state legislatures, defenders of the plebiscitary mechanisms evoke how citizens successfully employed the initiative and popular referendum, as one Progressive Era supporter of the “pure” democratic process championed, to rouse “a great forward movement toward stability, justice, and public spirit in American political institutions.”

Reviews of Books:National Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750-1914 Roberto Romani

Reviews of Books:National Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750-1914 Roberto Romani

National character and public spirit in Britain and France, 1750-1914

Acknowledgements Introduction Part I. France: 1. All Montesquieu's sons: the place of esprit general, caractere national, and m/urs in French political philosophy, 1748-1789 2. After the Revolution: Stael on political morality 3. From republicanism to industrialism and national character: Melchiorre Gioja, Charles Dupin and Continental political economy, 1800-1848 4. The French Restoration dispute over mores and Tocqueville Part II. Great Britain: 5. Between Whiggism and the science of manners: Britain, 1750-1800 6. British views on Irish national character, 1800-1846 Part III: 7. The demise of John Bull: social sciences in Britain, 1850-1914 8. Durkheim's collective representation and their background 9. Socializing public spirit, 1870-1914 Conclusion Index.

The Public Spirit of the Corporation

Imagine yourself sitting in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, listening to a concert given by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. On the stage-bill is the Second Piano Concerto by Johannes Brahms. I especially like this concerto because it comes as a nice double pack: Hidden in the third movement is a wonderful cello concert. Therefore, you can be sure that this important cello-solo will be played by Dr. Faust, the first solo-cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic, on an original Stradivari from 1798. Dr. Faust discovered this extraordinary instrument on one of the many tours of the Orchestra. His enthusiasm, however, was immediately dampened as he realized that neither he personally, nor the Orchestra, nor the Association of the Friends of the Orchestra, could afford to buy it. But then, Dr. Faust recalled a recent conversation with Hilmar Kopper, at that time CEO of Deutsche Bank AG. The Deutsche Bank, a public stock corporation, showed public spirit and financed the cello.