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Outgrowing God: A Beginner's Guide
By Richard Dawkins. 2019
Should we believe in God? In this brisk introduction to modern atheism, one of the world’s greatest science writers tells…
us why we shouldn’t.Richard Dawkins was fifteen when he stopped believing in God. Deeply impressed by the beauty and complexity of living things, he’d felt certain they must have had a designer. Learning about evolution changed his mind. Now one of the world’s best and bestselling science communicators, Dawkins has given readers, young and old, the same opportunity to rethink the big questions. In twelve fiercely funny, mind-expanding chapters, Dawkins explains how the natural world arose without a designer—the improbability and beauty of the “bottom-up programming” that engineers an embryo or a flock of starlings—and challenges head-on some of the most basic assumptions made by the world’s religions: Do you believe in God? Which one? Is the Bible a “Good Book”? Is adhering to a religion necessary, or even likely, to make people good to one another? Dissecting everything from Abraham’s abuse of Isaac to the construction of a snowflake, Outgrowing God is a concise, provocative guide to thinking for yourself.Advance praise for Outgrowing God“My son came home from his first day in the sixth grade with arms outstretched plaintively demanding to know: ‘Have you ever heard of Jesus?’ We burst out laughing. Maybe not our finest parenting moment, given that he was genuinely distraught. He felt that he had woken up one day to a world in which his peers were expressing beliefs he found frighteningly unreasonable. He began devouring books like The God Delusion, books that helped him formulate his own arguments and helped him stand his ground. Dawkins’s new book is special in the terrain of atheists’ pleas for humanism and rationalism precisely since it speaks to those most vulnerable to the coercive tactics of religion. As Dawkins himself says in the dedication, this book is for ‘all young people when they’re old enough to decide for themselves.’ It is also, I must add, for their parents.”—Janna Levin, author of Black Hole Blues “When someone is considering atheism I tell them to read the Bible first and then Dawkins. Outgrowing God—second only to the Bible!”—Penn Jillette, author of God, No!The Book of Not Knowing: Exploring the True Nature of Self, Mind, and Consciousness
By Peter Ralston. 2010
Over decades of martial arts and meditation practice, Peter Ralston discovered a curious and paradoxical fact: that true awareness arises…
from a state of not-knowing. Even the most sincere investigation of self and spirit, he says, is often sabotaged by our tendency to grab too quickly for answers and ideas as we retreat to the safety of the known. This "Hitchhiker's Guide to Awareness" provides helpful guideposts along an experiential journey for those Western minds predisposed to wandering off to old habits, cherished presumptions, and a stubbornly solid sense of self. With ease and clarity Ralston teaches readers how to become aware of the background patterns that they are usually too busy, stressed, or distracted to notice. The Book of Not Knowing points out the ways people get stuck in their lives and offers readers a way to make fresh choices about every aspect of their lives, from a place of awareness instead of autopilot.From the Trade Paperback edition.Elements of a Philosophy of Technology: On the Evolutionary History of Culture (Posthumanities #99)
By Siegfried Zielinski, Leif Weatherby, Ernst Kapp, Jeffrey West Kirkwood. 2018
The first philosophy of technology, constructing humans as technological and technology as an underpinning of all culture Ernst Kapp was…
a foundational scholar in the fields of media theory and philosophy of technology. His 1877 Elements of a Philosophy of Technology is a visionary study of the human body and its relationship with the world that surrounds it. At the book’s core is the concept of “organ projection”: the notion that humans use technology in an effort to project their organs to the outside, to be understood as “the soul apparently stepping out of the body in the form of a sending-out of mental qualities” into the world of artifacts.Kapp applies this theory of organ projection to various areas of the material world—the axe externalizes the arm, the lens the eye, the telegraphic system the neural network. From the first tools to acoustic instruments, from architecture to the steam engine and the mechanic routes of the railway, Kapp’s analysis shifts from “simple” tools to more complex network technologies to examine the projection of relations. What emerges from Kapp’s prophetic work is nothing less than the emergence of early elements of a cybernetic paradigm.The Prophet and Other Tales (Word Cloud Classics)
By Kahlil Gibran. 2019
This classical work of philosophy has inspired readers around the world for generations. Upon its initial publication in 1923, Kahlil…
Gibran’s The Prophet garnered little acclaim, but it became a critical success in the 1930s and again in the 1960s when it inspired a generation of readers with its philosophical discussion on subjects such as love, friendship, beauty, and freedom. Gibran’s masterpiece of poetic prose has now been translated into more than a hundred languages, and is regarded as one of the most important works of the early twentieth century. This Word Cloud edition of The Prophet and Other Tales also includes two of Gibran’s earliest works, The Madman and The Forerunner, along with illustrations by the author.The Ultimate Art of War: A Step-by-Step Illustrated Guide to Sun Tzu's Teachings
By Antony Cummins. 2019
This is the most accessible edition of Art of War ever produced, with the text broken down into digestible individual…
lessons, unique teaching illustrations to clarify the text, and step-by-step commentary that draws on the full range of recent translations and ancient commentators.Composed in the 5th century BC, Sun Tzu's Art of War is the earliest-known treatise on military strategy, and is still hugely popular around the world for its perceptive tactical advice to commanders on how to win at war with minimal bloodshed. Aimed at all those who want to study the text in depth, this is the first step-by-step guide to the famous treatise, breaking down the 13 chapters of the original into 200 easily digested lessons, from 'do not press a desperate enemy' to 'control your troops through bond of loyalty' to 'when you are weak, beware attack', all accompanied by comprehensive commentary and clarified with around 250 illustrations. Making the lessons even more memorable and easy to understand, the black/red illustrations include strategic diagrams, evocative line drawings and beautiful calligraphy. This ultimate guide to Art of War includes the classic 1910 translation by Lionel Giles and commentary that takes into account all academic interpretations of the text, highlighting differences between modern translations as well as the perspectives of historical Chinese commentators. No other edition compares and contrasts the viewpoints of different contemporary translators, or explains exactly what each section of this often enigmatic text actually means.The Dehumanization of Art and Other Essays on Art, Culture, and Literature
By José Ortega y Gasset. 2019
A classic work on radical aesthetics by one of the great philosophers of the early twentieth century No work of…
philosopher and essayist José Ortega y Gasset has been more frequently cited, admired, or criticized than his response to modernism, “The Dehumanization of Art.” The essay, originally published in Spanish in 1925, grappled with the newness of nonrepresentational art and sought to make it more understandable to the public. Many embraced the essay as a manifesto extolling the virtues of vanguard artists and promoting efforts to abandon the realism and the romanticism of the nineteenth century. Others took it as a denunciation of everything that was radical about the avant-garde. This Princeton Classics edition makes this essential work, along with four of Ortega’s other critical essays, available in English. A new foreword by Anthony J. Cascardi considers how Ortega’s philosophy remains relevant and significant in the twenty-first century.Postcolonial Bergson
By Souleymane Bachir Diagne. 2020
Henri Bergson has been the subject of keen interest within French philosophy ever since being championed by Gilles Deleuze and…
others. Yet his influence extends well beyond European philosophy, especially within Africa and South Asia. Postcolonial Bergson traces the influence of Bergson’s thought through the work of two major figures in the postcolonial struggle, Muhammad Iqbal and Léopold Sédar Senghor. Poets and statesmen as well as philosophers, both of these thinkers—the one Muslim and the other Catholic—played an essential political and intellectual role in the independence of their respective countries. Both found, in Bergson’s work, important support for their philosophical, cultural, and political projects.For Iqbal, a founding father of independent Pakistan, Bergson’s conceptions of time and creative evolution resonated with the need for the “reconstruction of religious thought in Islam,” a religious thought newly able to incorporate innovation and change. For Senghor, Bergsonian ideas of perception, intuition, and élan vital—filtered in part through the work of the French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin—proved crucial for thinking about African art, as well as foundational for his formulations of African socialism and his visions of an unalienated African future.At a moment of renewed interest in Bergson’s philosophy, this book, by a major figure in both French and African philosophy, gives an expanded idea of the political ramifications of Bergson’s thought in a postcolonial context.Letters to a Dead Friend about Zen
By Brad Warner. 2019
The night Brad Warner learns that his childhood friend Marky has died, Warner is about to speak to a group…
of Zen students in Hamburg, Germany. It’s the last thing he feels like doing. What he wants to do instead is tell his friend everything he never said, to explain Zen and what he does for a living and why he spends his time “Sitting. Sitting. Sitting. Meditating my life away as it all passes by. Lighting candles and incense. Bowing to nothing.” So, as he continues his teaching tour through Europe, he writes to his friend all the things he wishes he had said. Simply and humorously, he reflects on why Zen provided him a lifeline in a difficult world. He explores grief, attachment, and the afterlife. He writes to Marky, “I’m not all that interested in Buddhism. I’m much more interested in what is true,” and then proceeds to poke and prod at that truth. The result for readers is a singular and winning meditation on Zen — and a unique tribute to both a life lost and the one Warner has found.Equal Justice: Fair Legal Systems in an Unfair World
By Frederick Wilmot-Smith. 2019
It cannot be fair that wealthy people enjoy better legal outcomes. That is why Frederick Wilmot-Smith argues that justice requires…
equal access to legal resources. At his most radical, he urges us to rethink the centrality of the market to legal systems, so that those without means can secure justice and the rich cannot escape the law’s demands.Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship Of Reason In The West
By John Ralston Saul. 1992
Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West is a sweeping and provocative exploration of nothing less than the…
political, economic, social, and cultural origins of Western society. With great daring and originality, John Ralston Saul dissects the contradictions, delusions, and illusions that have brought the world to the brink of confusion and crisis, and shatters the myths surrounding the icons and institutions that we have been taught to revere and cherish.The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this underground classic explores higher consciousness, human evolution, metaphysics, sacred geometry, the secret government, and…
moreNothing in This Book Is True, But It’s Exactly How Things Are details from a big-picture perspective the enormous infusion of higher dimensional energy that is dramatically raising the vibratory rate of the planet and everyone on it. Bob Frissell has greatly expanded upon the previous edition by including ten completely new chapters. Frissell also gives the details of the personal transformation that we must make if we are to survive and thrive, so we can “catch the ride” into higher consciousness in a way that enables Mother Earth to reach critical mass and become “lit from within.” This is the story of nothing less than the birth of a new humanity and the cocreation of Heaven on Earth.Philosophy of Suffering: Metaphysics, Value, and Normativity
By Michael Brady, Jennifer Corns, David Bain. 2020
Suffering is a central component of our lives. We suffer pain. We fall ill. We fail and are failed. Our…
loved ones die. It is a commonplace to think that suffering is, always and everywhere, bad. But might suffering also be good? If so, in what ways might suffering have positive, as well as negative, value? This important volume examines these questions and is the first comprehensive examination of suffering from a philosophical perspective. An outstanding roster of international contributors explore the nature of suffering, pain, and valence, as well as the value of suffering and the relationships between suffering, morality, and rationality. Philosophy of Suffering: Metaphysics, Value, and Normativity is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, cognitive and behavioral psychology as well as those in health and medicine researching conceptual issues regarding suffering and pain.This book describes how and why the early modern period witnessed the marginalisation of astrology in Western natural philosophy, and…
the re-adoption of the cosmological view of the existence of a plurality of worlds in the universe, allowing the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Founded in the mid-1990s, the discipline of astrobiology combines the search for extraterrestrial life with the study of terrestrial biology – especially its origins, its evolution and its presence in extreme environments. This book offers a history of astrobiology's attempts to understand the nature of life in a larger cosmological context. Specifically, it describes the shift of early modern cosmology from a paradigm of celestial influence to one of celestial inhabitation. Although these trends are regarded as consequences of Copernican cosmology, and hallmarks of a modern world view, they are usually addressed separately in the historical literature. Unlike others, this book takes a broad approach that examines the relationship of the two. From Influence to Inhabitation will benefit both historians of astrology and historians of the extraterrestrial life debate, an audience which includes researchers and advanced students studying the history and philosophy of astrobiology. It will also appeal to historians of natural philosophy, science, astronomy and theology in the early modern period.Muerte, morir, inmortalidad
By Federico Ortiz Quezada. 2011
Este libro tiene la intención de ordenar algunas ideas respecto de la muerte y el acto de morir. Nacer y…
morir son las dos constantes de toda vida. Vivimos inmersos en ellas y, aun cuando vivir ofrece la certeza de la muerte, evitamos reflexionar en torno a este tema y lo dejamos en manos de la religión.Sin embargo, tenemos muchas preguntas que nos inquietan: ¿cómo debe tratarse al moribundo?, ¿qué le acontece al ser humano cuando muere?, ¿existe la inmortalidad humana?Escrito por un especialista en las ideas respecto a la muerte, este libro ofrece, desde una perspectiva científica, una respuesta a las interrogantes que a diario nos hacemos. Analiza las ideas religiosas y filosóficas vigentes respecto a la muerte, describe lo que la medicina hace para paliar el dolor del moribundo y del duelo familiar y reflexiona en torno a la inmortalidad humana.The Ultimate Medicine: Dialogues with a Realized Master
By Robert Powell, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. 2006
The Ultimate Medicine is not for those who like their spirituality watered down, but for serious students searching for awareness.…
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981) lived and taught in a small apartment in the slums of Bombay. A realized master of the Tantric Nath lineage, he supported himself and his family by selling cheap goods in a small booth on the streets outside his tenement for many years. His life exemplified the concept of absolute nonduality of being. In this volume, Maharaj shares the highest truth of nonduality in his own unique way. His teaching style is abrupt, provocative, and immensely profound, cutting to the core and wasting little effort on inessentials. His terse but potent sayings are known for their ability to trigger shifts in consciousness, just by hearing or reading them."The point is that man freed from his fetters is morality personified. Such a man therefore does not need any moralistic injunctions in order to live righteously. Free a man from his bondage and thereafter everything else will take care of itself. On the other hand, man in his unredeemed state cannot possibly live morally, no matter what moral teaching he is given. It is an intrinsic impossibility, for his very foundation is immorality. That is, he lives a lie, a basic contradiction: functioning in all his relationships as the separate entity he believes himself to be, whereas in reality no such separation exists. His every action therefore does violence to other 'selves' and other 'creatures,' which are only manifestations of the unitary consciousness. So Society had to invent some restraints in order to protect itself from its own worst excesses and thereby maintain some kind of status quo. The resulting arbitrary rules, which vary with place and time and therefore are purely relative, it calls 'morality,' and by upholding this man-invented 'idea' as the highest good-oftentimes sanctioned by religious 'revelation' and scriptures-society has provided man with one more excuse to disregard the quest for liberation or relegate it to a fairly low priority in his scheme of things."The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog
By James W. Sire. 2004
Voted one of Christianity Today's 1998 Books of the YearFor more than thirty years, The Universe Next Door has set…
the standard for a clear, readable introduction to worldviews. In this new fifth edition James Sire offers additional student-friendly features to his concise, easily understood introductions to theism, deism, naturalism, Marxism, nihilism, existentialism, Eastern monism, New Age philosophy and postmodernism. Included in this expanded format are a new chapter on Islam and informative sidebars throughout.The book continues to build on Sire's refined definition of worldviews from the fourth edition and includes other updates as well, keeping this standard text fresh and useful. In a world of ever-increasing diversity, The Universe Next Door offers a unique resource for understanding the variety of worldviews that compete with Christianity for the allegiance of minds and hearts.The Universe Next Door has been translated into over a dozen languages and has been used as a text at over one hundred colleges and universities in courses ranging from apologetics and world religions to history and English literature.Sire's Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept provides a useful companion volume for those desiring a more in-depth discussion of the nature of a worldview.A History of Western Philosophy: From the Pre-Socratics to Postmodernism
By C. Stephen Evans. 2018
Blade Runner 2049: A Philosophical Exploration (Philosophers on Film)
By Timothy Shanahan, Paul Smart. 2020
Widely acclaimed upon its release as a future classic, Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 is visually stunning, philosophically profound, and…
a provocative extension of the story in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Containing specially commissioned chapters by a roster of international contributors, this fascinating collection explores philosophical questions that abound in Blade Runner 2049, including: What distinguishes the authentically "human" person? How might natality condition one’s experience of being-in-the-world? How might shared memories feature in the constitution of personal identities? What happens when created beings transcend the limits intended in their design? What (if anything) is it like to be a hologram? Can artificial beings participate in genuinely romantic relationships? How might developing artificial economics impact our behaviour as prosumers? What are the implications of techno-human enhancement in an era of surveillance capitalism? Including a foreword by Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049: A Philosophical Exploration is essential reading for anyone interested in philosophy, film studies, philosophy of mind, psychology, gender studies, and conceptual issues in cognitive science and artificial intelligence.What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader
By Dominic Houlder, Alison Reynolds, Jules Goddard, David Giles Lewis. 2020
Traditional management practices, rooted in economics and psychology, have led to a focus on numbers and productivity rather than the…
people who make those numbers happen. This has resulted in trust in leaders and organizations being at an all-time low. What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader expertly counters this thinking and argues that those leaders who will win in the uncertain and complex world of work, are the ones focusing on their workforce and valuing its members as people, rather than just tools within the process. What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader considers the main questions plaguing today's leaders through the eyes of four of the greatest philosophers. With the help of Aristotle, Socrates, Kant and Nietzsche, as well as a whole host of other brilliant minds, they smash widely held workplace falsehoods and unveil a new model for empowerment, fulfilment and harmony at work. What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader is a fascinating account of how we can reconnect company, people and shareholder interests. It answers perennial leadership concerns like questions of people engagement, key performance indicators or even generational differences at work through the lens of philosophy, with its focus squarely on how to live and help others live fulfilling lives at work.Sans théorie générale, la traduction est limitée à réfléchir sur son activité de communication et à n'être jamais qu'une fraction…
d'une discipline nommée herméneutique. Cette limitation de la traduction à son rôle de communication, rôle qui marque un certain enfermement dans le langage, forme ce que l'on nomme le « complexe d'Hermès ». Cet ouvrage entend montrer qu'il est possible de sortir de cet enfermement du langage en considérant comment l'usage de la langue participe au sens du message, comment l'organisation rhétorique participe au sens fondamental du langage. Cela étant, on déplace la traduction de la linguistique à l'esthétique, permettant un discours théorique sur la traduction en tant que discipline esthétique. Sur ce chemin, on trouve alors Apollon, le dieu de la théorie et le dieu des arts, qui a raison d'Hermès, dieu du langage et dieu des menteurs. Prix Victor-Barbeau, 2010.