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Susan Haack: Reintegrating Philosophy
By Julia F G hner, Eva-Maria Jung. 2016
This volume documents the 17th Münster Lectures in Philosophy with Susan Haack, the prominent contemporary philosopher. It contains an original,…
programmatic article by Haack on her overall philosophical approach, entitled 'The Fragmentation of Philosophy, the Road to Reintegration'. In addition, the volume includes seven papers on various aspects of Haack's philosophical work as well as her replies to the papers. Susan Haack has deeply influenced many of the debates in contemporary philosophy. In her vivid and accessible way, she has made ground-breaking contributions covering a wide range of topics, from logic, metaphysics and epistemology, to pragmatism and the philosophy of science and law. In her work, Haack has always been very sensitive in detecting subtle differences. The distinctions she has introduced reveal what lies at the core of philosophical controversies, and show the problems that exist with established views. In order to resolve these problems, Haack has developed some 'middle-course approaches'. One example of this is her famous 'Foundherentism', a theory of justification that includes elements from both the rival theories of Foundationalism and Coherentism. Haack herself has offered the best description of her work calling herself a 'passionate moderate'.Wisdom of the Buddha: The Unabridged Dhammapada (Dover Thrift Editions Ser.)
By F. Max Müller. 2000
These ancient verses offer a compelling introduction to Buddhist thought, revealing the Four Truths -- concerning the nature of the…
world and our lot in it -- and the Eightfold Path to enlightenment, the means by which to overcome the essential suffering revealed by the Four Truths as the essence of life.In The Second Treatise of Government, John Locke answered two objectives: to refute the concept of the monarchy's divine right…
and to establish a theory reconciling civil liberties with political order. His Letter Concerning Toleration rests on the same basic principles as his political theory; Locke's main argument for toleration is a corollary of his theory of the nature of civil society. The basis of social and political philosophy for generations, these works laid the foundation of the modern democratic state in England and abroad. Their enduring importance makes them essential reading for students of philosophy, history, and political science.Ritual and the Moral Life
By David Solomon, Ruiping Fan, Ping-Cheung Lo. 2011
In the twentieth century, in both China and the West, ritual became marginalized in the face of the growth of…
secularism and individualism. In China, Confucianism and its essentially ritualistic comportment to the world were vigorously suppressed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) under Mao Zedong. But de-ritualization already took place as a result of the Chinese Revolution of 1911 under Sun Yat-Sen. In the West, while the process of de-ritualization has been generally more gradual, it has been nonetheless drastic. In contrast to this situation, this volume investigates the crucial role ritual plays in constituting the human understanding of their place in the cosmos, the purpose of their lives, and imbues human existence with a more complete sense of meaningfulness. This volume presents the work of philosophers from both China and the West as they reflect upon the constitutive role that ritual plays in human life. They reflect not only on ritual in general but also on specific Confucian and Christian appreciations of ritual. This provocative volume is a beacon of warning to Western philosophers, who think they have graduated from the trappings of ritual, and a beacon of hope for Eastern thinkers, who wish to avoid cultural fragmentation. The Editors, both Eastern and Western, have together created a seamless work that not only introduces ritual, but advances an argument for the contribution that ritual makes to cultural renewal. This volume is a work of philosophical thinking about ritual doing, but challenges those who think to realize that the salvation of philosophical thinking rests in the particularity and contingency of ritual doing. Let us hope this volume is widely read, for it points to that which might renew the West. - Jeffrey P. Bishop, Saint Louis UniversityThe Analects (Dover Thrift Editions Ser.)
By Confucius. 1995
In this excellent English translation of The Analects, or Sayings, of Confucius, readers will find a rich distillation of the…
timeless precepts of one of history's most influential teachers and social theorists. A Chinese philosopher who lived c. 551 to c. 479 B.C., Confucius originated and taught an ethical, socially oriented philosophy that stressed proper behavior and a sympathetic, mutually supportive attitude among individuals, their families and society. From his teachings came a system of ethics for managing society that has influenced generations of politicians, social reformers, and religious thinkers. Indeed, the effect of Confucian philosophy has been so profound that it has become basic not only to an understanding of traditional Chinese civilization, but of Western society as well. Now the essence of Confucian teaching, contained in The Analects, is available in this inexpensive volume, providing inspirational and instructive reading to anyone interested in the history of social thought, Chinese philosophy, or theories of ethical behavior.Poems, Parables and Drawings
By Kahlil Gibran, Alice Raphael. 2008
The perfect companion to Kahlil Gibran's classic, The Prophet, this elegant volume presents an original selection of works by the…
popular writer and artist. It consists of the complete texts and drawings of The Madman and The Forerunner, plus 20 additional illustrations--many long out of print--and a perceptive essay by art historian Alice Raphael. The Madman features a series of concise stories and verses offering uplifting views of human nature. Gibran warmly encourages his readers to abandon the superficial and embrace the true self, an outlook that recurs in The Forerunner and its 24 morality tales. Each of the poems, parables, and illustrations reflects Gibran's fervent belief in the transformative powers of love. This splendid keepsake edition of the renowned author's influential works is an ideal gift for any occasion.Futures of Reproduction
By Catherine Mills. 2010
Issues in reproductive ethics, such as the capacity of parents to 'choose children', present challenges to philosophical ideas of freedom,…
responsibility and harm. This book responds to these challenges by proposing a new framework for thinking about the ethics of reproduction that emphasizes the ways that social norms affect decisions about who is born. The book provides clear and thorough discussions of some of the dominant problems in reproductive ethics - human enhancement and the notion of the normal, reproductive liberty and procreative beneficence, the principle of harm and discrimination against disability - while also proposing new ways of addressing these. The author draws upon the work of Michel Foucault, especially his discussions of biopolitics and norms, and later work on ethics, alongside feminist theorists of embodiment to argue for a new bioethics that is responsive to social norms, human vulnerability and the relational context of freedom and responsibility. This is done through compelling discussions of new technologies and practices, including the debate on liberal eugenics and human enhancement, the deliberate selection of disabilities, PGD and obstetric ultrasound.The Recursive Mind
By Michael C. Corballis. 2011
The Recursive Mind challenges the commonly held notion that language is what makes us uniquely human. In this compelling book,…
Michael Corballis argues that what distinguishes us in the animal kingdom is our capacity for recursion: the ability to embed our thoughts within other thoughts. "I think, therefore I am," is an example of recursive thought, because the thinker has inserted himself into his thought. Recursion enables us to conceive of our own minds and the minds of others. It also gives us the power of mental "time travel"--the ability to insert past experiences, or imagined future ones, into present consciousness. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, animal behavior, anthropology, and archaeology, Corballis demonstrates how these recursive structures led to the emergence of language and speech, which ultimately enabled us to share our thoughts, plan with others, and reshape our environment to better reflect our creative imaginations. He shows how the recursive mind was critical to survival in the harsh conditions of the Pleistocene epoch, and how it evolved to foster social cohesion. He traces how language itself adapted to recursive thinking, first through manual gestures, then later, with the emergence of Homo sapiens, vocally. Toolmaking and manufacture arose, and the application of recursive principles to these activities in turn led to the complexities of human civilization, the extinction of fellow large-brained hominins like the Neandertals, and our species' supremacy over the physical world.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.Unbroken
By Laura Hillenbrand. 2010
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only…
a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane's bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.The lieutenant's name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he'd been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man's journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit.No Picnic on Mount Kenya: The Story Of Three P. O. W's Escape To Adventure
By Felice Benuzzi. 2016
In the shadow of Mount Kenya, surrounded by the forests and creatures of the savannah, life drags interminably for the…
inmates of POW Camp 354. Confined to an endless cycle of boredom and frustration, one prisoner realizes he can bear it no longer.When the clouds covering Mount Kenya part one morning to reveal its towering peaks for the first time, Felice Benuzzi is transfixed. The tedium of camp life is broken by the beginnings of a sudden idea--an outrageous, dangerous, brilliant idea.Not many people would break out of a POW camp and trek for days across perilous terrain before climbing the north face of Mount Kenya with improvised equipment, meager rations, and a picture of the mountain on a tin of beef as their most accurate guide. Fewer still would break back into the camp on their return.This is the remarkable story of three such men--a powerful testament to the human spirit of rebellion and adventure--reissued in a deluxe edition featuring Benuzzi's own watercolor paintings of the expedition and a final chapter that has never before appeared in English.Groups, Rules and Legal Practice
By Rodrigo Eduardo Sánchez Brigido. 2009
Ever since Hart´s The Concept of Law, legal philosophers agree that the practice of law-applying officials is a fundamental aspect…
of law. Yet there is a huge disagreement on the nature of this practice. Is it a conventional practice? Is it like the practice that takes place, more generally, when there is a social rule in a group? Does it share the nature of collective intentional action? The book explores the main responses to these questions, and claims that they fail on two main counts: current theories do not explain officials´ beliefs that they are under a duty qua members of an institution, and they do not explain officials´ disagreement about the content of these institutional duties. Based on a particular theory of collective action, the author elaborates then an account of certain institutions, and claims that the practice is an institutional practice of sorts. This would explain officials´ beliefs in institutional duties, and officials´ disagreement about those duties. The book should be of interest to legal philosophers, but also to those concerned with group and social action theories and, more generally, with the nature of institutions.The Challenges of Contemporaneity
By Roida Rzayeva Oktay. 2016
This book presents an overview of postmodernism and its social indicators, and of the postmodern condition in consciousness as an…
indicator of its modification and development. The book brings together philosophical, sociological and cultural approaches towards contemporary societal issues, such as multiculturalism, culture of dialogue, philosophy of dialogue, tolerance, and gender. In doing so, it suggests a framing approach to cross-disciplinary research. The book also discusses various forms of multiculturalism, including multiculturalism as multiple modernities and plural modernities, and non-Western contemporaneity. It explores the background of the dynamics of the development of public consciousness, in particular from the modern to postmodern, and subsequently examines the West/non-West dichotomy and how that dichotomy is currently being reconsidered in response to the intellectual-spiritual realities of modern life.Imagination and Critique
By James R. Noland. 2009
This project is the result of a philosopher's extended engagement with the literature and practice of political science and public…
policy formation. One finds in these fields, and in social science generally, two fundamentally opposed approaches to inquiry into the nature and cause of historical political events. These two approaches, which are sometimes employed simultaneously, are both powerful and persuasive. Yet, the two accounts are incompatible and comprehensive. Making a choice between the two is not simply about choosing a view of history; the choice affects how one anticipates policy developments in the future, and, more importantly, how one seeks to influence and shape public policy now and in the years to come. Because there is no external standard of history by which to judge them, one must examine the conceptions of human nature, reason and freedom underlying each in order to adjudicate between the two. Following Alasdair MacIntyre's approach in Three Rival Versions of Moral Inquiry, this book analyzes and evaluates the internal coherence and ultimate viability of the two fundamental versions of historical inquiry. Intended not only for philosophers but also for students and practitioners of political science and public policy, the book includes a case study of a particularly significant political development in U.S. history- the ratification of the 16th Amendment- and suggests some specific implications of the philosophical conclusions.An Introduction to Existentialism
By Robert G. Olson. 1962
Indispensable guide to one of the most influential thought systems of our century. Stressing the work of Heidegger and Sartre,…
it offers a careful and objective examination of the existentialist position and values -- freedom of choice, individual dignity, personal love, creative effort -- and answers to the eternal questions of the human condition.A Love of UIQ
By Félix Guattari, Silvia Maglioni, Graeme Thomson. 2016
Throughout a large part of the 1980s, Félix Guattari, known for his collaborations with Gilles Deleuze and his experimental and…
groundbreaking practices in psychotherapy, decides to shift his experimental work into a different medium of artistic and creative thought practice: the world of science fiction. Part self-analysis, part cinematic expression of his theoretical work, Guattari's screenplay merges his theoretical concepts with his passion for comic books, free radio movements, and film. So begins Guattari's journey to write a screenplay wherein a group of squatters makes contact with a superior intelligence coming from the infinitely small Universe of the Infra-quark (UIQ). Guattari worked feverishly on his film, attempting to secure a budget, traveling to Hollywood, and enlisting the help of American screenwriter Robert Kramer. But the film would never see the light of day. Through the important archival work of artists, Silvia Maglioni and Graeme Thomson, Guattari's script is now published here, for the first time in English.Action, Contemplation, and Happiness: An Essay On Aristotle
By C. D. Reeve. 2012
This accessible and innovative essay on Aristotle, based on fresh translations of a wide selection of his writings, challenges received…
interpretations of his accounts of practical wisdom, action, and contemplation and of their places in the happiest human life.[...After the Media]: News from the Slow-Fading Twentieth Century
By Siegfried Zielinski, Gloria Custance. 2013
The media are now redundant. In an overview of developments spanning the past seventy years, Siegfried Zielinski's [ . .…
. After the Media] discusses how the means of technology-based communication assumed a systemic character and how theory, art, and criticism were operative in this process. Media-explicit thinking is contrasted with media-implicit thought. Points of contact with an arts perspective include a reinterpretation of the artist Nam June Paik and an introduction to the work of Jake and Dinos Chapman. The essay ends with two appeals. In an outline of a precise philology of exact things, Zielinski suggests possibilities of how things could proceed after the media. With a vade mecum against psychopathia medialis in the form of a manifesto, the book advocates for a distinction to be made between online existence and offline being.The Devil Wins
By Dallas G. Denery. 2015
Is it ever acceptable to lie? This question plays a surprisingly important role in the story of Europe's transition from…
medieval to modern society. According to many historians, Europe became modern when Europeans began to lie--that is, when they began to argue that it is sometimes acceptable to lie. This popular account offers a clear trajectory of historical progression from a medieval world of faith, in which every lie is sinful, to a more worldly early modern society in which lying becomes a permissible strategy for self-defense and self-advancement. Unfortunately, this story is wrong.For medieval and early modern Christians, the problem of the lie was the problem of human existence itself. To ask "Is it ever acceptable to lie?" was to ask how we, as sinners, should live in a fallen world. As it turns out, the answer to that question depended on who did the asking. The Devil Wins uncovers the complicated history of lying from the early days of the Catholic Church to the Enlightenment, revealing the diversity of attitudes about lying by considering the question from the perspectives of five representative voices--the Devil, God, theologians, courtiers, and women. Examining works by Augustine, Bonaventure, Martin Luther, Madeleine de Scudéry, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and a host of others, Dallas G. Denery II shows how the lie, long thought to be the source of worldly corruption, eventually became the very basis of social cohesion and peace.Bhagavadgita (Dover Thrift Editions)
By Sir Edwin Arnold. 1993
The Bhagavadgita is part of the great Indian epic the Mahabharata, and it is one of the major religious documents…
of the world, occupying in Hinduism a position not unlike the Sermon on the Mount in Christianity. One of the most celebrated treasures of world literature as well, it is in the form of a poetic dialogue between the epic's hero, Arjuna, and his friend Krishna, believed to be an incarnation of God.The dialogue, which takes place on the eve of an historic battle, probes the nature of God and what man should do to reach him. As the Bhagavadgita unfolds, this majestic poem provides a fascinating synopsis of the religious thought and experience of India through the ages. This edition offers the classic English verse translation by Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904), long admired for its evocation of the true feeling of the original poetry.Kreativität und Form
By Simon M. Wiedemann, Rainer E. Zimmermann. 2011
Ausgehend von der Idee des Glasperlenspiels, die Hermann Hesse in seinem gleichnamigen Roman entwirft, haben die Autoren in diesem Band…
die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen eines solchen Spiels im Umgang mit Wissen ausgelotet. Sie zeigen neue Methoden für das Wissensmanagement auf und verbinden dafür Erkenntnisse verschiedener Wissenschaftsgebiete wie Logik, System- und Erkenntnistheorie sowie Semiotik, Kognition und Kommunikation. Das begleitende Computerprogramm unterstützt Leser beim Experimentieren mit Wissen.