Ethics and moral philosophy Books

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewProfound, beautifully written, and inspiring. It proves that Nussbaum deserves her reputation as one of the greatest modern philosophers. -- Aidan Johnson * Globe and Mail *At a time of growing national chauvinism, Martha Nussbaum’s excellent restatement of the cosmopolitan tradition is a welcome and much-needed contribution. Masterfully tracing the development of the idea of universal human dignity from antiquity to the present, she highlights the major contributions of this tradition to our thinking about morality and law, while also providing a persuasive critique of its limitations. Her revision of the tradition, articulated here…is illuminating and thought-provoking. -- Lior Erez * Times Higher Education *In a penetrating and salient collection of essays, Nussbaum…examines the cosmopolitan tradition and its relationship to the challenges of pluralism and globalism in contemporary life…A timely and insightful analysis of ethical dilemmas. * Kirkus Reviews *A lucid and accessible study of a concept with clear contemporary relevance. In an age of resurgent nationalism, a study of the idea and ideals of cosmopolitanism is remarkably timely. -- Ryan Patrick Hanley * Journal of the History of Philosophy *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAlexander George’s lucid interpretation of Hume’s “Of Miracles” provides fresh insights into this provocative text, explaining the concepts and claims involved. He also shows why Hume’s argument fails to engage with committed religious thought and why philosophical argumentation so often proves ineffective in shaking people’s deeply held beliefs.Trade ReviewThis is an excellent discussion of Hume’s thoughts regarding miracles. -- J. H. Spence * Choice *Alexander George’s interpretation of Hume’s essay is distinguished by lucidity, logical rigor, and attention to textual detail. But George is not content simply to clarify Hume’s argument; he also draws on Wittgenstein and Samuel Johnson to suggest that religious belief need not be connected to evidence in the way that Hume assumed. These reflections will not satisfy those who wish to use Hume to bash religion, nor those who wish to show that Hume is utterly mistaken, but they will appeal to anyone who wishes to think more deeply about evidence, faith, and reason. -- Ed Witherspoon, Colgate UniversityThis lovely book—wise, humane, brief, and beautifully written—offers both a sympathetic reconstruction of Hume's argument concerning miracles and a series of illuminating reflections on the argument's nature and significance. The book is an ideal point of entry into the argument for students and general readers, but scholars too will find that it gives them plenty to learn from—as well as plenty to contend with. -- Kenneth P. Winkler * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt the center of Lincoln's political thought and career is an intense passion for equality that runs so deep in the speeches, messages, and letters that it has the force of religious conviction for Lincoln. George Kateb examines these writings to reveal that this passion explains Lincoln's reverence for both the Constitution and the Union.Trade ReviewIt is a delicate moral exercise, Kateb’s attempt to affirm Lincoln’s greatness while nonetheless chastening our idolatry and leaving us with a troubling image of ourselves. There are few writers since Emerson who have even attempted this sort of thing, let alone succeeded at it…Kateb refuses to simplify. The words in his book both bleed and provoke; his double-edged honesty cuts repeatedly against his own druthers, as he says what idolaters and debunkers alike wish not to hear…George Kateb has added a splendid and bracing chapter to [Emerson’s] Representative Men. -- Jeffrey Stout * Commonweal *Unforgiving and original. -- David Bromwich * Reuters *An erudite work that gently unravels the great man’s distortions and political expediency…The book is compelling throughout. * Kirkus Reviews *Kateb is the most interesting and important philosopher of liberalism alive today, and whatever he says is worth thinking about. Although I disagree, sometimes heatedly, with many of the arguments here, it’s also a book I’m going to continue to think about, a book I’m going to have with me for a very long time. -- John Burt, author of Lincoln’s Tragic PragmatismI have read quite a few Lincoln books over the past few years, and Lincoln’s Political Thought is the most enjoyable. For those who know Kateb’s work – and I have been a fan of his for a long time – all of his characteristic flourishes are here on display. -- Steven Smith, editor of The Writings of Abraham Lincoln

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewJames Dawes’s commendable new book, Evil Men, reflects, carefully and nervously, on the subject of human cruelty… For anyone interested in the bloody horizons of the human condition, it makes for essential reading. -- Christopher Byrd * Washington Post *Dawes juxtaposes the soldiers’ stories with a discussion of our own approach to contemporary war crimes, and although he doesn’t draw them explicitly, unsettling parallels emerge… As Evil Men eloquently attests, describing atrocities does not make them any more comprehensible. Nor, in trying to understand them, do we make them any more forgivable. -- Andrew Stark * Times Literary Supplement *Dawes approaches the topic in impressive turns as social scientist, psychoanalyst, philosopher, and human rights activist. His process of digging into the subject matter is intensely deliberate, always maintaining an assiduously respectful distance and an unwavering eye on the delicacy inherent in a public discussion about and with the perpetrators of heinous violence… The interviews accost us with their simple horror, and they make Evil Men a difficult book to read. One wants to quickly dash away stark images of children shot or women raped… Dawes has led us down the path of ethical inquiry, but after events like the marathon bombings, experience reminds us how difficult it is to talk about such horror in a way that conveys the full weight of our feelings. Language always falls short. There will never be comprehension; only a noble try. -- Geoffrey Young * Brooklyn Rail *In reading this text, in experiencing these stories, in reveling in these histories as we work our way into the center of them and then attempt to find our way back, our own hands are bloodied too. -- Legacy Russell * Guernica *Ranging across philosophy, literature and social science, Evil Men deploys a variety of sources—Augustine’s account of evil as the privation of good; Thomas Hardy’s poetry on the ‘Vast Imbecility’ that seems to inhere in the nature of things; and sociological studies of police torturers, among others—to produce a careful and sensitive exploration of some of the many different questions, not all answerable, that are posed by the ‘problem of evil.’ -- John Gray * Literary Review *[An] unsettlingly brilliant book. -- Brian Bethune * Maclean’s *Evil Men explores the causes and effects of human wickedness. At its heart is a series of interviews that James Dawes conducted with a group of Japanese war criminals who fought in the Sino–Japanese War of 1937–45… While he attempts to understand people for whom bayonetting civilians was something between an initiation rite and a training exercise, he also fears that understanding will trivialize what happened… It is because Dawes finds no ethical resting place that his relentlessly honest book is a moral act of the highest order. Required reading. -- Raymond Tallis * Prospect *Fascinating, original, and moving… We probably won’t solve the problem of evil by thinking about it. But we certainly won’t solve it by not thinking about it—and that is a good reason to read this remarkable book. -- Douglas Kerr * South China Morning Post *Evil Men is painful to read. Horror and terror are etched into every page. Atrocities are reflected upon—sometimes calmly; other times with cold fury. The book’s author, James Dawes, forces us to think carefully about the ethics of telling stories—true ones—about acts of staggering cruelty. Disturbingly, it is a book about friendship, too. When we are brought face to face with men who raped, tortured and murdered men, women and children, where should we look? Straight into their eyes, he advises… A complex, albeit totally absorbing and brilliant book. -- Joanna Bourke * Times Higher Education *Powerful and unusually told, the book raises questions that resist easy answers. * Publishers Weekly *This extraordinary book is by turns horrifying, enraging, and disturbing. Dawes both brings us into the thought world of criminals against humanity and simultaneously reminds us of the impossibility of entering anyone’s mind with any kind of confidence. Evil Men grapples with the impossible challenge of making meaning of what it sees; but most important, Dawes’s gaze never wavers. -- Noah R. Feldman, Harvard Law SchoolEvil Men lies well outside the boundaries of established academic discourse, and the form of the book is extraordinary in many ways. James Dawes not only probes the depths of the human capacity for atrocity, but also explores in an altogether original and nearly unrepeatable way the human capacity for sympathy or empathy with those whose acts have placed them beyond the pale of civilized society. -- Geoffrey Harpham, National Humanities CenterJames Dawes writes a deep, broad meditation on violence from Arendt to Zimbardo, from atrocity to forgiveness, the paradoxes of representation and the tears of war, sincere and otherwise. These Japanese men tell disturbing stories that will not let one go. While capturing their motives with a social scientist’s eye for causality, Dawes draws out the violent particulars with a novelist’s eye for personal meaning, self-care, and philosophical significance. This is a rare achievement. There are less than one hundred and fifty cases where torturers speak fully in their own words, and none that are written with such literary self-consciousness. -- Darius Rejali, author of Torture and DemocracyA brilliant analysis based on interviews with Japanese war criminals who committed atrocities in the Sino–Japanese War of 1937–45. * Times Higher Education *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewImmediately upon publication, this becomes the text of choice for courses on the ethics of public officials… The major theme for which the book will be widely noticed and long remembered [is the] aim ‘to preserve the essentials of the traditional idea of personal responsibility against the pressures of organizational life.’ * Political Theory *The discussions throughout are careful and measured, conversant with a wide literature, and full of useful distinctions that allow many stalemates and logjams in the public understanding of political ethics to be bypassed or broken through… Even if readers are unconvinced by Thompson’s particular views, they will find in the essays indispensable tools for mounting alternative conclusions. * American Political Science Review *This is an important book, not only for its groundbreaking contribution to the study of political ethics, but also more broadly, for its contributions to democratic theory. It should be of use to a wide range of political scientists as well as members of other academic disciplines. -- Gary L. Jones * Perspective *Thompson’s book…sensitively and carefully probe[s] the implications of incorporating notions of ‘personal responsibility’ in our assessment of moral political life. * Michigan Law Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction Problems of the Ethics of Office Methods of the Ethics of Office 1. Democratic Dirty Hands The Persistence of the Problem The Limits of Democratic Distance The Assumption of Accountability Reviewing the Decision Generalizing the Decision Mediating the Decision The End of Dirty Decisions Democratic Deterrence 2. The Moral Responsibility of Many Hands Hierarchical Responsibility Collective Responsibility Personal Responsibility Alternative Causes Causing and Advising Good Intentions The Ignorance of Officials The Compulsion of Offices 3. Official Crime and Punishment The Problem of Moral Responsibility The Problem of Political Responsibility Limits of Criminal Responsibility 4. Legislative Ethics Minimalist Ethics Functionalist Ethics Rationalist Ethics The Particulars of Generality The Autonomous Legislator The Pecuniary Connection The Necessity of Publicity 5. The Private Lives of Public Officials The Value of Privacy The Scope of Privacy: Substantive Criteria The Scope of Privacy: Procedural Criteria 6. Paternalistic Power The Concept of Paternalism The Justification of Paternalism The Paternalism of the Professions Compulsory Medical Treatment The Law of Involuntary Guardianship The Distribution of Public Welfare The Regulation of Drugs The Regulation of Safety 7. The Ethics of Social Experiments The Story of the Denver Income Maintenance Experiment (DIME) The Ethics of the DIME Evaluations and Implications of the DIME Notes Credits Index

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSome philosophers regard relativism as neither true nor false but simply incoherent. Carol Rovane demonstrates that the way to defend relativism is not by establishing its truth but by clarifying its content. Some forms of interpersonal engagement are true in themselves but closed off to belief from those who hold irreducibly incompatible truths.Trade ReviewThis is an excellent readable and informative book discussing a particularly interesting kind of "relativism." Perhaps the most important contribution of the book (but by far from the only one) is its careful explication of the relevant sort of relativism as an instance of what Carol Rovane calls "multimundialism," the thesis that one person might reject another's beliefs without supposing that the other beliefs fail to be true. Along the way there is much useful discussion of potentially relevant ideas in the history of philosophy through such twentieth-century figures as Rudolf Carnap, W.V. Quine, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, Richard Rorty, and Donald Davidson. This is the best discussion of relativism that I know of. -- Gilbert Harman, Princeton UniversityIn recent years, the issue of relativism has been hotly discussed by the philosophical community, and a number of good books have been dedicated to the issue. However, to my knowledge no thorough general and methodical analysis has been offered of what the content of this doctrine exactly is. Carol Rovane's The Metaphysics and Ethics of Relativism finally fills this relevant gap in the philosophical literature. This is a thoughtful, original, and very deep book. In the next decades it will very probably represent a milestone in the debate on relativism. -- Mario De Caro, Università Roma Tre and Tufts UniversityRovane breaks new ground in an otherwise-tired debate between ‘relativists,’ ‘objectivists,’ and ‘absolutists.’ One of the book’s signal achievements lies in clarifying the nature of relativism, whether in its metaphysical or ethical guise. People (especially, but not only) from different cultures inhabit different ‘worlds.’ The author calls this ‘multimundialism,’ and it leads to one of her principal substantive theses: a person/people can reject the beliefs of another/others without claiming that the rejected beliefs are false. Ethics, thus, is more than a matter of taste and sentiment. Furthermore, people occupying different ‘worlds’ can rightly reject others’ claims and stay committed to their own without judging those of others to be false. Along the way, Rovane engages with leading contemporary philosophers, including G. Harman, D. Davidson, R. Rorty, and J. Raz…Rovane’s book deserves a careful reading; it is thoughtful, thorough, substantive, clear, and challenging. -- H. Oberdiek * Choice *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrege argued that psychological laws of thought which explicate how we in fact think must be distinguished from logical laws of thought which impose rational requirements on thinking. Marking a radical break with Frege's legacy in analytic philosophy, Irad Kimhi's work shows that thinking and being are different manifestations of the same capacity.Trade ReviewTo his admirers, Kimhi is a hidden giant, a profound thinker…Strives to do a lot in a short space, aiming to overthrow views about logic and metaphysics that have prevailed in philosophy for a century. * New York Times Book Review *Irad Kimhi’s Thinking and Being is a profound philosophical inquiry into mind and world. The text is difficult. I had to work hard at every sentence to make sure I was following the argument. But the more I did this the more I realized that this book challenges fundamental assumptions of logic and metaphysics that have dominated analytic philosophy throughout the twentieth century and into the present. By going back to the ancient Greeks, Kimhi reanimates a sense of what we might mean by first philosophy. I believe this book marks a turning point. -- Jonathan Lear, University of ChicagoThis book is the most rewarding text by a living author that I have read in years. Kimhi is a philosopher of the highest caliber. Thinking and Being is revolutionary in relation to contemporary orthodoxy by being conservative in relation to certain classical texts. It will have an immediate and powerful impact in a wide array of fields. -- Sebastian Rödl, University of LeipzigIt would be remiss to downplay the enormous effort required to understand this book, but even more so to diminish its rewards. Impossible, frustrating, beguiling and iconoclastic, few books in philosophy have challenged my views about so much, so deeply…For those within whom dissatisfaction with philosophy’s dominant methods and presuppositions glimmers darkly, the book suggests a radical new project, one that starts by taking us back to the very beginning of philosophy and showing that we can, each of us, think our way through it all over again, now differently…Extraordinary work. -- Steven Methven * The Point *

Read more less

Book SynopsisElizabeth Anscombe’s “Modern Moral Philosophy” and “The First Person” have become touchstones of analytic philosophy but their significance remains controversial or misunderstood. James Doyle offers a fresh interpretation of Anscombe’s theses about ethical reasoning and individual identity that reconciles seemingly incompatible points of view.Trade ReviewTimely and significant…[A] meticulous examination of Anscombe’s work. -- Constantine Sandis * Times Literary Supplement *No Morality, No Self: Anscombe’s Radical Skepticism is an absolutely remarkable achievement. James Doyle shows that, when properly understood, Elizabeth Anscombe presents a major challenge to contemporary moral philosophy. This book will bring Anscombe’s thought to the forefront of ethical theory. -- Sergio Tenenbaum, University of TorontoJames Doyle brings out how radical and philosophically significant are Elizabeth Anscombe’s ideas, in his discussions of two of Anscombe’s best-known theses: that the term ‘moral’ as it occurs in such contexts as ‘moral obligation’ is a word of merely mesmeric force, and that ‘I’ is not an expression that refers to something. Critics of these two theses must now think carefully and take stock in light of Doyle’s arguments. This book is a major contribution to Anscombe studies. -- Roger Teichmann, University of Oxford

Read more less

Book SynopsisFaith in the power and righteousness of retribution has taken over the American criminal justice system. Approaching punishment and responsibility from a philosophical perspective, Erin Kelly challenges the moralism behind harsh treatment of criminal offenders and calls into question our society’s commitment to mass incarceration.Trade ReviewGives us a philosopher’s take on the concept of criminal ‘guilt,’ on how easily we miss the larger social context in which crime takes place, and how we need to broaden our blame in order to adjust our justice. -- Adam Gopnik * New Yorker *This book has an elegant humanity that is missing in many discussions of punishment. Erin Kelly makes a powerful case that blame should not have the central role in the justification of punishment that it traditionally has had, and proposes an alternative centered on harm reduction—grounded not in consequentialism but in principles of justice. The Limits of Blame is a model for philosophers who aim to engage with the criminal justice system. -- Victor Tadros, University of WarwickA wonderfully insightful book. Retributivists will have to think more carefully about the connection between responsibility and blame, and everyone in the field will need to reconsider their views on deterrence and proportionality. -- Vincent Chiao, University of TorontoIn a fair-minded and incisive way, The Limits of Blame moves the debate forward, and will be of great interest to moral and legal philosophers as well as political theorists. This book is animated by an unmistakable social and political ethos. -- Göran Duus-Otterström, Aarhus University

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe truth commission is an increasingly common fixture of newly democratic states with repressive or strife-ridden pasts. From South Africa to Haiti, truth commissions are at work with varying degrees of support and success. To many, they are the best--or only--way to achieve a full accounting of crimes committed against fellow citizens and to prevent future conflict. Others question whether a restorative justice that sets the guilty free, that cleanses society by words alone, can deter future abuses and allow victims and their families to heal. Here, leading philosophers, lawyers, social scientists, and activists representing several perspectives look at the process of truth commissioning in general and in post-apartheid South Africa. They ask whether the truth commission, as a method of seeking justice after conflict, is fair, moral, and effective in bringing about reconciliation. The authors weigh the virtues and failings of truth commissions, especially the South AfrTrade Review"This volume of essays, which concentrates on the South African experience while drawing on others elsewhere, is a useful and timely reminder of the tough and messy compromises that were made between the competing demands of justice and retribution, peace and forgiveness."--The Economist "This is an important book for those interested in contemporary efforts to deal with modern atrocities ... The diverse group of contributors brings exceptionally wide exposure and depth to the subject."--Booklist "An engaging collection of essays ... "--Reed Brody, The Nation "The essays themselves are accessible clear, well-written, and engaging and extraordinarily relevant as we struggle to develop an appropriate response to oppressive regime throughout the world. Truth v. Justice's greatest strength lies in both the individual and collective force of the essays each of which not only is intelligently written and important in its own right, but also demonstrative of the author's clear engagement with one another's concerns. The result is a comprehensive and thought-provoking analysis of the truth commission."--Karen Newirth, International Law and Politics "One of the most painful and conspicuous gaps is the impunity usually enjoyed, after their removal from power, by men who, while in power, trampled on the human rights of their own pwople or even waged war against them. Truth v. Justice focuses on the most promising device our civilization has invented to remedy that particular and all too familiar shortfall of justice."--Geoffrey Best, Times Literary Supplement "A highly civilized, lively and provocative exchange between interesting people of diverse backgrounds and positions."--Saul Smilansky, Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii I. Truth Commissions and the Provision of Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation by Robert I. Rotbtrg 3 II. The Moral Foundations of Truth Commissions by Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson 22 III. Restoring Decency to Barbaric Societies by Rajeev Bhargava 45 IV Moral Ambition Within and Beyond Political Constraints: Reflections on Restorative Justice by Elizabeth Kiss 68 V Truth Commissions, Transitional Justice, and Civil Society by David A Crockcr 99 VI. The Moral Foundations of the South African TRC: Truth as Acknowledgment and Justice as Recognition by Andre du Toit 122 VII. Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: The Third Way by Alex Boraine 141 VIII. The Uses of Truth Commissions: Lessons for the World by Dumisa B. Ntsebexa 158 IX. Amnesty, Truth, and Reconciliation: Reflections on the South African Amnesty Process by Ronald C. Slye 170 X. Amnesty's Justice by Kent Greenawalt 189 XI. Trials, Commissions, and Investigating Committees: The Elusive Search for Norms of Due Process by Sanford Levinson 211 XII. The Hope for Healing: What Can Truth Commissions Do? by Martha Minow 235 XIII. Doing History, Doing Justice: The Narrative of the Historian and of the Truth Commission by Charles S. Mater 261 XIV Constructing a Report: Writing Up the "Truth" by Charles Villa-Yicencio and Wilhelm Yerwoerd 279 The Contributors 295 Index 299

Read more less

Book SynopsisSeeks to clear the ground for a discussion of the place of race in politics and in our moral lives. This book contains essays that tackle different aspects of the question of racial justice. It establishes the problematic nature of the idea of race. It explores the history of its invention as a social category.Trade ReviewWinner of the 1997 Ralph J. Bunche Award, American Political Science Association Named an Outstanding Book by the Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America for 1998 Winner of the 1997 Book Award of the North American Society for Social Philosophy "Gutmann's essay shines with a brilliance of analysis worthy of widespread attention."--James O. Freedman, Boston Globe "Despite tremendous ongoing discussion of racial issues in this country, American opinions about race remain contentious and nowhere near a national consensus...Each co-author devotes one-half of the book to his or her efforts to bring insight and illumination to what is an often gloomy conversation."--Washington Post Book WorldTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Context of Race DAVID B. WILKINS 3 Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections K. ANTHONY APPIAH 30 Part 1. Analysis. Against Races 30 Part 2. Synthesis: For Racial Identities 74 Responding to Racial Injustice AMY GUTMANN 106 Part 1. Why Question the Terms of Our Public Debate? 108 Part 2. Must Public Policy Be Color Blind? 118 Part 3. Should Public Policy Be Class Conscious Rather than Color Conscious? 138 Part 4. Why Not Aim for Proportional Representation by Race? 151 Part 5. What's Morally Relevant about Racial Identity? 163 Epilogue K. ANTHONY APPIAH 179 Index 185

Read more less

Book SynopsisGives a rounded treatment to the subject of Islamic political ethics. This book explores the Islamic ethics of civil society, boundaries, pluralism, and war and peace. It considers questions of diversity, discussing, among other subjects, Islamic regimes' policies regarding women and religious minorities.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2003 "While the jihad and civil society material have been covered elsewhere in detail, it is convenient to have these discussions brought together in one volume, and some of the ethical questions in particular break new ground."--Omid Safi, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsForeword: Of Theology and Diplomacy by Jack Miles vii Preface by Sohail H. Hashmi xi PART I: STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY 1 One Civil Society and Government in Islam by John Kelsay 3 Two Perspectives on Islam and Civil Society by Farhad Kazemi 38 Three Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society: A Reflective Islamic Approach by Hasan Hanafi 56 PART II: BOUNDARIES AND DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE 77 Four Islamic Perspectives on Territorial Boundaries and Autonomy by M. Raquibuz Zaman 79 Five Religion and the Maintenance of Boundaries: An Islamic View by Sulayman Nyang 102 PART III: PLURALISM AND INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY 113 Six Islam and Ethical Pluralism by Dale F. Eickelman 115 Seven The Scope of Pluralism in Islamic Moral Traditions by Muhammad Khalid Masud 135 Eight Islamic Ethics in International Society by Sohail H. Hashmi 148 PART IV: WAR AND PEACE 173 Nine War and Peace in Islam by Bassam Tibi 175 Ten Interpreting the Islamic Ethics of War and Peace by Sohail H. Hashmi 194 Glossary 217 Contributors 219 Index 221

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow should we live? What do we owe to other people? This book explores how we should go about answering such fundamental questions.Trade Review"A highly civilized, lively and provocative exchange between interesting people of diverse backgrounds and positions... A very fine example of a first-rate mind taking great pains to deal carefully, clearly and methodically with perennial problems of the utmost significance."--Saul Smilansky, Times Literary Supplement "As always, Thomson's writing is clear, crisp, and direct."--ChoiceTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION Amy Gutmann vii GOODNESS AND ADVICE Judith Jarvis Thomson Part One: Goodness 3 Part Two: Advice 43 COMMENTS Philip Fisher 85 Martha C. Nussbaum 97 F. B. Schneewind 126 Barbara Herrnstein Smith 132 REPLY TO COMMENTATORS Judith Jarvis Thomson 147 CONTRIBUTORS 181 INDEX 183

Read more less

Book SynopsisA reinterpretation and defense of Hegel's social theory as an alternative to reigning liberal notions of social justice. It rereads Hegel's Philosophy of Right to show how it diagnoses the pathologies of the overcommitment to individual freedom that the author says underlies the ideas of Rawls and Habermas alike.Trade Review"Axel Honneth's book is stimulating, insightful, philosophically interesting, and analytically sophisticated. Its main contribution lies in its sympathetic, philosophically acute reconstruction of Hegel's position on individual freedom, which is made with an eye to lending it contemporary relevance. The book succeeds admirably and makes a great contribution to the English-language literature on Hegel."—Fred Neuhouser, Barnard CollegeTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii I: Hegel's Philosophy of Right as a Theory of Justice 1 The Idea of Individual Freedom: Intersubjective Conditions of Autonomy 7 "Right" in the Philosophy of Right: Necessary Spheres of Self-Realization 18 II: The Connection between the Theory of Justice and the Diagnosis of the Age 25 Suffering from Indeterminacy: Pathologies of Individual Freedom 28 "Liberation" from Suffering: The Therapeutic Significance of "Ethical Life" 42 III: The Theory of Ethical Life as a Normative Theory of Modernity 48 Self-Realization and Recognition: Conditions of "Ethical Life" 49 The Over-Institutionalization of "Ethical Life": Problems of the Hegelian Approach 63 Index 81

Read more less

Book SynopsisArgues that a deterministic world does not preclude moral responsibility, rationality, and love - in short, meaningful lives - but that there would still be something lamentable about a deterministic world.Trade Review"This volume is a very interesting and clearly written contribution to the literature on free will and determinism."--ChoiceTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 CHAPTER ONE: Praise and Blame: Toward a New Compatibilism 9 CHAPTER TWO: Reason Responsiveness in a Deterministic World 40 CHAPTER THREE: Ought Implies Can? An Argument from Epistemology 86 INTERLUDE: The Science Fiction of Mind Design 109 CHAPTER FOUR: When Cheap Will Just Won't Do 117 Bibliography 139 Index 143

Read more less

Book SynopsisShould laws about sex and pornography be based on social conventions about what is disgusting? Should felons be required to display bumper stickers or wear T-shirts that announce their crimes? This book presents a critique of the role that shame and disgust play in our individual and social lives and, in particular, in the law.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2004 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Law, Association of American Publishers "[A] lucid and carefully argued new book."--Brigitte Frase, Ruminator Review "A remarkably wide ranging and nuanced treatise on the interplay between emotions and law... A short book review cannot do justice to Nussbaum's exceptionally thorough evaluation of shame, disgust and the law."--Stefanie A. Lindquist, Law and Politics Book Review "Disgust and shame are problematic emotions that often appear to want to repudiate our basic, body-based humanity, Martha Nussbaum claims in this ambitious and timely book... Nussbaum is by no means in favor of purging the law of all reference to emotion: she in fact makes an eloquent case for why this cannot and should not be done... But there are some emotions--Nussbaum mentions jealousy as well as shame and disgust--that appear to offer an unreliable guide to human behavior, to risk calling up mere prejudice and social stigma instead of valid distinctions."--Peter Brooks, Green Bag "Nussbaum is America's most prominent philosopher of public life, and a new book by her is always a force to be reckoned with. The argument of Hiding from Humanity, characteristically lucid, is carried on at two levels. First, she wants to put disgust on trial... At a deeper level, however, Nussbaum's argument is not simply about the law, but about a whole conception of human society and what it means to be human."--John Wilson, The Boston Globe "What part should disgust pay in determining which acts society punishes, and how severely? And to what extent, if at all, should disgust's cousin, shame, be harnessed to play a role in punishment? As a liberal, Nussbaum comes to a liberal answer. But this does no credit to the painstakingly fair way in which she sets out and explores the arguments in both directions, and any reader who approaches her book with views firmly set is likely to leave it with solid certainties somewhat shake... She traverses some difficult territory, from necrophilia and bestiality to Martha Stewart, to reach as close to a civilized conclusion as the subject may admit."--David Honigmann, Financial Times "This study, written in an engaging style that reflects Nussbaum's concern to make philosophy accessible, contains a keen and erudite examination of the emotions of disgust and shame... Getting to the root of what causes us disgust, shame and righteous anger forces us to clarify what we value. This is the task to which Nussbaum's study should inspire us."--Christian Century "Writing in an academically sophisticated but accessible style, Nussbaum is equally at home discussing Aristotle and Freud, Whitman's poetry and Supreme Court case law. The result is an exceptionally smart, stimulating and intellectually rigorous analysis that adds an illuminating psychological dimension to our understanding of law and public policy."--Publishers Weekly "[A] sophisticated exploration of how emotions enlarge or contract the nation's commitment to equal dignity for all... Populists and communitarians will lock horns with legal theorists in the debates this book will provoke."--Booklist "Nussbaum's work is rich and readable. To construct her argument she uses thick case studies and extensive research from a wide variety of literary, experimental, and sociological sources. She gives a fair hearing and fair treatment not only to her own liberal position and its accompanying conclusions but to those whose conclusions mark out strong disagreement with her."--Dolores L. Christie, Magill's Literary Annual 2005 "Hiding from Humanity is a noteworthy addition to recent scholarship on emotions and a valuable counterweight to the growing--and at times unexamined--endorsement of disgust and shame."--Justin Reinheimer, Law, Culture, and the HumanitiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 I. Shame and Disgust: Confusion in Practice and Theory 1 II. Law without the Emotions? 5 III. Two Problematic Emotions 13 Chapter 1. Emotions and Law 19 I. Appeals to Emotion 20 II. Emotion and Belief, Emotion and Value 24 III. Emotions, Appraisal, and Moral Education 31 IV. Emotion and the "Reasonable Man": Manslaughter, Self-Defense 37 V. Emotions and Changing Social Norms 46 VI. Reasonable Sympathy: Compassion in Criminal Sentencing 48 VII. Emotions and Political Liberalism 56 VIII. How to Appraise Emotions 67 Chapter 2. Disgust and Our Animal Bodies 71 I. Disgust and Law 72 II. Pro-Disgust Arguments: Devlin, Kass, Miller, Kahan 75 III. The Cognitive Content of Disgust 87 IV. Disgust and Indignation 99 V. Projective Disgust and Group Subordination 107 VI. Disgust, Exclusion, Civilization 115 Chapter 3. Disgust and the Law 124 I. Disgust as Offense, Disgust as Criterion 125 II. Disgust and the Offender: The "Homosexual-Provocation" Defense 126 III. Disgust and the "Average Man": Obscenity 134 IV. Disgust as a Reason for Illegality: Sodomy, Necrophilia 147 V. Disgust and Nuisance Law 158 VI. Disgust and the Jury: "Horrible and Inhuman" Homicides 163 Chapter 4. Inscribing the Face: Shame and Stigma 172 I. The Blushing Face 173 II. Primitive Shame, Narcissism, and the "Golden Age" 177 III. The Refusal of Imperfection: The Case of B 189 IV. Shame and Its Relatives: Humiliation, Embarrassment 203 V. Shame and Its Relatives: Disgust, Guilt, Depression, Rage 206 VI. Constructive Shame? 211 VII. Stigma and Brand: Shame in Social Life 217 Chapter 5. Shaming Citizens? 222 I. Shame and the "Facilitating Environment" 223 II. Shame Penalties: Dignity and Narcissistic Rage 227 III. Shame and "Moral Panics": Gay Sex and "Animus" 250 IV. Moral Panics and Crime: The Gang Loitering Law 271 V. Mill's Conclusion by Another Route 278 Chapter 6. Protecting Citizens from Shame 280 I. Creating a Facilitating Environment 282 II. Shame and a Decent Living-Standard 282 III. Antidiscrimination, Hate Crimes 287 IV. Shame and Personal Privacy 296 V. Shame and People with Disabilities 305 Chapter 7. Liberalism without Hiding? 320 I. Political Liberalism, Disgust, and Shame 321 II. Mill's Defense of Liberty Reconsidered 322 III. The Case against Disgust and Shame 335 IV. Emotions and Forms of Liberalism 340 Notes 351 List of References 389 General Index 401 Index of Case Names 412

Read more less

Book SynopsisExploitation is a concept in ordinary moral thought that has not often been analyzed outside the Marxist tradition. This work reflects on the meaning of exploitation, to ask whether and when clinical research in developing countries counts as exploitative, and to consider what can be done to minimize the possibility of exploitation.Trade Review"It is clear from these essays that the mores of western bioethics are often inadequate or ill-defined to meet the research needs of developing countries; without closer long-term interaction of this kind, leading to mutual understanding between rich and poor countries, it will be difficult to make further progress in this critically important field."--The Lancet "The writing style is consistently concise, the arguments are well developed, and the authors stay on topic... Though this book is demanding, I recommend reading it in its entirety if possible. Each author has a unique approach to the problem of exploitation in research in the developing world, and the reader needs to take in all aspects of this nuanced problem in order to understand it."--Carmen Paradis, New England Journal of Medicine "Editors Hawkins and Emanuel, along with notable philosophers and bioethicists serving as contributors, tackle theoretical and practical issues relating to the ethics of clinical research carried out in the developing world... The quality of the essays and the timeliness of the issues might make it suitable even for some general readers, especially those with an interest in issues relating to social justice."--M.W. Sontag, Choice "The essays in this volume are uniformly strong, and those with an interest in the topic will profit from reading it cover to cover. On the whole, the book exhibits a firm command of the facts that pertain to international clinical research and an unusually high level of theoretical sophistication."--Lynn A. Jansen, IRB: Ethics and Human ResearchTable of ContentsIntroduction: Why Exploitation? by Jennifer S. Hawkins and Ezekiel J. Emanuel 1 CHAPTER 1: Research Ethics, Developing Countries, and Exploitation: A Primer by Jennifer S. Hawkins 21 CHAPTER 2: Case Studies: The Havrix Trial and the Surfaxin Trial 55 CHAPTER 3: Exploitation in Clinical Research by Alan Wertheimer 63 CHAPTER 4: Testing Our Drugs on the Poor Abroad by Thomas Pogge 105 CHAPTER 5: Broadly Utilitarian Theories of Exploitation and Multinational Clinical Research by Richard J. Arneson 142 CHAPTER 6: Kantian Ethics, Exploitation, and Multinational Clinical Trials by Andrew W. Siegel 175 CHAPTER 7: Exploitation and the Enterprise of Medical Research by Alisa L. Carse and Margaret Olivia Little 206 CHAPTER 8: Exploitation and Placebo Controls by Jennifer S. Hawkins 246 CHAPTER 9: Addressing Exploitation: Reasonable Availability versus Fair Benefits by Ezekiel J. Emanuel 286 Index 315

Read more less

Book SynopsisTakes both the claims of individuality - the task of making a life - and the claims of identity, these large and often abstract social categories through which we define ourselves. Adopting a interdisciplinary perspective, this book aims at the cliches and received ideas amid which talk of identity so often founders.Trade ReviewA New York Times Editors' Choice One of Amazon.com's Best Nonfiction Books for 2005 Winner of the 2005 Award for Excellence in Professional/Scholarly Publishing in Philosophy, Association of American Publishers Honorable Mention for the 2005 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights "The Ethics of Identity is wonderfully straightforward. It does just what it proposes to do. It explores the demands of 'individuality,' and rejects extreme understandings of what autonomy requires. It considers the relation of personal and group identity to morals and ethics... It moves on to the links between identity and culture... Appiah has some very wise and original things to say about the inevitability of a liberal state affecting the inner life of its citizens. He ends with a defense of rooted cosmopolitanism. Not only is the argument direct; it is untechnical, transparent, and unaggressive... Appiah concentrates on a double question: how we acquire an individual identity by acquiring a social identity, and how we find--and make--an identity that is not a straitjacket. In pursuing this question, Appiah begins to explore one of the most fascinating and difficult questions in moral philosophy, the relationship between general principles and particular attachments... [He] shows just how to write about the intimate, formative relations that are central to a life, most strikingly in his epilogue, but as you realize when you reach that ending, he has been doing it, as well as a great deal else, throughout The Ethics of Identity."--Alan Ryan, The New York Review of Books "Suave and discerning... Appiah seeks to reorient political philosophy by returning to the example set by John Stuart Mill... For all of Appiah's philosophic precision, his writing often resembles not Mill's but that of Oscar Wilde--to my mind, the finest prose stylist of the 19th century... [T]he superb rhetorical performance of this book offers the most persuasive evidence for his case... To read The Ethics of Identity is to enter into the world it describes; it is also to imagine what it might be like to live in so urbane and expansive a place."--Jonathan Freedman, New York Times Book Review "Kwame Anthony Appiah undertakes to combine a form of liberalism that aspires to universal validity with a full recognition and substantial acceptance of the important cultural and ethical diversity that characterizes our world."--Thomas Nagel, New Republic "[An] impressive book... [A] thorough exploration of moral concepts such as authenticity, tolerance, individuality, and dignity, and how they are all connected to the task of making a life... It is hard to know what to admire most about this book: the urbane elegance of Appiah's prose, the reach of his knowledge, or the sheer philosophical sharpness of his analysis."--Carl Elliott, The American Prospect "This book, with its fluid, inviting phrasing, is exceptionally well written... It is effective, insightful, and thought-provoking... Appiah clears the way for a justification of a narrative, pragmatic, particular relations-based cosmopolitanism, which is universal without the necessity of theoretical agreement."--Choice "This new book aims to lay the groundwork for a new version of liberal theory adequate to the challenges of our time... I find Appiah's overall conception of liberalism very congenial... If Appiah succeeds in attenuating the force of such claims by undermining the theoretical conceptualizations and arguments supporting them, and integrating the valid claims of identity into liberal theory, he will have contributed very significantly to the reconstruction of liberalism."--Leonard J. Waks, Education and Culture "The conclusion Appiah eloquently affirms is spot on: the key to living a moral life is clearly not to seek to forego identity. On the contrary, it is to put identity in the service of becoming ethical human beings."--Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, Tikkun "Kwame Anthony Appiah, a man of multiple cultures and languages who is able to question culture itself, leaves us better able to contemplate how to lead life well and to relate ethically to others in the process."--E. James Lieberman, PsycCritiques "Kwame Anthony Appiah's The Ethics of Identity is a wonderful book. It is as rigorous as one expects the best philosophy to be, yet it is whitty, humane, and engaging in ways that academic philosophy is only rarely. It is the best account of the ethics of liberal society that we possess."--Daniel Weinstock, Ethics "Appiah, ... an elegant writer, observes that we are not simply members of groups or products of culture. Individuality and autonomy, he argues, are fundamental to personhood in all social and cultural contexts."--David Moshman, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology "[This is] a book that does [a] thorough and original a job of exposing the deep paradoxes within identity and confronting the serious ethical dilemmas to which they give rise."--John E. Joseph, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural DevelopmentTable of ContentsPREFACE ix Chapter One: The Ethics of Individuality 1 THE GREAT EXPERIMENT--LIBERTY AND INDIVIDUALITY--PLANS OF LIFE--THE SOUL OF THE SERVITOR-- SOCIAL CHOICES--INVENTION AND AUTHENTICITY--THE SOCIAL SCRIPTORIUM-- ETHICS IN IDENTITY--INDIVIDUALITY AND THE STATE--THE COMMON PURSUIT Chapter Two: Autonomy and Its Critics 36 WHAT AUTONOMY DEMANDS--AUTONOMY AS INTOLERANCE--AUTONOMY AGONISTES--THE TWO STANDPOINTS-- AGENCY AND THE INTERESTS OF THEORY Chapter Three: The Demands of Identity 62 LEARNING HOW TO CURSE--THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL IDENTITIES--MILLET MULTICULTURALISM--AUTONOMISM, PLURALISM, NEUTRALISM-- A FIRST AMENDMENT EXAMPLE: THE ACCOMMODATIONIST PROGRAM--NEUTRALITY RECONSIDERED--THE LANGUAGE OF RECOGNITION--THE MEDUSA SYNDROME--LIMITS AND PARAMETERS Chapter Four: The Trouble with Culture 114 MAKING UP THE DIFFERENCE--IS CULTURE A GOOD?--THE PRESERVATIONIST ETHIC--NEGATION AS AFFIRMATION-- THE DIVERSITY PRINCIPLE Chapter Five: Soul Making 155 SOULS AND THE STATE--THE SELF-MANAGEMENT CARD--RATIONAL WELL-BEING--IRRATIONAL IDENTITIES-- SOUL MAKING AND STEREOTYPES--EDUCATED SOULS--CONFLICTS OVER IDENTITY CLAIMS Chapter Six: Rooted Cosmopolitanism 213 A WORLDWIDE WEB--RUTHLESS COSMOPOLITANS--ETHICAL PARTIALITY--TWO CONCEPTS OF OBLIGATION--COSMOPOLITAN PATRIOTISM-- CONFRONTATION AND CONVERSATION--RIVALROUS GOODS, RIVALROUS GODS--TRAVELING TALES--GLOBALIZING HUMAN RIGHTS--COSMOPOLITAN CONVERSATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 273 NOTES 277 INDEX 341

Read more less

Book Synopsis"The Golden Ass" tells of a young man changed into an ass by magic. This book follows Apuleius' tale from antiquity through the sixteenth century, tracing its journey from roll to codex in fourth-century Rome, into the medieval library of Monte Cassino, into the hands of Italian humanists, into print, and, finally, over the Alps.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2009 Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit, American Philological Association "With a graceful style and an immense knowledge of the vicissitudes of the story, Gaisser traces the manuscripts that carried The Golden Ass through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance; the editions and translations that followed; and the ways in which readers interpreted, imitated, and adapted it. The result is a remarkable work of scholarship: detailed and learned, but accessible to the general reader with an interest in the fate of a brilliant book over the course of two millennia."--D. Konstan, Brown University, for CHOICE "Gaisser has done all students of Apuleius a profound service in a book that is not only a model for reception studies but will also be a standard reference in Apuleian studies for at least a generation."--Joel C. Relihan, New England Classical Journal "This valuable book provides a fascinating perspective for comparativists on the nature of early modern exegesis. More importantly, it offers an invigorating re-evaluation of an enigmatic author whom many Latinists see only in the context of the time in which he lived--a context which has been constructed and constrained by the myopias of early-twentieth-century classical scholarship."--Andrew Laird, European LegacyTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Preface xi Chapter 1: Apuleius: A Celebrity and His Image 1 Chapter 2: Exemplary Behavior: The Golden Ass from Late Antiquity to the Prehumanists 40 Chapter 3: A Mixed Reception: Interpreting and Illuminating the Golden Ass in the Fourteenth Century 76 Chapter 4: Making an Impression: From Florence to Rome and from Manuscript to Print 129 Chapter 5: Telling Tales: The Golden Ass in Ferrara and Mantua 173 Chapter 6: Apuleius Redux: Filippo Beroaldo Comments on the Golden Ass 197 Chapter 7: Speaking in Tongues: Translations of the Golden Ass 243 Conclusion: The Fortunes of Apuleius and the Golden Ass 296 Appendix 1: Ancient Readers of Apuleius (ca. 350 to ca. 550 AD) 300 Appendix 2: Manuscripts of Apuleius' Metamorphoses 302 Appendix 3: Extant Manuscripts of the Metamorphoses Written before 1400 309 Appendix 4: The Florentine Connection 311 Appendix 5: Adlington and His Sources for Met. 11.1 315 Bibliography 319 Index of Manuscripts 355 General Index 357

Read more less

Book SynopsisA collection of essays, addressing the core subjects of political philosophy such as justice, liberty, and equality; the nature and meaning of liberalism; toleration; power and the fear of power; democracy; and the nature of political philosophy itself.Trade Review"A splendid expression of Williams's distinctive outlook, which joined a conviction that moral argument is important in politics with an insistence that we keep our eyes firmly fixed on the real political world... [S]harp, funny and incisive."--Thomas Nagel, Times Literary Supplement "In this collection, as in all of his other works, Bernard Williams shows how much more interesting our philosophic reflections on the problems of human life can be when they begin with life's most mundane and unavoidable experiences."--Bernard Yack, Ethics "Characteristically, all of the essays are closely argued, elegantly written, and strongly engaging. The book is a welcome addition to the literatures on the many issues it addresses."--Richard E. Flathman, Perspectives on Politics "This collection of essays is well-written, challenging and highly enjoyable. It has the searching, inquisitive and witty style typical of its author, with scores of ideas and insights briefly alluded to without further development, making for engaging reading."--Chris Nathan, Oxonian ReviewTable of ContentsPreface by Patricia Williams vii Introduction by Geoffrey Hawthorn xi CHAPTER ONE: Realism and Moralism in Political Theory 1 CHAPTER TWO: In the Beginning Was the Deed 18 CHAPTER THREE: Pluralism, Community and Left Wittgensteinianism 29 CHAPTER FOUR: Modernity and the Substance of Ethical Life 40 CHAPTER FIVE: The Liberalism of Fear 52 CHAPTER SIX: Human Rights and Relativism 62 CHAPTER SEVEN: From Freedom to Liberty: The Construction of a Political Value 75 CHAPTER EIGHT: The Idea of Equality 97 CHAPTER NINE: Con .icts of Liberty and Equality 115 CHAPTER TEN: Toleration, a Political or Moral Question? 128 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Censorship 139 CHAPTER TWELVE: Humanitarianism and the Right to Intervene 145 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Truth, Politics, and Self-Deception 154 Bernard Williams:Writings of Political Interest 165 Index 171

Read more less

Book SynopsisArgues that Immanuel Kant's entire philosophy - including his moral philosophy, aesthetics, and teleology, as well as his metaphysics - can fruitfully be read as an engagement with David Hume. This book describe and assesses Hume's influence throughout Kant's philosophy. It shows where Kant agrees or disagrees with Hume.Trade Review"In detail, and with great clarity and fairness, Guyer compares [Kant's and Hume's] respective treatments of scepticism, of the major concepts of causation, objects, and the self, of practical philosophy and of the philosophy of taste. Guyer shows that the match is by no means as one-sided as the usual view maintains."--Simon Blackburn, Times Higher Education "Guyer is noted for his Kant scholarship ... The present book, whose subtitle best expresses its content, is a collection of five previously published essays, somewhat reworked, which range over themes that occupied both Kant and Hume. This is done with magisterial competence."--M.A. Bertman, Choice "Guyer's book provides a masterful reconstruction of the systematic ambition of Kant's critical philosophy and of the third Critique in particular. In addition, he underlines the essential openness and modesty of the Kantian system that is due to Kant's unwavering insistence on the limits of the human powers of cognition--a point that was not heeded by his immediate successors and is often only poorly understood even today."--Peter Gilgen, MonatshefteTable of ContentsCredits vii Sources and Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1: Common Sense and the Varieties of Skepticism 23 CHAPTER 2: Causation 71 CHAPTER 3: Cause, Object, and Self 124 CHAPTER 4: Reason, Desire, and Action 161 CHAPTER 5: Systematicity, Taste, and Purpose 198 Bibliography 255 Index 263

Read more less

Book SynopsisPresented in three parts, this book explores what's alluring and what's revolting in cunning. It draws on a range of sources: tales of Odysseus; texts from Machiavelli; pamphlets from early modern England; salesmen's newsletters; Christian apologetics; sermons; philosophical treatises; famous, infamous, and obscure historical cases; and more.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2006 "[In] his sparkling new book ... Don Herzog doesn't say his subject changed the world, though it would be hard to imagine the world without it. He lets cunning lead us toward a broadened idea of human behavior."--Robert Fulford, National Post "In Cunning, Mr. Herzog's playful and wide-ranging new book, he meditates on the tricks played by Henry Tufts, Odysseus, and used-car salesmen, among many others. Acts of cunning, Mr. Herzog says, can teach us about social roles, the limits of rationality, and the contradictions the lie within utilitarian and Kantian moral arguments."--David Glenn, Chronicle of Higher Education This pleasingly original little volume is bookended by two tales of murderous priests... In prose that conveys a deliciously convivial murmur (the author is a law professor who hates most academic writing), Herzog proceeds to discuss Odysseus, Machiavelli, car salesmen and confidence tricksters, believers in angels, astrology and demons, jazz musicians and pirates, both eliciting out sympathy for the variety of human moral life and refusing the paranoiac conclusion that all around us are knaves. Very cunning indeed."--Steven Poole, The Guardian "At the start of this extraordinary book we are invited to view cunning as a nobody, and nobody as cunning. By its conclusion, we are left to struggle with the thought that cunning is everybody, and that everybody is cunning. Like Odysseus himself, the reader who undertakes this labyrinthine journey will have many tales to tell, and will be very much the wiser for it."--John C. P. Goldberg, Michigan Law Review "This study is highly original, deeply researched, and lucidly written, providing pioneering work on the history of sexuality in twentieth-century Germany and challenging and reshaping the extensive scholarship on memory and the Holocaust... By focusing on a subject seemingly far removed from Nazism, Herzog shows how pervasive debates about the Nazi past were and how complex and contradictory the attitudes of even committed antifascists were."--Mary Nolan, The Historian "Cunning is a remarkable book... It is both a pleasure and difficult to read. It is a pleasure because it is so clever and erudite, so provocative and original, and because I have learned much from it and agree with much of it. It is difficult to read because the book's 'message' is so deflationary, because the playfulness edges toward self-display, and because it is hard to trust it. Of course, this is Herzog's point, which means that my attitude and reservations are precisely what Cunning aimed to cultivate."--J. Peter Euben, Duke University, Durham, NCTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Dilemmas 13 Appearances 69 Despair? 123 Afterword 185 Index 193

Read more less

Book SynopsisA trenchant critique of established ideas in political philosophy and a provocative call for changeMany contemporary political thinkers are gripped by the belief that their task is to develop an ideal theory of rights or justice for guiding and judging political actions. But in Philosophy and Real Politics, Raymond Geuss argues that philosophers should first try to understand why real political actors behave as they actually do. Far from being applied ethics, politics is a skill that allows people to survive and pursue their goals. To understand politics is to understand the powers, motives, and concepts that people have and that shape how they deal with the problems they face in their particular historical situations.Philosophy and Real Politics both outlines a historically oriented, realistic political philosophy and criticizes liberal political philosophies based on abstract conceptions of rights and justice.Trade Review"A discipline-altering book."--Glen Newey, London Review of Books "[Geuss's] intention in Philosophy and Real Politics, his short, sharp new book, is ... to introduce a note of realism into contemporary philosophical debates about justice, by force if necessary."--Adam Kirsch, City Journal "A manifesto for a new political philosophy... Geuss's realist proposal brings forcefully to the contemporary political discussion the idea that philosophy is an engaged discipline, both in the sense of engagee, of directly speaking to the political issues of the day, and in the sense of having its own historical cultural commitments firmly in view."--Katerina Deligiorgi, The Philosopher's Magazine "Philosophy and Real Politics is an impressive and provocative essay on contemporary Anglo-American political philosophy theory."--Christoph Konrath, Law and Politics Book Review "[G]iven the current trends in political philosophy, Geuss's book is both timely and extremely important. One of Geuss's many virtues as a political philosopher is his ability to effectively confront philosophical complacency, and this superb book is surely successful in this regard."--David Sherman, Social Theory and Practice "A slim, devastating critique of the flight towards abstraction and pristine idealism in contemporary liberal political thought--a path led by the late John Rawls. Geuss's work deserves to be far better known."--Sunil Khilnani, Outlook IndiaTable of ContentsPreface vii Introduction 1 Part I Realism Who Whom? 23 Priorities, Preferences, Timing 30 Legitimacy 34 Tasks of Political Theory 37 Understanding, Evaluation, Orientation 37 Conceptual Innovation 42 Ideology 50 Part II Failures of Realism Rights 60 Justice 70 Equality 76 Fairness, Ignorance, Impartiality 80 Power 90 Conclusion 95 Notes 103 Works Cited 109 Index 113

Read more less

Book SynopsisSeeks to bridge the gap between philosophers who use the idea of reason to assess human behavior from a normative point of view and social scientists who use the idea of rationality to explain behavior. This book proposes a unified conceptual framework for the study of behavior.Trade Review"For those with some grounding in the study of human behaviour, Elster does a remarkable job of bringing together seemingly disparate concerns... [T]his essay (as it effectively is) provides a concise overview of his dominant concerns and a useful introduction to his thought."--Ben Saunders, Political Studies Review "I highly recommend the book, which explains in clear and simple terms the complexity of human behavior and the logic that underlies it."--Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, European LegacyTable of ContentsReason and Rationality Works Cited

Read more less

Book SynopsisThomas Hobbes remains one of the most controversial of early modern philosophers, and debates persist about the interpretation of many of his ideas, particularly his views about natural law and natural right. This book argues that these two concepts are the twin foundations of the entire structure of Hobbes's moral and political thought.Trade Review"Zagorin's study is erudite, insightful and especially commendable for analyzing both the philosophical import and historical context of the ideas discussed."--Robin Douglass, Political Studies Review "Zagorin's book is a helpful introduction into the basics of Hobbesian politics, the prominent secondary debates, and the broader historical context of natural law theory, which will inspire many of its readers with a positive awareness of the potentially moral dimensions in Hobbes' political writings."--Ester Bertrand, Political Science Journal "Zagorin's book ... serves as a good introduction to Hobbes and the history of Hobbes scholarship as well as to the history of political philosophy more generally. It would be a suitable text for an upper-level undergraduate course on Hobbes as well as a graduate course."--Michael P. Krom, HistorianTable of ContentsPreface ix Abbreviations xi Chapter 1: S ome Basic Hobbesian Concepts 1 The Law of Nature 5 Hobbes's Critique of the Natural Law Tradition 11 Natural Rights 20 Chapter 2: Enter the Law of Nature 30 Human Nature 32 The State of Nature or Man's Natural Condition 36 The Precepts of the Law of Nature 42 Natural Rights and the Creation of the Commonwealth 54 Consent, Fear, Obligation, and Populism 60 Chapter 3: The Sovereign and the Law of Nature 66 The Theory of Sovereignty 66 The Liberty of Subjects 75 Hobbes's Very Moral Sovereign 84 Chapter 4: Hobbes, the Moral Philosopher 99 Self and Others 99 Obligation 106 Is and Ought 112 Religion and Toleration 117 Conclusion 127 Notes 129 Index 171

Read more less

Book SynopsisDrawing on research in anthropology, psychology, and a host of other disciplines, this book argues that cross-cultural variation raises serious problems for theories that propose universally applicable conditions for moral responsibility. It develops a way of thinking about responsibility that takes cultural diversity into account.Trade Review"This is a penetrating and far-reaching book."--Julian Baggini, Financial Times "[T]his is a keenly argued yet surprisingly accessible book that presents a provocative thesis that should not be ignored."--Choice "There is much to like about Relative Justice. It pursues and interesting line of reasoning in a literature literally littered with rehashed arguments and stubborn dialectics."--Matt King, Philosopher's MagazineTable of Contents*FrontMatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. ix*Acknowledgments, pg. xi*Introduction, pg. 1*Chapter One. The Appeal to Intuition, pg. 9*Chapter Two. Moral Responsibility and the Culture of Honor, pg. 33*Chapter Three. Shame Cultures, Collectivist Societies, Original Sin, And Pharaoh's Hardened Heart, pg. 63*Chapter Four. Can the Variation Be Explained Away?, pg. 84*Chapter Five. Where Do We Go from Here?, pg. 111*Chapter Six. A Metaskeptical Analysis of Libertarianism and Compatibilism, pg. 133*Chapter Seven. A Very Tentative Metaskeptical Endorsement of Eliminativism about Moral Responsibility, pg. 173*Notes, pg. 203*Bibliography, pg. 213*Index, pg. 223

Read more less

Book Synopsis"The Corsair Affair" has been called the 'most renowned controversy in Danish literary history'. This volume contains the documents relevant to this dispute, and a historical introduction that recapitulates the sequence of events surrounding the controversy.Trade Review"These new translations are excellent."--Choice "The definitive edition of the Writings. The first volume ... indicates the scholarly value of the entire series: an introduction setting the work in the context of Kierkegaard's development; a remarkably clear translation; and concluding sections of intelligent notes."--Library JournalTable of Contents*Frontmatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. v*Historical Introduction, pg. vii*Chronology, pg. xxxix*Public Confession, pg. 3*Who is The Author of Either/Or, pg. 13*A Word of Thanks to Professor Heiberg, pg. 17*A Little Explanation, pg. 22*An Explanation and a Little More, pg. 24*A Cursory Observation Concerning a Detail in Don Giovanni, pg. 28*The Activity of a Traveling Esthetician and How He Still Happened to Pay for The Dinner, pg. 38*The Dialectical Result of a Literary Police Action, pg. 47*An Open Letter, pg. 51*A Letter, pg. 63*Another Letter, pg. 66*[A Letter], pg. 69*Literary Quicksilver, pg. 73*Key to References, pg. 87*P. L. Moller, M. Goldschmidt, The Corsair, and Related Publications, 1841-1848, pg. 91*Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Pertaining to Articles, the Corsair Affair, and "An Open Letter", pg. 153*Acknowledgments, pg. 265*Collation of Articles in the Danish Editions of Kierkegaard's Collected Works, pg. 269*Notes, pg. 271*Bibliographical Note, pg. 309*Index, pg. 311*Advisory Board, pg. 325

Read more less

Book SynopsisCombines simplicity and inwardness with reflection and presents crucial Christian concepts and presuppositions.Trade Review"These new translations are excellent."--Choice "The definitive edition of the Writings. The first volume ... indicates the scholarly value of the entire series: an introduction setting the work in the context of Kierkegaard's development; a remarkably clear translation; and concluding sections of intelligent notes."--Library JournalTable of ContentsHistorical IntroductionPt. 1The Cares of the Pagans3Introduction9IThe Care of Poverty13IIThe Care of Abundance23IIIThe Care of Lowliness37IVThe Care of Loftiness48VThe Care of Presumptuousness60VIThe Care of Self-Torment70VIIThe Care of Indecisiveness, Vacillation, and Disconsolateness81Pt. 2States of Mind in the Strife of Suffering93IThe Joy of It: That One Suffers Only Once But Is Victorious Eternally95IIThe Joy of It: That Hardship Does Not Take Away But Procures Hope106IIIThe Joy of It: That the Poorer You Become the Richer You Are Able to Make Others114IVThe Joy of It: That the Weaker You Become the Stronger God Becomes in You124VThe Joy of It: That What You Lose Temporally You Gain Eternally134VIThe Joy of It: That When I "Gain Everything" I Lose Nothing at All144VIIThe Joy of It: That Adversity Is Prosperity150Pt. 3Thoughts That Wound from Behind - for Upbuilding161IWatch Your Step When You Go to the House of the Lord163II"See, We Have Left Everything and Followed You; What Shall We Have?" (Matthew 19:27) - and What Shall We Have?176IIIAll Things Must Serve Us for Good - When We Love God188IVThere Will Be the Resurrection of the Dead, of the Righteous - and of the Unrighteous202VWe Are Closer to Salvation Now - Than When We Became Believers214VIBut It Is Blessed - to Suffer Mockery for a Good Cause222VIIHe Was Believed in the World234Pt. 4Discourses at the Communion on Fridays247Preface249ILuke 22:15251IIMatthew 11:28262IIIJohn 10:27268IVI Corinthians 11:23275VII Timothy 2:12-13282VII John 3:20289VIILuke 24:51296The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress301Addendum: Phister as Captain Scipio327Supplement345Editorial Appendix429Notes439Bibliographical Note467Index469

Read more less

Book SynopsisA volume of five short works that in various ways deals with the concept and practice of authority, including: "Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays" (1849), "An Upbuilding Discourse" (1850), and "Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays" (1851).Trade Review"These new translations are excellent."--Choice "The definitive edition of the Writings. The first volume ... indicates the scholarly value of the entire series: an introduction setting the work in the context of Kierkegaard's development; a remarkably clear translation; and concluding sections of intelligent notes."--Library JournalTable of ContentsHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION The Lily in the Field and the Bird of the Air: Three Devotional Discourses PREFACE I. "Look at the Birds of the Air; Look at the Lily in the Field." II. "No One Can Serve Two Masters, for He Must Either Hate the One and Love the Other or Be Devoted to the One and Despise the Other." III. "Look at the Birds of the Air; They Sow Not and Reap Not and Gather Not into Barns"--without Worries about Tomorrow. "Look at the Grass in the Field, Which Today Is." Two Ethical-Religious Essays H. H. PREFACE Does a Human Being Have the Right to Let Himself Be Put to Death for the Truth? The Difference between a Genius and an Apostle Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays PREFACE [The High Priest] [The Tax Collector] [The Woman Who Was a Sinner] An Upbuilding Discourse PREFACE The Woman Who Was a Sinner Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays PREFACE [But One Who Is Forgiven Little Loves Little] [Love Will Hide a Multitude of Sins] SUPPLEMENT Key to References Original Title Page of The Lily in the Field and the Bird of the Air Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Pertaining to The Lily in the Field and the Bird of the Air Original Title Page of Two Ethical-Religious Essays Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Pertaining to Two Ethical-Religious Essays Original Title Page of Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Pertaining to Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays Original Title Page of An Upbuilding Discourse Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Pertaining to An Upbuilding Discourse Original Title Page of Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Pertaining to Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays EDITORIAL APPENDIX Acknowledgments Collation of the Five Publications in the Danish Editions of Kierkegaard's Collected Works Notes Bibliographical Note Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisChallenges the entrenched understandings of Machiavelli, arguing that he was a moral and political philosopher who consistently favored the rule of law over that of men, that he had a coherent theory of justice, and that he did not defend the 'Machiavellian' maxim that the ends justify the means.Trade Review"Taking a cue from Rousseau, who read Machiavelli as a serious republican thinker, Benner argues that Machiavelli did not at all separate ethics from politics... Benner's interest in Machiavelli's rhetorical strategies produces gratifyingly detailed and impressive readings of difficult passages... This is a provocative argument for Machiavelli as a proponent of moral autonomy and ethical reflectiveness."--Victoria Kahn, Times Literary Supplement "This major new study of Machiavelli's moral and political philosophy by Benner argues that most readings of Machiavelli suffer from a failure to appreciate his debt to Greek sources, particularly the Socratic tradition of moral and political philosophy... Her research is meticulous and her arguments finely honed. This important contribution to both Machiavelli studies and the history of political philosophy will be indispensable for scholars."--Choice "This book is a prime example of thorough and detailed scholarship... With the publication of this bold but responsible contribution to scholarship, those who assert that Machiavelli was not an ethical philosopher have a significant amount of evidence and argumentation to overcome."--David F. Horkott, International Philosophical Quarterly "[Benner's] reading yields an innovative and stimulating interpretation of a notoriously difficult (even slippery) author that is meant to reveal his distinctive contribution to philosophical concerns. Benner's insights are often surprising and challenging, but are definitely worthy of careful consideration... Her book gives us very good reasons for thinking that Machiavelli may have adopted the kind of ethical individualism that she ascribes to him."--Cary J. Nederman, Notre Dame Philosophical Review "[A] book that swims against the current, one that orients its perspective backwards, towards antiquity. A refreshing catharsis now that I am stepping out from the flood of current events. Benner puts forward the thesis that Machiavelli was no Machiavellian in his values [but] a moral philosopher with high republican ideals, a critical humanist... Least in tune with our age are the great demands that, following in the footsteps of Machiavelli and the classics of antiquity, Benner makes on readers [to] train themselves in the art of seeing through all manner of manipulations. A call to break through the cobwebs of propaganda that the powerful try to run around citizens, especially in election years."--Rolf Gustavsson, Svenska Dagbladet "Machiavelli's Ethics is a remarkable account of the dominant themes in Machiavelli's work and his role as a moral and political philosopher unusually sensitive to reality. It should be read by all who are interested in philosophy, politics, rhetoric, and the history of Western thought. Books of such perceptive insight and scholarly care arrive infrequently."--Michael K. Potter, Philosophy in ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments xiii Abbreviations xv Introduction 1 Arguments: Philosophical ethics and the rule of law 5 Sources: Greek ethics 8 Part I: Contexts Chapter 1: Civil Reasonings: Machiavelli's Practical Filosofia 15 1.1. Florentine Histories: Decent words, indecent deeds 16 1.2. Flawed remedies: Rhetoric and power politics 25 1.3. Flawed analyses: Self-celebratory versus self-critical histories 30 1.4. Philosophy and the vita activa in Florentine humanism 37 1.5. What is, has been, and can reasonably be: Machiavelli's correspondence 43 1.6. The Socratic tradition of philosophical politics 49 1.7. Forming republics in writing and in practice: The Discursus 54 Chapter 2: Ancient Sources: Dissimulation in Greek Ethics 63 2.1. Constructive dissimulation: Writing as civil "medicine" 64 2.2. Inoculation for citizens: Words and deeds in Xenophon's Cyropaedia 71 2.3. Conversations with rulers: Plutarch and Xenophon on purging tyranny 78 2.4. Dissimulating about deception: Xenophon's Cambyses 84 2.5. Dissimulating about justice: Thucydides' Diodotus 88 Part II: Foundations Chapter 3: Imitation and Knowledge 101 3.1. The ancient tradition of imitating ancients 101 3.2. Inadequate imitation: The "unreasonable praise of antiquity" 107 3.3. Historical judgment: Criticism of sources and self-examination 111 3.4. The Socratic metaphor of hunting 116 3.5. Ethical judgment: The "true knowledge of histories" 124 3.6. Machiavelli's dangerous new reasonings 132 Chapter 4: N ecessity and Virtue 135 4.1. The rhetoric of necessity 136 4.2. Necessita as an excuse 140 4.3. Necessita as a pretext 142 4.4. Imposing and removing necessita 147 4.5. Virtu as reflective prudence: Taking stock of ordinary constraints 150 4.6. Under- and overassertive responses to necessity 153 4.7. Virtu as self-responsibility: Authorizing constraints on one's own forces 156 4.8. Virtu as autonomy: Imposing one's own orders and laws 161 4.9. Necessita and fortuna 166 Chapter 5: Human Nature and Human Orders 169 5.1. Fortune and free will 170 5.2. How to manage fortuna: Impetuosity and respetto 175 5.3. Practical theology: Heavenly judgments and human reasons 180 5.4. Practical prophecies: Foreseeing the future by "natural virtues" 184 5.5. Moral psychology: The malignita of human nature and the discipline of virtu 190 5.6. Human zoology: The ways of men and beasts 197 5.7. Human cities, where modes are neither delicate nor too harsh 201 5.8. Who is responsible for the laws? Human reasoning and civilita 206 Part III: Principles Chapter 6: Free Agency and Desires for Freedom 213 6.1. The Discourses on desires for freedom in and among cities 214 6.2. The Florentine Histories on freedom and the need for self-restraint 221 6.3. Are desires for freedom universal? 226 6.4. Inadequate conceptions of freedom 231 6.5. The rhetoric of liberta in republics 239 6.6. Free will and free agency 244 Chapter 7: Free Orders 254 7.1. Priorities I: Respect for free agency as a condition for stable orders 255 7.2. Priorities II: Willing authorization as the foundation of free orders 259 7.3. Conditions I: Universal security 262 7.4. Conditions II: Transparency and publicity 266 7.5. Conditions III: Equal opportunity 269 7.6. Foundations of political freedom: Procedural constraints and the rule of law 279 7.7. Persuasions: Why should people choose free orders? 287 Chapter 8: Justice and Injustice 290 8.1. Justice as the basis of order and liberta 291 8.2. Partisan accounts of justice 299 8.3. Non-partisan persuasions toward justice 306 8.4. Why it is dangerous to violate the law of nations 309 8.5. Forms of justice: Promises, punishments, and distributions 314 8.6. Ignorance of justice: Who is responsible for upholding just orders? 320 Chapter 9: Ends and Means 325 9.1. Responsibility for bad outcomes: The dangers of giving counsel 326 9.2. Judging wars by post facto outcomes 331 9.3. Judging wars by anticipated outcomes 335 9.4. Reflective consequentialism or deontology? 340 9.5. Problem 1: Unjust means corrupt good ends 343 9.6. Problem 2: Who can be trusted to foresee effects? 347 9.7. Problem 3: Who can be trusted to identify good ends? 351 9.8. Problem 4: Corrupting examples 357 9.9. Corrupt judgments: Means and ends in the Prince 360 Part IV: Politics Chapter 10: Ordinary and Extraordinary Authority 367 10.1. The antithesis between ordinary and extraordinary modes 367 10.2. Are conspiracies ever justified? 373 10.3. Extraordinary and ordinary ways to renovate corrupt cities 380 10.4. Unreasonable uses of religion: Easy ways to acquire authority 386 10.5. Reasonable uses of religion: Fear of God and fear of human justice 394 10.6. Folk religion and civil reasoning 400 Chapter 11: Legislators and Princes 407 11.1. Spartan founders and refounders: Lycurgus, Agis, and Cleomenes 408 11.2. Roman founders and legislators: Romulus and Aeneas 418 11.3. God's executors and modes of free building: Moses 424 11.4. Ordinary mortals and the ancient ideal of the one-man legislator 432 11.5. Persuasion in the Prince: On maintaining one's own arms 437 11.6. Princely knowledge and the "knowledge of peoples" 447 Chapter 12: E xpansion and Empire 451 12.1. Why republics must expand: The defects of non-expansionist republics 451 12.2. Three modes: Equal partnership, subjection to one, and the Roman mode 454 12.3. The Roman "middle way": Making subjects or partners 458 12.4. Bad Roman modes, good Roman orders: The choice between extremes 464 12.5. Why Roman imperio became pernicious: The wars with Carthage 468 12.6. Expansion by partnership: The forgotten Tuscan league 475 12.7. Should Florence imitate Rome? 478 Conclusions 484 This interpretation and others 490 Machiavelli and the ethical foundations of political philosophy 496 Bibliography 499 Index 509

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe limiting of violence through state powers is one of the central projects of the modern age. Why then have recent centuries been so bloody? The author demonstrates that the aim of decreasing and deterring violence has gone hand in hand with the misleading idea that violence is abnormal and beyond comprehension.Trade Review"Trust and Violence is a richly textured and erudite meditation on the intimate proximity between civilization and barbarism. Drawing on authors as diverse as Shakespeare, Schopenhauer, and Primo Levi, Reemtsma's lucidly written and deftly argued book elevates our comprehension of inhumanity—and of the societal rationalizations underlying it—to new heights. This interpretive tour de force is destined to be debated and discussed for years to come."—Richard Wolin, author of The Wind from the East: French Intellectuals, the Cultural Revolution, and the Legacy of the 1960s"This is the most exciting work of philosophy that I have read in years. It is brilliant, deep, and destined to be a classic. Bringing together fifteen years of work on violence, modernity, good, and evil, this book should change the way we think about all these concepts."—Susan Neiman, Einstein ForumTable of ContentsPreface ix Introduction: The Mystery 1 Chapter 1: Trust and Modernity 9 Two Scenes from Thomas Mann's Confessions of Felix Krull 10 Trust 12 Practices of Social Trust 17 Trust and Seriousness-- The Gretchenfrage 21 Trust and the Construction of the We 27 We Can't Not Trust 33 Reorientation 35 The Bearers of Premodern Social Trust 39 The Problem of Trust within Modernity 44 Trust in Modernity 52 Chapter 2: Power and Violence 54 Kratos and Bia 54 A Phenomenology of Physical Violence 55 Locative Violence 57 Raptive Violence 60 Autotelic Violence 62 Reduction to Body 66 Psychological Violence/Autotelic Bias 69 Fragmentation: Th e Destruction of the I 71 Complementary Opposites 74 Power-- Without Violence 76 Coercive Power 79 The Temporality of Power 80 Reward Power, Coercive Power, and Violence 80 Richard III: A Flawed Power Calculus 83 Consent as a Function of Temporality 86 Participatory Power, Trust, Legal Regulation 89 Monopoly 92 Delegation 93 Th e Dynamics of Demonopolization 95 Participatory Power and Violence 97 Modernity and Violence 99 Chapter 3: Delegitimation/Relegitimation 101 Marsyas 101 Max Stays Seated 102 Permitted, Prohibited, Mandated 103 Civilization and Barbarism 106 Th e I and the Idea of Humanity 110 Disgust 116 Shakespeare and the Dawning Awareness of Violence as Wrong 127 Curtailing Violence and Preserving Trust 145 Relegitimation (1): Th e Rhetoric of Nation and Civilizing Mission 153 Bounding the Nation 167 Th e Guillotine and the Puppy 169 Relegitimation (2): Th e Rhetoric of Eschatological Purge 175 Relegitimation (3): Th e Rhetoric of Genocide 180 Modernity and Its Discontents 184 Chapter 4: Trust in Violence 187 Violence-- Trust-- Power: Th e Devil and the Little Bishop 187 Auschwitz-- Gulag-- Hiroshima 191 Escalating the Instruments of Violence 196 Modernization and the Gang 205 Demodernization and the Gang 219 The Logic of Terror 231 Macbeth 239 Why the Jews? 242 When the Impossible Becomes Possible 246 Trust in Violence and the Role of Personality 248 Trust in Violence and Self- Trust 250 Chapter 5: Violence and Communication 259 Cola Gentile Speaks 259 Sociology's Silence 261 The Disappearance of the Th ird Party 266 Coping (1): Delegitimation by Criminal Procedure and the Exclusion of the Third Party 274 Coping (2): Th e Authority of the Victim and the Replacement of the Third Party 278 Coping (3): Instrumental Interpretation and the Denial of Communication 280 Excursus: A Brief Th eory of the Desperado, or, Did William Tell Really Liberate Switzerland? 287 Displaying the Instruments of Torture-- Again? 302 Angst and Self- Assurance 305 Polonius, His Will and Testament 309 Notes 313 Bibliography 359

Read more less

Book SynopsisExploring the rise and political significance of the free and open source software (F/OSS) movement in the US and Europe, this title details the ethics behind hackers' devotion to F/OSS, the social codes that guide its production, and the political struggles through which hackers question the scope and direction of copyright and patent law.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2013 "Coding Freedom is insightful and fascinating, a superbly observed picture of the motives, divisions and history of the free software and software freedom world."--Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing "Anyone who thinks about programmers, open source, online communities, or the politics of intellectual property should have a copy of Coding Freedom on the shelf. It is an invaluable portrait of how free-software coders work, individually and collectively."--James Grimmelmann, Jotwell "The hacker ethic may be peculiar to outsiders. But it stems from a deep commitment to justice, fairness, and freedom. Anthropologist Gabriella Coleman describes in her phenomenal book Coding Freedom how hacker ethic gets encoded into both technical and political practice."--Danah Boyd, Wired "Though occasionally she uses academic jargon, her book is an intriguing read and connects the dots... Reading this book will help you to understand the conflict, as well as hacker culture."--David Hutchinson, io9.com "[S]triking and important... Coleman has captured a great deal of the essential spirit of the free- and open-software movement... I strongly suggest that you buy a copy of the book."--John Gilbey, Times Higher Education "[I]t is well-written and the analyses really get to the heart of some deeply ethical questions about individual, group and political relationships in voluntary groups which are rarely considered in such detail."--John R. Hudson, Briefing Bradford "This work by Coleman is at once history, ethnography, cultural criticism, and storytelling... Once can read the book as a narrative of the free software and open source movements, or as a sympathetic description of the behavior norms of hackers... Some readers will likely not consider hackers' aesthetic appreciation of good or clever coding as beauty, nor hackers' humor as funny, but these are Coleman's courageous attempts to provide a rounded depiction of this subculture. This book seems likely to be one of the defining works of cultural anthropology."--Choice "Coding Freedom is a persuasive piece of writing that tackles some of the questions central to the current political climate."--Sebastian Kubitschko, Culture Machine "Coding Freedom is an important analysis of F/OSS that offers deep ethnographic detail and creates a complex appreciation of this phenomenon. Coleman is also able to take this rich detail and extend it into the ethics and politics of F/OSS, connecting internal community principles to wider political effects, of which she provides a unique analysis. This book is compulsory reading for anyone interested in the cultural and social meaning of F/OSS and will powerfully repay anyone interested in the nature of ethics and society in the 21st century."--Tim Jordan, American Journal of SociologyTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction - A Tale of Two Worlds 1 PART I - HISTORIES Chapter 1: The Life of a Free Software Hacker 25 Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Legal Regimes 61 PART II - CODES OF VALUE Chapter 3: The Craft and Craftiness of Hacking 93 Chapter 4:Two Ethical Moments in Debian 123 PART III - THE POLITICS OF AVOWAL AND DISAVOWAL Chapter 5: Code Is Speech 161 Conclusion: The Cultural Critique of Intellectual Property Law 185 Epilogue: How to Proliferate Distinctions, Not Destroy Them 207 Notes 211 References 225 Index 249

Read more less

Book SynopsisCombines moral philosophy and Christian ethics to develop an important theory of rights and of justice as grounded in rights. This title discusses what it is to have a right, and locates rights in the respect due the worth of the rights-holder.Trade Review"[T]his book is a formidable achievement, intellectually rigorous yet emotionally engaged, and combining meticulous conceptual analysis with a rich historical grasp of the roots of our moral culture. Its arguments offer a serious challenge to the complacency of contemporary secularism, implying as they do that our culture of rights could only have come into existence supported by a metaphysical framework that exhibits each human being, whatever their flaws and defects, as loved redemptively by God."--John Cottingham, Times Literary Supplement "Nicholas Wolterstorff's Justice: Rights and Wrongs is a magisterial book. In it ... Wolterstorff has gotten justice right. This, in case the thrust of my terse comment wasn't plain enough, is a very high praise."--Miroslav Volf, Books & Culture "For all of us who aspire to, or even just admire, the perhaps not so outrageous vocation of Christian scholarship, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Justice is an inspiration."--Richard W. Garnett, First Things "Wolterstorff draws on a wide range of philosophical/theological/ethical material. He does a magnificent job of developing a sustained argument for the thesis that the only solid foundation for grounding human rights is biblical theism."--F. G. Kirkpatrick, Choice "In Justice: Rights and Wrongs, Nicholas Wolterstorff reaches far back into biblical tradition and Greek philosophy to trace a distinctive vision of justice based on the worth that God confers on each person. For Wolterstorff, respect for human worth entails respect for human rights; this marks an important turn away from the tendency in recent theology to dismiss talk about rights as an Enlightenment innovation that is alien to Christian ethics."--Robin Lovin, Christian Century "Justice is a seminal contribution to Christian ethics and useful riposte to those modern Gibbons to sneer at the idea that Christians have anything useful to say about the things that matter."--Nick Spencer, Third Way Magazine "Justice: Rights and Wrongs is magisterial in scope, incisive and inventive in its argument. Wolterstorff stakes out a novel position in contemporary debates with an undeniable analytical rigor... Wolterstorff's philosophical arguments ... stand on their own two feet and genuinely break new ground in the field. Indeed, this text merits and should attract a very wide readership."--Stephen Lake, Philosophy in Review "Wolterstorff has made ... a tremendous contribution ... to our philosophical acuity and theological discernment on these matters... [R]ender him his due for an erudite and sophisticated account of why rights are not wrong."--John D. Carlson, Journal of Politics and ReligionTable of ContentsPreface vii Introduction 1 PART I The Archeology of Rights 19 CHAPTER ONE: Two Conceptions of Justice 21 CHAPTER TWO: A Contest of Narratives 44 CHAPTER THREE: Justice in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible 65 CHAPTER FOUR: On De-justicizing the New Testament 96 CHAPTER FIVE: Justice in the New Testament Gospels 109 PART II Fusion of Narrative with Theory: The Goods to Which We Have Rights 133 CHAPTER SIX: Locating That to Which We Have Rights 135 CHAPTER SEVEN: Why Eudaimonism Cannot Serve as Framework for a Theory of Rights 149 CHAPTER EIGHT: Augustine's Break with Eudaimonism 180 CHAPTER NINE: The Incursion of the Moral Vision of Scripture into Late Antiquity 207 CHAPTER TEN: Characterizing Life- and History-Goods 227 PART III Theory: Having a Right to a Good 239 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Accounting for Rights 241 CHAPTER TWELVE: Rights Not Grounded in Duties 264 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Rights Grounded in Respect for Worth 285 CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Nature and Grounding of Natural Human Rights 311 CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Is a Secular Grounding of Human Rights Possible? 323 CHAPTER SIXTEEN: A Theistic Grounding of Human Rights 342 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Applications and Implications 362 EPILOGUE: Concluding Reflections 385 General Index 395 Index of Scriptural References 399

Read more less

Book SynopsisNineteenth-century European thought, especially in Germany, was increasingly dominated by a historicist impulse to situate every event, person, or text in its particular context. This title examines the backlash against historicism, focusing on four Jewish thinkers, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Leo Strauss, and Isaac Breuer.Trade Review"David N. Myer's sparkling new book studies what happened to Jewish thought when, in modern times, history left behind its earlier, sacred incarnations and became a subject of secular investigation by critical scholars... Two innovations in Myer's book are especially noteworthy. First, Myers integrates the study of Jewish trends with the examination of corresponding Christian developments, since they were often contemporaneous... Second, Myers is especially interested in the ways in which his protagonists reacted to the project of Jewish history... Not the least of the accomplishments of Myer's outstanding work of history is that, intentionally or not, it raises the question of whether history is up to the acknowledgement of its own limitations."--Samuel Moyn, The Forward "As David Myers maintains in his fine new book, nowhere was the challenge of secular history more keenly felt than among the Jews of Germany. One virtue of Myer's book is that he places his subject within the wider 'crisis of historicism' that shaped nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German thinking about every aspect of social life, from politics to religion and the arts."--Mark Lilla, The New Republic "Resisting History is a major contribution to the study of Jewish thought. Myers' research is impeccable and he articulates his insightful theses convincingly. This monograph will appeal to scholars and general audiences alike."--Jewish Book World "If the Christian confrontation with historicism is well documented, much less is known about that of Judaism. For this reason alone, David Myers' recent book represents an important contribution to contemporary understanding; his work should elicit interest from students of Jewish, Christian, German, and modern thought alike."--Thomas Albert Howard, Books & Culture "No brief review like this can convey the quality of this book. Its richness of detail in integrating German and German-Jewish responses to the rise of historicism in the wake of the Enlightenment; its objective yet compassionate handling of the particular contributions Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Leo Strauss, and Isaac Breuer made to arrest historicism's 'double-barreled assault on transcendent values'; the correspondences and differences in their thinking and the impact of their writings on modern Judaism: these and many other qualities make this book memorable."--Ute Stargardt, Shofar "This is a fine study of a group of early-twentieth-century German-Jewish thinkers who have generally received too little attention. Their mainly skeptical attitude toward Zionism presages later intellectual and political quandaries. And their appreciation for the theologically and morally destructive implications of historicism is in many ways equally prescient."--Susan Meld Shell, Hebraic Political Studies "For anyone interested in German-Jewish thought, this book is a must-read. Myers shows an elegant command of his subject matter and is rightly considered an authority in the field. This book should, however, be equally fascinating for those interested in the philosophy of history or historical thought in the twentieth century in general."--Josiah Simon, European LegacyTable of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix A NOTE ON THE COVER xi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: Jewish Historicism and Its Discontents: An Introduction 13 CHAPTER TWO: Hermann Cohen and the Problem of History at the Fin de Siecle 35 CHAPTER THREE: Franz Rosenzweig and the Rise of Theological Anti-Historicism 68 CHAPTER FOUR: Anti-Historicism and the Theological-Political Predicament in Weimar Germany: The Case of Leo Strauss 106 CHAPTER FIVE: Isaac Breuer and the Jewish Path to Metageschichte 130 CHAPTER SIX: From Conclusion to Opening: A Word on Influence, German Jews, and the Cultural History of Ideas 157 NOTES 173 BIBLIOGRAPHY 233 INDEX 251

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe sexual revolution is justly celebrated for the freedoms it brought. The author argues that the contradictions of modern love, our new freedoms have also brought new burdens and rules - without, however, wiping out the old rules, emotions, desires, and arrangements.Trade Review"The novelist and philosopher Pascal Bruckner's Paradox of Love is a brilliant account of the sexual muddles of our time."--Wall Street Journal "Here to help clear things up is Pascal Bruckner, a French thinker who has mercifully never fallen for the post-structuralist poppycock that convoluted prose signifies complexity of thought. The Paradox of Love is in many ways a deconstructive take on our ideas of romance and desire and obsession, yet you will seek in vain in its succession of suave pensees for a sentence that does not immediately make sense. Derrida's obfuscation and Foucault's obscurantism can have you shouting at the walls. Spend a few minutes in Bruckner's company, though, and you want to read him out loud. Which means that the reviewer's temptation is to do nothing but quote. A few pages in, I realised I'd be better off underlining what I didn't want to commit to memory, lest the book become a web of scrawls and scribbles. 'The couple is a little principality that votes its own laws and is constantly in danger of falling into despotism or anarchy.' Whoa! And after a sentence like that you get another just like it: 'Lovers are simultaneously sovereigns, diplomats, parliament, and people, all by themselves.' In a book bursting apart with ideas, it feels almost fatuous to suggest that Bruckner has a thesis--but he has, and it is that the sexual revolution was no such thing. Far from liberating us, he argues, 'the accursed parenthesis of the 1960s' did no more than usher us into new jails--jails in which we are both prisoner and guard."--Christopher Bray, Financial Times "Bruckner's book seeks to reverse the sentimental trend. His aim is to strip away the 'illusions and false expectations' connected with all matters of the heart. It has to be said--he does a pretty thorough demolition job, starting with religion... Bruckner's vision of the future is chilling, though it is already coming about. He sees a world of solitary souls who form their relationships exclusively online, through 'social networking sites'."--Daily Mail "At the start of his exhilarating new book, The Paradox of Love (Princeton University Press), Bruckner recalls that the parents mostly hung out on the second floor of the building, smoking dope and enjoying sex, while downstairs the big kids tormented the little kids... In France the bestseller status of The Paradox of Love owes much to Bruckner's suave pensees. Comparing marriage with politics, for instance, he compacts half a dozen insights into a sentence: 'The couple is a little principality that votes its own laws and is constantly in danger of falling into despotism or anarchy.' There were a few parents who did some work. They were among the first to see what was happening and the first to withdraw. They shifted their children to schools run by what they sometimes called 'the bourgeois capitalist state.' After a few angry meetings, the alternative school closed its doors. That was a major event in Bruckner's disillusionment with the ethos of his own generation. A few years later he became one of the nouveaux philosophes in Paris, a group that arose partly in reaction to the standard-issue leftist thought that dominated French discussion for many years. He's now best known as a social critic, the author of The Tears of the White Man, about the often destructive policies intended to help the Third World, and The Tyranny of Guilt, on the West's neurotic desire to blame itself for all the ills of the planet."--National Post "Bruckner confirms that there is indeed a 'paradox' about today's laissez-faire sexual mores in Europe: the freedom it offers is exactly the freedom of the market, in which there are always winners and losers... What's more, even as Bruckner embraces the ideology of romantic love--'a whole erotics, love that makes us as much as we make it'--he shows how the lifelong pursuit of passion exacts an awful toll on relationship... In the end, Bruckner's urbane but unsparing portrait of the way the French love now suggests that sophistication has as many pitfalls as naivete."--Adam Kirsch, B&N Review "Pascal Bruckner's The Paradox of Love is ... playful and wicked. It is ruminative and essayistic in style, following a tradition that harks back to Montaigne. Its purpose is less to persuade or to explain than to provoke."--Peter Beilharz, AustralianTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Part I: A Great Dream of Redemption 7 Chapter 1: Liberating the Human Heart 9 Chapter 2: Seduction as a Market 32 Chapter 3: I Love You: Weakness and Capture 57 Part II: Idyll and Discord 77 Chapter 4: The Noble Challenge of Marriage for Love 79 Chapter 5: Fluctuating Loyalties 100 Chapter 6: The Pleasures and Servitudes of Living Together 121 Part III: The Carnal Wonder 139 Chapter 7: Is There a Sexual Revolution? 141 Chapter 8: Toward a Bankruptcy of Eros? 161 Part IV: The Ideology of Love 181 Chapter 9: Persecution in the Name of Love: Christianity and Communism 183 Chapter 10: Marcel Proust's Slippers 202 Epilogue: Don't Be Ashamed! 218 Afterword: Pascal Bruckner's Paradoxes 221 Notes 231 Index 257

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat rational justification is there for conceiving of all living things as possessing inherent worth? This title draws on biology, moral philosophy, and environmental science to defend a biocentric environmental ethic in which all life has value.Trade ReviewFrom the previous edition: "Taylor's environmental ethic is a substantial and significant one which, among other things, requires that there be harmony between human civilisation and living nature. -- Australasian Journal of Philosophy From the previous edition: "This is a useful book that raises important questions. -- Ethics

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat is ethics? Where do moral standards come from? Are they based on emotions, reason, or some innate sense of right and wrong? This title argues that altruism began as a genetically based drive to protect one's kin and community members but has developed into a consciously chosen ethic with an expanding circle of moral concern.Trade Review"Singer's theory of the expanding circle remains an enormously insightful concept, which reconciles the existence of human nature with political and moral progress. It was also way ahead of its time. . . . It's wonderful to see this insightful book made available to a new generation of readers and scholars."—Steven Pinker, author of The Blank Slate and The Stuff of Thought"The Expanding Circle is a brilliant book whose significance becomes clearer every year. Peter Singer was the first major philosopher to see the importance of the new Darwinian insights into human nature, and in this book he applies them with characteristic power and grace."—Robert Wright, author of The Moral Animal"The Expanding Circle is a great introduction to the whole question of the relationship between evolution and ethics. Looking at it now nearly 30 years after its original publication, I am amazed at how well it has withstood the test of time. This book remains as relevant as ever."—Michael Ruse, editor of Philosophy after Darwin"Since its first publication in 1981, The Expanding Circle has become one of the most widely influential books in ethics. This revised edition could not be more timely. It is vital reading for anyone who has ever wondered about the nature or objectivity of morality—which is to say, for all of us."—Peter Railton, University of MichiganTable of ContentsPreface to the 2011 Edition xi Preface xv 1 The Origins of Altruism 3 2 The Biological Basis of Ethics 23 3 From Evolution to Ethics? 54 4 Reason 87 5 Reason and Genes 125 6 A New Understanding of Ethics 148 Notes on Sources 175 Afterword to the 2011 Edition 187 Index 205

Read more less

Book SynopsisTeaching Plato in Palestine is part intellectual travelogue, part plea for integrating philosophy into our personal and public life. Philosophical toolkit in tow, Carlos Fraenkel invites readers on a tour around the world as he meets students at Palestinian and Indonesian universities, lapsed Hasidic Jews in New York, teenagers from poor neighborhoTrade ReviewWinner of the 2015 Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, Quebec Writers' Federation One of The Australian's Books of the Year 2015 (selected by Aminatta Forna) Longlisted for the 2016 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in Arabic Culture in Other Languages "What unites [the classroom conversations] is [Fraenkel's] skill in the art of posing questions designed to perplex and provoke. He lets us overhear the Socratic form of dialogue that Plato invented and that Mr. Fraenkel practices much to his students' pleasure, and ours."--Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal "Fresh, iconoclastic, stimulating debates."--Kirkus "The author urges religious people who aren't bound by literalism, secularists who don't dismiss all religion as anachronism, and inquisitive types of all persuasions to try something. First, accept freedom of expression, recognize your fallibility and prepare yourself to revise received assumptions. And then plunge into debates about morality, faith, governance, rights and other matters that divide us ... the discussions you engage in, as suggested by his and his students' experiences, will likely broaden your horizons and nourish your intellect."--Rayyan Al-Shawaf, Toronto Star "If you read one book published this year, then you might make it Teaching Plato in Palestine: Philosophy in a Divided World."--Aminatta Forna, The Independent "Teaching Plato in Palestine is a slim, straightforward yet surprisingly rich work of philosophy that will intrigue the amateur as well as the expert."--Sarah Gustafson, Key Reporter "Carlos Fraenkel ... persuasively shows the value of philosophical work that engages the broader public and other cultures... Each [episode in the book] is beautifully described and the results are utterly captivating."--Daniel A. Bell, Literary Review of Canada "A refreshing perspective."--Frank Freeman, The Hedgehog Review "A lively, informative book."--Alexander Orwin, Claremont Review of Books "Fraenkel offers a bold answer to the question of what philosophy has to offer to the non-philosopher. Philosophy is important not because the corporate world needs sharper analysts; not because it exposes myths and emancipates slaves; not because it draws us closer to God. Rather, we, each and every one of us, should philosophise so that we might become more deeply enmeshed in our friends and neighbours' individual quests for truth. This is an inviting vision."--Taneli Kukkonen, Philosophers' MagazineTable of ContentsForeword by Michael Walzer ix Preface xiii Part I 1 Teaching Plato in Palestine 3 2 Teaching Maimonides in Makassar 30 3 Spinoza in Shtreimels: An Underground Seminar 53 4 Citizen Philosophers in Brazil 79 5 Word-Warriors: Philosophy in Mohawk Land 100 Part II 6 Diversity and Debate 139 Acknowledgments 189 Notes 193 Bibliography 205 Index 215

Read more less