History of ideas Books

Book SynopsisCarlo Ginzburg is Franklin D. Murphy Professor of Italian Renaissance Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Emeritus Professor of History of European Cultures at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy.Lucio Biasiori is Research Fellow at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. His interests encompass early modern religious and cultural history.Trade ReviewGinzburg has assembled some of the world’s leading thinkers to explore casuistry as a fundamental and surprisingly neglected approach to intractable dilemmas and paradoxes throughout history. Traversing disciplines and centuries, this volume will change the way we think and the way we think about thinking. * Matthew C. Mirow, Professor of Law, Florida International University, USA *As these wide-ranging essays demonstrate, casuistry is hardly so simple as normally believed, but a style of thought in which norms and exceptions are mutually constitutive, dialogically and dialectically interrelated. Time after time, we observe how established authorities in one domain or another (law, medicine, theology; Europe, Asia, the Americas) responded to deviations from what they prescribed and expected, struggling to defuse the challenge these anomalies present by construing them -- often with extraordinary ingenuity -- as exceptions that prove, rather than threaten the rule. Each chapter makes for fascinating reading, as does the volume as a whole. * Bruce Lincoln, Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History of Religions, University of Chicago, USA *Besides the adventure, provocation, and irony, through each essay we find a wonderful appreciation of the epistemic richness of ethics when it dares to consider the particular as well as the exceptional. The book is a significant contribution to the field. * Journal of Jesuit Studies *Table of ContentsPreface, Carlo Ginzburg (University of California, Los Angeles, USA; Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy) Acknowledgments Part I Casuistry and Medicine across Time and Space 1. The Royal College of Paediatrics 2004 / 2015 Guidance for Decision Making at The End of Life : A Framework for Casuistry, Avishai Sarfatti (Oxford University, UK) 2. The Medical Case Narrative in Pre-Modern Europe and China: Comparative History of an Epistemic Genre, Gianna Pomata (Johns Hopkins University, USA) Part II Religious Anomalies in the Ancient and Medieval World 3. (Un)written Laws and Transgressions in Ancient Greece and Rome, Jan Bremmer (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands) 4. The Case About Jesus: (Counter-)History and Casuistry in Toledot Yeshu, Daniel Barbu (CNRS, UMR 8584, Laboratoire d’études sur les monothéismes, Paris, France) Part III Legal Casuistry between Judaism and Islam 5. “I signed but I did not say”: The Status of Chess in Early Modern Judaism, Andrew Berns (University of South Carolina, USA) 6. The Many Roads to Justice: A Case of Adultery in Sixteenth-Century Cairo, Caterina Bori (Università di Bologna, Italy) 7. Islamic Casuistry and Galenic Medicine: Hashish, Coffee and the Emergence of the Jurist-Physician, Islam Dayeh (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany) Part IV Casuistry between Reformation and Counter Reformation 8. The Exception as Norm: Casuistry of Suicide in John Donne’s Biathanatos, Lucio Biasiori (Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy) 9. “Whether ’tis lawful for a man to beat his wife”: Casuistical Exercises in Late-Stuart and Early-Hanoverian England, Giovanni Tarantino (University of Western Australia) Part V Norms and Exceptions in the Early Modern Global World (Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries) 10. Indians’ Forced Labour as Case for Exception in Seventeenth-Century Colonial America, Angela Ballone (Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) 11. Morality and Empire: Cases, Norms and Exceptions in Sixteenth-Century Portuguese Asia, Sanjay Subrahmanyam (University of California, Los Angeles, USA) 12. An ‘Our Father’ for the Hottentots: Religion, Language and the Consensus Gentium, Martin Mulsow (Universität Erfurt, Germany) Part VI Inside and Outside Port-Royal 13. Port-Royal at grips with its own casuistry and Pascal’s stand, Silvia Berti (Sapienza - Università di Roma, Italy) 14. Casuistry and Irony: Some Reflections on Pascal’s Provinciales, Carlo Ginzburg (University of California, Los Angeles, USA; Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy) Sources Bibliography

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Book SynopsisTracing Austrian intellectual life from Maria Theresa to Hitler's annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, this innovative book offers a precise and engaging account of Austrian intellectual history since the Enlightenment. Here, David S. Luft begins by locating his narrative in the region known as Cisleithanian Austria, the area to the west of the Leitha River that was the basis for the modern Austrian state after 1740. Chapter 2 provides a history of the German-speaking intellectual life of these central lands of the Habsburg Monarchy (Austria and Bohemia) from the Enlightenment to annexation by Nazi Germany. Chapters 3 to 5 identify the most important philosophers, writers, and social thinkers who contributed to Austrian intellectual life in the period between 1740 and 1938/1939 and address the intellectual significance of their work. Elegantly written and meticulously researched, Luft's book brings out the contributions of major figures such as Wittgenstein, Hofmannsthal, MTrade ReviewLuft’s book is one of unusual breadth and truly interdisciplinary scope. It will appeal most immediately to graduate students and fellow scholars of Central Europe. The thematically and geographically uninitiated ... will find themselves on a steep and rewarding learning curve—and may be well-advised to spend time pondering the historical maps included in the introductory chapters—on two hundred beautifully argued pages. * Austrian History Yearbook *The Austrian Dimension in German Intellectual History is an impressive attempt to explore different perspectives in the formulation of cultural and social values between German intellectuals and writers and their Austrian counterparts, from the late eighteenth century to the twentieth centuries. Not only will this comparative study of German and Austrian liberal culture in the modern period be very useful to Habsburg historians and to students of modern European intellectual history, but it should find a welcome audience among scholars and students of modern German history and culture. The book will also be valuable for scholars of contemporary Austrian nation-building and national identity, since it seeks to draw out the self-perceived distinctiveness of Austrian intellectuals writing in the context of the larger German linguistic realm. A wonderfully ambitious book. * John W. Boyer, Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of History and the College, University of Chicago, USA *In this eminently readable book David Luft, a leading American expert on modern Austrian cultural history, succeeds in moving beyond the established praise of Austria’s artistic and musical achievements, especially of Vienna at 1900, and the accompanying neglect of its intellectual legacy. It is Luft’s magnum opus of his life-long pursuit of clarifying the place of Austrian creativeness within the larger culture of German-speaking Central Europa. He moves with authority between the Austrian enlightenment of the eighteenth century, the underappreciated intellectual contributions of philosphers like Bolzano, Brentano, Mach, Wittgenstein and the achievements of Austrian social scientists and economists like Hayek and Schumpeter and, of course, Freud. Clarifying the concept of Austrian culture also means an extensive reckoning of its deep roots in Bohemia and Moravia and the centuries-old ties between Vienna and Prague. Luft’s “Austrian dimension” is indispensable for an understanding of the intellectual history of German-speaking Central Europe. * Frank Trommler, Professor Emeritus of German, University of Pennsylvania, USA *The Austrian Dimension in German Intellectual History, convincingly written by one of the most prominent scholars of Austrian cultural history, is a fascinating story on Austrian thinking in the context of the German speaking world in Central Europe (esp. in Vienna and Prague). Its novelty lies in the description and interpretation of mostly Jewish thinkers in philosophy, the human sciences, economics, and literature from the Enlightenment to the Anschluss, on the one side, as well as in the geographical focus on the Austrian core land together with Bohemia/Moravia as part of Cisleithanian Habsburg Monarchy, on the other. This book is expected to become another milestone of comparative Austrian intellectual history up to Fin de siècleliberalism andmodernity, thereby complementing the pathbreaking books of William Johnston, Allan Janik/Stephen Toulmin, Carl Schorske, and Steven Beller. * Friedrich Stadler, Professor Emeritus of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Vienna, Austria *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction 1. Austria and Bohemia before the Austrian State 2. The Development of Austrian Intellectual Life 3. Philosophy in Austria 4. German Literature in Austria 5. The Human Sciences in Austria Afterword: After Cisleithanian Austria Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisJukka Kortti is Adjunct Professor at the University of Helsinki and Aalto University, Finland. He is a social and media historian specializing in the history of television, advertising, journalism and intellectual history.Trade ReviewKortti’s aim to provide a historical perspective for the history of media is ambitious and far reaching. This is a useful textbook for those exploring the evolution of our modern digital media culture. * Toni Weller, De Montfort University, UK *Kortti's Media in History is a wonderful addition to the media history landscape, because it places media history in a global framework that goes far beyond the US/European framework most authors use. * Meredith Guthrie, University of Pittsburgh, USA *Table of ContentsIntroduction PART I: THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIA 1. From Speech to Print 2.The Birth of New Media 3. Media for the Masses 4. In the Global Village PART II: THEMES 5. Media, Democracy and the Public Sphere 6. Media, Commerce and Globalization 7. Control and Power: Censorship and Propaganda 8. Media and Everyday Life 9. The Cultural History Meanings of Media Conclusion: Media in History.

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Book SynopsisIn Sex, Gender and Science, Myra Hird outlines the social study of science and nature, specifically in relation to sex, sex differences, and sexuality. She examines how Western understandings of sex are based less upon understanding material sex differences than on a discourse that emphasizes sex dichotomy over sex diversity and argues for a feminist engagement with scientific debate that embraces the diversity and complexity of nature.Trade Review'...the wealth of informatin presented here...is invaluable to those grappling with the social construction of 'sex' and 'sex differences'...it is refreshing to read research that has 'gone back' to the body and recognized its genetic and material realities.' - Danny Beusch, Sociology (British Sociological Association)Table of ContentsIntroduction Making Sex, Making Sexual Difference The Body of Sexual Difference New Materialism, Nonlinear Biology, and the Superabundance of Diversity The Nonlinear Evolution of Human Sex Sex Diversity in Non-Human Animals Sex Diversity in Human Animals How to Have Sex Without Women or Men Glossary of Terms Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThis is first intellectual history of the Caribbean written by a top Caribbean studies scholar. The book examines both the work of natives of the region as well as texts interpretive of the region produced by Western authors. Stressing the experimental and cultural particularity of the Caribbean, the study considers major questions in the field.Trade ReviewChoice Outstanding Academic Title 2006 '...is an extremely stimulating and at times provocative interpretive essay which examines and criticises a number of ways of looking at Caribbean history, society, and literature.' - John Gilmore, The Caribbean Review of Books '...this is a work of impressive erudition, interdisciplinary in scope and pan-Caribbean by Conviction.' - Clem Seecharan, Modernism / ModernityTable of ContentsIntroduction: Caribbean Unity in Nature, in History, in Defeat Colonial Migration and Theoric Awakening: An Antillean's Voyage of Discovery The Neverending History: Western Discursive Siege Caliban's Betrayal: Failed Heroes, Memory Remade, New Ways to Hope Epilogue: A Century of Caribbean Diaspora

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Book SynopsisHalfway between history and philosophy, this book deals with the historical forms that have permitted the understanding of human suffering from the Renaissance to the present. Representation, sympathy, imitation, coherence and narrativity are but a few of the rhetorical recourses that men and women have employed in order to feel our pain.Trade Review'Javier Moscoso's book is a dazzling example of cultural history. For anyone who ever wondered about the meaning of pain and how those meanings have changed over time this is the book for you.' - Joanna Bourke, Birkbeck CollegeTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Representations Imitation Sympathy Correspondence Trust Narrativity Coherence Reiteration Postscriptum

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Book SynopsisMaurizio Isabella is Senior Lecturer in History at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. He is author of Risorgimento in Exile: Italian Émigrés and the Liberal International in the Post- Napoleonic Era (2009).Konstantina Zanou is a visiting fellow at the Paris Institute of Advanced Studies, France and Assistant Professor of Mediterranean Studies, Columbia University, USA (from fall 2016).Trade ReviewThis wonderful, inspiring volume can be expected to play an important role in how we tell (and teach) the story of Mediterranean history in the long nineteenth century. Connected history has never been so good! * European History Quarterly *Mediterranean Diasporas is a highly sophisticated and engaging example of the new histories of connection which seek to understand the history of today's globalised world. The introduction, afterword and ten chapters consider the movement of people and ideas across this iconic sea from the early-nineteenth century 'age of revolutions' to the eve of the First World War. Avoiding any easy dichotomy beween the national, the diasporic and the global, the volume brings these concepts into productive dialogue. * C. A. Bayly, formerly Queen Mary, University of London, UK *In this terrific sequence of essays, Fernand Braudel’s Mediterranean world persists into modern times, but with regional unity and diasporic traffic provided by concepts, including revolutionary ones. Bringing the burgeoning study of the 'corrupting sea' beyond its normal chronological limits, the volume brightly illuminates the ramifications of liberalism, nationalism, and empire, and takes a valuable further step in the construction of an intellectual history across long distances. * Samuel Moyn, Harvard University, USA *Amidst the abundance of the scholarship on the Mediterranean, this volume is stunning in both its sweep and its depth. As an ensemble, the editors’ comprehensive introduction, combined with the contributors’ highly original research on mobile people, power, and ideas, make this a monumental contribution. Given current Mediterranean affairs, this work could not be more timely. Moreover, scholars interested in diasporas across the globe will find much that is new here. * Julia Clancy-Smith, University of Arizona, USA *The contributions, which culminate in a successful collective study, present analyzes of individual political, predominantly liberal intellectuals in the Mediterranean, whose transnational commitment has contributed significantly to the transformation of the (national) cultures and societies of the Mediterranean in the 19th century. * H-Soz-Kult (Bloomsbury Translation) *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Sea, its People and their Ideas in the Long Nineteenth Century (Maurizio Isabella, Queen Mary University of London, UK and Konstantina Zanou, IEA Paris-Columbia University, USA) 1. Letters from Spain. The 1820 Revolution and the Liberal International (Juan Luis Simal, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain) 2. An Itinerant Liberal: Almeida Garrett’s Exilic Itineraries and Political Ideas in the Age of Southern European Revolutions (1820-1834) (Gabriel Paquette, The Johns Hopkins University, USA) 3. Learning Lessons from the Iberian Peninsula: Italian Exiles and the Making of a Risorgimento without People, 1820-1848 (Grégoire Bron, University of Geneva, Switzerland) 4. Mediterranean Liberals? Italian Revolutionaries and the Making of a Colonial Sea, 1800-1830 ca. (Maurizio Isabella) 5. Ottomans on the Move: Hassuna D’Ghies and the ‘New Ottomanism’ of the 1830s (Ian Coller, La Trobe University, Melbourne) 6. Imperial Nationalism and Orthodox Enlightenment: A Diasporic Story between the Ionian Islands, Russia and Greece, ca. 1800-1830 (Konstantina Zanou) 7. Away or Homeward Bound? The Slippery Case of Mediterranean Place in the Era before Nation-States (Dominique Kirchner Reill, University of Miami, USA) 8. The Strange Lives of Ottoman Liberalism: Exile, Patriotism, and Constitutionalism in the Thought of Mustafa Fazil Pasa (Andrew Arsan, University of Cambridge, UK) 9. From Southern Italy to Istanbul: Trajectories of Albanian nationalism in the writings of Geronimo de Rada and Sami Frashëri, 1848- 1903 ca. (Artan Puto, “Marin Barleti” University, Albania and Maurizio Isabella) 10. Ottomanism with a Greek Face: Karamanli Greek Orthodox Diaspora at the End of the Ottoman Empire (Vangelis Kechriotis, Bogaziçi University, Turkey) 11. Afterword: Writing Mediterranean Diasporas after the Transnational Turn (Thomas Gallant, University of California San Diego, USA) Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis"I sing of arms and of a man: his fate had made him fugitive: he was the first to journey from the coasts of Troy as far as Italy and the Lavinian shores." The resonant opening lines of Virgil's Aeneid rank among the most famous and consistently recited verses to have been passed down to later ages by antiquity. And after the Odyssey and the Iliad, Virgil's masterpiece is arguably the greatest classical text in the whole of Western literature. This sinuous and richly characterised epic vitally influenced the poetry of Dante, Petrarch and Milton. The doomed love of Dido and Aeneas inspired Purcell, while for T S Eliot Virgil's poem was 'the classic of all Europe'. The poet's stirring tale of a refugee Trojan prince, 'torn from Libyan waves' to found a new homeland in Italy, has provided much fertile material for writings on colonialism and for discourses of ethnic and national identity. The Aeneid has even been viewed as a template and a source of philosophical justification for British and American imperialism and adventurism. In his major new book Philip Hardie explores the many remarkable afterlives - ancient, medieval and modern - of the Aeneid in literature, music, politics, the visual arts and film.Trade Review'In his new book Philip Hardie not only tells the story of Virgil's Aeneid, but also of a significant part of western culture. As one would expect from this author, it is a masterful selection and presentation of the rich material at his command. Pursuing the reception of the central text (which is itself already an instance of reception) leads to intriguing insights into the development of literature, art, science and scholarship from antiquity to the present day. Hardie's unrivalled knowledge of Virgil and of later periods means that one learns as much about the Aeneid itself as about its later reception. A careful selection of relevant examples opens up a number of different perspectives and creates the framework for a comprehensive history of the legacy of this major epic. At the same time, this is such a well-written book that it will be accessible to all kinds of readers, specialist or not: it can enjoyably and rewardingly be read from cover to cover. Anyone interested in the history of epic will benefit from it and (re)discover new friends and old acquaintances.' Gesine Manuwald, Professor of Latin, University College London; 'Fast-paced and learned, The Last Trojan Hero is a tour-de-force through the reception of Virgil's Aeneid. One of the world's most eminent Latinists has condensed a lifetime of research into a slim volume whose every page offers a dazzling wealth of ideas clearly expressed - a delight for the specialist and the uninitiated alike. Some adaptations are as well known as Dante's underworld and the Christian Virgil, some are surprises, such as queen Elizabeth I in Dido's guise and the American Aeneas. Hardie ranges over German, Spanish, French, Italian, English, and Portuguese as he collects nods to Virgil in art and literature from Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa with a span from Ovid to Ursula Le Guin. More than a collection of references with rich visual documentation, Hardie offers a reading of the Aeneid, its heroes and heroines, its stance on foundation, empire, exile, and passion through its variegated reception. His light touch and the simplicity of the presentation belie the depth of thought on display.' Michele Lowrie, Professor of Classics and the College, University of Chicago; 'The Last Trojan Hero will become the primary resource for anyone interested in the reception of Virgil and his poetry, and it will serve as an excellent introduction to the topic for undergraduates and the general educated reader. But it is also a book I would recommend to anyone approaching Virgil for the first time. Hardie skilfully combines a sense of Virgil's place in ancient literary culture, a masterful overview of debates about the Aeneid in Classical scholarship, and a panorama of poetic, artistic and political responses to the epic. Insightful readings are presented throughout, of texts from Ovid - Virgil's "earliest reader" - to Seamus Heaney. The Aeneid's influence is traced through scatological travesty, the work of nation-building, and personal voices of protest or desire. The reader comes away from The Last Trojan Hero with a profound sense of how and why Virgil's poem mattered at different times and in different places. Hardie achieves a fine balance of encylopaedic scope and detailed reading, covering with a light touch an extraordinary breadth of material. His learning and interpretative sensibility brilliantly illuminate each text under discussion.' Ellen O'Gorman, Senior Lecturer in Classics, University of Bristol; 'I enjoyed Philip Hardie's book immensely. It is not only a treasure trove of information about the ways Virgil's Aeneid has been read, but also a subtle and complex reading of the text itself, as well as a richly emotional engagement with Western culture. Written by one of the most important living scholars of the Aeneid and its reception, this rich and resonant book will endlessly reward its readers, regardless of whether or not they are already familiar with Virgil's masterpiece.' Helen Lovatt, Associate Professor in Classics, University of NottinghamTable of ContentsTHE LAST TROJAN HERO Contents Preface Illustrations Introduction Underworlds ‘La donna è mobile.’ Versions of Dido The Many Faces of Aeneas Empire and Nation Imperium sine Fine. The Aeneid and Christianity The Aeneid and New Worlds Parody and Burlesque Art and Landscape Further Reading and Bibliography

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Book SynopsisA Telegraph Best Summer Book of 2023 A New York Times 'Critics' Pick' Book of 2023 What are the limits of language? How to bring philosophy closer to everyday life? What is a good human being? These were among the questions that philosophers wrestled with in mid-twentieth-century Britain, a period shadowed by war and the rise of fascism. In response to these events, thinkers such as Gilbert Ryle, J. L. Austin, Elizabeth Anscombe and Iris Murdoch aspired to a new level of watchfulness and self-awareness about language. Being vigilant about their words was their way to keep philosophy true to everyday experience. A Terribly Serious Adventure traces the friendships and the rivalries, the shared preoccupations and the passionate disagreements of Oxford's most brilliant thinkers. Far from being stuck in a world of tweed, pipes and public schools, the Oxford philosophers drew on their wartime lives as soldiers and spies, conscientious objectors and prisoners of war in creating their greatest works, works that are original in both thought and style, true masterpieces of British modernism. Nikhil Krishnan brings his knowledge and understanding of philosophy to bear on the lives and intellectual achievements of a large and lively cast of characters. Together, they stood for a compelling moral vision of philosophy that is still with us today.Trade ReviewOrdinary Language can hardly convey how much I loved this book. I golloped it down like a pot of honey, then started again -- Tom Stoppard, 'Books of the Year 2023' * Times Literary Supplement *An account of thought at Oxford from 1900-1960 that weaves biography with philosophy and somehow attains a pellucid clarity ... spirited, though frequently wry ... in passage after passage of fierce analysis, Krishnan offers a fresh justification of a fiercely practical project * Sunday Telegraph *Krishnan has succeeded in bringing these men and women and their complex and intense relations to life - which is a real achievement * New Statesman *An entertaining and informative homage to philosophers at Oxford ... Exhilarating * Washington Post *One of the finest writers we have ... [Krishnan] writes with the discipline of a scholar and the story-telling skill of a novelist, with empathy, humour, and a ringing clarity * Hindu *Nikhil Krishnan's terrific new book, A Terribly Serious Adventure, tells the story of the heyday of linguistic philosophy * Spectator *A Terribly Serious Adventure beautifully portrays - and exemplifies - the combined wit and profundity, exuberance and rigour, of Oxford analytic philosophy * TLS *Enjoyable ... [Krishnan] recognises that Oxford philosophy is sometimes reproached for its frivolity, but maintains that the 'jokiness' was in fact a mask for 'something deeper' * Literary Review *A love letter, written by someone who knows what it means to fall in love with philosophy * The Critic *Fascinating * The Oldie *In tracing the careers of a whole host of prominent twentieth-century philosophers ... Krishnan aims not only to offer a basic overview of the philosophical developments of the period, but also to explain what these philosophers were doing in espousing their views and what effects those acts of espousal had ... a valuable contribution ... highly amusing * Oxford Political Review *Part of the delight of Krishnan's book, then - with its focus on highly entertaining personalities, career achievements, and relationships - is to realise how utterly contingent the intellectual trajectory of analytical philosophy has been: dependent all the while on the character traits, foibles, and personal obsessions of a particular group of people * UnHerd *A very thorough account of English intellectual life in the middle of the last century ... as intellectual life has become more specialised and fragmented, this account is a reminder of how important clear, ordinary language is to explain things ... a great introduction to a modern phase of philosophy * Bookmunch *As Cambridge undergraduates we read Ryle, Williams, Wittgenstein, Anscombe, Ayer... some we heard in lectures, others we read in books; but we never saw them as a tribe, widely differing but part of the same association of human beings on the same adventure: people who knew each other. Krishnan brings that association - its ideas, of course, but its characters too - wonderfully to life -- Matthew ParrisThis is a beautiful gift of a book, most especially at the moment, when truth is not at a premium. It's easy to trivialize what these philosophers were doing, in their endless parsing and puzzling. But in their collective activity they were asserting that truth is as subtle as it is essential. Nikhil Krishnan has managed to tell us a wonderful story, filled with one-of-a-kind characters, while doing justice to a terribly serious adventure -- Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author * Plato at the Googleplex *A compelling story-teller, Krishnan brings human sympathy and acuity to his very readable book. Past debates spring vividly to life, with all their drama and comedy: so we understand how philosophers walked-and-talked, suffered and interacted. Recommended to everyone interested in ideas, not just students of philosophy -- Peter J. Conradi, author * A Very English Hero: The Making of Frank Thompson *This riveting and beautifully written book offers a compelling insight into the various ways in which philosophy developed in Oxford in the first half of the twentieth century. Anyone with a specialist interest in philosophy during this period is sure to be captivated by the book, but there will be plenty of interest for others too, as Krishnan expertly sets his narrative in the context of the two wars and the surrounding political turmoil -- Adrian Moore, philosopher and author * The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics *This is Oxford philosophy in the round. The philosophical arguments (clearly explained), the personal lives, the colourful quotes, the elbow patches and buttered crumpets. Brilliantly written -- James Franklin, author * Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia *There is a rumour that philosophy in the twentieth century detached itself from the flesh and blood realities of the world. In this meticulous study, Krishnan argues something quite different occurred: a deranged world - shot through with violence, ideology and injustice - turned its back on the love of wisdom. And a small band of philosophers stood in enduring protest. -- John Kaag, author * American Philosophy *Krishnan accomplishes the feat of seamlessly interweaving the story of the colourful characters who made up the world of twentieth-century Oxford philosophy with a cogent account of the theoretical controversies that roiled them. We are given first-row seats to the brilliance, obstinacy, jousting, and intellectual enthusiasms that marked that legendary academic circle -- David Kertzer, author * The Pope at War *

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Book SynopsisThe west's Orientalism - its construction of an Arab or Islamic 'Other' - has been exposed and examined under the critical theory microscope and thoroughly expelled, it seems, from academic thought. At the same time postmodern thinkers from Nietzsche onwards have employed the motifs and symbols of the Islamic Orient within an ongoing critique of western modernity, an appropriation which, this hugely controversial book argues, runs every risk of becoming a new and more insidious Orientalist strain.Ian Almond sensitively yet rigorously examines the work of Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek, as well as that of postmodern writers Jorge Luis Borges, Salman Rushdie and Orhan Pamuk. In doing so he exposes the implications of this 'use' of Islam for both the postmodern project and for Islam itself. Taking apart the assumptions, omissions and contradictions inherent in these thinkers' approaches to Islam and to the Arab world, and drawing on the work of prominent Muslim thinkers including Ziauddin Sardar, Aziz Al-Azmeh and Bobby S. Sayyid, "The New Orientalists" highlights the difficulty of ever speaking truly about the 'Other'. In light of the current Western climate of fear and hysteria surrounding the Islamic world, this groundbreaking project could hardly be more timely.

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Book SynopsisThe intertwined stories of the great English 'Varsity' universities have many colourful aspects in common, yet each also boasts elements of true distinctiveness. So while the histories of Oxford and Cambridge are both characterised by seething town and gown rivalries, doctrinal conflicts and heretical outbursts, shifts of political and religious allegiance and gripping stories of individual heroism and defiance, they are also narratives of difference and distinctiveness. G.R. Evans explores the remarkable and unique contribution that Cambridge University has made to society and culture, both in Britain and right across the globe, and will subsequently publish her history of Oxford University to complete a major new history of the two universities. Ranging across 800 years of vivid history, packed with incident, Evans here explores great thinkers such as John Duns Scotus - the 13th century Franciscan Friar who gave his name his name to 'dunces' - and celebrates the extraordinary molecular breakthroughs of Watson and Crick in the 20th century. Moving from the radical new thinking of the Cambridge Platonists and the brilliant scientific discoveries of Isaac Newton to the discovery of the Double Helix and the notorious 'Garden House Hotel Riot' of 1970, the book is published to co-incide with the 800th anniversary of the University's foundation in 1209. The first short history of its kind, it will be a lasting and treasured resource for all Cambridge alumni/ae.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements 1. Cambridge in living memory: the last hundred years i. Where is the University? ii. Running their own show iii. Shall we let women in? iv. Meeting national needs: putting Cambridge in the spotlight v. The First World War and the spectre of state inspection again vi. Between the Wars vii. World War II and a new world for Cambridge viii Student revolution and eccentric dons: the swinging sixties ix. The Colleges and the University rethink their relationship x. Could Cambridge remain in a world of its own? xi. Cambridge discovers ‘administration’ xii. Cambridge’s academics lose their security xiii. A business-facing Cambridge? xiv. Intellectual property rights and academic freedoms xv. The capsize of CAPSA xv. So where are we now? 2. How it all began i. Europe invents universities ii. How it all began in Cambridge iii. Student life: the beginning of colleges iii. What was it like to study for a degree in medieval Cambridge? iv. The Dunce and the dunces: Cambridge as a backwater 3. Cambridge and the Tudor Revolution i. Margaret Beaumont and John Fisher turn Cambridge’s fortunes round ii. The world as Cambridge’s oyster iii. Cambridge joins the ‘Renaissance’ iv. Erasmus, Luther and a ‘Reformation’ Cambridge iv. The Cambridge translators v. Visitations: the bid for state control of Cambridge vi. Edward VI and Cambridge vii. Queen Mary and the martyrs viii. Queen Elizabeth, Cambridge and protestant nationhood 4. Seventeenth and eighteenth century Cambridge: puritans and scientists i. James I and Cambridge ii. Hybrid vigour iii. The Cambridge Platonists and the redrawing of the boundaries of theology iv. Cambridge adjusts the relationship between God and nature v. Isaac Newton: a Cambridge character in close-up vi. Cambridge ‘networking’ on the international scene vii. Puritan rigour, Civil War and Restoration viii. John Milton and new trends in Cambridge language study ix. From logic to experimental science x. Enlightenment or marking time? 5. The nineteenth century transformation i. Students have fun ii. The early nineteenth century call for reform iii. Scientific research becomes an academic activity with industrial outreach iv. Forming the academic sciences and making them intellectually respectable v. The ‘learned societies’ adjust their standards vi. 'Call him a scientist' vii. Must science exclude theology? viii. Professorships and the emergence of academic specialization ix. Teaching: should new ‘useful ‘ subjects replace the classics? x. Cambridge reconsiders its duty to society: the long legacy of Prince Albert’s Chancellorship xi. Applying science: Cambridge and the industrial uses of university research xii. Widening access xiii. Entrances and exits xiv. Cambridge graduates: good men, good citizens xv. Enter the Cambridge University Reporter Conclusion Glossary Abbreviations Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe origins both of modern science and modern philosophy lie in Greek civilization of the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. It was then that a series of thinkers, usually known as "the Presocratic philosophers", created ways of looking at the world that were fundamentally new. In the middle of social and political changes, and exposed to intellectual influences from the Near East as well as to traditional Greek ideas, the first Presocratics, Thales and Anaximander of Miletus, had a vision of a universe governed by absolute and impartial law. In terms of this idea they and their successors tried to account for the observed structure of the physical world. An increasing awareness of the philosophical problems invloved in this attempt led to the striking and enigmatic pronouncements of Heraclitus, and to the struggle to escape from self-contradiction in which Parmenides created the first philosophical arguments and the beginnings of conceptual analysis. By 450 B.C. the thought of these men was having repercussions in wider areas of Greek culture, and was an important factor in the great outburst of intellectual energy in the "sophistic age" - the last half of the 5th century. This book presents a picture of these developments, using, wherever possible, translations of the surviving fragments of the Presocratics as a foundation for the discussion.

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Book SynopsisThe 18th century was a unique period of global and fundamental change. Britain conquered India and much of America, the American Revolution produced the USA, and Russia expanded vastly. In the field of ideas the Scientific Revolution was consolidated and followed by the Enlightenment. Nationalism flourished, populations surged, and the Commercial and Industrial Revolutions with Western technology eclipsed the East. Few centuries have inspired such a galaxy of historians, and their groundbreaking work has been drawn upon by Derek Beales in his collection of articles and special lectures. He covers the whole European kaleidoscope, but focuses especially on Joseph II and the Hapburg monarchy, asserting that Enlightened Despotism was the emodiment of the century's revolution in ideas, politics, government and administration.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the relationship between Queen Caroline, one of the most enigmatic characters in Regency England, and Sir William Gell, the leading classical scholar of his day. Despised and rejected by her husband, Caroline created a sphere and court of her own through patronage of scholarship. The primary beneficiary was Gell, a pioneering scholar of the classical world who opened new dimensions in the study of ancient Troy, mainland Greece, and Ithaca. Despite his achievements, Gell had scarce financial resources. Support from Caroline enabled him to establish himself in Italy and conduct his seminal work about ancient Rome and, especially, Pompeii, until her sensational trial before the House of Lords and premature death. Concluding with the first scholarly transcription of the extraordinary series of letters that Caroline wrote to Gell, this volume illuminates how Caroline sought power through patronage, and how Gell shaped classical scholarship in nineteenth-century Britain.Table of Contents

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Book SynopsisStandard histories of European integration emphasize the immediate aftermath of World War II as the moment when the seeds of the European Union were first sown. However, the interwar years witnessed a flurry of concern with the reconstruction of the world order, generating arguments that cut across the different social sciences, then plunged in a period of disciplinary soul-searching and feverish activism. Economics was no exception: several of the most prominent interwar economists, such as F. A. Hayek, Jan Tinbergen, Lionel Robbins, François Perroux, J. M. Keynes and Robert Triffin, contributed directly to larger public discussions on peace, order and stability. This edited volume combines these different strands of historical narrative into a unified framework, showing how political economy was integral to the interwar literature on international relations and, conversely, how economists were eager to incorporate international politics into their own concerns. The book brings together a group of scholars with varied disciplinary backgrounds, whose combined perspectives allow us to explore three analytical layers. The first part studies how different forms of economic knowledge, from economic programming to international finance, were used in the quest for a stable European order. The second part focuses on the existence of conflicting expectations about the role of social scientific knowledge, either as a source of technical solutions or as an input for enlightened public discussion. The third part illustrates how certain ideas and beliefs found concrete expression in specific institutional settings, which amplified their political leverage. The three parts are enclosed by an introductory essay, laying out the broad topics explored in the volume, and a substantial postscript tying all the historical threads together.Trade Review“This book brings interesting perspectives on the interwar period, showing also the link with the process of European integration in the postwar period.” (Ivo Maes and Robert Triffin Chair, History of Political Economy, Vol. 55 (2), April, 2023)Table of Contents Introduction Eucken’s Competition with Keynes: Beyond the Ordoliberal Allergy to the Keynesian Medicine Third-Way Perspectives on Order in Interwar France: Personalism and the Political Economy of François Perroux Corporatism and Planning in Monnet’s Idea of Europe The Construction of an International Order in the Work of Jan Tinbergen At the Origins of European Monetary Cooperation: Triffin, Bretton Woods, and the European Payments Union Technocracy, Corporatism, and the Development of 'Economic Parliaments' in Interwar Europe Pluralism, Tripartism and the Foundation of the International Labour Organization Pluralism and Political Economy in Interwar Britain: G.D.H. Cole on Economic Planning Ordoliberalism and the Rethinking of Liberal Rationality Classical Liberalism, Non-Interventionism and the Origins of European Integration: Luigi Einaudi, Friedrich A. von Hayek, Wilhelm Röpke Staving off the Protectionist Slide: Snowden and the Struggle to Keep Britain Open The Formation of Research Institutes on Business Cycles in Europe in the Interwar Period: The ‘Kiel School’ and (In)voluntary Internationalization Divided by an Uncommon Language? The Oxford Institute of Statistics and British Academia (1935-1944) The Intellectual Origins of European Integration

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Book SynopsisWith concepts of participation discussed in multiple disciplines from media studies to anthropology, from political sciences to sociology, the first issue of the new yearbook History of Intellectual Culture (HIC) dedicates a thematic section to the way knowledge can and arguably must be conceptualized as "participatory". Introducing and exploring "participatory knowledge", the volume aims to draw attention to the potential of looking at knowledge formation and circulation through a new lens and to open a dialogue about how and what concepts and theories of participation can contribute to the history of knowledge. By asking who gets to participate in defining what counts as knowledge and in deciding whose knowledge is circulated, modes of participation enter into the examination of knowledge on various levels and within multiple cultural contexts. The articles in this volume attest to the great variety of approaches, contexts, and interpretations of "participatory knowledge", from the sociological projects of the Frankfurt School to the Uppsala-based Institute for Race Biology, from the Argentinian National Folklore Survey to current hashtag activism and Covid-19-archive projects. HIC sees knowledge as rooted in social and political structures, determined by modes of transfer and produced in collaborative processes. The notion of "participatory knowledge" highlights in a compelling way how knowledge is rooted in cultural practices and social configurations.

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Book SynopsisWorld history suffers from a paucity of clearly articulated, convincing explanations. While the rise of postmodernism and challenges to Eurocentrism did lead to some important correctives, the pendulum has swung too far the other direction, with a corresponding danger of ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’. We need careful, theoretically informed debates about ways of organizing world history. What constitutes a good historical explanation? What should guide historians to choose relevant facts? Which theoretical schools could be made useful, and to what ends? These questions are especially relevant to the main topic of this book: the ‘great divergence’ between the west and the rest of the world, and how this historical rupture is to be explained. The book provides extensive critical analyses of some of the key claims in world history, analyzing their strengths as well as their major weaknesses—too often rooted in insufficient familiarity of historians with theories they discard. It also historicizes the field and the debates to partly account for what caused some theories to become more influential and others to fall into oblivion—despite the fact that the more influential frameworks are seriously flawed and some of the more marginalized ideas are more coherent and plausible. The book offers insights regarding the theoretical and political relevance of older debates about the transition to capitalism and historical materialism. Three major schools of thought in world history are critically examined through an in-depth theoretical and comparative analysis that has not been undertaken elsewhere: the so-called ‘California School’, World Systems Analysis, and Marxist theories of history, capitalism, and the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Murphy argues that, despite some of the more recent criticisms of older approaches to world history, the older theories remain indispensable for the writing of world history and for coming to terms with issues of global poverty, inequality and eco-catastrophe.

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