Humanist philosophy Books

Book Synopsis'This forensic study of the Renaissance banking dynasty conjures up a world of art, literature, philosophy – and brutality' Telegraph 'Likely to become the standard work of reference on the members of the family that dominated Florence' TLS 'A lucid and beautifully illustrated family history' The Times Wealthy bankers, wise politicians, patrons of the arts, glittering dukes... so runs the traditional telling of the story of the Medici, the family that ruled Florence for two hundred years and inspired the birth of the Italian Renaissance. In this definitive account of their rise and fall, Mary Hollingsworth argues that the idea that the Medici were wise rulers and enlightened fathers of the Renaissance is a fiction. In truth, she says, the Medici were as devious and immoral as the Borgias – tyrants loathed in the city they illegally made their own and which they beggared in their lust for power.Trade ReviewThis forensic study of the Renaissance banking dynasty conjures up a world of art, literature, philosophy – and brutality * Telegraph, Book of the Year *Likely to become the standard work of reference on the members of the family that dominated Florence * TLS *A lucid and beautifully illustrated family history * The Times, Book of the Week *A beautifully illustrated and scholarly survey of five centuries of the Medici family * Literary Review *A vital acquisition for anyone who studies the Renaissance and seeks the true role of the Medici in the history of Florence * Kirkus *An excellent study of the Medici... A careful, understated book... [It] is never short on drama' * Telegraph *Drawing on impeccable documentary research [this] is a lively and accessible new account of the House of Medici * Country Life *A well-illustrated history of the rise and fall of the House of Medici * The Times *The Medici family dominated political and cultural life in Florence for three centuries, but the received wisdom, that they were beneficent, enlightened rulers, is challenged by Renaissance scholar Mary Hollingsworth in this engrossing, fully illustrated account * Choice Magazine *

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Book SynopsisW.G. Sebald was born in Wertach im Allgäu, Germany in 1944. He studied German language and literature in Freiburg, Switzerland and Manchester. In 1966 he took up a position as an assistant lecturer at the University of Manchester, and settled permanently in England in 1970. He was Professor of European Literature at the University of East Anglia, and the author of The Emigrants, which won a series of major awards, including the Berlin Literature Prize, the Heinrich Böll Prize, the Heinrich Heine Prize and the Joseph Breitbach Prize; The Rings of Saturn, and Vertigo. W.G. Sebald wrote in his native tongue, German, and worked closely with his translator, Michael Hulse, to translate his work into English. He died in December 2001.Michael Hulse has translated Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther and Jacob Wasserman's Caspar Hauser, as well as the contemporary German authors Luise Rinser, Botho Strauss and Elfriede Jelinek. He is also an award-Trade ReviewA novel of ideas with a difference: it is nothing but ideas. Framed around the narrator's long walks in East Anglia, Sebald shows how one man looks aslant at historical atrocity. Formally dexterous, fearlessly written (why shouldn't an essay be a novel?), and unremittingly arcane; by the end I was in tears -- Teju Cole * Guardian *A great, strange and moving work * James Wood, Guardian *The finest book of long-distance mental travel that I've ever read * Jonathan Raban, Times Literary Supplement *A desperate intensity of feeling is thrillingly counterpoised by the workings of a wonderfully learned and rigorous mind * Sunday Times *Sebald is surely a major European author...he reaches the heights of epiphanic beauty only encountered normally in the likes of Proust * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisIn addition to a sparkling modern translation of Praise of Folly, this volume also includes other works by Erasmus: Pope Julius Barred from Heaven, Epigram against Pope Julius II and a selection of his Adages. Together with the extensive annotation of the texts, these help to set Erasmus’s masterpiece in an accessible context for the modern reader. A central text of the Renaissance, Praise of Folly is an essential part of the Western canon, without which much that has followed – in culture, theology and literature – would not exist. Deeply subversive in its time, the book, after the initial controversy it created, finally gained acceptance as theologians, philosophers and readers came to appreciate Erasmus’s lucid, playful and eloquent reasoning.Trade ReviewErasmus searched for reconciliation between Faith and Reason, refusing not only the dogmas of Faith, but the dogmas of Reason as well. -- Carlos FuentesPraise of Folly, still a masterpiece of slyly subversive wit, was in a sense the first best-seller, read covertly under desks and sniggered over by countless trainee monks and priests. -- Nicholas Lezard * The Guardian *I am well aware that what I have had to say on the problem of peace is not essentially new. It is my profound conviction that the solution lies in our rejecting war for an ethical reason; namely, that war makes us guilty of the crime of inhumanity. Erasmus of Rotterdam and several others after him have already proclaimed this as the truth around which we should rally. -- Albert Schweitzer in his 1952 Nobel Peace Prize lectureFrom the terrible hate storm of his age Erasmus has salvaged this intellectual gem, his faith in humanity, and on this small burning wick Spinoza, Lessing and Voltaire – and all Europeans past and present – could light their torch. -- Stefan Zweig

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Book SynopsisEncountering an eccentric cast of characters along the way, Sebald confronts the frailty of human existence as he voyages along the Suffolk coast on foot. What begins as the record of a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia becomes the great, constellated story of people and cultures past and present: of Chateaubriand, Thomas Browne, Swinburne and Conrad, of fishing fleets, skulls and silkworms. A rich meditation on the past via a melancholy trip along the Suffolk coast, The Rings of Saturn is an intricately patterned and haunting book on the transience of all things human.VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mindTrade ReviewA great, strange and moving work * James Wood, Guardian *The finest book of long-distance mental travel that I've ever read * Jonathan Raban, Times Literary Supplement *A desperate intensity of feeling is thrillingly counterpoised by the workings of a wonderfully learned and rigorous mind * Sunday Times *Sebald is surely a major European author...he reaches the heights of epiphanic beauty only encountered normally in the likes of Proust * Independent on Sunday *A highly original work...part memoir, part fiction, part meditative essay writing, and finally an essay for the dispossessed * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisIn Thomas More's hugely influential Utopia, a traveller recounts his discovery of an island nation in which the inhabitants enjoy unprecedented social cohesion and justice. The book imagines a community in which laws, personal relations and professional ambition are based on reason, in contrast with the tradition-bound superstitions of Europe, which were, in More's eyes, impediments to equality and peaceful coexistence.One of the indicators of the profound cultural and political influence of More's masterpiece is today's common use of the word "Utopia" - a term he invented. This extraordinary treatise on the values of rationality and reason - here presented in a sparkling new translation by Roger Clarke and accompanied by copious notes and additional texts - questions what a philosopher can do to enact change in society, and how idealized visions can inform political practice.Trade Review"Astonishingly radical stuff." - Terry Eagleton

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Book SynopsisA beautifully illustrated history of the Renaissance told through the lives of its most important and influential patrons. 'Exceptionally sumptuous... This vivid history brings to life the vices and virtues of the feuding ruling families of Italy.' Michael Prodger, The Times 'Full of treasures to be uncovered... A chance to visit a glittering, at times rather gory, world that is different and yet dreamily familiar to our own.' BBC History Revealed From the late Middle Ages, the independent Italian city-states were taken over by powerful families who installed themselves as dynastic rulers. Inspired by the humanists, the princes of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy immersed themselves in the culture of antiquity, commissioning palaces, villas and churches inspired by the architecture of ancient Rome, and offering patronage to artists and writers. Many of these princes were related by blood or marriage, creating a web of alliances that held society together but whose tensions sometimes threatened to tear it apart; thus were their lives dominated as much by the waging of war as the nurture of artistic talent. In a narrative that is as rigorous and closely researched as it is accessible and informative, Mary Hollingsworth sets the princes' aesthetic achievements in the context of the volatile, ever-shifting politics of a tumultuous period of history.Trade ReviewExceptionally sumptuous... This vivid history brings to life the vices and virtues of the feuding ruling families of Italy' -- Michael Prodger, The TimesFull of treasures to be uncovered... A glittering, at times rather gory, world that is different and yet dreamily familiar to our own' * BBC History Revealed *Dense politics relieved by dazzling art * Kirkus *An accessible and entertaining introduction to a groundbreaking period in world and art history * Publishers Weekly *A significant addition to Renaissance studies, and a delicious deep dive for those fascinated by the era * Foreword Reviews *[A] sweeping tour of Renaissance century Italy... Princes of the Renaissance [is] a celebration of this fascinating moment in Italian history that is both beautifully designed and bursting with incredible colour images' * Travels Through Time Podcast *This beautifully illustrated history tries to make sense of the many rulers and governing dynasties of Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries, a squabbling, treacherous bunch who through their patronage and hunger for grandeur powered the artistic efflorescence of the Renaissance * The Times *A head-scrambling epoch that Mary Hollingsworth, the author of books on the Medici and the Borgias, has done wonders to make comprehensible * The Times *

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Book SynopsisCalvin L. Warren intervenes in Afro-pessimism, Heideggerian metaphysics, and black humanist philosophy, illustrating how blacks embody a metaphysical nothing while showing how this nothingness destabilizes whiteness, makes blacks a target of violence, and explains why humanism has failed to achieve equality for blacks.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. The Free Black Is Nothing 1 1. The Question of Black Being 26 2. Outlawing 62 3. Scientific Horror 110 4. Catachrestic Fantasies 143 Coda. Adieu to the Human 169 Notes 173 Bibliography 201 Index 211

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Book SynopsisFrom the Sunday Times bestselling authors of THE LITTLE BOOK OF HUMANISMA humanist funeral allows us the freedom to remember and celebrate the life of someone in exactly the way we want to and - as the most popular alternative to a religious ceremony - put us more closely in touch with the precious nature of life.In a beautiful collection of insights from humanist celebrants, as well as quotes, poems and meditations from humanist writers and thinkers throughout history, THE LITTLE BOOK OF HUMANIST FUNERALS is the perfect introduction to the humanist approach to life and death.Trade ReviewWhat a treasure - inspiring, comforting, and brimming with the equanimity one longs for in coming to terms with a death -- Steven Pinker

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Book SynopsisThought-provoking short essays by Britain''s leading public philosopher that show us how to discover our own answers to life''s challengesWhile most philosophy is written in abstruse and ponderous prose, Grayling''s is a model of clarity and elegance'' The Times''An enthusiastic thinker who embraces humour, common sense and lucidity'' Independent~ If beauty existed only in the eye of the beholder, would that make it an unimportant quality?~ Are human rights political?~ Can ethics be derived from evolution by natural selection?~ If both sides in a conflict can passionately believe that theirs is the just cause, does this mean that the idea of justice is empty?~ Does being happy make us good? And does being good make us happy?~ Are human beings especially prone to self-deception?As in his previous books of popular philosophy, including the best-selling The Reason of Things and The Meaning of Things, rather than presenting a set of cTrade Review'If there is any such person in Britain today as The Thinking Man, it is A.C. Grayling' * The Times *'An enthusiastic thinker who embraces humour, common sense and lucidity' * Independent *‘While most philosophy is written in abstruse and ponderous prose, Grayling's is a model of clarity and elegance' * The Times *‘He is a philosopher engaged in what he rightly praises, adding value to life, in a way that is not too taxing' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA passionate, highly accessible clarion call to a world dangerously threatened by irrational superstitions of all kinds. 'Truly a book for our time' Steven Pinker 'In Sweden's public square, Christer Sturmark has done as much as anyone to uphold reason and humane critical thinking' Richard Dawkins 'As lucid and illuminating as it is warm and inspiring' Rebecca Goldstein In country after country, conspiracy theories and religious dogmas that once seemed to have been overtaken by enlightened thought are helping to lift authoritarian leaders into power. The effects are being felt by women, ethnic minorities, teachers, scientists and students – and by the environment, the ultimate victim of climate change denial. We need clear thinking now more than ever. Christer Sturmark is a crusading secular humanist as well as a Swedish publisher and entrepreneur, and The Flame of Reason is his manifesto for a better world. It provides a set of simple tools for clear thinking in the face of populist dogmas, anti-science attitudes and pseudo-philosophy, and suggestions for how we can move towards a new enlightenment. From truth to Quantum Physics, moral philosophy to the Myers-Briggs test, Sturmark offers a passionate defence of rational thought, science, tolerance and pluralism; a warm and engaging guide for anyone who wants to better navigate the modern world. Translated by and co-written with Douglas Hofstadter, celebrated cognitive scientist, physicist and author of Godel, Escher, Bach.Trade ReviewIn an era in which the ideals of the Enlightenment need all the help they can get, we're lucky to have such a lucid, stylish, and intelligent exposition and defense. This is truly a book for our time -- Steven PinkerIn Sweden's public square, Christer Sturmark has done as much as anyone to uphold reason and humane critical thinking... and now his values are gathered and refocused in this book' -- Richard DawkinsChrister Sturmark reflects on our place in history as well as on our potential future as a more united and reasoning humankind. He gives a credible and sensible voice to the new enlightenment-oriented worldview -- Björn UlvaeusIf a book like this had been available when I was in my late teens, it would have saved me years of collecting and contemplating important information about human thinking – and its failures -- Dan Larhammar, President of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesAs lucid and illuminating as it is warm and inspiring -- Rebecca Goldstein

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of Blackwell’s Best of Non-Fiction 2017"

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book dedicated to the topic of epistemic autonomy. It features original essays from leading scholars that promise to significantly shape future debates in this emerging area of epistemology.While the nature of and value of autonomy has long been discussed in ethics and social and political philosophy, it remains an underexplored area of epistemology. The essays in this collection take up several interesting questions and approaches related to epistemic autonomy. Topics include the nature of epistemic autonomy, whether epistemic paternalism can be justified, autonomy as an epistemic value and/or vice, and the relation of epistemic autonomy to social epistemology and epistemic injustice.Epistemic Autonomy will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working in epistemology, ethics, and social and political philosophy.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Puzzles Concerning Epistemic Autonomy Jonathan Matheson and Kirk LougheedPart I: The Nature of Epistemic Autonomy 1. Epistemic Autonomy and Externalism J. Adam Carter 2. Autonomy, Reflection, and EducationShane Ryan 3. The Realm of Epistemic EndsCatherine Elgin 4. Professional Philosophy Has an Epistemic Autonomy ProblemMaura Priest Part II: Epistemic Autonomy and Paternalism 5. Norms of Inquiry, Student-Led Learning, and Epistemic Paternalism Robert Mark Simpson 6. Persuasion and Intellectual Autonomy Robin McKenna 7. What’s Epistemic about Epistemic Paternalism? Liz Jackson Part III: Epistemic Autonomy and Epistemic Virtue & Value 8. Intellectual Autonomy and Intellectual Interdependence Heather Battaly 9. The Virtue of Epistemic Autonomy Jonathan Matheson 10. Understanding and the Value of Intellectual Autonomy Jesús Vega-Encabo 11. Epistemic Myopia Chris Dragos12. Intellectual Autonomy and its Vices Alessandra Tanesini 13. Gaslighting, Humility, and the Manipulation of Autonomy Javier González de Prado Part IV: Epistemic Autonomy & Social Epistemology 14. Epistemic Autonomy for Social Epistemologists: The Case of Moral Inheritance Sarah McGrath 15. Epistemic Autonomy and the Right to be ConfidentSanford Goldberg 16. We Owe it to Others to Think for OurselvesFinnur Dellsén 17. Epistemic Self-Governance and Trusting the Word of Others: Is There a Conflict?Elizabeth Fricker

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Book SynopsisHumanists have been a major force in British life since the turn of the 20th century. Here, leading historians of religious non-belief Callum Brown, David Nash, and Charlie Lynch examine how humanist organisations brought ethical reform and rationalism to the nation as it faced the moral issues of the modern world. This book provides a long overdue account of this dynamic group. Developing through the Ethical Union (1896), the Rationalist Press Association (1899), the British Humanist Association (1963) and Humanists UK (2017), Humanists sought to reduce religious privilege but increase humanitarian compassion and human rights. After pioneering legislation on blasphemy laws, dignity in dying and abortion rights, they went on to help design new laws on gay marriage, and sex and moral education. Internationally, they endeavoured to end war and world hunger. And with Humanist marriages and celebration of life through Humanist funerals, national ritual and culture have recently been trTrade ReviewThis important book is highly recommended for providing a clear and scholarly study of the uneven development of Humanism from its Victorian precursors to its maturity as the most influential alternative to religions as the basis for a liberal and morally progressive society in the present age. * Edward Royle, Emeritus Professor in History, University of York Country, United Kingdom *Table of ContentsList of Images 1. The Origins of the Ethical Movement to 1926 2. Unbelief and Humanism: The Popular Mood of British Society 3. Challenging the State, 1896-1939 4. Humanism as an International Movement, 1896-1952 5. Union and Consolidation of the British Movement, 1939-1969 6. Movement and Thought: The Development of Humanist Thought, c.1890-c.1960 7. Humanism and the New Morality, 1955-1980 8. Humanism and British Culture, 1963-2021 9. The British Humanist Association and its Mission to Britain, 1963-2021 10. Britain and the World: The International Humanist and Ethical Union since 1952 11. Humanism and the Progressive Future Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisShould we welcome the end of humanity? In this blistering book about the history of an idea, one of our leading critics draws on his dazzling range and calls our attention to a seemingly inconceivable topic that is being seriously discussed: that the end of humanity’s reign on earth is imminent, and that we should welcome it. Kirsch journeys through literature, philosophy, science, and popular culture, to identify two strands of thinking: Anthropocene antihumanism says that our climate destruction has doomed humanity and we should welcome our extinction, while Transhumanism believes that genetic engineering and artificial intelligence will lead to new forms of life superior to humans. Kirsch’s introduction of thinkers and writers from Roger Hallam to Jane Bennett, David Benatar to Nick Bostrom, Patricia MacCormack to Ray Kurzweil, Ian McEwan to Richard Powers, will make you see the current moment in a new light. The revolt against humanity has already spread beyond the fringes of the intellectual world, and it can transform politics and society in profound ways—if it hasn’t already.Trade Review“A brisk and bracing new book.” —New York Review of Books “With admirable concision and clarity, this short book achieves its stated aims not only to introduce some very challenging and disturbing ideas, but also to understand their historical background and appeal, and to reflect on their ‘possible implications for the future.’” —Los Angeles Review of Books “In his brief but fascinating The Revolt Against Humanity, our own Adam Kirsch explains why predictions of humanity’s passing have been more than a passing fad in the last half-century, linking them to two broader ideologies that now dominate the way we think about the future: transhumanism and Anthropocene antihumanism.” —New Criterion “[A]n intense study of the various schools of thought on ‘the end of humanity’s reign on Earth.’ ... [T]he expert perspectives, paired with anecdotes from sci-fi films and literature, make for a fascinating look at the ‘profound civilizational changes’ that may come. The result is a nice lay of the post-human land.” —Publishers Weekly “Kirsch, a widely respected poet, critic, shows readers the bleeding edge of philosophic and literary speculation about what comes next for mankind. The picture he paints is not pretty.” —WORLD magazine “Six erudite, clear, and concise chapters explore the issues raised by the serious prospect of the end of human life, at least as we know it.” Philosophy Now “The Revolt Against Humanity is a profound, daring, and intellectually thrilling examination of the role of human beings on Earth: Would the world be better off without us? Beautifully written, the book will spark your thoughts, challenge your preconceptions, and leave you asking yourself wonderfully unanswerable questions.” —Ellen Ullman, author of Close to the Machine and Life in Code “We’re told that ideas can have momentous consequences. In that case, we owe it to ourselves to pay close attention to the chilling ideas Adam Kirsch highlights in this profound and disturbing book. On one side, some environmental activists welcome the idea that humanity may be on the brink of extinction; on the other, a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs dreams of using their fortunes and technical knowhow to empower us to transcend our humanity altogether. Kirsch proves an illuminating guide to both trends. He’s also an uncommonly insightful critic, drawing on the wisdom of poets, novelists, and philosophers to make sense of our unsettling attraction to the idea of a world without us.” —Damon Linker, author of The Theocons and The Religious Test

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Book SynopsisHow can we live in such a way that we die only once? How can we organise a society that gives us a better chance to be fully alive? How can we reinvent religion so that it liberates us instead of consoling us?These questions stand at the centre of Roberto Mangabeira Unger's The Religion of the Future. Both a book about religion and a religious work in its own right, it proposes the content of a religion that can survive faith in a transcendent God and in life after death. According to this religion-the religion of the future-human beings can be more human by becoming more godlike, not just later, in another life or another time, but right now, on Earth and in their own lives.Unger begins by facing the irreparable flaws in the human condition: our mortality, groundlessness, and insatiability. He goes on to discuss the conflicting approaches to existence that have dominated the last 2,500 years of the history of religion. Turning next to the religious revolution that we now require, he explores the political ideal of this revolution, an idea of deep freedom. And he develops its moral vision, focused on a refusal to squander life.The Religion of the Future advances Unger's philosophical program: a philosophy for which history is open, the new can happen, and belittlement need not be our fate.Trade ReviewA philosophical mind out of the Third World turning tables, to become a synoptist and seer of the First. -- Perry AndersonA restless visionary. * New York Times *One of the few living philosophers whose thinking has the range of the great philosophers of the past. -- Lee Smolin * Times Higher Education Supplement *His ideas are wide-ranging but essentially amount to a passionate call to stop thinking about everything in terms of economics and finance, what he calls "the dictatorship of no alternatives". * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisFlix Ravaissons seminal philosophical essay, Of Habit, was first published in French in 1838. It traces the origins and development of habit and proposes the principle of habit as the foundation of human nature. This metaphysics of habit steers a path between materialism and idealism in one of the best and most sophisticated treatments of the topic. Ravaissons work was pivotal in the development of European thought and has had a significant influence on such key thinkers as Proust, Bergson, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, and Deleuze. This edition makes this remarkable and hugely important work available to an English-speaking audience for the first time. Clare Carlisle and Mark Sinclair provide a comprehensive introduction to Ravaissons life, works and enduring influence that clearly situates Ravaissons text within the European philosophical tradition. The translation also includes a thorough commentary on the text that illuminates its arguments and its context.Trade Review'This bears a modest title: Of Habit. But the author sets forth in it a whole philosophy of nature. What is nature? How is one to imagine its inner workings? What does it conceal under the regular succession of cause and effect? ...Ravaisson seeks the solution of this very general problem in a very concrete intuition, the one that we have of our own condition when we contract a habit...These ideas, like many we owe to Ravaisson, have become classic.' Henri Bergson'This bilingual edition makes available for the first time in English a seminal text of 19th century thought. Admired by the likes of Bergson and Heidegger, Ravaisson's reflections on habit reveal a dexterous and subtle philosophical mind. The editors have done a splendid, professional job in putting this edition together with an adept translation and valuable editorial material including an Introduction and Commentary. The text can be highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of modern European philosophy. At the same time, anyone working in the philosophies of mind, time, and life will greatly profit from engaging with a key modern work of philosophy on habit that remains surprisingly fresh and pertinent.' Keith Ansell-Pearson, Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction; Of Habit; Commentary on the text; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisDesiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was a Dutch humanist, scholar, and social critic, and one of the most important figures of the Renaissance. The Praise of Folly is perhaps his best-known work. Originally written to amuse his friend Sir Thomas More, this satiric celebration of pleasure, youth, and intoxication irreverently pokes fun at the pieties ofTrade Review"There is no more joyous and delightful bit of forensic jugglery than Desiderius Erasmus's The Praise of Folly and a debt of gratitude is owed Professor Hoyt Hopewell Hudson for translating the old Latin of 1511 into lively, vivid, contemporary English, at once lucid and free... Like all great minds Erasmus has the faculty of being perennially contemporary, and The Praise of Folly is a gay, witty revelation of the subtleties and intricacies of the scholarly mind of the Renaissance."--Edward Larocque Tinker, New York Times "The scholarship and grace of Hudson's translation and introduction assure that the book will be accepted as the standard English version."--Modern Language Quarterly "[Hudson] has spared no pains to provide whatever might increase the general reader's appreciation and enjoyment of this world-famous, perennially humane satire."--John Archer Gee, Journal of English and Germanic Philology "Erasmus's Praise of Folly is certainly one of the most characteristic and delightful pieces of Renaissance literature and has rightly enjoyed a wide popularity... This handsome volume will certainly please the student as well as the general reader."--Journal of PhilosophyTable of ContentsA Prelude to The Praise of Folly: Foreword to the Princeton Classics Edition vii Acknowledgments xxiii The Folly of Erasmus: An Essay xxv Preface: Desiderius Erasmus to His Friend Thomas More 1 Moriae Encomium, That Is, The Praise of Folly 7 Analysis 129 Notes 143 Index of Proper Names 155

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book-length treatment of Edward Said’s influential cultural criticism from the perspective of a political theorist. Morefield argues that Said’s critique provides a timely approach that bridges historical analyses of imperialism and postcolonial politics with an urgent imperative to theorize contemporary global crises.Table of ContentsChapter One will introduce Said to a political theory audience who might not be intimately familiar with his work by examining his incalculable impact on postcolonial scholarship. Despite his looming presence in other disciplines, Said’s writing have been largely ignored by political theorists because they don’t fall neatly into the categories of either critical or normative theory. The chapter critiques the way international ethicists de-historicize institutions of international politics and the privileged position by which Western experts are able to diagnose and “solve” the problems of the formerly colonized world. Chapter Two will begin the process of formulating a Saidian response to this form of liberal presentism by looking closely at the promises and challenges of Said’s humanism. The chapter will first interrogate the tension between his support for universal ideas like justice and freedom (most apparent in his refusal to dismiss human rights as “cultural or grammatical things”) and his equally deep commitment to Foucaultian discourse analysis. This combination of worldliness and the provisional, disputable, arguable products of human inquiry compelled Said to situate “critique at the very heart of humanism.” Chapter Three will explore the relationship between a humanism that is explicitly historical, critical and global and Said’s conception of the exilic intellectual. The chapter begins with a brief examination of the role of “exile” in twentieth century political theory more generally. It moves on to examine Said’s conviction that humanist intellectuals engaged in critique must understand themselves as already contaminated by “power, positions, and interests,” a disposition which elicits an ongoing processes of self-reflection that asks the critic to pay close attention to their own subject position vis-à-visthe event/text they are analyzing. Said championed a subject position for the critic rooted in exile. “The intellectual,” he argued, “who considers him or herself to be part of a more general condition affecting the displaced national community is… likely to be a source not of acculturation and adjustment, but rather of volatility and instability.” The chapter will conclude by thinking critically about some of the conceptual problems generated by this approach to exile, such as, the fact that it appears profoundly voluntarist in a way that seems to run counter to Said’s own theory of power. Despite these tensions, the kinds of reflective practices that flow from a position of exile offer a necessary corrective to the unquestioned positionality of liberal internationalism.Chapter Four will explore the kinds of political reflection enabled by exile, focusing on Said’s analysis of language and the way this fine-grained approach to language functions in his explicitly political writings. It will begin with an investigation of Said’s conviction that the self-reflective awareness of the exilic critic entails “a lifelong attentiveness to the words and rhetorics by which language is used by human beings who exist in history,” a disposition he called philological. The chapter will then turn to Said’s political writings to explore this attentiveness to the kinds of communities both engendered and occluded by pro-nouns. Chapter Five will explore the unsettled approach to crisis implicit in Said’s two-pronged approach his exilic humanism. On the one hand, the practice of humanist criticism compels the exilic intellectual to approach perceived crises in international politics from the perspective of language critique, drilling into the space between words to reveal the holes where narrating subjects should be, subjects who – despite their rhetorical invisibility – still daily experience the material violence of a world which refuses to represent them or create the space for them to represent themselves. On the other hand, Said’s critical humanism insists that we engage the kinds of historical analyses that “protect against and forestall the disappearance of the past” which have fallen victim to the discursive press of crisis.[1]Chapter Six draws together the threads of discussion by thinking more broadly about the adequacy of Said’s theory as a counterweight to the international ethics of liberal internationalism. This will include thinking explicitly about those aspects of Said’s work that might frustrate some political theorists: his insistence, for instance, on conceptualizing democracy as a form of critical practice rather than as a type of politics, and his refusal to theorize the foundational logic behind concepts that he values like “justice” and “human rights.” The book concludes by suggesting that it is precisely Said’s relentlessly critical insistence on searching for the hidden “we” behind discourses of democracy, justice, and human rights that makes his humanism particularly able to puncture the presentist logic behind so many contemporary approaches to international politics, thus bringing the past that cannot be acknowledged, and the collective subjects who cannot be represented, back into the center of analysis. [1] Said, HDC, 141.

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Book SynopsisJohn Perry revisits the cast of characters of his classic A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality in this absorbing dialogue on consciousness. Cartesian dualism, property dualism, materialism, the problem of other minds . . . Gretchen Weirob and her friends tackle these topics and more in a dialogue that exemplifies the subtleties and intricacies of philosophical reflection. Once again, Perry’s ability to use straightforward language to discuss complex issues combines with his mastery of the dialogue form. A Bibliography lists relevant further readings keyed to topics discussed in the dialogue. A helpful Glossary provides a handy reference to terms used in the dialogue and an array of clarifying examples.Trade Review"Penetrating without being overwhelming, [Dialogue on Consciousness] informs and engages the student both at once. As it deftly uncovers the complexities besetting the meaning of human consciousness, it does ample justice to the current scholarly discussion. It is an unquestionably indispensable instructional tool. Indeed, the splendid glossary and judicious reading list taken alone more than justify the modest price of admission." —George Pollack, Fairleigh Dickinson University

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Book SynopsisJohn Perry revisits the cast of characters of his classic A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality in this absorbing dialogue on consciousness. Cartesian dualism, property dualism, materialism, the problem of other minds . . . Gretchen Weirob and her friends tackle these topics and more in a dialogue that exemplifies the subtleties and intricacies of philosophical reflection. Once again, Perry’s ability to use straightforward language to discuss complex issues combines with his mastery of the dialogue form. A Bibliography lists relevant further readings keyed to topics discussed in the dialogue. A helpful Glossary provides a handy reference to terms used in the dialogue and an array of clarifying examples.

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Book SynopsisThe principles and practices of intercultural humanism as an inclusive vision for humanity

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Book SynopsisWriting against the Cartesian tradition and in praise of empiricism, this book demonstrates repeatedly, and lyrically, the sterility of systems of knowledge divorced from bodily experience.Trade ReviewFinding a voice that is brilliantly sustained, warm and assured, Margaret Sankey and Peter Cowley meet the challenges of Serres' shifts of register between prose poetry and high-frequency allusions to philosophy and the sciences and literature classical and modern. -- Max Deutscher, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Australia‘Some may claim that Serres's works are impossible to translate due to their complex word play, neologisms and erratic style. Despite this, Margaret Sankey and Peter Cowley should be commended for their mammoth efforts and superb translation.' -- Perspectives: International Postgraduate Journal of Philosophy... Every page is alive with rich descriptions of feeling, sensing, apprehending, engaging, living... this translation, like all of Serres' work that we have in English, is a banquet, a feast for thought... -- New FormationsThere are then some wonderfully compelling, suggestive, and exciting passages in this book...a rich plea for a treatment of sensing as an always incomplete mixing of souls and objects. I recommend it be read, perhaps with a pinch of salt. -- Senses & SocietyTable of ContentsIntroduction, Steven Connor (Birkbeck, University of London, UK); 1. Veils; 2. Boxes; 3. Tables; 4. Visit; 5. Joy; Index.

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