Philosophical traditions and schools of thought Books

Book SynopsisWhat does pleasure have to do with morality? What role, if any, should intuition have in the formation of moral theory? If something is ‘simulated’, can it be immoral? This accessible and wide-ranging textbook explores these questions and many more. Key ideas in the fields of normative ethics, metaethics and applied ethics are explained rigorously and systematically, with a vivid writing style that enlivens the topics with energy and wit. Individual theories are discussed in detail in the first part of the book, before these positions are applied to a wide range of contemporary situations including business ethics, sexual ethics, and the acceptability of eating animals. A wealth of real-life examples, set out with depth and care, illuminate the complexities of different ethical approaches while conveying their modern-day relevance.This concise and highly engaging resource is tailored to the Ethics components of AQA Philosophy and OCR Religious Studies, with a clear and practical layout that includes end-of-chapter summaries, key terms, and common mistakes to avoid. It should also be of practical use for those teaching Philosophy as part of the International Baccalaureate.Ethics for A-Level is of particular value to students and teachers, but Fisher and Dimmock’s precise and scholarly approach will appeal to anyone seeking a rigorous and lively introduction to the challenging subject of ethics.

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Book SynopsisThe philosophical traditions of China have arguably influenced more human beings than any other. China has been the home not only of its indigenous philosophical traditions of Confucianism and Daoism, but also of uniquely modified forms of Buddhism. As Ronnie L Littlejohn shows, these traditions have for thousands of years formed the bedrock of the longest continuing civilization on the planet; and Chinese philosophy has profoundly shaped the institutions, social practices and psychological character of East and Southeast Asia. The author here surveys the key texts and philosophical systems of Chinese thinkers in a completely original and illuminating way. Ranging from the Han dynasty to the present, he discusses the six classical schools of Chinese philosophy (Yin-Yang, Ru, Mo, Ming, Fa and Dao-De); the arrival of Buddhism in China and its distinctive development; the central figures and movements from the end of the Tang dynasty to the introduction into China of Western thought; and the impact of Chinese philosophers ranging from Confucius and Laozi to Tu Weiming on their equivalents in the West."Trade Review'This is an amazingly well-written and helpful introduction to the topic. Systematically divided into four parts - the ontological, the epistemological, the moral and the political - it explores fundamental questions through which readers may begin to appreciate the specificity of Chinese philosophy as well as its commonality with Western philosophy. The book offers a fascinating treatment, from ancient times to the present day, of well selected Chinese philosophers, their texts and their doctrines: sometimes in comparison with the most important Western philosophers like Plato, Berkeley, Mill, Whitehead and Wittgenstein. Ronnie Littlejohn has written the best concise introductory book of its kind on the market. It does a great job in orienting undergraduate students; it will similarly prove to be of real value to general readers; and even specialists and experts in the field will gain a good deal from reading it.' - Vincent Shen, Lee Chair in Chinese Thought and Culture, University of Toronto; 'With a talented and discerning brush, this discriminating and at the same time student friendly work paints a vivid picture of the Chinese philosophical landscape. Its canvas is broad, its execution is elegant; and it is sure to serve as a welcome resource for our deeper understanding of philosophy in a global setting.' - Robin R Wang, Professor of Philosophy, Director of Asian and Pacific Studies, Loyola Marymount University, author of Yinyang: The Way of Heaven and Earth in Chinese Thought and Culture (2012); 'This work is a comprehensive and highly analytical presentation of Chinese philosophy from the earliest beginnings to the modern era. Arranged thematically in four parts, covering ontology, epistemology, value theory, and political philosophy, it is both daunting in its scope and amazing in its depth. Each section presents the basic features of the kind of philosophy in question, followed by extensive discussions and translations from relevant Chinese works, creating intrinsic connections between eras and opening a powerful vision of the intricate unfolding of Chinese thought. The book inspires and challenges while engaging and clarifying an established subject in an illuminating new light.' - Livia Kohn, Professor Emerita of Religion and East Asian Studies, Boston University; 'It is daringly ambitious to try to present in a short monograph an overview of what Chinese philosophy as a whole might bring to world philosophical conversation. Yet within a framework of questions that are recognizably philosophical, as well as global, Professor Littlejohn's refreshing thematic approach introduces readers to how Chinese philosophers of different historical periods - and associated with varied schools of thought - think, and what positions they have adopted on the nature of reality, knowledge, value, and government. Written with admirable clarity and breadth, Littlejohn's book succeeds in communicating the distinctive tenors of Chinese thought and experience. This is an invaluable resource for teaching Chinese philosophy that will interest general readers as well as students and their teachers.' - Sor-hoon Tan, Associate Professor of Philosophy, National University of Singapore

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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 SynopsisFelix Ravaisson's 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. Ravaisson's work was pivotal in the development of European thought and has had a significant influence on such key thinkers such as Proust, Bergson, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, and Deleuze. This edition makes this important work available to an English-speaking audience for the first time. Clare Carlisle and Mark Sinclair provide a comprehensive introduction to Ravaisson's life, works, and enduring influence that clearly situates Ravaisson's 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, UK"This first English translation of French philosopher Ravaisson's essay, first published in 1838, begins with a lengthy introduction to Ravaisson's life, philosophy, and influence on later philosophers and writers. In the essay, included in French alongside the English translation, Ravaisson seeks to show that habit is not a simple, repetitive action but a phenomenon that is apparent in every living being. The more complex the living being, the more influence habit will have on its faculties. For example, in humans, habit is not only part of our natural tendencies but also part of our consciousness. Habits begin as conscious thoughts but slowly turn into involuntary actions. According to Ravaisson, by analyzing this connection through the phenomenon of habit, we are offered a glimpse into the nature of being. Following the essay, Carlisle (philosophy, Univ. of Liverpool; Kierkegaard's Philosophy of Becoming) and Sinclair (Heidegger, Aristotle and the Work of Art) offer thorough commentary examining each section of Ravaisson's essay and give a detailed account of the structure of his philosophical method. Highly recommended for academic libraries." - Scott Duimstra, Library Journal, February 15, 2009'By the end, Ravaisson has seamlessly carried his reader to a consideration of moral freedom, love, the good and God - revealing the eclectic school of "spiritualist" philosophy of which he was part ... it signals a natural theology that may interest contemporary theologians, too.' - Mark Vernon, Times Literary Supplement"Although it arrives long after its original's effects have been felt, this first English translation of Ravission's 1838 Of Habit is in some ways quite timely...Ravaisson reminds us that it is only through habit that freedom becomes more than an ephemeral moment and decisions gain purchase on action. As he emphasizes, habits are at once creative and limiting. They do not follow a single prescribed course but make temporary livable compromises of activity and passivity. Inasmuch as habit traverses all forms of life, such compromises characterize both human society and its intersection with the durations of nonhuman nature." -Kam Shapiro, Theory & Event, Vol. 12, 2009Table of ContentsIntroduction; Of Habit; Commentary on the text; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisBorn out of a love of language, text, classical learning, art, philosophy and philology, the Christian Humanist project lasted beyond the turmoil of sixteenth-century Europe to survive in a new form in post-Reformation thought. Jonathan Arnold here explores the finest intellects of late-Renaissance Europe, providing an essential guide to the most important scholars, priests, theologians and philosophers of the period, now collectively known as the Christian Humanists. "The Great Humanists" provides an invaluable context to the philosophical, political and spiritual state of Europe on the eve of the Reformation through inter-related biographical sketches of Erasmus, Thomas More, Marsilio Ficino, Petrarch, Johann Reuchlin, Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples and many others. The legacy of these thinkers is still relevant and widely-studied today, and this book will make invaluable reading for scholars and students of philosophy and early-modern European history.Table of ContentsIntroduction PART I: ITALY 1. Francesco Petrarch: The Father of Humanism 2. Lorenzo Valla: The Confrontational Philologist 3. Marsilio Ficino: The Platonic Theologian 4. Pico della Mirandola: The Italian Cabbalist PART II: THE LOW COUNTRIES 5. Rudolph Agricola: Father of Northern European Humanism 6. Desiderius Erasmus: The Prince of Humanists PART III: GERMANY 7. Johann Reuchlin: The Great German Hebraist 8. Phillip Melanchthon: The Lutheran Humanist PART IV: ENGLAND 9. John Colet: The Would-be Reforming Dean of St. Paul’s 10. Thomas More: The King’s Good Servant, but God’s First 11. Thomas Linacre and the English Erasmians PART V: FRANCE 12. Lefèvre d’Étaples: The Greatest French Humanist PART VI: SPAIN 14. Juan Luis Vives : The Spanish Erasmian APPENDICES Appendix I: Other Notable Humanists Appendix II: Glossary of Terms and other Notable Figures

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Book SynopsisWith so much focus on contemporary theory, it is easy to forget that the serious analysis of clothing and fashion has a long history. In fact, they have been the subject of intense cultural debate since the nineteenth century. Fashion Classics provides an interpretative overview of the groundbreaking and often idiosyncratic writings of eight theorists whose work has profoundly influenced the conceptual and theoretical basis of our contemporary understanding of clothes and the fashion system. Carter fully revives early fashion theorists -- some canonical and others less well known -- and examines them in light of more recent work. From Carlyles fantastical character Professor Teufelsdrockh, through the first Freudian analysis of clothes by J.C. Flugel, the pioneering work of Spencer, Veblen, Simmel, Kroeber, Laver and finally Barthes monumental work on the modern fashion system, this book explores and explains the foundations of fashion theory. Not only does it provide an historical outline of Western conceptions of clothes and fashion, but it also highlights how ideas intermix and build on one another. Carters lively narrative clearly shows that views on fashion have always been impassioned perhaps most notably Carlyles notorious attack on Dandyism and Veblens suggestion that clothes should be made out of old newspaper. This book also makes sense of complex theory and is essential reading for anyone seeking an overview of the history of fashion theory.Trade Review'Michael Carter has fashioned, with clarity and wit, not only an important historical account of fashion classics, but an entertaining narrative that illuminates the cultural currents of two centuries. It should make us think more than twice about what we wear and how we describe it. For myself, this is a book that I will constantly refer to - for pleasure as well as enlightenment.'Studies in English LiteratureTable of Contents1. Thomas Carlyle and Sartor Resartus 2. Herbert Spencer's Sartorial Protestantism 3. Thorstein Veblen's Leisure Class 4. Georg Simmel: Clothes and Fashion 5. Alfred Kroeber and the Great Secular Wave 6. J. C. Flgel and the Nude Future 7. James Laver, the Reluctant Expert 8. Roland Barthes and the End of the Nineteenth Century Appendix: Questionnaire Issued by J.C. Flgel in 1929 Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn modern societies people are expected to remain activity-oriented in their later years, rather than change to a more contemplative, spiritual, and peaceful way of living. The latter, however, is ideally-suited to people in later life and offers many healthful benefits. Dr. Sherman explains why this is so in Contemplative Aging-a book that shows the way to add a different and deeper dimension to the activity-oriented image of older age promoted in the media, and how to transcend the many physical decrements and emotional losses of loved ones in later life. Extensive research evidence exists for achieving such a way life-calledgerotranscendence-which is clearly described in Contemplative Aging along with the psychological and philosophical foundations and practices that can lead to the existential and spiritual benefits of gerotranscendence. Based on the author's ongoing work with older adults and the timeless literature on contemplative traditions around the world-expressed by poets, psychologists, philosophers, mystics, and rationalists-Dr. Sherman presents a range of contemplative practice methods and exercises designed for those already sixty years or older and the millions ofbaby boomers about to enter their later years of life.

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Book SynopsisMaimonides was not the first rabbinic scholar to take an interest in philosophy, but he was unique in being a towering figure in both areas. His law code, the Mishneh torah, stands with Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud as one of the two most intensely studied rabbinic works coming out of the Middle Ages, while his Guide of the Perplexed is the most influential and widely read Jewish philosophical work ever written. Admirers and critics have arrived at wildly divergent perceptions of the man. We have Maimonides the atheist or agnostic, Maimonides the sceptic, Maimonides the deist, Maimonides the Aristotelian, the Averroist, or proto-Kantian. We have a Maimonides seduced by the blandishments of 'accursed philosophy'; a Maimonides who sowed the seeds that led to Spanish Jews' loss of faith and mass apostasy and who was therefore responsible for the demise of Spanish Jewry; a Maimonides who incorporated philosophical elements into his rabbinic works and wrote the Guide of the Perplexed not to propagate doctrines to which he was personally committed but in order to rescue errant souls seduced by philosophy; a Maimonides who was the defender of the faith and defined the articles of Jewish belief for all time. In his own estimation, Maimonides was neither exclusively a dedicated philosopher nor exclusively a devoted rabbinist: he saw philosophy and the Written and Oral Torahs as a single, harmonious domain, and he believed that this view was similarly fundamental to the lives of the prophets and rabbis of old. In this book, Herbert Davidson examines Maimonides’ efforts to reconstitute this all-embracing, rationalist worldview that he felt had been lost during the millennium-long exile.Trade ReviewReviews 'Not surprisingly, this book is a major contribution to Maimonidean studies and to the history of medieval Jewish philosophy generally.'Aleph'Davidson contributes much to the understanding of Maimonides ... recommended for all students of Maimonides and religious thought.'Stephen D. Benin, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsNote on TransliterationAbbreviations and Note on Sources1 The Study of Philosophy as a Religious Obligation2 The First Two Positive Divine CommandmentsThe 613 Commandments • Four Writers on the Commandments Prior to Maimonides • Maimonides • What Followed3 Maimonides' Knowledge of the Philosophical Literature in his Rabbinic PeriodBackground • Neoplatonism • Kalam • Aristotle • The Arabic Aristotelians • Summary4 Maimonides' Eight Chapters and Alfarabi's Fusul Muntazaa 5 Maimonides' Knowledge of the Philosophical Literature of his Later PeriodKalam • Aristotle • The Commentators on Aristotle • Other Greek Philosophers • The Arabic Philosophers • Medieval Jewish Thinkers • Summary6 Maimonides on Metaphysical KnowledgeIntroduction • Alfarabi's Lost Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics • Ibn Bajja's Positionon Metaphysical Knowledge • The Guide for the Perplexed on Metaphysical Knowledge • The Active Intellect as the Form that the Human Intellect Thinks; Conjunction with the Active Intellect • The Manner Whereby Metaphysical Knowledge Can Be Acquired • Summary7 A Problematic Sentence in Guide for the Perplexed, ii. 24The Setting • The Problematic Sentence • Ibn Tibbon's Emendation • Other Proposed Solutions • The Solution8 Maimonides' Ethical SystemsCommentary on the Mishnah; the Eight Chapters • The Mishneh torah • The Guide for the Perplexed • Possible Explanations • The Closing Paragraphs of the Guide for the Perplexed • Summary9 Maimonides the RationalistRationalist Exegesis of Scripture • Rationalist Exegesis of Aggadah • Rationalism and Halakhah • Monotheism and History • Intellectual Worship of GodWorks CitedIndex

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Book SynopsisThe world of magic is one of high imagination. In this wide-ranging historical survey Gareth Knight shows how the higher imagination has been used as an aid to the evolution of consciousness, from the ancient Mystery Religions, through Alchemy, Renaissance Magic, the Rosicrucian Manifestos, Freemasonry and 19th century Magical Fraternities, up to the modern era. Knight considers magic as a middle ground between science and religion, reconciling them in a technology of the imagination, which properly used, can bring about personal regeneration and spiritual fulfilment. He uses Coleridge's theory of the imagination as a basis for the validity of magic as science and art in its own right. Many systems and structures have come down through the ages slightly shoddy, misrepresented, maligned, misaligned. With this book a deconstruction becomes a recycling of raw material for the purposes of re-ordering and re-configuring - a righted prism, a shored up temple, a foundational re-ballasting.Trade ReviewIt is obvious from the beginning that we have here a work revealing the author's spiritual maturity, a work with a definite message and structure, rather than the piecemeal gathering of snippets of information which often is offered in books with this sort of title, by inferior authors with little occult understanding.A" - The Hermetic Journal

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Book SynopsisThe volume honours Eva Picardi – her philosophical views and interests, as well as her teaching – collecting eighteen essays, some by former students of hers, some by colleagues with whom she discussed and interacted. The themes of the volume encompass topics ranging from foundational and historical issues in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of logic and mathematics, as well as issues related to the recent debates on rationality, naturalism and the contextual aspects of meaning. The volume is split into three sections: one on Gottlob Frege’s work – in philosophy of language and logic –, taking into account also its historical dimension; one on Donald’s Davidson’s work; and one on the contextualism-literalism dispute about meaning and on naturalist research programmes such as Chomsky’s.Table of Contents1. Introduction; Annalisa Coliva, Paolo Leonardi and Sebastiano Moruzzi.- Section I: Themes from Frege.- 2 Early analytic philosophy's Austrian dimension; Kevin Mulligan.- 3. Truth, Ascriptions of Truth, and Grounds of Truth Ascriptions; Wolfgang Kuenne.- 4. On Frege's truth; Paolo Leonardi.- 5. Was Frege a logicist?.- Marco Panza.- 6. Logic as science; Robert May.- 7. Thin reference, metaontological minimalism and abstraction principles. The prospects for tolerant reductionism; Andrea Sereni.- 8. A context principle for the 21st century; Fabrizio Cariani.- 9. Slurs and tone; Ernie Lepore & Mathew Stone.- 10. Refusing to endorse: a must explanation for pejoratives; Carlo Penco.- 11. Fregean presentationalism; Elisabetta Sacchi.- Section II: Themes from Davidson.- 12. Agency without rationality; Lisa Bortolotti.- 13. Reasons and causes in psychiatry: Ideas from Donald Davidson’s work; Elisabetta Lalumera.- 14. The doxastic zoo; Pascal Engel.- Section III: Language, contextualism and naturalism.- 15. Naturalizing Picardi; Diego Marconi.- 16. Practical knowledge and linguistic competence; Annalisa Coliva.- 17. A Plague on All Your Houses: Some Reflections on the Variable Behaviour of “Knows”; Crispin Wright.- 18. Truth relativism and Evans' challenge; Sebastiano Moruzzi.- 19. Knowing the Facts: a Contrastivist Account of the Referential Opacity of Knowledge Attributions; Giorgio Volpe.- Index.

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Book SynopsisThe book offers a collection of essays on various aspects of Leibniz’s scientific thought, written by historians of science and world-leading experts on Leibniz. The essays deal with a vast array of topics on the exact sciences: Leibniz’s logic, mereology, the notion of infinity and cardinality, the foundations of geometry, the theory of curves and differential geometry, and finally dynamics and general epistemology. Several chapters attempt a reading of Leibniz’s scientific works through modern mathematical tools, and compare Leibniz’s results in these fields with 19th- and 20th-Century conceptions of them. All of them have special care in framing Leibniz’s work in historical context, and sometimes offer wider historical perspectives that go much beyond Leibniz’s researches. A special emphasis is given to effective mathematical practice rather than purely epistemological thought. The book is addressed to all scholars of the exact sciences who have an interest in historical research and Leibniz in particular, and may be useful to historians of mathematics, physics, and epistemology, mathematicians with historical interests, and philosophers of science at large.Trade Review“The volume should be of value to scholars of Leibniz with interests in the ‘exact sciences’ and the formal dimensions of his thinking, as well as to historians and philosophers concerned with understanding how Leibniz’s thinking anticipates later approaches. … the volume is a valuable contribution to our understanding of Leibniz’s projects in the exact sciences.” (Christopher P. Noble, Metascience, August 20, 2020)Table of ContentsChapter 1. Leibniz on the Logic of Conceptual Containment and Coincidence (Marko Malink and Anubav Vasudevan).- Chapter 2. Leibniz’s Mereology (Massimo Mugnai).- Chapter 3. Leibniz in Cantor’s Paradise: A Dialogue on the Actual Infinite (Richard T.W. Arthur).- Chapter 4. Leibniz and the Continuity of Space (Vincenzo De Risi).- Chapter 5. On the Plurality of Spaces in Leibniz (Valérie Debuiche and David Rabouin).- Chapter 6. One String Attached: Geometrical Exactness in Leibniz’s Parisian Manuscripts (Davide Crippa).- Chapter 7. Leibniz and the Calculus of Variations (Jürgen Jost).- Chapter 8. Teleology and Realism in Leibniz’s Philosophy of Science (Nabeel Hamid).

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Book SynopsisEuropean colonization played a major role in the acquisition, formation, and destruction of different ways of knowing. Recently, many scholars and activists have come to ask: Are there ways in which knowledge might be decolonized? Epistemic Decolonization examines a variety of such projects from a critical and philosophical perspective. The book introduces the unfamiliar reader to the wide variety of approaches to the topic at hand, providing concrete examples along the way. It argues that the predominant contemporary approach to epistemic decolonization leads one into various intractable theoretical and practical problems. The book then closely investigates the political and scientific work of Frantz Fanon and Amílcar Cabral, demonstrating how their philosophical commitments can help lead one out of the practical and theoretical issues faced by the current, predominant orientation, and concludes by forging links between their work and that of some contemporary feminist epistemologists. Table of Contents1. Introduction 1.1 Three Stories 1.2 Purpose, Scope, and Methodology 1.3 Thesis Eleven Revisited 2. An Epistemography of the Anticolonial Politics of Knowledge 2.1 An Eclipse between Greece and Guatemala 2.2 Modeling Various Approaches to Epistemic Decolonization 3. Anti-Janus: Or, Impasses of the Differential Approach 3.1 The Ontological Aporia 3.2 The Aporia of Religious Transcendence 3.3 The Aporia of Double Truth Doctrines 4. The Fanonian Alternative 4.1 Fanon’s Critique of Religion and Priestly Classes 4.2 To Be and Not to Be 4.3 On the Dynamics of Truth and Falsity 5. Becoming-Grounded: The Cabralian Option 5.1 Against Magical Interpretations of Reality 5.2 Cabral’s Dialectical Materialism 5.3 Decolonizing Luso-African Mesology 6. Forging Alliances: Fanon, Cabral, and Contemporary Feminist Epistemology Appendix: Seven Theses on Identifying Something as Colonialist Conceptual Glossary

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Book SynopsisThis book takes the reader on a philosophical quest to understand the dark side of emotions. The chapters are devoted to the analysis of negative emotions and are organized in a historical manner, spanning the period from ancient Greece to the present time. Each chapter addresses analytical questions about specific emotions generally considered to be unfavorable and classified as negative. The general aim of the volume is to describe the polymorphous and context-sensitive nature of negative emotions as well as changes in the ways people have interpreted these emotions across different epochs. The editors speak of ‘the dark side of the emotions’ because their goal is to capture the ambivalent – unstable and shadowy – aspects of emotions. A number of studies have taken the categorial distinction between positive and negative emotions for granted, suggesting that negative emotions are especially significant for our psychological experience because they signal difficult situations. For this reason, the editors stress the importance of raising analytical questions about the valence of particular emotions and focussing on the features that make these emotions ambivalent: how – despite their negativity – such emotions may turn out to be positive. This opens up a perspective in which each emotion can be understood as a complex interlacing of negative and positive properties. The collection presents a thoughtful dialogue between philosophy and contemporary scientific research. It offers the reader insight by illuminating the dark side of the emotions.Table of ContentsPaola Giacomoni, Sara Dellantonio, Nicolò Valentini - Introduction Anna Beltrametti (University of Pavia) - Philosophical fear and tragic fear Martina Di Stefano (University of Trento, PHD Student) - The pathos of ridicule in Plato’s Dialogues Fulvia De Luise (University of Trento) - Shame and self-consciousness in Plato’s Symposium: Reversing the meaning of a social emotion Silvia Gastaldi (University of Pavia) - Envy and competition in Aristotle’s Rhetoric Andrea Aldo Robiglio (University of Leuven)- Aquinas on the benefits of disgust for the sound use of reason Emanuele Coccia (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris) - The normative code of emotions: Christian mythology and the construction of a normative psychology Paola Giacomoni (University of Trento)- An optimistic anger? Barbara Carnevali (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris) - Glory, The race for prestige in the Hobbesian model Maddalena Mazzocut-Mis (University of Milano)- The pleasure of weeping: The novelty of research Caterina Maurer (University of Trento)– Blushing with shame: The feeling of the discordance between what I am and what I ought to be in Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjective Spirit Nicolò Valentini (University of Trento, PHD student)- The subtle interplay between disgust and morality: Miasma as a case study Alessandro Grecucci (University of Trento), – How shame guides our lives. Historical, Philosophical and Psychological perspectives Pastore, Luigi (University of Bari), Dellantonio, Sara (University of Trento) - The negative effects of the missing emotion awareness: The case of alexithymia

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Book SynopsisThis book explores how Jacques Lacan has influenced Black Studies from the 1950s to the present day, and in turn how a Black Studies framework challenges the topographies of Lacanianism in its understanding of race. David Marriott examines how a contemporary Black Studies perspective might respond to the psychoanalysis of race by taking advantage of the recent revitalization of Lacanianism in its speculative, metaphysical form. While the philosophical side of the debate makes a plea for a new universalism, this book proposes a Lacanian reassessment of the notion of race, a notion distinct from culture, language, religion, and identity. It argues that it is possible to re-establish the theoretical relation between capitalism, anti-blackness, and colonialism, by reassessing the links between Lacanian psychoanalysis and three main domains of black inquiry: mastery, knowledge, and embodiment. The book offers a strikingly original rereading of the place of Lacan in both Fanon Studies and Afro-pessimism. It will appeal to students and scholars of Black Studies, Cultural Studies, Critical Theory and Philosophy.Table of ContentsPart 1: Slave and Signifier.- Part 2: The X of X.- Part 3: Tell It Like It Is.

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