Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology Books

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Book SynopsisCausation: The Basics explores questions about what causes are, and how we come to know them, describe them, and put them to use. The book begins with an introduction to the history of philosophical thinking about causation, followed by a series of chapters introducing important contemporary accounts of causation. It concludes with chapters on causation and agency, causal discovery, and causal explanation. Key questions explored in the book include: What distinguishes correlation from causation? How are the causes of singular events related to more general patterns of cause and effect? How are commonsense, scientific, and legal conceptions of causation related? Can certain occurrences be singled out as the main or principle causes of some effect? Is there a place in the worldâs causal structure for human agency and free will? While introducing the major philosophical debates about the nature of causation, Causation: The Basics emphasizes the uses and challenges of causal reasoning as it occurs in the sciences, engineering, medicine, and other areas of human life. With a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading, the book provides readers with a clear and concise introduction to both theoretical and practical questions about causation.

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Book SynopsisThe Analysis of Matter is the product of thirty years of thinking by one of the twentieth century''s best-known philosophers. An inquiry into the philosophical foundations of physics, it was written against the background of stunning new developments in physics earlier in the century, above all relativity, as well as the excitement around quantum theory, which was just being developed. Concerned to place physics on a stable footing at a time of great theoretical change, Russell argues that the concept of matter itself can be replaced by a logical construction whose basic foundations are events. He is careful to point out that this does not prove that matter does not exist, but it does show that physicists can get on with their work without assuming that matter does exist. Russell argues that fundamental bits of ''''matter'''', such as electrons and protons, are simply groups of events connected in a certain way and their properties are all that are required for physiTrade Review'The whole book is candid and stimulating and, for both its subject and its treatment, one of the best that Mr. Russell has given us.' - The Times Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Routledge Classics edition John G. Slater Preface 1. The Nature of the Problem Part 1: The Logical Analysis of Physics 2. Pre-Relativity Physics 3. Electrons and Protons 4. The Theory of Quanta 5. The Special Theory of Relativity 6. The General Theory of Relativity 7. The Method of Tensors 8. Geodesics 9. Invariants and Their Physical Interpretation 10. Weyl’s Theory 11. The Principle of Differential Laws 12. Measurement 13. Matter and Space 14. The Abstractness of Physics Part 2: Physics and Perception 15. From Primitive Perception to Common Sense 16. From Common Sense to Physics 17. What is an Empirical Science 18. Our Knowledge of Particular Matters of Fact 19. Data, Inferences, Hypotheses, and Theories 20. The Causal Theory of Perception 21. Perception and Objectivity 22. The Belief in General Laws 23. Substance 24. Importance of Structure in Scientific Inference 25. Perception From the Standpoint of Physics 26. Non-Mental Analogues to Perception Part 3: The Structure of the Physical World 27. Particulars and Events 28. The Construction of Points 29. Space-Time Order 30. Causal Lines 31. Extrinsic Causal Laws 32. Physical and Perceptual Space-Time 33. Periodicity and Qualitative Series 34. Types of Physical Occurrences 35. Causality and Interval 36. The Genesis of Space-Time 37. Physics and Neutral Monism 38. Summary and Conclusion. Index

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Book SynopsisMy Philosophical Development is Russell''s intellectual autobiography and provides a fascinating insight into the extraordinary energy and philosophical ambition that saw him write over 40 books. As well as offering some fascinating glimpses into the changing nature of his philosophical beliefs, Russell also reflects on the fundamental themes that governed his thinking in later life.Beginning with an account of his decisive turn against the philosophical idealism that was prevalent in Cambridge at the turn of the century, Russell takes us through his engagement with the foundations of mathematics and the writing, with A.N. Whitehead, of Principia Mathematica. Russell also provides important insights into his theory of knowledge and the mind and conscious experience, before finishing with reflections on his work on language, universals and particulars and his theory of truth. An ideal philosophical companion to Russell''s own AutobiograpTrade Review'A work of immense fascination and distinction' - The Observer'Bertrand Russell is not only the most brilliant philosopher of this century; he is also one of the most self-critical. These qualities come out clearly in his philosophical autobiography.' - A.J.AyerTable of ContentsForeword to the Routledge Classics Edition Nicholas Griffin Prefatory note 1. Introductory Outline 2. My Present View of the World 3. First Efforts 4. Excursion into Idealism 5. Revolt into Pluralism 6. Logical Technique in Mathematics 7. Principia Mathematica: Philosophical Aspects 8. Principia Mathematica: Mathematical Aspects 9. The External World 10. The Impact of Wittgenstein 11. Theory of Knowledge 12. Consciousness and Experience 13. Language 14. Universals and Particulars and Names 15. The Definition of 'Truth' 16. Non-Demonstrative Inference 17. The Retreat from Pythagoras 18. Some Replies to Criticism Russell's Philosophy: A Study of its Development Alan Wood. Index

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

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

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

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

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Book SynopsisThis volume provides, for the first time, an almost verbatim record of Wittgenstein's lectures from the early 1930s. It forms a valuable introduction to his philosophy and will be a useful resource for scholars, undergraduate students and upper-level students of philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, logic, and the social sciences.Trade Review'The material presented in this edition is of the first importance to Wittgenstein scholarship. It helps us narrow in on early but richly developed steps in Wittgenstein's thinking on issues to do with meaning and understanding, the notion of 'grammar', rule following, notions of sense and nonsense, and the foundations of logic and mathematics … The editorial approach laid out in the rich introduction and demonstrated in the main sections of the edition seems to me to be just right, striking a balance between completeness and faithfulness, on the one hand, and readability on the other … this edition helps get us closer to hearing more fully and more directly what Wittgenstein said in his lectures from this period.' Jeff Johnson, St Catherine University, Minnesota'As we learn more about Wittgenstein's lectures, we find that he often made points in a clearer, subtler, or more elaborate fashion in his lectures than in his own writings. It is a gift to have these full lecture notes by G. E. Moore, that allow us to judge for ourselves the points Wittgenstein made as he engaged with his students over his new thoughts.' James C. Klagge, Virginia Tech'No one would have been better qualified than G. E. Moore was to take notes enabling him to draw a vivid picture helping today's readers to get a good grasp of what it was like to attend Wittgenstein's brilliant classes in the early 1930s. Stern, Rogers and Citron have done an extremely good job: readers will be indebted to them for a meticulous edition which succeeds in balancing scholarly needs and all reasonable requirements of readability. The book presenting these lecture notes constitutes an exceptional document which everyone interested in the development of Wittgenstein's mature thought will gratefully add to their shelves.' Joachim Schulte, Universität Zürich'Moore's notes on Wittgenstein's lectures from 1930 to 1933 illuminate a decisive stage in the development of Wittgenstein's thought from his early to his later philosophy. We see Wittgenstein dismantling day by day the assumptions of the Tractatus and see rising from the rubble the outlines of a fresh, new philosophizing. The volume will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to track the changes in Wittgenstein's thinking. It gains substantially from the extensive editorial and explanatory notes provided by its editors.' Hans Sluga, University of California, Berkeley'G. E. Moore's notes from Wittgenstein's 1930–1933 Cambridge lectures constitute a new and indispensable resource for students and scholars of Wittgenstein's philosophy alike. … With reference to Wittgenstein's later philosophy, one key highlight of the text under review is an Appendix containing a short paper on Wittgenstein on 'grammar', delivered to the class by Moore in February 1932. … Again, I can enthusiastically recommend the book both to students and scholars. For anyone with an interest in Wittgenstein's rich, sophisticated, and challenging philosophy, Moore's notes will prove to be a fruitful and significant, if not essential, scholarly resource.' James Connelly, Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review'… [This] volume is a treasure chest. Moore's notes bring Wittgenstein's genius before us by inviting us to listen to his lectures and encounter the intensity of his thought before its brilliance has been disciplined by the carefully organised dialectic one finds in his famous works. The editors have done a tremendous job in resurrecting Moore's notes and thereby enhancing the availability of Wittgenstein's middle philosophy.' Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsTable of ContentsEditorial introduction; Synoptic table of contents; Lectures, Cambridge, 1930–3: from the notes of G. E. Moore: Lent term, 1930; May term, 1930; Michaelmas term, 1930; Lent term, 1931; May term, 1931; May term, 1932; Michaelmas term, 1932; Lent term, 1933; May term, 1933; Appendix: Moore's short paper on Wittgenstein on grammar; Biographies; Moore's abbreviations; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisOffering a breadth unmatched by any other study to date, this book deals with the intense Jewish engagement with Martin Heidegger's philosophy. It demonstrates that while his anti-Semitism made his Jewish reception inevitably fraught, no other philosopher has impacted and fomented twentieth century Jewish European thought more than Heidegger.Trade Review'… Through meticulous philological and textual control, and an acute theoretical sophistication, Daniel M. Herskowitz illumines the historical and conceptual frame of reference for the Jewish reception of Heidegger … Eschewing a simplistic political disavowal of Heidegger on account of his Nazi affiliation, the book demonstrates the complexity of thought and the need to look beyond platitudes to understand the depth of philosophical reflection. The book will most surely provoke discussion and stimulate further research into this important and timely topic.' Elliot R. Wolfson, Marsha and Jay Glazer Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara'Daniel M.Herskowitz does not avoid Heidegger's infamous antisemitism in his brilliant new book … in Heidegger and His Jewish Reception, Herskowitz shows that the German philosopher influenced an astonishingly wide array of twentieth century Jewish philosophers, theologians, and scholars.' Steven E. Aschheim, Jewish Review of Books'The book engages with an impressive range of immediate recipients of Heidegger … commendable work done in this text …' Deborah Casewell, Political Theology'This is a major work in Jewish intellectual history that will be of interest to a variety of scholars of religion who deal with secularization in its various forms.' Martin Kavka, Journal of the American Academy of ReligionTable of ContentsPreface; 1. Herkunft and Zukunft: Heidegger, Christianity, and secularization; 2. Kant's legacy and new thinking: Heidegger, Cassirer, and Rosenzweig; 3. A Christian anthropology? Early Jewish readings of Sein und Zeit; 4. Dwelling prophetically: Martin Buber's response to Heidegger; 5. The destruktion of Jerusalem: Leo Strauss on Heidegger; 6. God, being, pathos: Abraham Joshua Heschel's theological rejoinder to Heidegger; 7. Uprooting paganism: Emmanuel Levinas faces Heidegger; Conclusion. Which God will save us? Heidegger and Judaism.

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Book SynopsisAll disciplines can count on a noble founder, and the representation of this founder as an authority is key in order to construe a discipline's identity. This innovative volume explores how Plato and other authorities were represented in one of the most long-lasting traditions of all time.Trade Review'The volume is a success. It addresses problems about conceptions of authority, a topic that is rightly seeing growing interest by historians of philosophy, in the diverse yet cognate contexts of the Platonic tradition. Its contributions are engaging and provoke thought on a wide range of material.' Peter Osorio, Bryn Mawr Classical Review'The importance of this volume goes far beyond the field of Platonic studies.' Olga Alieva, MéthexisTable of ContentsIntroduction Michael Erler, Jan E. Heßler and Federico M. Petrucci; 1. Xenocrates' invention of Platonism David Sedley; 2. An iconography of Xenocrates' Platonism David Sedley; 3. Arcesilaus' appeal to Heraclitus as a philosophical authority for his sceptical stance Anna Maria Ioppolo; 4. Authority beyond doctrines in the 1st century BC: Antiochus' model for Plato's authority Federico M. Petrucci; 5. Authority and doctrine in the pseudo-pythagorean writings Bruno Centrone; 6. Constructing authority: a re-examination of some controversial issues in the theology of Numenius Alexandra Michalewski; 7. Plutarch's E at Delphi: the hypothesis of platonic authority George Boys-Stones; 8. Aristotle's 'physics' as an authoritative work in early Neoplatonism (Plotinus and Porphyry) Riccardo Chiaradonna; 9. Conflicting authorities? Hermias and Simplicius on the self-moving soul Saskia Aerts; 10. Kathēgemōn the importance of the personal teacher in Proclus and later Neoplatonism Christian Tornau; 11. 'In Plato we can see the bad characters being changed by the good and instructed and purified' attitudes to platonic dialogue in later Neoplatonism Anne Sheppard.

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Book SynopsisDescartes has often been called the ''father of modern philosophy''. His attempts to find foundations for knowledge, and to reconcile the existence of the soul with the emerging science of his time, are among the most influential and widely studied in the history of philosophy. This is a classic and challenging introduction to Descartes by one of the most distinguished modern philosophers. Bernard Williams not only analyzes Descartes'' project of founding knowledge on certainty, but uncovers the philosophical motives for his search. With acute insight, he demonstrates how Descartes'' Meditations are not merely a description but the very enactment of philosophical thought and discovery. Williams covers all of the key areas of Descartes'' thought, including God, the will, the possibility of knowledge, and the mind and its place in nature. He also makes profound contributions to the theory of knowledge, metaphysics and philosophy generally.With a new foreword by John CoTrade Review'His biographical digest is as succinct as his philosophical analysis is thorough.' - The Sunday Times'Bernard Williams is arguably the greatest philosopher of his era.' - The Guardian'[Bernard Williams] brought philosophical reflection to an opulent array of subjects, with more imagination and with greater cultural and historical understanding than anyone else of his time' T- homas Nagel, London Review of Books'Bernard Williams has a greater force of thought, deployed over a wider horizon, than anyone else I have ever listened to.' John Dunn - The Times Higher Education SupplementTable of ContentsForeword. Preface. 1.Descartes 2. The Project 3. Cogito and Sum 4. The Real Distinction 5.God 6. Error and the Will 7. Knowledge is Possible 8. Physical Objects 9. Science and Experiment 10. Mind and Its Place in Nature Appendix 1. Epistemological Concepts Appendix 2. What the Pure Enquirer Knows Appendix 3. Dreaming. Index

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Book SynopsisHeidegger's Being and Time is one of the most influential and controversial philosophical treatises of the 20th century. But what exactly are the ideas that so profoundly impacted Sartre's existentialism, influenced Gadamer's hermeneutics, and paved the way for the emergence of deconstruction? And what or who is Dasein'? Answering these questions and more, this guide is an essential resource for anyone wanting to get to grips with Heidegger''s magnum opus. Updated with the latest scholarship, the new 2nd edition features: Updated and increased engagement with the secondary literature on the treatise. Expanded coverage to guide readers through both Division I and Division II, elucidating Heidegger's thinking on time, history, and space References throughout to the leading English translations by Macquarrie and Robinson Updated study questions linking complex philosophical concepts to everyday life and an extended glossary of key termsTrade ReviewWhether one is an instructor looking to assign a companion volume to Being and Time on a syllabus, or a student approaching this text for the first time [...] Blattner's introduction will serve you well. * Brett Buchanan, Philosophy in Review (2009) [Review of 1st edition] *A most welcome expansion that now guides readers through the entirety of Being and Time. Students of Heidegger at all levels will profit from Blattner’s expert guidance for making sense of the previously omitted – and notoriously difficult – late chapters on time and temporality. * David R. Cerbone, Professor of Philosophy, West Virginia University, USA *This second edition of Heidegger’s Being and Time retains the features that made the first edition an indispensable resource: astute presentations of the main concepts, lively examples, and telling comparisons with other philosophical approaches. A completely new section on temporality and historicality, with reflections on Heidegger’s controversial relation to National Socialism, make this a perfect first choice for readers who want a clear path through Heidegger’s most important work. * Steven Crowell, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Rice University, USA *This second edition improves upon what was already the best compact but thorough introduction to Heidegger’s Being and Time in English. Blattner’s critical interpretation is required reading for anyone who wants to understand what remains one of the most important philosophical works of the twentieth century. * Taylor Carman, Professor of Philosophy, Barnard College, USA *This is the best introductory guide to Being and Time on the market today. Blattner succeeds in setting out Heidegger’s thought with remarkable clarity and precision. Beginning students and scholars alike will find this to be an essential resource for exploring Heidegger’s seminal work. * Mark Wrathall, Professor of Philosophy, University of Oxford, UK *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 1. Context 2. Overview of Themes 3. Reading Division I 3.1 Ontology 3.2 Phenomenology 3.3 Existence 3.4 Being-in-the-World 3.5 The World 3.6 Significance & Worldhood 3.7 The Self & the Anyone 3.8 Disclosedness & the There 3.9 Disposedness 3.10 Understanding & Interpretation 3.11 Language 3.12 Realism and Idealism in Being and Time 3.13 Truth 4. Reading Division II 4.1 Everyday, Owned, and Disowned Life 4.2 Falling 4.3 Anxiety 4.4 Death, Guilt, & Conscience 4.5 Resoluteness & Self-Ownership 4.6 Existential Temporality 4.7 History 5. Reception and Influence Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsNotes on Authors vi Preface to the Second Edition viii Acknowledgments ix Some Terms and Concepts x 1 Libertarianism 1Robert Kane 2 Compatibilism 51John Martin Fischer 3 Hard Incompatibilism 92Derk Pereboom 4 Revisionism 132Manuel Vargas 5 Response to Fischer, Pereboom, and Vargas 173Robert Kane 6 Response to Kane, Pereboom, and Vargas 189John Martin Fischer 7 Response to Kane, Fischer, and Vargas 201Derk Pereboom 8 Response to Kane, Fischer, and Pereboom 212Manuel Vargas Appendix: Some Free Will Debates 232 Bibliography 235 Index 253

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Book SynopsisDemonstrates Blanchot's ongoing importance for contemporary philosophical debate about technology, the post-human, and ecological thinking

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Book SynopsisMetaphysics: The Fundamentals presents readers with a systematic, comprehensive introductory overview of modern analytic metaphysics. Presents an accessible, up-to-date and broad-ranging survey of one of the most dynamic and often daunting sub-fields in contemporary philosophy Introduces readers to the seminal works of contemporary and historic philosophers, including Descartes,Leibniz,Russell, David Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, Kit Fine, Peter van Inwagen, John Hawthorne and many others Explores key questions while identifying important assumptions, axioms, and methodological principles Addresses topics in ontology, modality, causality, and universals; as well as issues surrounding material composition, persistence, space, and time Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix 1 What Is Metaphysics? 1 1.1 The Subject of Metaphysics 1 1.2 The Methods of Metaphysics 2 1.3 The Waxing and Waning of Metaphysics 3 1.4 Modern Challenges to Metaphysics 4 1.5 The Renaissance of Metaphysics in the Later “Analytic” Era 6 1.6 Metaphysics as First Philosophy 8 1.7 Overview of the Book 9 2 Truthmakers 15 2.1 Propositions 17 2.2 Classical Truthmaker Theory 20 2.3 Deflationism 34 2.4 Truth Supervenes on Being 36 2.5 Conclusion 38 3 Causation and Powers 40 3.1 Do Causes Exist? 41 3.2 Causal Dispositions and Conditionals 45 3.3 Four Metaphysical Theories 47 3.4 Neo-Humeism 53 3.5 Powerism 63 3.6 Conclusion 74 4 Properties 76 4.1 The Theoretical Role of Properties 77 4.2 Realism 79 4.3 Reductive Nominalism 88 4.4 Trope Theory 96 5 Particulars 102 5.1 Facts 102 5.2 Substances 104 5.3 Conclusion 124 6 Composition 126 6.1 The Special Composition Question 127 6.2 Ontological Free Lunch? 131 6.3 Atomism and Monism 138 6.4 Emergence and Compositional Pluralism 144 6.5 Possible Evidence for Compositional Emergence 145 6.6 Conclusion 152 7 Modality 154 7.1 Possible Worlds: Concretism versus Abstractionism 157 7.2 Modality De Re: Transworld Identity versus Counterpart Theory 175 8 The Passage of Time 182 8.1 The A Theory and the B Theory 182 8.2 Varieties of A Theories 185 8.3 Arguments for the B Theory 188 8.4 Arguments for the A Theory 192 8.5 Conclusion 198 9 Continuity and Persistence 199 9.1 Discrete and Continuous Causation 200 9.2 Instants versus Intervals: Which Are Fundamental? 202 9.3 Possible and Impossible Super-Tasks 206 9.4 Persistence: Fundamental or Non-Fundamental, Supervenient or Anti-Supervenient? 211 9.5 The Persistence of Simple Things: The Problem of Intrinsic Motion 215 9.6 The Persistence of Composite Things: Paradoxes of Intransitivity 217 9.7 Extreme Perdurantism: Who Needs Persistence? 224 9.8 Conclusion: Two Metaphysical Packages 227 10 Concluding Unmetaphysical Postscript 230 10.1 Metaphysical Truth: Anti-Realism 231 10.2 Metaphysical Language: Nonsense and Verbal Disagreement 234 10.3 Metaphysical Skepticism 238 10.4 Metaphysical Fictions 240 10.5 Conclusion: The Inevitability of Metaphysics 241 References 242 Index 250

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Book SynopsisAs featured in THE EDGE OF ALL WE KNOW - the new Netflix documentary about Black HolesFor readers of Stephen Hawking, a fascinating account of the universe from the perspective of world-leading astrophysicist Heino Falcke, who took the first ever picture of a black hole.10th April 2019: a global sensation. Heino Falcke, a man working at the boundaries of his discipline and therefore at the limits of the universe had used a network of telescopes spanning the entire planet to take the first picture of a black hole.Light in the Darkness examines how mankind has always looked to the skies, mapping the journey from millennia ago when we turned our gaze to the heavens, to modern astrophysics. Heino Falcke and Jorg Romer entertainingly and compellingly chart the breakthrough research of Falcke''s team, an unprecedented global community of international colleagues developing a telescope complex enough to look directly into a black hole - a hole where liTrade ReviewHeino Falcke's book shows us how much stamina, curiosity, and fascination are required to persevere with a great scientific project against all naysayers * Berliner Zeitung *The technological and logistical challenges that the scientists engaged in the endeavour to produce an image of a black hole were faced with, and how they finally succeeded in the Spring of 2017 - all of this Falcke, with the help of journalist Jörg Römer, has turned into a wonderful book. * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *Light in the Darkness succeeds in making the invisible visible and the unimaginable imaginable * Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger *Falcke asks that we take seriously what black holes have to tell us and that we accept the limits of our knowledge. You don't see it very often that a scientist shows such modesty at the moment of his greatest triumph. One of the many strengths of this book * Neue Zürcher Zeitung *Heino Falcke's very personal book provides surprisingly revealing insights into the life of a researcher. It introduces the reader to the early history of astronomy and its modern foundation and does so in an accessible way * Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag *Heino Falcke does ground-breaking research into the universe's most mysterious phenomenon and at the very edge of space and time * From the statement of the jury for the Spinoza Prize *For me, Heino Falcke is the Man of the Year 2019, and the image of the black hole in the M87 galaxy that he and his team produced immediately became iconic. But Falcke isn't only a fantastic scientist, but also a gifted storyteller * New Scientist (Dutch edition) *Whoever reads Falcke's book won't just dive into a breathtaking scientific story but will also be in awe of the man himself. In spite - or maybe precisely because? - of his rigorous scientific work, this practicing Christian and minister keeps a room for god in his heart * Neue Ruhr Zeitung *Falcke and Römer pull off the trick of combining an individual and a cosmic perspective in the most illuminating and entertaining fashion * Der Freitag *

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Book SynopsisDidier Debaise focuses in on Whitehead s attempt to construct a metaphysical system of everything in the universe that exists whilst simultaneously claiming that it can account for every element of our experience, giving us a radically new way of conceiving the relations between experience and speculation.Trade Review'In Speculative Empiricism, Didier Debaise expertly guides the reader on a remarkable voyage through Whitehead's metaphysical masterpiece, Process and Reality. The juxtaposition of the two title words sets the agenda, giving notice from the start that we will be heading into unexpected territory. Here, speculation will become a matter of experience, and experience, reciprocally, will be imbued with the futurity of potential. The result is a novel pragmatics of becoming which Debaise maps with unerring lucidity and precision, providing both an introduction to key Whiteheadian concepts and a major contribution to the scholarship that will be of equal interest to specialists.' - Brian Massumi, University of Montreal

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Book SynopsisEtienne Balibar, one of the foremost living French philosophers, builds on his landmark work 'Spinoza and Politics' with this exploration of Spinoza's ontology. Balibar situates Spinoza in relation to the major figures of Marx and Freud as a precursor to the more recent French thinker Gilbert Simondon's concept of the transindividual.Trade Review'This collection is a rich, fascinating and important one ... [It] marks an important new direction in Spinoza studies and puts the problem of individuality and relationality squarely before us. Well translated, it will be of service to scholars of Balibar and of Spinoza for many years to come.' - Dan Taylor, Open University, Marx and Philosophy Review of BooksTable of ContentsNotes on Translation; Introduction: The Unity of Transindividuality: An Examination of Balibar’s Philosophical Practice, Jason Read; 1. Individuality, Causality, Substance: Reflections on Spinoza's Ontology; 2. Individuality and Transindividuality in Spinoza; 3. Potentia multitudinis, qua una veluti mente ducitur; 4. Philosophies of the Transindividual: Spinoza, Marx, Freud; Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisRobert Miner attends closely to the rhymes and aphorisms that make up The Gay Science and make it so quotable yet so frequently misunderstood. Tracking Nietzsche's mixture of subtle argumentation, memorable images and provocative rhetoric, he opens up multiple ways of interpreting the text and applying it to our own circumstances.

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Book SynopsisGavin Rae shows that the problematic status of agency caused by the poststructuralist decentring of the subject is a central concern for poststructuralist thinkers. He shows how this plays out in the thinking of Deleuze, Derrida and Foucault, and find the best explanation of agency for the founded subject in the work of Castoriadis.

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Book SynopsisFor the first time, Vernon W. Cisney brings you a scholarly analysis of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze's contrasting concepts of difference. He distinguishes their responses to Hegel and Nietzsche. He finds that Deleuze formulates an affirmative conception of difference, while Derrida's differance amounts to an irresolvable negativity.

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Book SynopsisLemm offers an original reading of Nietzsche's enigmatic term homo natura that brings back the ancient Greek idea of nature and sexuality as creative chaos and of the philosophical life as outspoken and embodied truth, perhaps best exemplified by the cynics' embrace of social and cultural transformation.

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Book SynopsisRocco Gangle addresses the methodological questions raised by a commitment to immanence in terms of how diagrams may be used both as tools and as objects of philosophical investigation. Gangle integrates insights from Spinoza, Pierce and Deleuze in conjunction with the formal operations of category theory.

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Book SynopsisPossibility is a concept central to both philosophy and social theory. But in what philosophical soil, if any, does the possibility of a better society grow? At the intersection of metaphysics and social theory, What Would Be Different looks to Theodor W. Adorno to reflect on the relationship between the possible and the actual. In repeated allusions to utopia, redemption, and reconciliation, Adorno appears to reference a future that would break decisively with the social injustices that have characterized history. To this end, and though he never explains it in any detail—let alone in the form of a full-blown theory or metaphysics—he also makes extensive technical use of the concept of possibility. Taking Adorno's critical readings of other thinkers, especially Hegel and Heidegger, as his guiding thread, Iain Macdonald reflects on possibility as it relates to Adorno's own writings and offers answers to the question of how we are to articulate such possibilities without lapsing into a vague and naïve utopianism.Trade Review"This exemplary and highly original piece of philosophical scholarship precisely illuminates a central but hitherto unrecognized concern in Adorno's work—his notion of 'real but blocked possibility'—demonstrating how it operates throughout his writing. I know of no study similar to it."—Henry Pickford, Duke University"Macdonald is not only an authority on Adorno but also a deeply skilled philosopher. What Would Be Different deals with some ferociously difficult and abstract conceptual material while remaining lucid, careful, and thorough. Without question, it figures among the most genuinely pathbreaking recent work on Adorno."—Maxim Pensky, Binghamton University, the State University of New York"What is possible? With this question in mind, Macdonald sets out on a breathtaking intellectual journey. In a series of spectacularly powerful and compelling readings of such key thinkers as Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, Benjamin, Bloch, and Adorno, he throws new and much needed light on the post-Kantian philosophical tradition while offering resources for responding to our contemporary crisis."—Espen Hammer, Temple University"This much-needed book explores how possibility, for Adorno, can be thought beyond mere contingency or empty utopia. To ask 'what would be different' is as concrete as it is radical—and only radical insofar as it is concrete. Macdonald shows that the possible cannot be defined generally and ontologically but only historically and socially: as a world that could well be realized but that is blocked by the ruling powers."—Christoph Menke, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main"What Would Be Different presents readers with the results of years of fruitful effort....[It] takes an important stand in a debate that matters, not just to armchair academics, but to everybody on the planet."—Deborah Cook, Symposium"What Would Be Different provides us with an essential, long neglected, philosophical and biographical examination of Adorno and Heidegger's complicated relationship....[It offers] a valuable contribution to philosophy in that it provides a clear, non-partisan presentation of famously difficult thinkers from disparate traditions. Macdonald's synthesis and framing of these ideas is admirable."—Matthew Eckel, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books Table of Contents1. What Would Be Different 2. Hegel's Fallacy: Possibility and Actuality in Hegel and Adorno 3. Adorno: Nature–History–Possibility 4. Adorno and Heidegger: Possibility Read Backward and Forward 5. Adorno, Benjamin, and What Would Be Different

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Book SynopsisWe can introspect. We can look inwards, as it were, at our own minds and represent what is occurring there. Philosophers and psychologists have speculated about how we do this, but there has been little exploration of the wider theoretical landscape in the area. Could other beings, such as non-human animals and artificial intelligences, introspect too? What forms might their introspection take? Do some humans introspect in nonstandard ways, and can humans develop new introspective powers through techniques such as meditation?This book, a reprint of a special issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, explores this neglected landscape. It opens with a target article by the editors, which proposes an ambitious research programme on possible forms of introspection and provides maps and conceptual tools to get the project under way. This is followed by fifteen commentaries from leading philosophers and cognitive scientists. Topics discussed include the experimental study of introspection, introspection in animals, LLMs, and group minds, and the effects on introspection of meditation and certain psychiatric conditions. The volume concludes with a reply by the editors, which revises and extends their original proposal.The Landscape of Introspection offers an informed, contemporary, and challenging view of what introspection is and could be.

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive explanation of the relationship between formal scholastic metaphysics and the philosophical foundation of mysticism and the Perennial philosophy.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe Prince and the Wolf contains the transcript of a debate which took place on 5th February 2008 at the London School of Economics (LSE) between the prominent French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher Bruno Latour and the Cairo-based American philosopher Graham Harman. The occasion for the debate was the impending publication of Harman's book, Prince of Networks: Bruno Latour and Metaphysics. During the discussion, Latour (the 'Prince') compared the professional philosophers who have pursued him over the years to a pack of wolves. The Prince and the Wolf is the story of what happens when the wolf catches up with the prince. Latour and Harman engage in brisk and witty conversation about questions that go to the heart of both metaphysics and research methodology: What are objects? How do they interact? And best how to study them?Trade ReviewToo often debates are sterile. Each participant lines up behind the other, each with their own point of view. All is on show but nothing much happens. This debate is different. Something happened. (Nigel Thrift, University of Warwick) This is an especially welcome book. It is rare that one has the opportunity to be a near eye witness to a constructive and intellectually generous exchange of provocative ideas-in-the-making. Graham Harman, Bruno Latour and the assembled audience put on a great show. The exchange is fresh, laced with good humor, and informative. There is much to be learned here about empirical metaphysics-and collegiality. (Michael Flower, Portland State University)

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Book Synopsis"Harman's style often evokes that of a William James merged with the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft." Olivier Surel in Actu Philosophia In this book the metaphysical system of Graham Harman is presented in lucid form, aided by helpful diagrams. In Chapter 1, Harman gives his most forceful critique to date of philosophies that reject objects as a primary reality. All such rejections are tainted by either an "undermining" or "overmining" approach to objects. In Chapters 2 and 3, he reviews his concepts of sensual and real objects. In the process, he attacks the prestige normally granted to philosophies of human access, which Harman links for the first time to the already discredited "Menos Paradox." In Chapters 4 through 7, Harman brings the reader up to speed on his interpretation of Heidegger, which culminates in a fourfold structure of objects linked by indirect causation. In Chapter 8, he speculates on the implications of this theory for the debate over panpsychism, which Harman both embraces and rejects. In Chapters 9 and 10, he introduces the term "ontography" as the study of the different possible permutations of objects and qualities, which he simplifies with easily remembered terminology drawn from standard playing cards.Trade ReviewIn this book we again encounter Harman's voice and the extraordinary force of his theses. Starting from an initial simplicity, they ultimately attain a degree of complexity and fascinating depth- but always step by step, in such a way that the reader is never distracted. (Quentin Meillassoux, Aecole normale superieure, author of After Finitude)

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Book SynopsisCh 1: Mapping Impossibility.- Ch 2: The Indispensability Argument.- Ch 3: The Variety of Impossible Worlds.- Ch 4: The Metaphysics of Impossible Worlds.- Ch 5: Inconsistent Worlds.- Ch 6: Open Worlds.- Ch 7: The Trivial World.- Ch 8: The Empty World.

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Book SynopsisIn a new approach to philosophical anthropology, Bruno Latour offers answers to questions raised in We Have Never Been Modern: If not modern, what have we been, and what values should we inherit? An Inquiry into Modes of Existence offers a new basis for diplomatic encounters with other societies at a time of ecological crisis.Trade Review[An Inquiry into Modes of Existence] is not just a book; it is also a project in interactive metaphysics. In other words, a book, plus website… Intrigued readers of Latour’s text can go online [http://www.modesofexistence.org/] and find themselves drawn into a collaborative project. Collective collaboration—some would call it ‘crowdsourcing’—is rare in philosophy, but Latour, a sociologist and anthropologist by training, is used to collaboration with scientists… Latour’s work makes the world—sorry, worlds—interesting again. And, best of all, it is a project to which you can attach yourself. -- Stephen Muecke * Los Angeles Review of Books *Magnificent… An Inquiry into Modes of Existence shows that [Latour] has lost none of his astonishing fertility as a thinker, or his skill and wit as a writer… Latour’s main message—that rationality is ‘woven from more than one thread’—is intended not just for the academic seminar, but for the public square—and the public square today is global as never before. Thanks to what Bruno Latour describes as the ‘formidable discoveries of modernism,’ we have come to share a world of material interdependence and incessant communication, just at the time when the threat of climate change gives desperate pathos to our common stewardship of the planet. Latour speaks with urgency when he asks us all to set aside the script of secular modernity—to stop insulting each other and learn to pluralize, apologize and ecologize. We must prepare ourselves for diplomacy, he says: we must talk to one another or die. -- Jonathan Rée * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[Schwitzgebel] leads readers down a fascinating rabbit hole of metaphysics, ontology, theories of causation, and the science of cognition. . . . It’s an exuberant look at some of life’s biggest questions." * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"For Kathleen Raine, Blake was an eighteenth-century herald of a change in thinking that only now is coming to fruition. . . . Blake and Antiquity is the work of a scholar who serves the lovers of literature." * MANAS *

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Book SynopsisPossibility is a concept central to both philosophy and social theory. But in what philosophical soil, if any, does the possibility of a better society grow? At the intersection of metaphysics and social theory, What Would Be Different looks to Theodor W. Adorno to reflect on the relationship between the possible and the actual. In repeated allusions to utopia, redemption, and reconciliation, Adorno appears to reference a future that would break decisively with the social injustices that have characterized history. To this end, and though he never explains it in any detail—let alone in the form of a full-blown theory or metaphysics—he also makes extensive technical use of the concept of possibility. Taking Adorno's critical readings of other thinkers, especially Hegel and Heidegger, as his guiding thread, Iain Macdonald reflects on possibility as it relates to Adorno's own writings and offers answers to the question of how we are to articulate such possibilities without lapsing into a vague and naïve utopianism.Trade Review"This exemplary and highly original piece of philosophical scholarship precisely illuminates a central but hitherto unrecognized concern in Adorno's work—his notion of 'real but blocked possibility'—demonstrating how it operates throughout his writing. I know of no study similar to it."—Henry Pickford, Duke University"Macdonald is not only an authority on Adorno but also a deeply skilled philosopher. What Would Be Different deals with some ferociously difficult and abstract conceptual material while remaining lucid, careful, and thorough. Without question, it figures among the most genuinely pathbreaking recent work on Adorno."—Maxim Pensky, Binghamton University, the State University of New York"What is possible? With this question in mind, Macdonald sets out on a breathtaking intellectual journey. In a series of spectacularly powerful and compelling readings of such key thinkers as Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, Benjamin, Bloch, and Adorno, he throws new and much needed light on the post-Kantian philosophical tradition while offering resources for responding to our contemporary crisis."—Espen Hammer, Temple University"This much-needed book explores how possibility, for Adorno, can be thought beyond mere contingency or empty utopia. To ask 'what would be different' is as concrete as it is radical—and only radical insofar as it is concrete. Macdonald shows that the possible cannot be defined generally and ontologically but only historically and socially: as a world that could well be realized but that is blocked by the ruling powers."—Christoph Menke, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main"What Would Be Different presents readers with the results of years of fruitful effort....[It] takes an important stand in a debate that matters, not just to armchair academics, but to everybody on the planet."—Deborah Cook, Symposium"What Would Be Different provides us with an essential, long neglected, philosophical and biographical examination of Adorno and Heidegger's complicated relationship....[It offers] a valuable contribution to philosophy in that it provides a clear, non-partisan presentation of famously difficult thinkers from disparate traditions. Macdonald's synthesis and framing of these ideas is admirable."—Matthew Eckel, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books Table of Contents1. What Would Be Different 2. Hegel's Fallacy: Possibility and Actuality in Hegel and Adorno 3. Adorno: Nature–History–Possibility 4. Adorno and Heidegger: Possibility Read Backward and Forward 5. Adorno, Benjamin, and What Would Be Different

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Book SynopsisThis new translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics in its entirety is a model of accuracy and consistency, presented with a wealth of annotation and commentary. Sequentially numbered endnotes provide the information most needed at each juncture, while a detailed Index of Terms guides the reader to places where focused discussion of key notions occurs. An illuminating general Introduction describes the book that lies ahead, explaining what it is about, what it is trying to do, how it goes about doing it, and what sort of audience it presupposes.Trade Review"C. D. C. Reeve adds to his already remarkable series of translations of Plato and Aristotle another stellar accomplishment: a full translation of Aristotle's daunting Metaphysics. He has managed to present Aristotle’s often ungainly Greek into perfectly flowing English syntax without sacrificing the core meaning of the text. Any translator of Aristotle will recognize what an impressive achievement this is. All readers will benefit from the over 1,600 explicative notes accompanying the translation: Reeve has a discerning eye for determining what requires amplification for the purposes of understanding and an admirable gift for saying just as much as needs to be said in order to achieve it." —Christopher Shields, George N. Shuster Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame"C. D. C. Reeve's new translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics is a very welcome tool for students, teachers, and scholarly readers. This accurate translation comes with a wealth of notes that explain Aristotle's thought or refer to or quote parallel passages from other parts of the Metaphysics or other Aristotelian works." —Mirjam E. Kotwick, University of Cincinnati, in Ancient Philosophy"Reeve's emendations and translations are philosophically sensitive and he scrupulously offers the alternatives in his notes. I can't fault his translation strategy, which balances literalism and readability without sacrificing accuracy and empowers readers to evaluate his choices. The interpretive notes Reeve offers are useful, but are not intended to serve as a full commentary. They will, however, help students and provide a rich resource of inspiration for researchers. The learning, skill and range exhibited by Reeve are astonishing. In short, if you teach or research Aristotle, Reeve offers a valuable addition to the English-language resources on the Metaphysics." —Matthew Duncombe, University of Nottingham, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

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Book SynopsisIn the most rigorous articulation of his philosophical system to date, Slavoj Žižek provides nothing short of a new definition of dialectical materialism.In forging this new materialism, Žižek critiques and challenges not only the work of Alain Badiou, Robert Brandom, Joan Copjec, Quentin Meillassoux, and Julia Kristeva (to name but a few), but everything from popular science and quantum mechanics to sexual difference and analytic philosophy. Alongside striking images of the Möbius strip, the cross-cap, and the Klein bottle, Žižek brings alive the Hegelian triad of being-essence-notion. Radical new readings of Hegel, and Kant, sit side by side with characteristically lively commentaries on film, politics, and culture.Here is Žižek at his interrogative best.Trade Review[This] is certainly the best organized and clearly structured of the author's “big” books … Žižek's writing style is much clearer (relatively speaking) than it was in earlier works and thus reflects the fact that many careless readers have (mis)read him simplistically … Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * CHOICE *Few thinkers illustrate the contradictions of contemporary capitalism better than Slavoj Žižek. * John Gray, New York Review of Books *Like Socrates on steroids ... breathtakingly perceptive. The most formidably brilliant exponent of psychoanalysis, indeed of cultural theory in general, to have emerged in many decades * Terry Eagleton *The excitable fluency, ursine congeniality and gleeful readiness to provoke and offend all feed the sense of authentic sponanaeity and energy that has made Žižek somethig like European philosophy’s punk icon, packing out auditoriums around the world. * Josh Cohen, New Statesman *A gifted speaker—tumultuous, emphatic, direct—he writes as he speaks. * Jonathan Rée, Guardian *The most dangerous philosopher in the West * Adam Kirsch, New Republic *Žižek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized, and is master of the counterintuitive observation * New Yorker *A penetrating new study that redefines a term that most would be wary of returning to: dialectical materialism. What the feeling of déjà vu in reading Sex and the Failed Absolute does come from is the re-experiencing of the excitement that characterised reading his first book back in 1989. * Scottish Left Review *a relentless iconoclast, a restless wordsmith, an inventive thinker with a hatred of received wisdom, an underminer of conventionally acknowledged truths. * Bookforum *Sex and the Failed Absolute is to Žižek’s corpus what Malevich’s Black Square was to his artistic oeuvre. In this watershed book, interweaving the odd couple of quantum physics and sexuality, Žižek offers readers the distilled essence of a new dialectical materialism. This reinvents the very foundations of Žižekian ontology * Adrian Johnston, Professor and Chair of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, U.S.A *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION: THE UNORIENTABLE SURFACE OF DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM THEOREM I: THE PARALLAX OF ONTOLOGY Modalities of the Absolute—Reality and Its Transcendental Supplement – Varieties of the Transcendental in Western Marxism - The Margin of Radical Uncertainty COROLLARY 1: INTELLECTUAL INTUITION AND INTELLECTUS ARCHETYPUS: REFLEXIVITY IN KANT AND HEGEL Intellectual Intuition from Kant to Hegel—From Intellectus Ectypus to Intellectus Archetypus SCHOLIUM 1.1: BUDDHA, KANT, HUSSERL SCHOLIUM 1.2: HEGEL’S PARALLAX SCHOLIUM 1.3: THE “DEATH OF TRUTH” THEOREM II: SEX AS OUR BRUSH WITH THE ABSOLUTE Antinomies of Pure Sexuation—Sexual Parallax and Knowledge—The Sexed Subject - Plants, Animals, Humans, Posthumans COROLLARY 2: SINUOSITIES OF SEXUALIZED TIME Days of the Living Dead – Cracks in Circular Time SCHOLIUM 2.1: SCHEMATISM IN KANT, HEGEL… AND SEX SCHOLIUM 2.2: MARX, BRECHT, AND SEXUAL CONTRACTS SCHOLIUM 2.3: THE HEGELIAN REPETITION SCHOLIUM 2.4: SEVEN DEADLY SINS THEOREM III: THE THREE UNORIENTABLES Möbius Strip, or, the Convolutions of Concrete Universality—The “Inner Eight”—(((Suture Redoubled)))—Cross-Capping Class Struggle—From Cross-Cap to Klein Bottle—A Snout in Plato’s Cave COROLLARY 3: THE RETARDED GOD OF QUANTUM ONTOLOGY The Implications of Quantum Gravity—The Two Vacuums: From Less than Nothing to Nothing – Is the Collapse of a Quantum Wave Like a Throw of Dice? SCHOLIUM 3.1: THE ETHICAL MOEBIUS STRIP SCHOLIUM 3.2: THE DARK TOWER OF SUTURE SCHOLIUM 3.3: SUTURE AND HEGEMONY SCHOLIUM 3.4: THE WORLD WITH(OUT) A SNOUT SCHOLIUM 3.5: TOWARDS A QUANTUM PLATONISM THEOREM IV: THE PERSISTENCE OF ABSTRACTION Madness, Sex, War— How to Do Words with Things—The Inhuman View – The All-Too-Close In-Itself COROLLARY 4: IBI RHODUS IBI SALTUS! The Protestant Freedom—Jumping Here and Jumping There—Four Ethical Gestures SCHOLIUM 4.1: LANGUAGE, LALANGUE SCHOLIUM 4.2 - PROKOFIEV’S TRAVELS SCHOLIUM 4.3: BECKETT AS THE WRITER OF ABSTRACTION

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Book SynopsisVagueness is the study of concepts that admit borderline cases. The epistemology of vagueness concerns attitudes we should have towards propositions we know to be borderline. On this basis Andrew Bacon develops a new theory of vagueness in which vagueness is fundamentally a property of propositions, explicated in terms of its role in thought.Trade ReviewThough I find Bacon's view of vagueness impossible to accept, I still think this is a terrific book. Bacon has a wonderful sense for which issues are substantive and which merely superficial, and in focusing our attention on Rational Supervenience and Indifference, he has opened up some genuinely new questions. In addition to the main line of thought sketched above, the book contains illuminating treatments of many connected topics (for example, the connections between necessity and determinacy). It will richly reward anyone with an interest in its subject. * John MacFarlane, Philosophical Review *This is a remarkable book. I accept its main thesis, that propositional vagueness is more fundamental than sentential vagueness. I am in favor of treating vague beliefs in probabilistic terms, and the investigation of how we should reason with vague beliefs and vague desires is a valuable project. There has been relatively little work on this, and Bacon's book goes much further than any before. The idea of using Jeffrey conditioning to explain the impact of vague beliefs is an excellent one. * Dorothy Edgington, Journal of Philosophy *Table of ContentsPart I: Background 1: Non-Classical and Nihilistic Approaches 2: Classical Approaches: An Overview of the Current Debate 3: An Outline of a Theory of Propositional Vagueness Part II: Epistemological Matters 4: Vagueness and Language 5: Vagueness and Ignorance 6: Vagueness and Evidence 7: Probabilism, Assertion and Higher-order Vagueness 8: Vagueness and Uncertainty 9: Vagueness and Decision 10: Vagueness and Desire Part III: Logical Matters 11: Vague Propositions 12: Vagueness and Precision 13: Symmetry Semantics 14: Vagueness and the World 15: Vagueness and Modality 16: Vague Objects 17: Beyond Vagueness 18: Appendices

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Book SynopsisIn this work, the Catholic philosopher Etienne Gilson deals with one of the most important and perplexing metaphysical problems: the relation between our notion of God and demonstrations of his existence.Trade Review"[I] commend to another generation of seekers and students this deeply earnest and yet wistfully gentle little essay on the most important (and often, at least nowadays, the most neglected) of all metaphysical—and existential—questions. . . . The historical sweep is breathtaking, the one-liners arresting, and the style, both intellectual and literary, altogether engaging."—Jaroslav Pelikan, from the foreword

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Book SynopsisBertrand Russell famously quipped that he didn't believe in God for the same reason that he didn't believe in a teapot in orbit between the earth and Mars: it is a bizarre assertion for which no evidence can be provided. Is belief in God really like belief in Russell's teapot? Kenneth L. Pearce argues that God is no teapot. God is a real answer to the deepest question of all: why is there something rather than nothing? Graham Oppy argues that we should believe that there are none but natural causal entities with none but natural causal propertiesand hence should believe that there are no gods. Beginning from this basic disagreement, the authors proceed to discuss and debate a wide range of philosophical questions, including questions about explanation, necessity, rationality, religious experience, mathematical objects, the foundations of ethics, and the methodology of philosophy. Each author first presents his own side, and then they interact through two rounds of objections and repTrade Review"Kenneth Pearce and Graham Oppy are first-rate philosophers of religion. This book offers an engaging and fruitful dialogue between a theist and an atheist, addressing all key concepts and arguments in the contemporary debate on the existence of God. I recommend the book to all readers who are interested in studying both sides of the debate."Yujin Nagasawa, H. G. Wood Professor of the Philosophy of Religion, University of Birmingham, U.K."This exchange between Oppy and Pearce represents the finest in philosophical inquiry. Together they create a new chandelier with structure and detail as they systematically discuss questions of worldview along the cutting edge of philosophical inquiry. Their exchange is professional, productive, and elegant."Joshua Rasmussen, Department of Philosophy, Azusa Pacific University, U.S.A.Table of ContentsForeword: Worldview comparison and religious commitment, by Helen De Cruz Opening Statements 1. Classical Theism: An Exposition and Defense 2. Are There Any Gods? First Round of Replies 3. Reply to Graham Oppy’s Opening Statement4. Reply to Kenny Pearce’s Opening Statement Second Round of Replies 5. Reply to Graham Oppy's Reply 6. Reply to Kenny Pearces’s Reply

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Carlisle’s book is a finely written and thoughtful introduction to Spinoza’s philosophy for anyone who is curious as to why this thinker, dead for almost 350 years, remains vitally relevant today"---Steven Nadler, Literary Review"[Carlisle] admirably establishes that Spinoza’s philosophy can be interpreted as a distinctive and original form of rational religion."---Carlos Fraenkel, Times Literary Supplement"Carlisle has done us a great service by offering a convincing and newly rounded portrayal—and by reminding us that you can never exhaust the majesty of Spnoza's religious writing."---Alex Dean, Prospect"An intimate, religious reading of Spinoza’s Ethics, which allows his peculiar religion to emerge with all its promise and paradox." * Choice Reviews *"Carlisle’s interpretation of Spinoza is consistently fresh and surprising. . . . This book steps decisively away from the modes of rational reconstruction and conceptual analysis that now dominate Spinoza scholarship in the English language, and is all the better for it. . . . An excellent book that will reward readers of Spinoza of all levels."---Beth Lord, Philosophy"I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels excited to explore the new world of interpretation that Carlisle has opened up by taking Spinoza’s religion seriously."---Alexander Douglas, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews"Spinoza’s Religion is a joy to read. . . . It is a book that has the power to bring Spinoza deeper into our hearts, making his words a companion n our efforts to live with greater equanimity and delight. Spinoza's Religion also poses a compelling challenge to what we think we know about Spinoza."---Hasana Sharp, Journal of the History of Philosophy

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Book SynopsisFrancois Zourabichvili wrote two major contributions to Spinoza scholarship. While Une physique de la pensee (PUF, 2002) concerns Spinoza's epistemology and metaphysics of ideas, Spinoza's Paradoxical Conservatism focuses on his political philosophy.

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