Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology Books

Book SynopsisJames Van Cleve here shows why Thomas Reid (1710-96) deserves a place alongside the other canonical figures of modern philosophy. He expounds Reidâs positions and arguments on a wide range of topics, taking interpretive stands on points where his meaning is disputed and assessing the value of his contributions to issues philosophers are discussing today.Among the topics Van Cleve explores are Reid''s account of perception and its relation to sensation, conception, and belief; his nativist account of the origin of the concepts of space and power; his attempt to clear the way for the belief that the things we directly perceive are external things, not ideas in our minds; his stand on the distinction between primary and secondary qualities; his account of acquired perception, whereby we come to stand in a quasi-perceptual relation to qualities not originally perceived; his claim that visual space is non-Euclidean; his answers to the questions why we see the world right side up with invertTrade ReviewTerrific book--learned, relentlessly interesting, and astonishingly clear in its argumentation. * Rex Welshon, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs *James Van Cleve has written a delightful book on Reid. It is engaging, informative, brilliant, and compelling. * Lorne Falkenstein, University of Western Ontario *If you have any interest in Reid and have some time to spare, then read it. Even if you are not much interested in Reid but want a vivid example of how to write history of philosophy, then read this book. Even if you are not much interested in the history of philosophy but wonder whether you should be, then read this book. You will be treated to a discussion whose level of scholarship, quality of prose and argumentation, and sensitivity to Reid's problems (and ours) is exceptional. * Terence Cuneo, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Online *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: Sensation and Perception ; A. Explanations of Terms ; B. Sensation versus Perception ; C. Reid's Threefold Account of Perception ; D The Conception in Perception ; E. Perception and Belief ; F. Consciousness and Attention ; G. Are Sensations Self-Reflexive? ; Chapter 2: Reid's Nativism ; A. Reid's Nativism ; B. Natural Signs ; C. The Experimentum Crucis ; D. Responses to the Experimentum Crucis ; E. Woulds, Coulds, or Shoulds? ; F. Nativism as an Antidote to Skepticism? ; Chapter 3: Direct Realism Versus the Way of Ideas ; A. The Way of Ideas ; B. First Argument for the Way of Ideas: No Action at a Distance ; C. Second Argument for the Way of Ideas: Hume's Table Argument ; D. Third Argument for the Way of Ideas: Double Vision ; E. Fourth Argument for the Way of Ideas: Malebranche's Master Argument ; F. Three Forms of Direct Realism ; G. Do Sensations Obstruct Direct Realism? ; H. Is Reid a Presentational Direct Realist? ; I. All Perception is Direct Perception ; Chapter 4: Primary and Secondary Qualities ; A. Reid's Relation to Locke and Berkeley ; B. The Real Foundation: Epistemological or Metaphysical? ; C. Dispositions or Bases? ; D. Intrinsic or Extrinsic? ; E. Fixed or Variable? ; F. Four Views that Conflict with Reid's ; Chapter 5: Acquired Perception ; A. The Mechanics of Acquired Perception ; B. Is Acquired Perception Really Perception? ; C. Are Secondary Qualities Objects of Acquired Perception Only? ; D. Does Acquired Perception Alter the Content of our Original Perceptions? ; E. Could Anything Become an Object of Acquired Perception? ; F. Is Reid Inconsistent about the Requisites of Perception? ; Chapter 6: The Geometry of Visibles ; A. The Properties of Spherical Figures ; B. Depth is Not Perceived ; C. The Argument from Indistinguishability ; D. Visibles as Sense Data ; E. Coincidence as Identity ; F. Angell's Approach ; G. The Argument of Paragraph 4 ; H. The Real Basis of the Geometry of Visibles ; I. Does the Geometry of Visibles Jeopardize Direct Realism? ; J. What Are Visibles? ; K. Direct Realism and Seeing What we Touch ; L. Visible Figure as a Relativized Property of Ordinary Objects ; M. Mediated but Direct? ; Chapter 7: Erect and Inverted Vision ; A. The Naive Puzzle and Rock's Question ; B. The Classical Solution ; C. Berkeley's Solution(s) to the Naive Puzzle ; D. Reid's Alternative to Berkeley's Solution ; E. Answers to Rock's Question ; F. Experiments with Inverting Lenses ; G. Perceptual Adaptation ; Chapter 8: Molyneux's Question ; A. Molyneux's Question ; B. Empirical Evidence ; C. Berkeley's Answer ; D. Reid's answer(s) ; E. Is Berkeley's Modus Tollens Reid's Modus Ponens? ; F. The One-Two Molyneux Question ; G. Concluding Confession ; Chapter 9: Memory and Personal Identity ; A. Things Obvious and Certain with Regard to Memory ; B. Critique of the Impression and Idea Theories of Memory ; C. Memory as Direct Awareness of Things Past ; D. The Specious Present ; E. Personal Identity ; Chapter 10: Conception and its Objects ; A. Was Reid a Meinongian before Meinong? ; B. Alternatives to Meinongism: Ideas and Universals ; C. Alternatives to Meinongism: The Adverbial Theory of Thinking ; D. A Meinongian Defense of Direct Realism ; E. Assessment of the Defense ; F. Direct Realism Redux ; Chapter 11: Epistemology 1: First Principles ; A. First Principles and Epistemic Principles ; B. A Crucial Ambiguity ; C. Clues from Reid's Discussion of Descartes ; D. Particulars Versus Generals ; E. Three Reasons for Particularism ; F. Other Minds and Natural Signs ; G. Must Principles Be General? ; H. Establishing Reliability Without Circularity ; I. Reid on Confirming the Testimony of our Faculties ; J. Can Epistemic Principles Be First Principles? ; K. The Epistemic Status of Reliability Principles ; L. Conclusion ; Chapter 12: Epistemology 2: Reid's Response to the Skeptic ; A. Direct Realism ; B. Naturalism ; C. Externalism ; D. Problems for Externalism ; E. Rationalist Alternatives ; F. Conclusion ; Chapter 13: Epistemology 3: Lehrer's Reid ; A. Must a Knower Know that his Faculties are Reliable? ; B. A Special Role for Principle 7? ; C. Faculties that Vouch for Themselves? ; Chapter 14: Theory of Action 1: Causation, Action, and Volition ; A. The Notion of Active Power ; B. Two Types of Causation ; C. Universal Agent Causation ; D. Action and Volition ; Chapter 15: Theory of Action 2: Determinism, Freedom, and Agency ; A. Two Forms of Determinism ; B. What Freedom is not: the Williwig Account ; C. What Freedom is: the Agent-Causation Account ; D. The Fundamental Dilemma for Libertarianism ; E. The Regress of Exertion ; F. The Regress of Agent Causation ; G. Anomic Explanation ; Chapter 16: Reid versus Hume on Morals ; A. Hume and Reid in the Broad Scheme of Things ; B. Reid against Hume ; C. Hume against Reid ; D. Ethics and Epistemology ; Appendices ; A. Is There Knowledge by Acquaintance? ; B. Conception and Judgment: the Chicken or the Egg? ; C. Experience as a Source of Concepts ; D. Perception as Analog Representation ; E. Byrne versus Reid ; F. Infinity and Reflexivity ; G. Externality and Extension ; H. Programming the Obvious ; I. The Sun in the Sky and the Sun in my Mind ; J. Secondary Qualities: Can We Have it Both Ways? ; K. The One-Point Argument ; L. Stereo Sue ; M. Hyperbolic Claims about Hyperbolic Geometry ; N. What Is Special about the Sphere? ; O. Is Reid's Geometry Imaginable? ; P. Forlorn Reflections ; Q. Ask Marilyn ; R. Stratton Overturned ; S. Molyneux's Question Answered after 300 Years? ; T. Relative Identity ; U. Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Reid on Abstract Ideas ; V. The First Principles of Contingent Truths ; W. Reid on the First Principle(s) of Descartes ; X. Rowe's Regress ; Y. Volition and Undertaking ; Z. Reid, Chisholm, Taylor, and Ginet ; Bibliography ; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisOver the last two decades the distinguished philosopher Philip Kitcher has started to make a serious case for pragmatism as the source of a new life in contemporary philosophy. There are some, like Kitcher, who view today''s analytic philosophy as mired in narrowly focused, technical disputes of little interest to the wider world. What is the future of philosophy, and what would it look like?While Classical Pragmatism -- the American philosophy developed by John Dewey, Charles Peirce, and William James in the 19th century-- has a mixed reputation today, Kitcher admires the way its core ideas provide a way to prioritize avenues of inquiry. As he points out, both James and Dewey shared a wish to eliminate ''insignificant questions'' from philosophy, and both harbored suspicion of ''timeless'' philosophical problems handed down generation after generation. Rather, they saw philosophy as inherently embedded in its time, grappling with pressing issues in religion, social life, art, politicsTrade ReviewPreludes to Pragmatism is an important and rewarding book. * Christopher Hookway, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *In this lively and lucid collection of essays, Philip Kitcher--one of America's leading philosophers--seeks to further the reform of philosophy inspired by the pragmatic tradition of James and Dewey. Critical of the current state of Anglophone philosophy, he develops a pragmatic naturalism that deals with some of the most pressing cultural issues of our time-including the meaning of value in contemporary society and the reconciliation of science and religion. Anyone interested in the creative potential of pragmatism for the reconstruction of philosophy today will find this insightful book invaluable. * Richard J. Bernstein, Vera List Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research *In articles ranging from metaphysics and philosophy of mathematics to ethics and the philosophy of religion, Preludes to Pragmatism develops and makes a powerful case for pragmatic naturalism. By drawing on, extending, and emending ideas drawn from the classical pragmatists, Philip Kitcher argues that no appeal to transcendent, non-natural entities is required to underwrite our deepest theoretical commitments, or rationalize our practices. * Catherine Z. Elgin, Harvard University *Philip Kitcher's Preludes to Pragmatism offers a radical 'reconstruction of philosophy' which aims to renew the projects of William James and John Dewey. Advocating a form of 'pragmatic naturalism,' Kitcher's aim is not simply to use pragmatist ideas as material for a more sophisticated reformed 'normal philosophy.' Rather than using pragmatist ideas to provide better solutions to familiar problems, he follows Dewey in seeking to 'liberate philosophy' from familiar questions that can now be transcended. Whether discussing atheism or secularism, race or altruism, he meets familiar views with pragmatist challenges that can change the philosophical terrain. In doing so, he contributes to the truth of his claim that pragmatism is one of the most significant developments in the history of philosophy. * Christopher Hookway, University of Sheffield *Table of Contents1. The Importance of Dewey for Philosophy (and much else besides) ; 2. The Naturalists Return ; 3. Real Realism: The Galilean Strategy ; 4. On the Explanatory Role of Correspondence Truth. ; 5. Pragmatism and Realism: A Modest Proposal ; 6. Does 'Race' Have a Future? ; 7. Mathematical Truth? ; 8. Carnap and the Caterpillar ; 9. Philosophy Inside Out ; 10. A Pragmatist's Progress: The Varieties of James' Strategies for Defending Religion ; 11. Challenges for Secularism ; 12. Militant Modern Atheism ; 13. Naturalistic Ethics without Fallacies ; 14. The Hall of Mirrors ; 15. Education, Capitalism, and Democracy ; 16. Public Knowledge and its Discontents ; 17. Varieties of Altruism

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe idea of the pre-existence of the soul has been extremely important, widespread, and persistent throughout Western history--from even before the philosophy of Plato to the poetry of Robert Frost. When Souls Had Wings offers the first systematic history of this little explored feature of Western culture. Terryl Givens describes the tradition of pre-existence as pre-heaven--the place where unborn souls wait until they descend to earth to be born. And typically it is seen as a descent--a falling away from a happier and untroubled state into the turbulent and sinful world we know. The title of the book refers to the idea put forward in antiquity that our souls begin with wings, and that only after shedding those wings do we fall to earth. The book not only traces the history of the idea of pre-existence, but also captures its meaning for those who have embraced it. Givens describes how pre-existence has been invoked to explain the better angels of our nature, including the human yearning for transcendence and the sublime. Pre-existence has been said to account for why we know what we should not know, whether in the form of a Greek slave''s grasp of mathematics, the moral sense common to humanity, or the human ability to recognize universals. The belief has explained human bonds that seem to have their own mysterious prehistory, salved the wounded sensibility of a host of thinkers who could not otherwise account for the unevenly distributed pain and suffering that are humanity''s common lot, and has been posited by philosophers and theologians alike to salvage the principle of human freedom and accountability. When Souls had Wings underscores how durable (and controversial) this idea has been throughout the history of Western thought, the theological dangers it has represented, and how prominently it has featured in poetry, literature, and art.Trade Reviewa rich, eloquent and informative monograph about the idea of the pre-existence of the soul in occidental thought. This is an important and instructive book about a very important idea, one that is presented sympathetically with great clarity and sweep. * Douglas Hedley, Theology *Table of ContentsPrologue ; Introduction ; 1. Ancient Near Eastern Traditions ; 2. Classical Variants ; 3. Philo to Christian Beginnings ; 4. Neo-Platonism and the Church Fathers ; 5. Augustine and the Formation of Orthodoxy ; 6. Middle Ages to the Renaissance ; 7. Cambridge Platonists and the Miltonic Heritage ; 8. The Eighteenth Century and the Cartesian Aftermath ; 9. Philosophy and Theology 1800-1900 ; 10. Romanticism and Transcendentalism 1800-1900 ; 11. Pre-Existence in the Modern Age ; 12. Parallel Paradigms ; Epilogue

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book offers both a naturalistic and critical theory of signs, minds, and meaning-in-the-world. It provides a reconstructive rather than deconstructive theory of the individual, one which both analytically separates and theoretically synthesizes a range of faculties that are often confused and conflated: agency (understood as a causal capacity), subjectivity (understood as a representational capacity), selfhood (understood as a reflexive capacity), and personhood (understood as a sociopolitical capacity attendant on being an agent, subject, or self). It argues that these facilities are best understood from a semiotic stance that supersedes the usual intentional stance. And, in so doing, it offers a pragmatism-grounded approach to meaning and mediation that is general enough to account for processes that are as embodied and embedded as they are articulated and enminded. In particular, while this theory is focused on human-specific modes of meaning, it also offers a general theory of meaning, such that the agents, subjects and selves in question need not always, or even usually, map onto persons. And while this theory foregrounds agents, persons, subjects and selves, it does this by theorizing processes that often remain in the background of such (often erroneously) individuated figures: ontologies (akin to culture, but generalized across agentive collectivities), interaction (not only between people, but also between people and things, and anything outside or in-between), and infrastructure (akin to context, but generalized to include mediation at any degree of remove).Table of ContentsFigures ; Tables ; 1. Semiotic Ontologies ; 1. Signs, Minds, and Meaning-in-the-World ; 2. Ontology, Interaction, and Infrastructure ; 2. Biosemiosis, Technocognition, and Sociogenesis ; 1. Relations between Relations ; 2. Significance and Selection ; 3. Communication between Conspecifics ; 4. The Organization of Cognitive Processes ; 5. Framing ; 6. Artificial and Natural Selection, Sieving and Serendipity ; 7. Lawn-Mowers and Logic Gates ; 8. Relations between Relations Revisited ; 9. Networks of Interconnected Envorganisms ; 10. The Evolution and Epidemiology of Culture ; 3. Enclosing and Disclosing Worlds ; 1. The Neo-Organon ; 2. Semiotic Processes, Social Theories, and Obviated Ontologies ; 3. Social Statuses, Material Substances, and Mental States ; 4. Relatively Emblematic Indices ; 5. Semiotic Agents and Generalized Others ; 6. From Performativity to Transformativity ; 4. Residence in the World ; 1. From Being-in-the-World to Meaning-in-the-World ; 2. Heeding Affordances ; 3. Wielding Instruments ; 4. Undertaking Actions ; 5. Inhabiting Roles ; 6. Fulfilling Identities ; 7. From Acting Under a Description to Comporting Within an Interpretation ; 5. Representations of the World ; 1. Intentionality Reframed ; 2. Cognitive Representations ; 3. Discursive Practices ; 4. From Theory of Mind to the Interpretation of Signs ; 5. Intentionality and Emblemeticity ; 6. Selfhood, Affect, and Value ; 1. I Err Therefore I am ; 2. From Subjectivity to Selfhood ; 3. From Cognition to Affect ; 4. Maps, Terrains, and Travelers ; 5. From Meaning to Value

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis important new book is the first of a series of volumes collecting the essential articles by the eminent and highly influential philosopher Saul A. Kripke. It presents a mixture of published and unpublished articles from various stages of Kripke's storied career.Trade ReviewWhat comes out from a collection like this is the recurring brilliance of insight that Kripke brings to whatever he reflects on. This collection is indispensable to serious students of Kripke. And that should include all of us. This is a monumental collection. * Michael Luntley, Philosophical Investigations *Table of ContentsContents ; Introduction ; Acknowledgements ; Chapter 1. Identity and Necessity ; Chapter 2. On Two Paradoxes of Knowledge ; Chapter 3. Vacuous Names and Fictional Entities ; Chapter 4. Outline of a Theory of Truth ; Chapter 5. Speaker's Reference and Semantic Reference ; Chapter 6. A Puzzle About Belief ; Chapter 7. Nozick on Knowledge ; Chapter 8. Russell's Notion of Scope ; Chapter 9. Frege's Theory of Sense and Reference: Some Exegetical Notes ; Chapter 10. The First Person ; Chapter 11. Unrestricted Exportation and and Some Morals for the Philosophy of Language ; Chapter 12. Presupposition and Anaphora: ; Remarks on the Formulation of the Projection Problem ; Chapter 13. A Paradox about Time and Thought ; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis comprehensive introductory guide includes discussion of the major contemporary positions on compatibilism and incompatibilism, and of the central arguments that are a focus of the current debate, including the Consequence Argument, manipulation arguments, and Frankfurt's famous argument against the 'Principle of Alternate Possibilities.Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface Preface 1. Free Will: The Basics 2. What Does Acting Freely Require? Some Compatibilist Views 3. Compatibilism and the Consequence Argument 4. Compatibilism, Sourcehood, and Manipulation Arguments 5. What Does Acting Freely Require? Some Incompatibilist Views 6. Frankfurt's Nefarious Neurosurgeon 7. Other Issues Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis comprehensive introductory guide includes discussion of the major contemporary positions on compatibilism and incompatibilism, and of the central arguments that are a focus of the current debate, including the Consequence Argument, manipulation arguments, and Frankfurt's famous argument against the 'Principle of Alternate Possibilities.Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface Preface 1. Free Will: The Basics 2. What Does Acting Freely Require? Some Compatibilist Views 3. Compatibilism and the Consequence Argument 4. Compatibilism, Sourcehood, and Manipulation Arguments 5. What Does Acting Freely Require? Some Incompatibilist Views 6. Frankfurt's Nefarious Neurosurgeon 7. Other Issues Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisSeries Editor's Foreword Preface Introduction 1. Judgement and the Emergence of Logical Realism in Britain 2. From Descriptive Psychology to Analytic Philosophy (1888-1899) 3. Psychologism and the Problem of Error (1899-1907) 4. Judgement, Propositional Attitudes and the Proposition (1908-1944) 5. Tropes and Predication Conclusion Bibliography IndexTrade Review“This book is one recent product of her work on this subject, which first saw light as a dissertation, then in a series of papers, and now appears in a revised and expanded version of her early work for the History of Analytic Philosophy series … . The perspective van der Schaar brings here is … a valuable addition to the detailed account of the early development of analytic philosophy at Cambridge.” (Consuelo Preti, Journal of the History of Analytical Philosophy, Vol. 4 (3), 2016)Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Foreword Preface Introduction 1. Judgement and the Emergence of Logical Realism in Britain 2. From Descriptive Psychology to Analytic Philosophy (1888-1899) 3. Psychologism and the Problem of Error (1899-1907) 4. Judgement, Propositional Attitudes and the Proposition (1908-1944) 5. Tropes and Predication Conclusion Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsTranslator's Preface Preface to the English Edition Preface Introduction: Repetition and Difference 1. Difference in Itself 2. Repetition for Itself 3. The Image of Thought 4. Ideas and the Synthesis of Difference 5. Asymmetrical Synthesis of the Sensible Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisEriugena, Berkeley and the Idealist Tradition is a collection of original essays presented at an international conference held in Dublin in 2002 and subsequently revised in light of discussions at the conference. As Stephen Gersh and Dermot Moran explain in their introduction, this book asks the question: What do philosophers mean by idealism? According to Gersh and Moran, the question of idealism is a difficult one, not only because of the historical complexity of the term idealism as they have sketched it but also because understanding of the phenomenon is dependent upon the observer''s own philosophical persuasion. The essays in this volume take up the question of idealism in the history of philosophy from Plato, through late ancient and medieval thought, to Berkeley, Kant, and Hegel. Although there are obvious discontinuities among these versions of idealism, the degree of continuity is sufficient to justify a reexamination of the entire question.The contributors cTrade Review"This is a very rich volume and constitutes a good starting point for a discussion of the multiple meanings of 'idealism.' In particular, it teaches the lesson that broad 'philosophical' definitions should be held in deep suspicion unless tied to specific contexts of discussion and specific historical periods." —Journal of the History of Philosophy“Fourteen essays trace the concept of idealism from Plato, the Roman Stoics, Plotinus, and Augustine through to Berkeley and the age of Kant and Hegel. Three papers on the ninth-century Irish writer Johannes Scottus Eriugena and on the Liber de causis, from ninth-century Baghdad, inspired by a concern to understand the common ground between medieval Neoplatonism and nineteenth-century Hegelian idealism . . . are especially instructive for medievalists.” —Medium Aevum“All fourteen essays collected in this volume are solid pieces of scholarship, and the book as a whole is a welcome addition to the ongoing debate on the role that the history of philosophy can play in enriching our conceptual apparatus by reminding us of the complexity of our philosophical tradition. The book succeeds in reminding us that idealism is a constellation of different positions.” —The Review of Metaphysics"If it is true—as Hegel and his followers have claimed—that being and truth are indissociable from history, then philosophy cannot be successful if it limits itself exclusively to investigations of individual thinkers and periods. What is at stake, ultimately, is the development of Western thought as a whole. In this volume, a fine international group of scholars investigate the meaning of idealism across the ages. Without sacrificing nuance, their contributions show that a core of shared assumptions characterizes idealist philosophies. The historical dialogue which this volume advances emphasizes the relevance of ancient and medieval thinkers for the current debate, but it also challenges us to place modern representatives of idealism—such as Berkeley, Kant, and Hegel—in historical perspective." —Philipp W. Rosemann, University of Dallas"This is a rich, subtle, thought-provoking collection on central, though neglected topics in idealism and its history, offering fresh and important insights into both familiar and less familiar major figures, views, and issues. Most important, perhaps, are its presentation and assessment of non-subjective forms of idealism, as well as mind-dependence forms of idealism prior to Descartes. Contemporary philosophers have become sophisticated about various forms of realism, anti-realism and irrealism. Such discussions, among others, will benefit significantly by accepting this volume’s invitation to become more sophisticated about idealism as well. This very welcome contribution to the literature should find a broad readership." —Kenneth R. Westphal, University of East Anglia

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is the fourth volume of Cassirer's "The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms". In these writings, Cassirer grounds his conception of symbolic forms on a particular notion of human nature and discusses Basis Phenomena.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIncludes essays that provide a window into author's discovery of the symbolic nature of human existence - the fact that our entire emotional and intellectual life is configured and formed through the originary expressive power of word and image.

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamines Milton's thinking about matter and substance throughout his entire poetic career, seeks to alter the prevailing critical view that Milton was a monist-materialist - one who believes that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions.Trade Review“Matter of Glorious Trial engages with Milton’s work on a formidably wide range of fronts—theological, pneumatological, metaphysical, linguistic—and in doing so establishes its case convincingly, displaying a remarkable range of learning and industry.”—Colin Burrow, All Souls College, University of Oxford -- Colin Burrow

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this volume, Davies argues for a renewal of metaphysics, as the language of createdness, based not on a return to outmoded concepts of essence, but in a new understanding of ontology as narrative and performance.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA feminist critique of the accounts of "Being" found in some of the key texts of existentialism and phenomenology, in particular Sartre, Levinas and Merleau-Ponty. Knowing the other as beloved is intimately related to a changing perception of the other of the cosmos.Table of ContentsPrologue; the wedding between the body and language; daughter and woman; to perceive the invisible in you; the love to the point of safeguarding you; I announce to you that we are different; to conceive silence; between us, a fabricated world; she before the king; each transcendant to the other; how can I touch you if you are not there?; a mystery which illuminates.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of Einstein's Dreams—“an elegant and moving paean to our spiritual quest for meaning in an age of science (The New York Times Book Review). • The basis for the public television series SEARCHING with Alan Lightman.As a physicist, Alan Lightman has always held a scientific view of the world. But one summer evening, while looking at the stars from a small boat at sea, Lightman was overcome by the overwhelming sensation that he was merging with something larger than himself—an eternal unity, something absolute and immaterial. The result is an inspired, lyrical meditation from the acclaimed author of Einstein's Dreams that explores these seemingly contradictory impulses. Lightman draws on sources ranging from Saint Augustine's conception of absolute truth to Einstein's theory of relativity, and gives us a profound inquiry into the human desire for truth and meaning, and a journey along the different paths of religion and science that become part of that quest. This small but provocative book explores the tension between our yearning for certainty and permanence versus the modern scientific view that all things in the physical world are uncertain and impermanent.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMarkus Gabriel is Chair in Epistemology and Modern and Contemporary Philosophy at the University of Bonn, Germany. He has published a number of books and journal articles in German, including Der Mensch im Mythos (De Gruyter, 2006), Das Absolute und die Welt in Schellings Freiheitsschrift (Bonn University Press, 2006) and Skeptizismus und Idealismus in der Antike (Suhrkamp, 2009) and is also co-author, with Slavoj Zizek, of Mythology, Madness and Laughter (Continuum, 2009)Table of ContentsIntroduction \ Chapter 1: The Ontology of Knowledge \ i. Schelling, Hegel, and the Metaphysical Truth of Skepticism \ ii. Absolute Identity and Reflection: Kant, Hegel, McDowell \ iii. The Pathological Structure of Representation As Such: Hegel's Anthropology \ Chapter 2: Schelling's Ontology of Freedom \ i. Unprethinkable Being and the Event: The Concept of Being in late Schelling and late Heidegger \ ii. Belated Necessity: God, Man and Judgment in Schelling's Late Philosophy \ Chapter 3: Contingency or Necessity? Schelling vs. Hegel \ i. The Dialectic of the Absolute: Hegel's Critique of Transcendent Metaphysics \ ii. The Spielraum of Contingency: Schelling and Hegel on the Modal Status of Logical Space \ Notes \ Bibliography \ Index.

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less