Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology Books

Book SynopsisThis advanced introductory text offers a synoptic view of philosophical inquiry, discussing such topics as consciousness, the self, meaning, free will, the a priori, and knowledge. The emphasis is on the fundamental intractability of these questions, and a theory is proposed as to why the human mind has so much difficulty in resolving them. This theory turns upon a naturalistic picture of the scope and limits of human intelligence.Trade Review"In my view, this is an admirable book. It is concise, well organized, and clearly and vigorously written. It presents a real solution to a real and extremely important problem. It is perhaps the only solution to this problem that is currently available." Peter Van Inwagen, The Philosophical Review "Colin McGinn's thoughts about the nature and state of philosophical inquiry are lucid and suggestive, and, in my personal opinion, on the right track. They merit careful reading, and should place many of the fundamental questions of our intellectual tradition in a new and more wholesome light." Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyTable of Contents1. Philosophical Perplexity. 2. Consciousness. 3. Self. 4. Meaning. 5. Free Will. 6. The A Priori. 7. Knowledge. 8. Reason, Truth and Philosophy. 9. The Future of Philosophy.

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Book SynopsisWhat objects exist in the social world and how should we understand them? Is a specific Pizza Hut restaurant as real as the employees, tables, napkins and pizzas of which it is composed, and as real as the Pizza Hut corporation with its headquarters in Wichita, the United States, the planet Earth and the social and economic impact of the restaurant on the lives of its employees and customers? In this book the founder of object-oriented philosophy develops his approach in order to shed light on the nature and status of objects in social life. While it is often assumed that an interest in objects amounts to a form of materialism, Harman rejects this view and develops instead an “immaterialist” method. By examining the work of leading contemporary thinkers such as Bruno Latour and Levi Bryant, he develops a forceful critique of ‘actor-network theory’. In an extended discussion of Leibniz’s famous example of the Dutch East India Company, Harman argues that this company qualifies for objecthood neither through ‘what it is’ or ‘what it does’, but through its irreducibility to either of these forms. The phases of its life, argues Harman, are not demarcated primarily by dramatic incidents but by moments of symbiosis, a term he draws from the biologist Lynn Margulis. This book provides a key counterpoint to the now ubiquitous social theories of constant change, holistic networks, performative identities, and the construction of things by human practice. It will appeal to anyone interested in cutting-edge debates in philosophy and social and cultural theory.Trade Review"It is rare to find academic and philosophical writing that is this clear. Harman’s explanations of not just his own position but also the other views to which he responds are thorough, concise and in a style and vocabulary that are accessible to non-experts."The British Society for Literature and ScienceTable of ContentsPart One: Immaterialism 1. Objects and Actors 2. The Dangers of Duomining 3. Materialism and Immaterialism 4. Attempts to Evolve ANT 5. The Thing-in-Itself Part Two: The Dutch East India Company 6. Introducing the VOC 7. On Symbiosis 8. Governor-General Coen 9. Batavia, the Spice Islands, and Malacca 10. The Intra-Asian VOC 11. Touching Base Again with ANT 12. Birth, Ripeness, Decadence, and Death 13. Fifteen Provisional Rules of OOO Method References

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Book SynopsisMetaphysicsthe philosophical study of the nature of realityis a dynamic sub-field which encompasses many of the most fundamental and elusive questions in contemporary analytic philosophy.A concise and focused introduction to contemporary metaphysics,Thisis Metaphysics: An Introductiontakes readers with minimal technical knowledge of the field on a guided tour of the intellectual landscape of the discipline. Approachable and engaging, the book covers a broad range of key topics and principles in metaphysics, including classification, the nature and existence of properties, ontology, the nature of possibility and necessity, and fundamental questions concerning being and existence. Each chapter challenges readers to grapple with thought-provoking examples that build upon the seminal theoretical contributions of contemporary metaphysicians like Peter van Inwagen and David Lewis, and concludes with a Doing Metaphysics section encouraging readers to think through substantive metaphysical questions while weighing possible arguments and objections. A thoughtful and comprehensive introduction provides a framework for author Kris McDaniel's pedagogical approach, and each section incorporates multi-platform online resources and plentiful footnotes to support further reading and deeper conceptual engagement. A welcome addition to the popularThis is Philosophyseries,This is Metaphysicsis a reader-friendly survey of metaphysics for philosophy majors, undergraduates in introductory philosophy courses, and curious members of the general public interested in investigating this expansive and enigmatic area of study. Table of ContentsAn Introduction to This is Metaphysics 1 0.1 Who is This Book for? 1 0.2 Philosophy, Including Metaphysics, is for Everyone 6 0.3 An Overview of Metaphysics and Other Areas of Philosophy 6 0.4 Remarks for Instructors 12 0.5 Acknowledgments 13 1 Classification 14 1.1 Introduction 14 1.2 Two Kinds of Classification 15 1.3 Classification Confusions 18 1.4 Do Things Objectively Belong Together? 22 1.5 Two Questions about Classification 28 1.6 Classification and Properties 30 1.7 Doing Metaphysics 32 Further Reading 33 2 Properties 34 2.1 Introduction to the Metaphysics of Properties 34 2.2 Are Properties Theoretical Posits? 37 2.3 Issues in Language: Reference to Properties in Ordinary Speech 40 2.4 More Issues in Language: Properties as the Referents of Predicates 44 2.5 Issues in Metaphysics: Causation 46 2.6 Issues in Metaphysics: The Ontology of Events 47 2.7 Issues in Metaphysics: The Ontology of Material Objects 51 2.8 Tropes, Universals, and States of Affairs 54 2.9 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Properties 57 2.10 Perceptual Qualities 65 2.11 Doing Metaphysics 70 Further Reading 71 3 Parts and Wholes 72 3.1 Introduction 72 3.2 The Sufficiently Stuck Together Theory 74 3.3 The Mind‐Dependence Theory of Composition 78 3.4 Life is the Answer? 85 3.5 Vagueness 87 3.6 Vagueness and Composition 92 3.7 A Radical Answer to the Special Composition Question: Compositional Nihilism 97 3.8 Another Radical Answer: Compositional Universalism 103 3.9 Other Questions about Parts and Wholes 106 3.10 Doing Metaphysics 111 Further Reading 112 4 Possibility and Necessity 113 4.1 Introduction 113 4.2 Different Kinds of Possibility and Necessity 115 4.3 The Idea of Possible Worlds 118 4.4 A Case for Possible Worlds 120 4.5 Some Theories of the Nature of Possible Worlds 126 4.6 An Alternative Theory of Possible Worlds: Propositions First 135 4.7 Another Alternative Theory of Possible Worlds: Primitive Possible Objects 139 4.8 Accidental and Essential Features 142 4.9 Theories of Possible Worlds and Theories of Essential Features 147 4.10 Doing Metaphysics 151 Further Reading 152 5 Time 153 5.1 Introduction to the Philosophy of Time 153 5.2 Methodological Issues in the Philosophy of Time 156 5.3 The Container View vs. the Relationalist View 161 5.4 Does Time Itself Change? 169 5.5 Time and Reasonable Emotions 175 5.6 How Do Things Persist through Time? 179 5.7 Doing Metaphysics 189 Further Reading 189 6 Freedom 190 6.1 Freedom and Why it Might Matter 190 6.2 The Static View and Freedom 192 6.3 Causal Determinism and Freedom 194 6.4 Compatibilism: Alternative Possibilities Compatibilism 197 6.5 Compatibilism 2: No Constraints Compatibilism 200 6.6 Indeterminism 203 6.7 Laws of Nature 205 6.8 Doing Metaphysics 212 Further Reading 212 7 Meta‐Metaphysics 214 7.1 Getting More Meta 214 7.2 The Epistemology of Metaphysics 215 7.3 The Philosophy of Language of Metaphysics 227 7.4 The Metaphysics of Metaphysics 235 7.5 The Ethics of Metaphysics 243 7.6 Doing Metaphysics 254 Further Reading 254 Glossary 256 Index 264

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Book SynopsisIn the afterlife you may find that God is the size of a microbe and unaware of your existence. Or you may find the afterlife contains only those people whom you remember. In some afterlives you are split into all your different ages; in some you are recreated based on your credit-card records; and in others you are forced to live with annoying versions of yourself that represent what you could have been.In these wonderfully imagined tales - at once funny, wistful and unsettling - Eagleman kicks over the chessboard of traditional notions and offers us a dazzling lens through which to see ourselves here and now. His stories are rooted in science and romance and awe at our mysterious existence: a mixture of hope, love and death that cuts through human nature at innovative angles.Trade ReviewWitty, bright, sharp and unexpected . . . as surprising a book as I've read for years. Every story is a new Heaven. -- Brian EnoA very well-written, very funny and very thought-provoking book that makes you realize that when it comes to the afterlife, most religions suffer from an acute shortage of imagination. Sum immediately made me think of several more alternative afterlives * * Yuval Noah Harari * *SUM is terrific. It's such a good idea that I was grinding my teeth all the way through wishing I'd thought of it first. The inventiveness, the clarity and wit of the prose, the calm air of moral understanding that pervades the whole thing, add up to something completely original. I hope Sum will be the great big hit it deserves to be. -- Philip PullmanBrilliantly realised, blazingly original, Sum isn't so much about the next life as this one. Eagleman's stories - parables? - a chilly reminder of our foibles and delusions. -- Colin Waters * * Sunday Herald * *40 intriguing tales describing different heavenly scenarios ... and all formidably imagined ... Readers may discover much to appreciate - not least the lives they are living now, still so much better than some nightmares in these pages ... quirky, occasionally unsettling ... never short of new new ideas, all of them rolled out with style. -- Nicholas Tucker * * Independent * *This delightful, thought-provoking little collection belongs to that category of strange, unclassifiable books that will haunt the reader long after the last page has been turned. It is full of tangential insights into the human condition and poetic thought experiments ... full of touching moments and glorious wit of the sort one only hopes will be incopious supply on the other side. * * The New York Times * *This stunningly original book is little more than 100 pages long. You can get through it in an hour, but you'd be mad to hurry, and you will certainly want to return to it many times ... Sum has the unaccountable, jaw-dropping quality of genius. It seems exquisitely adapted to fill the contemporary longing for a kind of secular holy book. -- Geoff Dyer * * Observer * *It does what it says in the title - satirical, playful, troubling, inventive, thought provoking and often funny takes on possible afterlives. A complete one off. I've been buying it and giving to friends and family. Everyone is delighted. Keep by the bed and feed yourself one or two before turning out the light. -- Andrew Greig * * Sunday Herald * *Mind-bending . . . Thought-provoking and life-affirming with the dose of humour I enjoy. To help me appreciate the here and now rather than agonising about the "what-ifs" * * Daily Telegraph * *SUM is an imaginative and provocative book that gives new perspectives on how to view ourselves and our place in the world. * * Alan Lightman, author of EINSTEIN'S DREAM * *I suppose there could be people who dislike Canongate's latest find ... those, dare one say it, without poetry in their souls. For the rest - the millions who even in a post-religious, secular society find themselves at unexpected moments wondering who or what God is, if he's not a little old man sitting on a cloud. -- Mary Crockett * * Scotsman * *This is as much an object of desire as an actual book ... elegant, surreal and philosophically questioning, each story from neuroscientist Eagleman offers an inventive, thought-provoking blend of science and romance ... sly wit, ingenuity and oddly acute insight into the vagaries of the human condition. -- Tina Jackson * * Metro * *The most thought provoking stocking filler you could hope to find: a slender volume of bite size vignettes pondering what happens after we die. * * Scotsman * *Whimsical, dark and sometimes funny -- CATHERINE STEADMAN * * Daily Express * *Clever, memorable stuff. -- Lottie Moggach * * The London Paper * *Charming, a bit whimsical, and thought-provoking. -- Mark SarvasA clever book. -- Robert Hanks * * Daily Telegraph * *

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Book SynopsisBased on over a decade of ethnographic fieldwork in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Onscreen/Offscreen is an exploration of the politics and being of filmic images. The book examines contestations inside and outside the Tamil film industry over the question "what is an image?" Answers to this question may be found in the ontological politics that take place on film sets, in theatre halls, and in the social fabric of everyday life in South India, from populist electoral politics and the gendering of social space to caste uplift and domination.Bridging and synthesizing linguistic anthropology, film studies, visual studies, and media anthropology, Onscreen/Offscreen rethinks key issues across a number of fields concerned with the semiotic constitution of social life, from the performativity and ontology of images to questions of spectatorship, realism, and presence. In doing so, it offers both a challenge to any approach that would separate image from social Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Note on Transliteration, Quotation, Names, and Transcripts Introduction: Ontological Politics of the Image Introduction From Ontologies to Ontological Politics Toward a Linguistic Anthropology of Cinema A Brief History of Tamil Cinema For a “Tamil” Cinema Realism and the Mass Hero Overview of the Chapters Part I: Presence/Representation 1. The Hero’s Mass Introduction Presence of the Film Image Gravity of the Hero’s Mass Presence of Mass Image-Act of the Slaps Sociological Realism of the Mass Hero’s Image Aesthetic Realism and the Event of the Slaps Ambivalent Realisms Authorizing the Slaps, or the Principal of Animation Conclusion 2. The Heroine’s Stigma Introduction Item’s Interruption Item’s Titillation Item’s Spectacle Ontological Politics of Sexual Difference Actness of the Image Politics of Vision Explicitness of Performativity Voyeurism and Exhibitionism in 7/G Rainbow Colony Kinship Chronotopes and Sociological Traces of the Performativity of Presence Marriage and Not-to-be-looked-at-ness An Alien Presence Conclusion Epilogue Part II: Representation/Presence 3. The Politics of Parody Introduction Anti-Cine-Politics of Thamizh Padam A Politics of (Im/possible) Worlds Chronopolitics For Another Kind of Image For a Less Serious Industry A Politics of Production The Politics for an Image Conclusion 4. The Politics of the Real Introduction Questions of Realism Register of Realism Enregistering Realism in Tamil Cinema Kaadhal (“Love”) Realism’s Heroism This Is a True Story Representing Taboo Caste and Sexuality in Kaadhal Frustrated Textuality and Sexual Reference Production Format of Realism New Faces and the Director’s Image Realism’s Illiberal Extimacy and the Suspension of Belief Conclusion Conclusions An End of an Era Killing the Mass Hero Performativity Representation and the Method Theory of a Linguistic Anthropology of Cinema For a Linguistic Anthropology of … Notes Interviews and Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisAnselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) was the outstanding philosopher-theologian of the Latin West between Augustine and the thirteenth century. As a public figure, especially as Archbishop of Canterbury, he corresponded with kings and nobles, popes and bishops, in letters that reveal a fascinating personality and flesh out the practical dimensions of his theoretical philosophy. He wrote at a time when a renewed interest in logic encouraged careful and rigorous argumentation, but before the recovery of Aristotle filled the philosophical discourse with difficult technical jargon, making for writing that is unrivalled for its lucidity and accessibility. He offers the first clear account of what we now call a libertarian view of free will, according to which free choices cannot be determined by the agent''s internal states or by external influences. His famous ''ontological argument'' for the existence of God continues to generate discussion, debate, and puzzlement. His understanding of God isTrade ReviewThe appeal of an investigation performed by means of the confined domain of logica vetus is one of the most fascinating elements offered by Anselm's theological and philosophical works...The landscape of studies about Anselm of Aosta is now enriched by an easy introduction to Doctor Magnificus's life and works by Thomas Williams. The essay doesn't merely summarise Cantuariensis's main theses but provides the status quaestionis on the most recent interpretative approaches. * Matteo Parente, Department of Humanities, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Salerno, Italy, History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis *I appreciated very much the text on Anselm of Canterbury by Thomas Williams. It is well structured, clearly written and covers all the main issues about the work of Anselm. The references to some major texts are given, as well as an essential bibliography on each topic. * Christian Brouwer, The Metascience *Table of ContentsPreface List of Illustrations Chronology 1: Anselm's life, works, and contexts 2: Looking at God 3: Looking for God 4: How things got started 5: How things went wrong 6: The great restoration project 7: Living in the meantime Further Reading References

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Book SynopsisThis book follows and expands on the boundaries of its precursor Night: A Philosophy of the After-Dark by presenting a series of new conceptual territories, figures, sources, images and imaginative possibilities. The central idea of Night is contemplated in its intricate relation to space, silence, cruelty and secrecy while also taking thought toward the futural limits of a vision of the last world.

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Book SynopsisImmanuel Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals is widely regarded as one of the most influential works in the history of moral philosophy. Indeed, any student of ethics will soon encounter a translation of the book, although trying to read it is likely to cause bewilderment. What, one may ask, is Kant trying to say? This book provides the answers. Here, seven highly regarded teachers and scholars of Kant's ethics offer remarkably clear explanations of the most important concepts in the Groundwork: the good will, happiness, duty, hypothetical and categorical imperatives, the Formula of Universal Law, the Formula of Humanity, and freedom.Contents: Preface The Good Will, Nataliya Palatnik Happiness, Anne Margaret Baxley Duty, Laura Papish Imperatives, Tamar Schapiro The Formula of Universal Law, Kyla Ebels-Duggan The Formula of Humanity, Japa Pallikkathayil Freedom, Lucy Allais About the Contributors Index Trade Review“This is the rare guide to Kant’s Groundwork suitable even for students new to philosophy. The clear, concise chapters focus on only the most essential concepts from all three sections of the Groundwork. The authors expertly illuminate Kant’s ethical thought and facilitate engagement with the text.” —Lara Denis, Agnes Scott College“A collection of beautifully clear and concise essays on Kant’s most famous ethical work, each written by an outstanding scholar. The crucial ideas of the Groundwork are expertly explained in ways that are both philosophically rich and reader friendly. This volume is an invaluable companion for any student or teacher of Kantian ethics.” —Karen Stohr, Georgetown University“A wonderfully clear and concise philosophical introduction to Kant’s seminal ethical treatise.” —Jens Timmermann, University of St AndrewsTable of ContentsPreface; The Good Will, Nataliya Palatnik; Happiness, Anne Margaret Baxley ;Duty, Laura Papish; Imperatives, Tamar Schapiro; The Formula of Universal Law, Kyla Ebels-Duggan; The Formula of Humanity, Japa Pallikkathayil; Freedom, Lucy Allais; About the Contributors; Index.

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Book SynopsisWe often think of people as falling into one of two very different categories: those into science, math, and engineering; or into history, philosophy, and literature. Haufe reveals the unexpected unity underlying different disciplinary efforts to understand our experiences. He makes a vital contribution to wider debates about knowledge-generation.Trade Review'Constantly interesting and engagingly written, this timely book is destined to generate a lot of interest, both inside and outside academia.' Peter Vickers, Durham University'Many books denounce or praise the humanities. Only a few tell us how they work. In this elegant, witty, sometimes paradoxical book, informed by deep knowledge of the history of science, Chris Haufe shows that the humanities can and do produce powerful knowledge. He also argues that they could create much more of it if scholars and funders understood how communities and disciplines frame productive inquiries.' Anthony Grafton, Princeton UniversityTable of Contents1. Introduction; 2. 'What would the community think?'; 3. Canon and consensus; 4. Knowing what matters; 5. In defense of how things seem; 6. Reading what lies within; 7. Humanities victorious?; 8. Of interest; 9. The hoax and the humanities.

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Book SynopsisThe ideology that underlies the concept of race has a long history. For centuries that ideology has spun supernaturalist and scientistic stories about ostensibly natural differences between different groups. The concept of race is in scientific decline, but the intertwined ideology and rhetoric behind it live on, and indeed prosper.In this groundbreaking fusion of philosophy and color-conscious politics, philosopher Lionel K. McPherson enlists sweeping historical and empirical evidence to challenge fascination with the race concept. His lively, incisive analysis illuminates why social lineage matters far more than any race thing ever could, and why race ideology-rhetoric is more a distraction from gross injustice than a primary source. The Western label black was merely a figurative description for African peoples and African ancestry. The idea of continental races came later--with philosophers, theologians, and eventually scientists adding some important but elusive racial factor to v

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Book SynopsisLinda Trinkaus Zagzebski here explains and defends the idea that the God of the monotheistic religions does not only know all objective facts, but he also perfectly grasps the conscious states of all conscious beings from their own point of view. She calls that property omnisubjectivity. God not only knows that you are in pain, for instance, but is present in your pain, grasping your pain the way you grasp it. The same point applies to every feeling, every belief, every thought, every desire you have. It also applies to the conscious states of animals.Zagzebski begins with an account of what subjectivity is and why it differs from anything in the objective world, then argues that omnisubjectivity is entailed by divine omniscience and omnipresence, divine love and justice, and practices of prayer. She offers three models of how omnisubjectivity is possible: the empathy model, the perceptual model, and panentheism. She answers objections that it is incompatible with other attributes such

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Book SynopsisThis 2nd edition Handbook of Spinoza retains a unique focus on the biographical details of Spinoza's life, as well as essential scholarship on his influences and early critics. A glossary of key Latin Spinozan terms with English translations remains a key feature alongside short synopses of Spinoza's writings. Adding to the updated contemporary scholarship on Spinoza from across Europe and the US is the recognition of Spinoza's influence more globally.Distinct from other reference works on Spinoza, this book offers the tools and methodology necessary for students and scholars who are completing their own research. Accompanying each main section is an updated and detailed bibliography that situates both the summative and original scholarship therein. This 2nd edition includes a revised biography from Jeroen van de Ven who has systematically revisited the archive; influences will now include reference to Machiavelli and Hobbes primarily, as well as remarks on the De La Court b

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Book SynopsisWhat does Heidegger mean by Dasein'? What does he say in Being and Time? How does his phenomenology differ to that of his teacher, Husserl? Answering these questions and more, The Heidegger Dictionary provides students with all the tools they need to better understand one of the most influential yet complex philosophers of the 20th century. Easy to use and navigate, this book is divided into four main parts, covering Heidegger's life, ideas and innovative terminology, related thinkers, and published and unpublished works. Updated with significant new material throughout, the 2nd edition has been expanded to engage with the latest Heidegger scholarship, and features: A new A-Z section on Heidegger's influences, past and contemporary, from Aristotle and Nietzsche to Husserl and Dilthey Summaries of Heidegger's entire 102-volume Collected Works, including the Black Notebooks Expanded coverage of Heidegger's thought, with straightfoTrade ReviewThe greatly expanded second edition of Dahlstrom’s Heidegger Dictionary now discusses the Black Notebooks and comments on all the available volumes of Heidegger’s collected writings, now nearing completion. Readers of Heidegger will turn often to this tour de force of erudition and judgment. * Richard Polt, Professor of Philosophy, Xavier University, USA *The Heidegger Dictionary represents a unique guide for whoever is interested in Heidegger’s philosophy. In this volume, Daniel Dahlstrom offers an elegant and detailed discussion of all of the major facets of Heidegger’s thought. Rigorous scholarship, coupled with an impressive familiarity with both the Analytic and Continental secondary literatures, makes The Heidegger Dictionary the best and most systematic introduction to one of the most extraordinary thinkers of the twentieth century available. * Filippo Casati, Assistant Professor, Lehigh University, USA *Dahlstrom’s Heidegger Dictionary offers the reader a well-rounded and coherent account of Heidegger’s thinking, whatever path they take through its entries. For the novice, it is a great introduction to Heidegger, for the scholar, it can spark new insights from seemingly familiar material. * Andrew J. Mitchell, Professor of Philosophy, Emory University, USA *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction List of Themes Part One: Themes Part Two: Names Part Three: Texts Appendix: Critical Considerations References Index

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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 SynopsisIn his philosophical reflections on the art of lingering, acclaimed cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han argues that the value we attach today to the vita activa is producing a crisis in our sense of time. Our attachment to the vita activa creates an imperative to work which degrades the human being into a labouring animal, an animal laborans. At the same time, the hyperactivity which characterizes our daily routines robs human beings of the capacity to linger and the faculty of contemplation. It therefore becomes impossible to experience time as fulfilling. Drawing on a range of thinkers including Heidegger, Nietzsche and Arendt, Han argues that we can overcome this temporal crisis only by revitalizing the vita contemplativa and relearning the art of lingering. For what distinguishes humans from other animals is the capacity for reflection and contemplation, and when life regains this capacity, this art of lingering, it gains in time and space, in duration and vastness.Trade Review"The Scent of Time describes what may be the condition of Byung-Chul Han's unique international success among philosophers writing today. Starting out with the concept of 'dyschronicity,' he analyzes a new, centrifugal form of time as a premise of existence which no longer allows for marked contours, beginnings, or endings – but to those lively duration we can react with fresh modes of contemplative life." —Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Stanford UniversityTable of ContentsPreface 1. Non-Time 2. Time without a Scent 3. The Speed of History 4. From the Age of Marching to the Age of Whizzing 5. The Paradox of the Present 6. Fragrant Crystal of Time 7. The Time of the Angel 8. Fragrant Clock: An Short Excursus on Ancient China 9. The Round Dance of the World 10. The Scent of Oak Wood 11. Profound Boredom 12. Vita Contemplativa Notes

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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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Book SynopsisFranck Fischbach suggests that by reading Spinoza and Marx together we may better understand both history and nature, as well as ourselves, making possible a new understanding of human nature. Rather than see history and nature as opposed, history is nothing but the constant transformation of nature.

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Book SynopsisThis short book engages the myriad dimensions of Night, through ancient rituals, medieval storytelling, modern philosophy, and futuristic images, in order to explore the human experience of the after-dark. It thereby tracks Night through the prisms of its most fascinating practitioners: namely, those who keep strange hours and navigate the various potentialities of nocturnal experience (both of terror and enchantment). The Thief’s Night; The Runaway’s Night; The Drunkard’s Night; The Insomniac’s Night; The Revolutionary’s Night; The Lunatic’s Night; The Sorcerer’s Night. Undoubtedly, each of these conceptual figures provides a unique gateway into understanding the powerful sensorial effects of evening, as well as its vast connections to larger questions of time, space, fear, nothingness, desire, death, forgetting, vision, secrecy, criminality, monstrosity, and the body.

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Book SynopsisAlfred North Whitehead has never gone out of print, but for a time he was decidedly out of fashion in the English-speaking world. In a splendid work that serves as both introduction and erudite commentary, Isabelle Stengersone of today's leading philosophers of sciencegoes straight to the beating heart of Whitehead's thought. The product of thirty years' engagement with the mathematician-philosopher's entire canon, this volume establishes Whitehead as a daring thinker on par with Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, and Michel Foucault. Reading the texts in broadly chronological order while highlighting major works, Stengers deftly unpacks Whitehead's often complicated language, explaining the seismic shifts in his thinking and showing how he called into question all that philosophers had considered settled after Descartes and Kant. She demonstrates that the implications of Whitehead's philosophical theories and specialized knowledge of the various sciences come yoked with his innovative,

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Book SynopsisA guide to the complex subject of ethics explained in clear and entertaining language. This new edition is fully revised and updated.This popular introduction to the subject of ethics poses vital contemporary questions and explores the approach of leading thinkers.The authors take the reader, step by step, through the complex arguments on issues such as animal an human rights, environmental ethics and the morality of war.It is a great gift to be able to make philosophy accessible to the general reader. This is a wonderfully clear introduction both to moral philosophy and to contemporary ethical concerns.'David Atkinson, Church Times

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Book SynopsisIn this remarkable book, William Buhlman, author of the bestselling Adventures Beyond the Body, offers the reader a comprehensive guidebook to understanding and exploring the fascinating phenomenon of out-of-body experiences (OBEs).

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Book SynopsisIris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. She read Classics at Somerville College, Oxford, and after working in the Treasury and abroad, was awarded a research studentship in Philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1948 she returned to Oxford as fellow and tutor at St Anne's College and later taught at the Royal College of Art. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1987 and in the 1997 PEN Awards received the Gold Pen for Distinguished Service to Literature.Trade ReviewThis is philosophy dragged from the cloister, dusted down and made freshly relevant -- Terry Eagleton * Guardian *Gripping...it enchants with a clause that sets you day-dreaming, captivates with a stream of thought, empowers with reminiscences * London Review of Books *It is a great congested work, a foaming sourcebook, about life, imagination, tragedy, philosophy, morality, religion and art * Independent *Remarkable... Iris Murdoch has once again put us all in her debt * New York Times Book Review *Anyone who has even the slightest interest in philosophical matters will find Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals an utterly absorbing book * Wall Street Journal *

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Book SynopsisIn twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.Provocative and playful, All Art is Ecological explores the strangeness of living in an age of mass extinction, and shows us that emotions and experience are the basis for a deep philosophical engagement with ecology.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

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Book SynopsisThe study of Islamic philosophy has entered a new and exciting phase in the last few years. Both the received canon of Islamic philosophers and the narrative of the course of Islamic philosophy are in the process of being radically questioned and revised. Most twentieth-century Western scholarship on Arabic or Islamic philosophy has focused on the period from the ninth century to the twelfth. It is a measure of the transformation that is currently underway in the field that, unlike other reference works, the Oxford Handbook has striven to give roughly equal weight to every century, from the ninth to the twentieth. The Handbook is also unique in that its 30 chapters are work-centered rather than person- or theme-centered, in particular taking advantage of recent new editions and translations that have renewed interest and debate around the Islamic philosophical canon. The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy gives both the advanced student and active scholar in Islamic philosophy, theo

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Book SynopsisYitzhak Melamed here offers a new and systematic interpretation of the core of Spinoza''s metaphysics. In the first part of the book, he proposes a new reading of the metaphysics of substance in Spinoza: he argues that for Spinoza modes both inhere in and are predicated of God. Using extensive textual evidence, he shows that Spinoza considered modes to be God''s propria. He goes on to clarify Spinoza''s understanding of infinity, mereological relations, infinite modes, and the flow of finite things from God''s essence. In the second part of the book, Melamed relies on this interpretation of the substance-mode relation and the nature of infinite modes and puts forward two interrelated theses about the structure of the attribute of Thought and its overarching role in Spinoza''s metaphysics. First, he shows that Spinoza had not one, but two independent doctrines of parallelism. Then, in his final main thesis, Melamed argues that, for Spinoza, ideas have a multifaceted (in fact, infinitely faceted) structure that allows one and the same idea to represent the infinitely many modes which are parallel to it in the infinitely many attributes. Thought turns out to be coextensive with the whole of nature. Spinoza cannot embrace an idealist reduction of Extension to Thought because of his commitment to the conceptual separation of the attributes. Yet, within Spinoza''s metaphysics, Thought clearly has primacy over the other attributes insofar as it is the only attribute which is as elaborate, as complex, and, in some senses, as powerful as God.Trade ReviewMelamed remarks that 'it is better to observe the beast' of Spinoza's bold metaphysics 'than to tame it'. Anyone seeking to understand the magnificent beast will benefit enormously from his skilled observations of it. * Don Garret, Journal of Philosophy *Spinoza's Metaphysics will stimulate and inform discussion of Spinoza for years to come. * Journal of the History of Philosophy *Focused on some of the most fundamental issues in the interpretation of Spinoza's metaphysics, this volume is original, deeply informed, and compellingly argued. There is no question that this is excellent work that will be of great interest to scholars and students interested in understanding Spinoza's metaphysics. * Don Garrett, Professor of Philosophy, New York University *One of Melamed's most important contributions is that he rehabilitates the traditional view of Spinoza as a pantheist. * Michah Gottlieb, Jewish Review of Books *Table of ContentsContents ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: The Substance-Mode Relation as a Relation of Inherence and Predication ; Chapter 2: Immanent Cause, Acosmism, and the Distinction between 'Modes of God' and 'Modes of an Attribute' ; Chapter 3: Inherence, Causation, and Conception ; Chapter 4: The Infinite Modes ; Chapter 5: Spinoza's Two Doctrines of Parallelism ; Chapter 6: The Multifaceted Structure of Ideas and the Priority of Thought ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisIn the 1950s, John Reber convinced many Californians that the best way to solve the state''s water shortage problem was to dam up the San Francisco Bay. Against massive political pressure, Reber''s opponents persuaded lawmakers that doing so would lead to disaster. They did this not by empirical measurement alone, but also through the construction of a model. Simulation and Similarity explains why this was a good strategy while simultaneously providing an account of modeling and idealization in modern scientific practice. Michael Weisberg focuses on concrete, mathematical, and computational models in his consideration of the nature of models, the practice of modeling, and nature of the relationship between models and real-world phenomena. In addition to a careful analysis of physical, computational, and mathematical models, Simulation and Similarity offers a novel account of the model/world relationship. Breaking with the dominant tradition, which favors the analysis of this relation tTrade ReviewMichael Weisberg has given us a lovely book on models. It has very broad coverage of issues intersecting the nature of models and their use, an extensive consideration of long ignored concrete models with a rich case study, a discussion and classification of the many diverse kinds of models, and a particularly groundbreaking and innovative discussion of similarity concerning how models relate to the world ... his analysis is both clear and rich. * William C. Wimsatt, Biology and Philosophy *[This book] is lively, well-written, and should be accessible to novice audiences as well as informative and provocative to disciplinary insiders. It skillfully makes use of a relatively small set of carefully explained and not-overly-complicated examples to give an account that succeeds in being sophisticated and attentive to the details of scientific practice without getting overly mired in the details of 'case studies' that sometimes plague the literature on scientific modeling. * Eric Winsberg, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *[Simulation and Similarity] is well written and detailed in its exposition, providing concrete examples to ground the discussion. It is a very interesting complement to standard mathematical modeling treatments for scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. * R. A. Kolvoord CHOICE *...a compelling account of models and can be highly recommended to philosophers of science as well as to scientists of any particular discipline, especially those practicing modeling and simulation in their everydays work. * V. S. Pronskikh, Metascience *Table of ContentsContents ; Preface ; 1 Introduction ; 1.1 Two Aquatic Puzzles ; 1.2 Models of Modeling ; 2 Three Kinds of Models ; 2.1 Concrete Model: The San Francisco Bay-Delta Model ; 2.2 Mathematical Model: Lotka-Volterra Model ; 2.3 Computational Model: Schelling's Segregation Model ; 2.4 Common Features of these Models ; 2.5 Only Three Types of Models? ; 2.6 Fewer Than Three Types of Model? ; 3 The Anatomy of Models: Structure & Construal ; 3.1 Structure ; 3.1.1 Concrete Structures ; 3.1.2 Mathematical ; 3.1.3 Computational ; 3.2 Model Descriptions ; 3.3 Construal ; 3.4 Representational Capacity of Structures ; 4 Fictions and Folk Ontology ; 4.1 Against Maths: Individuation, Causes, and Face Value Practice ; 4.2 A Simple Fictions Account ; 4.3 Enriching the Simple Account ; 4.3.1 Waltonian Fictionalism ; 4.3.2 Fictions without Models ; 4.4 Why I am not a Fictionalist ; 4.4.1 Variation ; 4.4.2 Representational Capacity of Different Models ; 4.4.3 Making Sense of Modeling ; 4.4.4 Variation in Practice ; 4.5 Folk ontology ; 4.6 Maths, Interpretation, and Folk Ontology ; 5 Target Directed Modeling ; 5.1 Model Development ; 5.2 Analysis of the Model ; 5.2.1 Complete Analysis ; 5.2.2 Goal-directed Analysis ; 5.3 Model/Target Comparison ; 5.3.1 Phenomena and Target Systems ; 5.3.2 Establishing the fit between Model and Target ; 5.3.3 Representations of Targets ; 6 Idealization ; 6.1 Three Kinds of Idealization ; 6.1.1 Galilean idealization ; 6.1.2 Minimalist idealization ; 6.1.3 Multiple Models Idealization ; 6.2 Representational Ideals and Fidelity Criteria ; 6.2.1 Completeness ; 6.2.2 Simplicity ; 6.2.3 1-Causal ; 6.2.4 Maxout ; 6.2.5 P-General ; 6.3 Idealization and Representational Ideals ; 6.4 Idealization and Target Directed Modeling ; 7 Modeling Without a Specific Target ; 7.1 Generalized Modeling ; 7.1.1 How Possibly Explanations ; 7.1.2 Minimal Models and First Order Causal Structures ; 7.2 Hypothetical Modeling ; 7.2.1 Contingent Non-existence: xDNA ; 7.2.2 Impossible Targets: Infinite Population Growth and Perpetual Motion ; 7.3 Targetless Modeling ; 7.4 A Moving Target: The Case of Three-sex Biology ; 8 An Account of Similarity ; 8.1 Desiderata for Model/World Relations ; 8.2 Model Theoretic Accounts ; 8.3 Similarity ; 8.4 Tversky's Contrast Account ; 8.5 Attributes and Mechanisms ; 8.6 Feature Sets, Construals, and Target Systems ; 8.7 Modeling Goals and Weighting Parameters ; 8.8 Weighting Function and Background Theory ; 8.9 Satisfying the Desiderata ; 9 Robustness Analysis and Idealization ; 9.1 Levins and Wimsatt on Robustness ; 9.2 Robust Theorems ; 9.3 Three Kinds of Robustness ; 9.3.1 Parameter Robustness ; 9.3.2 Structural Robustness ; 9.3.3 Representational Robustness ; 9.4 Robustness and Confirmation ; 10 Conclusion: The Practice of Modeling ; References

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Book SynopsisDeath has long been a pre-occupation of philosophers, and this is especially so today. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Death collects 21 newly commissioned essays that cover current philosophical thinking of death-related topics across the entire range of the discipline. These include metaphysical topics--such as the nature of death, the possibility of an afterlife, the nature of persons, and how our thinking about time affects what we think about death--as well as axiological topics, such as whether death is bad for its victim, what makes it bad to die, what attitude it is fitting to take towards death, the possibility of posthumous harm, and the desirability of immortality. The contributors also explore the views of ancient philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato and Epicurus on topics related to the philosophy of death, and questions in normative ethics, such as what makes killing wrong when it is wrong, and whether it is wrong to kill fetuses, non-human animals, combatants in waTrade ReviewThis handbook offers a diverse survey of contemporary work with some discussion of its historical touchstones (particularly the thought of Epicurus and Lucretius). Topics range from ordinary-language analysis of the concept of death, and the associated problems personal identity and temporal persistence, to value-oriented examination of whether death is bad or evil, the possibility and value of immortality, and what constitutes the wrongness of killing. Contributors make frequent and helpful use of thought experiments and references to popular culture to ensure that difficult concepts and arguments are clear. The argumentation will be accessible for those possessing basic familiarity with analytic methodology. * D.A. Forbes, CHOICE *As a collection on cutting-edge work in metaphysics of death and, to a lesser extent, related ethical issues, this is a solid collection that both engages recent debates and furnishes multiple possible directions that these debates may take. * James Bodington, Metapsychology Online Reviews16/03/16 *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Philosophy of Death ; Ben Bradley, Fred Feldman, Jens Johansson ; 1. When Do Things Die? ; Cody Gilmore ; 2. Death and the Disintegration of Personality ; Fred Feldman ; 3. The Person and the Corpse ; Eric Olson ; 4. Personal Identity and the Survival of Death ; Dean Zimmerman ; 5. The Evil of Death: What Can Metaphysics Contribute? ; Theodore Sider ; 6. Death and Eternal Recurrence ; Lars Bergstrom ; 7. Death in Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle ; Gareth B. Matthews ; 8. When Death Is There, We Are Not: Epicurus on Pleasure and Death ; Phillip Mitsis ; 9. The Badness of Death and the Goodness of Life ; John Broome ; 10. The Symmetry Problem ; Roy Sorensen ; 11. The Timing Problem ; Jens Johansson ; 12. Death, Value, and Desire ; Christopher Belshaw ; 13.Death and Rational Emotion ; Kai Draper ; 14. Retroactive Harms and Wrongs ; Steven Luper ; 15. Immortality ; John Martin Fischer ; 16. The Makropulos Case Revisited: Reflections on Immortality and Agency ; Connie Rosati ; 17. The Wrongness of Killing and the Badness of Death ; Matthew Hanser ; 18. Abortion and Death ; Don Marquis ; 19. The Morality of Killing in War ; Frances Kamm ; 20. The Significance of Death for Animals ; Alastair Norcross ; 21. Capital Punishment ; Torbjorn Tannsjo ; Index

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Book SynopsisIn Systematicity, Paul Hoyningen-Huene answers the question What is science? by proposing that scientific knowledge is primarily distinguished from other forms of knowledge, especially everyday knowledge, by being more systematic. Science is here understood in the broadest possible sense, encompassing not only the natural sciences but also mathematics, the social sciences, and the humanities. The author develops his thesis in nine dimensions in which it is claimed that science is more systematic than other forms of knowledge: regarding descriptions, explanations, predictions, the defense of knowledge claims, critical discourse, epistemic connectedness, an ideal of completeness, knowledge generation, and the representation of knowledge. He compares his view with positions on the question held by philosophers from Aristotle to Nicholas Rescher. The book concludes with an exploration of some consequences of Hoyningen-Huene''s view concerning the genesis and dynamics of science, the relationship of science and common sense, normative implications of the thesis, and the demarcation criterion between science and pseudo-science.Trade ReviewSystematicity constitutes a welcome contribution to the general philosophy of science. The research agenda for general philosophy of science has been shifting over the last three decades as many philosophers of science have focused on issues in the philosophy of the special sciences, philosophy of physics, philosophy of biology, and the like. In Systematicity, Hoyningen-Huene shows that there is still important and interesting work to be done in general philosophy of science. One leaves the book with a deeper appreciation for the nature of science, as the subtitle suggests, and why science rightly holds the important place it does in contemporary Western cultures. The book has the marks of being written by a mature scholar, erudite, wide ranging, and carefully argued. * K. Brad Wray, Metascience *Hoyningen-Huene presents a thought-provoking image of science that is very useful for the debate on the nature of science within science education. * Esther M. van Dijk, Science & Education *provides a fresh perspective on science ... Recommended. * V.V. Raman, CHOICE *This is a well-organized, well-written, and compellingly argued text on a topic of considerable importance. * Travis Dumsday, Review of Metaphysics *This book is a pleasure to read. It is well written, delicately crafted, scrupulously sign-posted, and very carefully and closely argued including of course the appropriate hedging at crucial points. Its perspective on the histories of both Science and philosophy is expansive, and its author strikes an impeccably impartial tone on disputes that are purely intramural in characteror irrelevant to the subject at hand. * Mariam Thalos, Mind *Table of ContentsPreface ; 1 Introduction ; 1.1 Historical Remarks ; 1.2 The Question "What Is Science?" in Focus ; 2 The Main Thesis ; 2.1 Science and Systematicity ; A) A Little History ; B) Preliminary Remarks ; 2.2 The Concept of Systematicity ; 2.3 The Structure of the Argument ; 3 The Systematicity of Science Unfolded ; 3.1 Descriptions ; A) Some Preliminaries ; B) Axiomatization ; C) Classification, Taxonomy, and Nomenclature ; D) Periodization ; E) Quantification ; F) Empirical Generalizations ; G) Historical Descriptions ; 3.2 Explanations ; A) Some Preliminaries ; B) Explanations Using Empirical Generalizations ; C) Explanations Using Theories ; D) Explanations of Human Actions ; E) Reductive Explanations ; F) Historical Explanations ; G) Explanation and Understanding in the Humanities in General ; H) Explanations in the Study of Literature ; 3.3 Predictions ; A) Some Preliminaries ; B) Predictions Based on Empirical Regularities of the Data in Question ; C) Predictions Based on Correlations with Other Data Sets ; D) Predictions Based on (Fundamental) Theories or Laws ; E) Predictions Based on Models ; F) Predictions Based on Delphi Methods ; 3.4 The Defense of Knowledge Claims ; A) Some Preliminaries ; B) Non-Evidential Considerations ; C) Empirical Generalizations, Models, and Theories ; D) Causal Influence ; E) The Verum Factum Principle ; F) The Role of Mathematics in the Sciences ; G) Historical Sciences ; 3.5 Critical Discourse ; A) Some Preliminaries ; B) Norms and Institutions ; C) Practices in Science Fostering Critical Discourse ; 3.6. Epistemic Connectedness ; A) Preliminaries: The Problem ; B) Failing Answers ; C) The Concept of Epistemic Connectedness ; D) Revisiting the Examples ; 3.7 The Ideal of Completeness ; A) Some Preliminaries ; B) Examples ; 3.8 The Generation of New Knowledge ; A) Some Preliminaries ; B) Data Collection ; C) The Exploitation of Knowledge from Other Domains ; D) The Generation of New Knowledge as an Autocatalytic Process ; 3.9 The Representation of Knowledge ; A) Some Preliminaries ; B) Examples ; 4 Comparison with Other Positions ; 4.1 Aristotle ; A) The Position ; B) Comparison with Systematicity Theory ; 4.2 Rene Descartes ; A) The Position ; B) Comparison with Systematicity Theory ; 4.3 Immanuel Kant ; A) The Position ; B) Comparison with Systematicity Theory ; 4.4 Logical Empiricism ; A) The Position ; B) Comparison with Systematicity Theory ; 4.5 Karl R. Popper ; A) The Position ; B) Comparison with Systematicity Theory ; 4.6 Thomas S. Kuhn ; A) The Position ; B) Comparison with Systematicity Theory ; 4.7 Paul K. Feyerabend ; A) The Position ; B) Comparison with Systematicity Theory ; 4.8 Nicholas Rescher ; A) The Position ; B) Comparison with Systematicity Theory ; 5 Consequences for Scientific Knowledge ; 5.1 The Genesis and Dynamics of Science ; A) Conceptual Clarifications ; B) The Genesis of a Science ; C) The Dynamics of Science ; 5.2 Science and Common Sense ; A) The Preservation of Common Sense ; B) The Deviations from Common Sense ; C) Additional Remarks ; 5.3 Normative Consequences ; 5.4 Demarcation from Pseudo-Science ; A) A Little History ; B) Systematicity Theory's Demarcation Criterion ; 6 Conclusion ; Notes ; Literature ; Literature

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Book SynopsisMany philosophers and scientists over the course of history have held that the world is alive. It has a soul, which governs it and binds it together. This suggestion, once so wide-spread, may strike many of us today as strange and antiquated--in fact, there are few other concepts that, on their face, so capture the sheer distance between us and our philosophical inheritance. But the idea of a world soul has held so strong a grip upon philosophers'' imaginations for over 2,000 years, that it continues to underpin and even structure how we conceive of time and space. The concept of the world soul is difficult to understand in large part because over the course of history it has been invoked to very different ends and within the frameworks of very different ontologies and philosophical systems, with varying concepts of the world soul emerging as a result. This volume brings together eleven chapters by leading philosophers in their respective fields that collectively explore the various waTable of ContentsIntroduction, James Wilberding Chapter 1: The World Soul in the Platonic Tradition, James Wilberding Chapter 2: The Stoic World Soul and the Theory of Seminal Principles, Ricardo Salles Reflection: The World Soul and Harmony, Lisa Taub Chapter 3: 'The Universe is an Animal': The World Soul in Medieval Philosophy, Peter Adamson Chapter 4: The 'World Soul' in India: Complex Causality and Artful Emergence in 'Sakti' Vedanta, Jessica Frazier Chapter 5: Glimmers of the World Soul in Kabbalah, Jeremy P. Brown Chapter 6: The World Soul in the Renaissance, Hiro Hirai Reflection: The World Soul and Spontaneous Generation, Gideon Manning and James Wilberding Chapter 7: The World Soul in Early Modern Philosophy, Alison Peterman Reflection: The World Soul in Henry Purcell's setting of 'Hail, bright Cecilia,' Bryan White Chapter 8: The Miracle and Mystery of Nature: Romantic Searches for the World Soul, Elizabeth Millán Brusslan Chapter 9: Nature, Freedom, History: The World Soul in German Idealism, Brady Bowman Reflection: World Soul and Individual Soul in Psychoanalysis, Alexandrine Schniewind Chapter 10: The World Soul in American Transcendentalism, Laura Dassow Walls Reflection: The World Soul and Gaia, J. Baird Callicott Chapter 11. Contemporary Echoes of the World Soul: Quantum Mechanics and Consciousness, Valia Allori

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Book SynopsisSchopenhauer is the most readable of German philosophers. This book gives a succinct explanation of his metaphysical system, concentrating on the original aspects of his thought, which inspired many artists and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer''s central notion is that of the will - a blind, irrational force that he uses to interpret both the human mind and the whole of nature. Seeing human behaviour as that of a natural organism governed by the will to life, Schopenhauer developed radical insights concerning the unconscious and sexuality which influenced both psychologists and philosophers.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade Reviewan excellent brief introduction to Schopenhauer's thought - well-written, concise, and pitched at just the right level. * Christopher Norris, University of Wales *Table of Contents1. Schopenhauer's life and works ; 2. Within and beyond appearance ; 3. The world as will and representation ; 4. Will, body, and the self ; 5. Character, sex, and the unconscious ; 6. Art and ideas ; 7. Ethics: seeing the world aright ; 8. Existence and pessimism ; 9. Schopenhauer's influence ; Further reading

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Book SynopsisPerception and Idealism examines how perception makes objects manifest to us, and what the world must be like for objects to be manifest in that way. Howard Robinson argues for a version of sense-datum theory about perception and theistic phenomenalism about metaphysical reality.Trade ReviewRobinson's book is clearly and beautifully written, and argumentatively persuasive ... a refreshing blast of curative air breathed into the dank enclosures of Direct Realism, Disjunctivism and Reductive Representationalism. * David Pitt, California State University, Los Angeles *Robinson argues for a kind of idealism, providing well-organized, well-documented discussions of both early modern and recent philosophers' views on the nature of perception and its relationship to the world. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: How the World Manifests Itself to Us 1: The Causal Argument for Sense-Data, 'Philosophers' Hallucinations', and the Disjunctive Response 2: Naïve Realism and the Argument from Illusion 3: Intentionality and Perception (I): The Fundamental irrelevance of Intentionality to Phenomenal Consciousness 4: Intentionality and Perception (II): Attempts to Articulate the 'Content' and 'Object' Distinction 5: Singular Reference and its Relation to Intentionality 6: Objectivity: How is It Possible? 7: Semantic Direct Realism, Critical Realism, and the Sense-Datum Theory 8: Building the Manifest World Part II: What the World Is, in Itself 9: The Problematic Nature of the Modern Conception of Matter 10: Two Suggestive Berkeleyan Arguments 11: Bishop Berkeley and John Foster on Problems with Physical Realism about Space 12: Mentalist Alternatives to Berkeleyan Theism, and their Failure General Conclusion

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Book SynopsisObserve social distancing. Tip your waiter. Give priority to the elderly. Stop at the red light. Pay your taxes. Do not chew with your mouth open. These are imperatives we face every day, imposed upon us by norms that happen to be generally accepted in our environment. Call these ''socially constructed norms''. A constant presence in our lives, these norms elicit mixed feelings. On the one hand, we treat them as valid standards of behaviour and respond to their violation with emotions such disapproval, resentment, and guilt. On the other hand, we look at them with suspicion: after all, they are arbitrary human constructs that may contribute to oppression and injustice. In light of this ambivalence, it is important to have a criterion telling us when, if ever, we are morally bound by socially constructed norms and when we should instead disregard them. Morality and Socially Constructed Norms systematically develops such a criterion. It traces the moral significance of those norms to theTable of ContentsIntroduction 1: What Are Socially Constructed Norms? 2: Grounding the Moral Force of Socially Constructed norms 3: The Agency-Respect View 4: Grounding Moral rights 5: Grounding Political Obligation 6: Explaining the Wrong of Sovereignty Violations Conclusion Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe idea that truth might be relative has recently been taken seriously again in philosophy, after years of ill repute. Crispin Wright has been a leading critic of the new relativism: this volume charts the development of his thinking on the topic over two decades.Table of Contents1: On Being in a Quandary: Relativism, Vagueness, Logical Revisionism (2001) 2: Intuitionism, Realism, Relativism and Rhubarb (2006) 3: New Age Relativism and Epistemic Possibility: The Question of Evidence (2007) 4: Relativism about Truth itself: Haphazard thoughts about the Very Idea (2008) 5: Fear of Relativism (2008) 6: Trumping Assessments and the Aristotelian future (2009) (Co-authored with Sebastiano Moruzzi) 7: Assessment-Sensitivity: The Manifestation Challenge (2016) 8: Talking with Vultures (2017) (Co-authored with Filippo Ferrari) 9: The Variability of 'knows': An Opinionated Overview (2017) 10: Alethic Pluralism, Deflationism, and Faultless Disagreement (2021)

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