Philosophy of language Books
Vintage Publishing A Lovers Discourse
Book SynopsisRoland Barthes was born in 1915 and studied French literature and classics at the University of Paris. After teaching French at universities in Romania and Egypt, he joined the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, where he devoted himself to research in sociology and lexicology. He was a professor at the College de France until his death in 1980.Trade ReviewLove, here, is a state of the imagination, with the lover desperate to interpret the dire ambiguities inseparable from his role. This is a speculative book, and a melancholy one, an exploration of the idiom of anxiety. Barthes's love is a passion in the old, suffering sense of the word * Observer *May be the most detailed, painstaking anatomy of desire that we are ever likely to see or need again... All readers will find something they recognize in Barthes' recreation of the lover's fevered consciousness: The book is an ecstatic celebration of love and language and...readers interested in either or both...will enjoy savouring its rich and dark delights * Washington Post Book World *Barthes's work, along with that of Wilde and Valéry, gives being an aesthete a good name... Defending the senses, he never betrayed the mind -- Susan Sontag
£9.99
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Naming and Necessity
Book Synopsis'Naming and Necessity' has had a great and increasing influence. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of naming, and of identity.Trade Review"Brilliant and very influential . . . stands up as an impressive and enduring work of philosophy, outstanding in its sweep, clarity and penetration."—Colin McGinn, Times Higher Education Supplement "When these lectures were first published eight years ago, they stood analytic philosophy on its ear. Everybody was either furious, or exhilarated, or thoroughly perplexed. No one was indifferent. This welcome republication provides a chance to look back at a modern classic, and to say something about why it was found so shocking and liberating."—Richard Rorty, London Review of BooksTable of ContentsPreface. Lecture I. Lecture II. Lecture III. Addenda.
£20.85
Penguin Books Ltd Confabulations
Book Synopsis''Language is a body, a living creature ... and this creature''s home is the inarticulate as well as the articulate''. John Berger''s work has revolutionized the way we understand visual language. In this new book he writes about language itself, and how it relates to thought, art, song, storytelling and political discourse today. Also containing Berger''s own drawings, notes, memories and reflections on everything from Albert Camus to global capitalism, Confabulations takes us to what is ''true, essential and urgent''.Trade ReviewHis writing ... has changed the way many of us see the world ... Berger has that rare and wonderful gift of being able to make complex thoughts simple -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *John Berger teaches us how to think, how to feel, how to stare at things till we see what we thought wasn't there. But above all he teaches us how to love in the face of adversity. He is a master -- Arundhati RoyOne of the greatest thinkers in postwar Britain * Guardian *He handles thoughts the way an artist handles paint -- Jeanette WintersonBerger is terrific ... Brilliant * Scotsman *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Power of Language
Book SynopsisWhy should we learn more than one language?Can it change the way we think?Does it have the power to transform how we see the world?You may think you speak only one language. In fact, your mind is interpreting multiple codes of communication. Some people speak Spanish, some Mandarin. Some speak poetry, some are fluent in maths. Humans are built for multilingualism.Drawing on cutting-edge research and theory, delivered with wit and lucid insight, psycholinguist Viorica Marian explores the ways in which the mind uses multiple languages and how, in doing so, we can open the doors to unique forms of creativity, brain health and cognitive control. Every new language we speak - whether it is coding or musical notes, Hindi or Arabic - shapes how we extract and interpret information. It alters what we remember, how we perceive ourselves and those around us, how we feel, the insights we have, the decisions we make and the actions we take.The Power of Language lays bare how we use different linguistic codes to think about the world - and change our place within it. Empowering and practical, this is the perfect guide for anyone interested in how language really works.
£10.44
Oxford University Press Inc For Fcks Sake
Book SynopsisWhy do we love to swear so much? Why do we get so offended when others do it? With wit and insight, philosopher Rebecca Roache seeks answers to these and other puzzling questions about bad language. When someone swears at you, it can sting. Likewise, sometimes there is no better way to make the point you''re making--emphasize, insult, or just plain offend--than to use a swear. What explains the magical power of swearwords? Why are they so good at offending people? To understand swearwords'' power, we need to look beyond the words themselves--beyond the way they sound and what they refer to--and consider more generally what we do when we swear.In this lively and amusing exploration of the various puzzles that surround swearing, philosopher Rebecca Roache argues that what makes swearing offensive is not really the words at all: the offensiveness lies in what we don''t say. The unspoken--and usually unconscious--inferences that speakers and listeners make about each other are key to explaTrade ReviewSwearing is indeed shocking, rude, and fun. It's also puzzling, fascinating, and thought-provoking, as is this marvellous book. * Roger Crisp, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford *With brilliant wit and remarkable skill, Rebecca Roache takes up the linguistic, social, moral, and legal dimensions of swearing. The result is a philosophically sophisticated and highly readable discussion with lots of practical guidance about whether and when we need to watch our mouths. Roache's wise, funny, and thought-provoking book belongs on everyone's shelf. * Karen Stohr, Ryan Family Professor of Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy, Georgetown University *Finally a book that rips the fuck out of the arseholes who claim that swearing is 'the sign of a poor vocabulary' or 'unnecessary.' Bollocks to them. This book puts those dim wankers right in as serious, intelligent, knowledgeable and hilarious a fashion as the subject deserves. * Stephen Fry *This is a wonderfully well-written exploration of all aspects of swearing-cultural, linguistic, ethical and political. It's both insightful and an absolute page-turner, which made me laugh out loud several times-not a very common experience with philosophy books! In short, it's an excellent fucking book. * Jennifer Saul, Waterloo Chair in Social and Political Philosophy of Language, University of Waterloo *Roache skillfully probes the complexities of profanity use and its relevance to decorum, identity, and power. This will intrigue linguists and potty-mouthed laypeople alike. * Publishers Weekly *A lively examination of swearing in all its forms, and although it is often humorous, Roache also has serious points to make...With dry wit and a storyteller's eye, Roache romps through the history and social meaning of colorful language. * Kirkus Reviews *[B]oth academic and hilarious. Readers lured in by the title (and its sanitizing asterisk), especially those interested in the farreaching effects of language, and those who love to swear, will find much to ponder. * Laurie Unger Skinner, The Booklist *A really refreshing and insightful book. * The Debut Digest *Highly readable and amusing. * Cathleen Mair, Idler *Highly original ... It reveals all kinds of things about how we relate to people and the different ways in which we can communicate, threaten, or tease. I love this book. * Nigel Warburton, Five Books *Table of ContentsIntroduction Why give a shit about swearing? Chapter 1 What is swearing? Chapter 2 Swearing's secret offensive ingredient Chapter 3 There is no secret ingredient Chapter 4 Different kinds of wrong Chapter 5 Taboo, aggression, and harsh sweary sounds Chapter 6 How to be a really offensive swearer Chapter 7 You talkin' to me? Chapter 8 A regulatory fucking mess Chapter 9 How to do things with swearing Chapter 10 Fairer swearers Chapter 11 Swears versus slurs Chapter 12 Cunt and cocksucker Chapter 13 Cunt and 'cunt' Chapter 14 How the f*** do asterisks work? Chapter 15 Swearing as a force for good Chapter 16 The value of offensiveness Conclusion You're all fucking superheroes Acknowledgements References Index
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Tractatus LogicoPhilosophicus
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Construction of Social Reality
Book SynopsisThis short treatise looks at how we construct a social reality from our sense impressions; at how, for example, we construct a five-pound note with all that implies in terms of value and social meaning, from the printed piece of paper we see and touch.Table of ContentsThe building blocks of social reality; creating institutional facts; language and social reality; the general theory of institutional facts part I - iteration, interaction, and logical structure; the general theory of institutional facts part II - creation, maintenance, and the hierarchy; background abilities and the explanation of social phenomena; does the real world exist? part I - attacks on realism; does the real world exist? part II - could there be a proof of external realism?; truth and correspondence.
£11.69
Oxford University Press Meaning
Book SynopsisVery Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, InspiringOur ability to find meaning in things is one of the most important aspects of human life. But it is also one of the most mysterious. Where does meaning come from? What sorts of things have meaning? And how do we grasp the meaning others want to convey? This Very Short Introduction is shaped by exploring possible answers to these questions.Human societies have one particularly important device for expressing and sharing meaning: language. Since our words are paradigm examples of things which have meaning, in this book, Emma Borg and Sarah Fisher use meaning in language as a case study for exploring meaning more generally. They focus on three possible sources for word meaning: things in the world, things in the mind, and social practices, exploring the key approaches thinkers have put forward in each of these arenas. Finally, they end by looking at some concrete applications of the ideas and approaches introduced in the book.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.
£8.54
Oxford University Press Wittgenstein
Book SynopsisLudwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an extraordinarily original philospher, whose influence on twentieth-century thinking goes well beyond philosophy itself. In this book, which aims to make Wittgenstein''s thought accessible to the general non-specialist reader, A. C. Grayling explains the nature and impact of Wittgenstein''s views. He describes both his early and later philosophy, the differences and connections between them, and gives a fresh assessment of Wittgenstein''s continuing influence on contemporary thought. 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 ReviewLucidly and attractively written. * Heythrop Journal *Anyone wanting to come to grips with the later Wittgenstein's views on philosophy, his beliefs about the nature of thought and language, and his many unignorable (if sometimes muddled and often muddling) ideas in the philosophy of the mind could do no better than start here. * Guardian *[Grayling] is to be congratulated on the success of his enterprise in a book which is a model of expository elgance ... an admirably clear and concise introduction * Philosophical Books *Table of ContentsTHE EARLY PHILOSOPHY; THE LATER PHILOSOPHY
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co The Hedgehog And The Fox
Book Synopsis''Brilliant. Searching and profound'' E.H. Carr, Times Literary Supplement''When reading Isaiah Berlin we breathe an altogether different air'' New York Review of Books''Beautifully written'' W. H. Auden, New Yorker''Ingenious. Exactly what good critical writing should be'' Max Beloff, GuardianThe fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.For Isaiah Berlin, there is a fundamental distinction in mankind: those who are fascinated by the infinite variety of things - foxes - and those who relate everything to a central all-embracing system - hedgehogs. It can be applied to the greatest creative minds: Dante, Ibsen and Proust are hedgehogs, while Shakespeare, Aristotle and Joyce are foxes.Yet when Berlin reaches the case of Tolstoy, he finds a fox by nature, but a hedgehog by conviction; a duality which holds the key to understanding Tolstoy''s Trade ReviewBrilliant ... searching and profound * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *This little book is so entertaining, as well as acute, that the reader hardly notices that it is learned too * OBSERVER *Very readable, with a lively honed down style * SUNDAY MERCURY *The most important study of Tolstoy's thought written in English for a long time * THE LISTENER *Delightful to read * SUNDAY TIMES *[Berlin] has a deep and subtle feeling for the puzzle of Tolstoy's personality, and he writes throughout ... with a wonderful eloquence * NEW YORK TIMES *Beautifully written and suggestive -- W H Auden * NEW YORKER *Berlin's stunning command of the resources of scholarship, his sensitivity to literature and to character, and his eloquence as a writer give this essay the lustre of a virtuoso performance * ATLANTIC *The argument is ingenious and subtle, full of overtones - exactly what good critical writing should be * GUARDIAN *very readable, with a lively honed down style * SUNDAY MERCURY *
£9.49
Verso A Social History of Analytic Philosophy
Book SynopsisAnalytic philosophy is the leading form of philosophy in the English-speaking world. What explains its continued success? Christoph Schuringa argues that its enduring power can only be understood by examining its social history. Analytic philosophy tends to think of itself as concerned with eternal questions, transcending the changing scenes of history. It thinks of itself as apolitical. This book, however, convincingly shows that the opposite is true.The origins of analytic philosophy are in a set of distinct movements, shaped by high-ly specific sets of political and social forces. Only after the Second World War were these disparate, often dynamic movements joined together to make ‘analytic philosophy’ as we know it. In the climate of McCarthyism, analytic philosophy was robbed of political force.To this day, analytic philosophy is the ideology of the status quo. It may seem arcane and largely removed from the real world, but it is a crucial component in upholding liberalism, through its central role in elite educational institutions. As Schuringa concludes, the apparently increasing friendliness of analytic philosophers to rival approaches in philosophy should be understood as a form of colonization; thanks to its hegemonic status, it reformats all it touches in service of its own imperatives, going so far as to colonize decolonial efforts in the discipline.
£28.04
Oxford University Press Psycholinguistics
Book SynopsisVery Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, InspiringThis Very Short Introduction to psycholinguistics is an accessible and engaging description of how people use language. Talking and understanding language probably seem like simple and straightforward skills, but research in psycholinguistics has shown that complex computations take place behind the scenes when you communicate with others. Recent debates concerning how AI tools such as ChatGPT work highlight some of these core questions about the language faculty and how it is that humans comprehend, produce, and learn language. The book begins with an overview of the fields of linguistics and psychology and how they have cooperated from the earliest days of psycholinguistics. It then considers how words and sentences are interpreted, how they are generated, and how human conversation is coordinated. The book also reviews research on reading, sign language processing, and bilingualism. The closing chapter summarizes where the field is heading, with a brief discussion of Large Language Models, the role of Information Theory, the growing emphasis on the neurobiology of language, and the increasing diversity of research in psycholinguistics, both with respect to the languages studied and the backgrounds and histories of language researchers. Issues that are considered include: (1) How successfully do people adapt what they say to the needs of their audience when they design their phrases and sentences? (2) How do people read languages such as Chinese, which do not use an alphabetic writing system? (3) Do the size and efficiency of a person''s memory affect how effectively people use language? (4) Is bilingualism cognitively advantageous, and if so, what are the mechanisms that lead to this so-called bilingual advantage? And (5) Do users of sign language gesture when they communicate? These questions and more are answered using insights from the latest research based on methods from the cognitive and neurosciences. 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.
£8.54
Oxford University Press Linguistics
Book SynopsisLinguistics falls in the gap between arts and science, on the edges of which the most fascinating discoveries and the most important problems are found. Rather than following the conventional organization of many contemporary introductions to the subject, the author of this stimulating guide begins his discussion with the oldest, ''arts'' end of the subject and moves chronologically through to the newest research - the ''science'' aspects. A series of short thematic chapters look in turn at such areas as the prehistory of languages and their common origins, language and evolution, language in time and space (the nature of change inherent in language), grammars and dictionaries (how systematic is language?), and phonetics. Explication of the newest discoveries pertaining to language in the brain completes the coverage of all major aspects of linguistics from a refreshing and insightful angle. 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.Table of ContentsFURTHER READING; INDEX
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers The Grammar of Angels
Book Synopsis'Ingenious a glorious portrait of the great 15th-century prince of learning' Daily Telegraph
£21.25
University of California Press Music and the Forms of Life
Book SynopsisInventors in the age of the Enlightenment created lifelike androids capable of playing music on real instruments. Music and the Forms of Lifeexamines the link between such simulated life and music, which began in the era's scientific literature and extended into a series of famous musical works by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Music invented auditory metaphors for the scientific elements of life (drive, pulse, sensibility, irritability, even metabolism), investigated the affinities and antagonisms between life and mechanism, and explored questions of whether and how mechanisms can come to life. The resulting changes in the conceptions of both life and music had wide cultural resonance at the time, and those concepts continued to evolve long after. A critical part of that evolution was a nineteenth-century shift in focus from moving androids to the projection of life in motion, culminating in the invention of cinema. Weaving together cultural and musical practices, Lawrence Kramer trTable of ContentsContents List of Musical Examples and Figures Introduction: Music and the Life of Statues 1 • From Clockwork to Pulsation I: Intensity and Drive 2 • From Clockwork to Pulsation II: Action and Feeling 3 • From Clockwork to Pulsation III: Metabolism 4 • 1812 Overtures: Wellington’s Victory and Live Action 5 • “Dear Listener” . . . : Music and the Invention of Subjectivity 6 • Waltzing Specters: Life, Perception, and Ravel’s “La Valse” 7 • The Musical Biome Epilogue: Sound and the Forms of Life Notes Index
£27.00
The University of Chicago Press Logic Language and Meaning Volume 1
Book SynopsisAlthough the two volumes of Logic, Language, and Meaning can be used independently of one another, together they provide a comprehensive overview of modern logic as it is used as a tool in the analysis of natural language. Both volumes provide exercises and their solutions. Volume 1, Introduction to Logic, begins with a historical overview and then offers a thorough introduction to standard propositional and first-order predicate logic. It provides both a syntactic and a semantic approach to inference and validity, and discusses their relationship. Although language and meaning receive special attention, this introduction is also accessible to those with a more general interest in logic. In addition, the volume contains a survey of such topics as definite descriptions, restricted quantification, second-order logic, and many-valued logic. The pragmatic approach to non-truthconditional and conventional implicatures are also discussed. Finally, the relation between logic and formal syntax
£34.20
Springer Mathematical Methods in Linguistics
Book SynopsisElementary set theory accustoms the students to mathematical abstraction, includes the standard constructions of relations, functions, and orderings, and leads to a discussion of the various orders of infinity. The material on logic covers not only the standard statement logic and first-order predicate logic but includes an introduction to formal systems, axiomatization, and model theory. The section on algebra is presented with an emphasis on lattices as well as Boolean and Heyting algebras. Background for recent research in natural language semantics includes sections on lambda-abstraction and generalized quantifiers. Chapters on automata theory and formal languages contain a discussion of languages between context-free and context-sensitive and form the background for much current work in syntactic theory and computational linguistics. The many exercises not only reinforce basic skills but offer an entry to linguistic applications of mathematical concepts. For upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students in theoretical linguistics, computer-science students with interests in computational linguistics, logic programming and artificial intelligence, mathematicians and logicians with interests in linguistics and the semantics of natural language.Table of ContentsPreface. Part A. Set Theory. 1. Basic Concepts of Set Theory. 2. Relations and Functions. 3. Properties of Relations. 4. Infinities. Appendix A1. Part B. Logic and Formal Systems. 5. Basic Concepts of Logic. 6.Statement Logic. 7. Predicate Logic. 8. Formal Systems, Axiomatization, and Model Theory. Appendix B1. Appendix BII. Part C. Algebra. 9. Basic Concepts of Algebra. 10. Operational Structures. 11. Lattices. 12. Boolean and Heyting Algebras. Part D. English as a Formal Language. 13. Basic Concepts of Formal Languages. 14. Generalized Quantifiers. 15. Intensionality. Part E. Languages, Grammars, and Automata. 16. Basic Concepts of Languages, Grammars, and Automata. 17. Finite Automata, Regular Languages and Type 3 Grammars. 18. Pushdown Automata, Context-Free Grammars and Languages. 19. Turing Machines, Recursively Enumberable Languages, and Type 0 Grammars. 20. Linear Bounded Automata, Context-Sensitive Languages and Type 1 Grammars. 21. Languages Between Context-Free and Context-Sensitive. 22. Transformational Grammars. Appendix EI. Appendix EII. Review Problems. Index.
£224.99
Penguin Books Ltd The Language Instinct
Book Synopsis''Dazzling... Pinker''s big idea is that language is an instinct...as innate to us as flying is to geese... Words can hardly do justice to the superlative range and liveliness of Pinker''s investigations''- Independent''A marvellously readable book... illuminates every facet of human language: its biological origin, its uniqueness to humanity, it acquisition by children, its grammatical structure, the production and perception of speech, the pathology of language disorders and the unstoppable evolution of languages and dialects'' - Nature
£12.34
Stanford University Press Monolingualism of the Other The Prosthesis of
Book SynopsisThis volume makes available in English leading philosopher, Jacques Derrida's reflections on the individual's relationship with his or her own language.Trade Review"In this elegant and engaging essay, Derrida turns to the subject of Derrida as Algerian Jew and as a dissociated Francophone."—The Front Table"Clearly, Derrida is bravely turning away from decades of structuralist thinking that made even the slightest hint of transcendence into an intellectual taboo."—Substance"Derrida has produced a text which takes philosophy and autobiography into the closest possible proximity; yet the result is something far more significant than the personal reminiscences of a philosopher."—Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsMonolingualism of the other or, The prosthesis of origin Epilogue Notes.
£18.89
Oxford University Press Inc On Taking Offence
Book SynopsisSomeone fails to shake your outstretched hand, puts you down in front of others, or makes a joke in poor taste. Should we take offence? Wouldn''t it be better if we didn''t? In the face of popular criticism of people taking offence too easily, and the social problems that creates, Emily McTernan defends taking offence as often morally appropriate and socially valuable. Within societies marred by inequality, taking offence can resist the day-to-day patterning of social hierarchies. This book defends the significance of details of our social interactions. Cumulatively, small acts, and the social norms underlying these, can express and reinforce social hierarchies. But by taking offence, we mark an act as an affront to our social standing. We also often communicate our rejection of that affront to others. At times, taking offence can be a way to renegotiate the shared social norms around what counts as respectful treatment. Rather than a mere expression of hurt feelings then, to take offence can be to stand up for one''s standing. When taken by those deemed to have less social standing, to take offence can be a direct act of insubordination against a social hierarchy. Taking offence can resist everyday inequalities. In unequal societies, the inclination to take offence at the right things, and to the right degree, may even be a civic virtue. These right things at which to take offence include many of the very instances that the opponents of a culture of taking offence find most objectionable: apparently trivial and small-scale details of our social interactions.Trade ReviewIn On Taking Offence, Emily McTernan develops a new, subtle, and compelling account of what it is to take offence and why taking offence is sometimes, but not always, morally justified. McTernan's admirably clear and judicious style, many vivid and timely examples, and significant moral sensitivity make this book a 'must read' for those who are interested in the nature and value of respect and, more generally, in central aspects of the moral life beyond rights and duties * Adam Cureton, Professor of Philosophy, University of Tennessee *Emily McTernan offers an analysis of taking offence that insightfully gets past the troubling public rhetoric around this emotion. McTernan provides a sorely needed repositioning of this emotion that encourages long overdue philosophical attention to social standing and status. She lucidly details how offence can serve both to defend and destabilize social status arrangements and suggests how each of these may stimulate important moral progress. * Amy Olberding, Presidential Professor of Philosophy, University of Oklahoma *Taking offence - how it feels, when it's appropriate, and when steps should be taken to make it less likely to happen - are familiar components of day-to-day moral and political interactions. Yet political philosophers have tip-toed around the subject, rarely engaging beyond questions of legal regulation. In her nuanced, entertaining, clear sighted and highly original analysis Emily McTernan relates taking offence to the idea of social standing and demonstrates that it should attract the attention of anyone concerned with questions of equality. * Jonathan Wolff, Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. Taking offence: An emotion reconsidered 1.1. Philosophers on taking offence 1.2. An analysis of taking offence 1.3. Distinguishing offence 1.4. Rethinking offence: Domestic, not catastrophic 1.5. The limits of offence 1.6. Towards a defence: From victimhood to social standing 2. What taking offence does 2.1. Social standing and the role of social norms 2.2. Taking offence and reinforcing norms 2.3. Taking offence and renegotiating norms 2.4. In defence of negotiating social norms 2.5. On negotiating through offence 3. Do sweat the small stuff: The nature and significance of social standing 3.1. Between excess and deficiency 3.2. Social standing as an equal part I: Why the 'small stuff' matters 3.3. Social standing as an equal part II: The power to set the terms 3.4. In defence of the significance of affronts 3.5. Resisting by taking offence 4. The limits of justified offence: On anger, intent, and uptake 4.1. Anger, offence, and the act 4.2. Contesting offence 4.3. 'But I didn't mean it': On intention and blame 4.4. 'But that's not offensive': Disagreement and the offensive 4.5. When offence lacks uptake 5. Only joking!: On the offensiveness of humour 5.1. Theories of humour and the offensive 5.2. Some linguistics of jokes 5.3. How offensive jokes function 5.4. The riskiness of humour 6. A corrective civic virtue: Weighing the costs and benefits of offence 6.1. Offence as a civic virtue: Arguments from equality and civility 6.2. The costs of offence to the offending party 6.3. Justifying the costs of offence 6.4. Burdens on the offended 7. A social approach, our lives online, and the social emotions 7.1. A regulatory turn 7.2. Taking offence online 7.3. The social emotions beyond offence Bibliography Index
£22.99
John Murray Press Animal Languages
Book SynopsisA fascinating and philosophical exploration of animal intelligence and the way animals communicate with each other, and us.Trade ReviewA fascinating and accessible new book about how animals communicate * Guardian *Fascinating stories and there is much to learn from them . . . Meijer proves that many animals are sophisticated, more intelligent than we may have assumed and often surprising * Spectator *Eva Meijer is on a mission to redefine the relationship between humans and animals . . . a bold and progressive vision of a future just beyond the horizon in which humankind gets better at sharing the Earth by simply learning how to listen * Herald *Fascinating . . . offers insight into the methods different species use to communicate with each other * Daily Mail *Overflowing with fabulously entertaining anecdotes * Strong Words *
£10.44
Profile Books Ltd Write to the Point: How to be Clear, Correct and
Book SynopsisWriting tends to make people anxious, and with good reason. The first sentence of a job application letter can consign it to the bin. A speech intended to rouse can put a room to sleep. A mistimed tweet can cost you your job. And a letter to a beloved may aim to convey feelings of tenderness but end up making the recipient laugh rather than melt. In this complete guide to persuasive writing, Sam Leith shows how to express yourself fully across any medium, and how to maximise your chances of getting your way in every situation. From work reports to Valentine cards, and from emails of condolence to tweets of complaint, Leith lays bare the secrets to successful communication, eloquence and off- and online etiquette. How do you write a job application, a thank-you card, or an email to your bank manager, to your children's headteacher, to your clients or your boss? How do you prepare a speech to win the argument, get the vote of confidence, or embarrass the bridegroom? Getting these things right - or wrong - can be life-changing. Succinct treatments of the most general principles of style and composition, as well as examinations of specific modes of address (What is a subtweet? How do I write a moving elegy?) are accompanied by concrete and well-illustrated dos and don'ts and examples of wins and fails. Astute, sprightly and illuminating, Write to the Point will give you the skills and confidence you need to get your message across on every occasion.Trade ReviewAt last, a book on correct writing that is genuinely amusing - and not just for language nerds ... Informative and hugely entertaining, like a Scotch-soaked conversation with an eccentric, brilliant don -- Juanita Coulson * The Lady *Useful, and persuasive -- Ben East * Observer *
£9.49
Profile Books Ltd Speaking and Being: How Language Binds and Frees
Book SynopsisA SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 'I can't stop talking about this book' Jamie Klingler, co-founder #ReclaimTheseStreets 'What a gem. ... Makes you look at the world, and yourself, afresh.' Minna Salami, author of Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone 'A generous combination of passion and practicality that is not easily resisted. A rare book that might actually change our minds' Daniel Hahn OBE 'A book at once vigorous and generous, pleasurable and galvanising' Sophie Hughes, International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator What does it really mean to speak freely? A wise, beautifully written book that explores the way language shapes our lives and how we see the world - and what happens when we learn new words, and new ways of speaking to each other. Language opens up our world, and in the same instant, limits it. What does it mean to exist in a language that was never meant for you to speak? Why are we missing certain words? How can we talk about our communal problems without fuelling them? What does it actually mean to speak freely? As a writer and activist fighting for equality, Kübra Gümüsay has been thinking about these questions for many years. In this book she explores how language shapes our thinking and determines our politics. She shows how people become invisible as individuals when they are always seen as part of a group, and the way those in the minority often have to expend energy cleaning up the messy thinking of others. But she also points to how we might shape conversations to allow for greater ambiguity and individuality, how arguments might happen in a space of learning and vulnerability without sacrificing principles - how we might all be able to speak freely.Trade ReviewI can't stop talking about this book. There is so much here that is so relevant to our fight for equality, and I really appreciated her arguments about language, gender and race. Really made me think -- Jamie Klingler, co-founder #ReclaimTheseStreetsFrom the very first lines of Speaking and Being, Kübra Gümüsay shows herself to be a master storyteller. Her stories are about language - the ways in which it shapes the very essence of our being, and its power to define how we perceive others and how we are perceived. It is a book at once vigorous and generous, pleasurable and galvanising. -- Sophie Hughes, International Booker Prize-shortlisted translatorWhat a gem. This book reminded me that reading a book means spending time with the intimate thoughts of an author, and so we typically enjoy books by authors whose company we imagine enjoying. Kübra Gümüsay makes you look at the world, and yourself, afresh. Read it anytime, but especially read it if you're feeling alone and/or alienated, or if you're at a loss for language to describe the world and its complex sociocultural and psychological existence. Her wisdom inspires you to 'speak and be'. -- Minna Salami, author of 'Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone'Speaking and Being is as important a book as its title suggests. With an impressive array of trenchant examples, it reminds us how language shapes our world views and encourages us to question and alter them for the better. Kübra Gümüsay's is a rare voice that combines challenge and compassion in equal measure, and her message is all the more compelling for it. -- Chris Young, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, University of CambridgeThought-provoking ... well researched, grounded in and citing the conversations and contexts it emerges out of. ... Timely and important -- Annie Rutherford * Goethe Institute Blog *An act of liberation - and a clever essay of literary quality and political strength. * NZZ am Sonntag *Precise, clever and extremely readable ... an important, thought-provoking commentary. Gümüsay's passionate plea for a new, free language and a new, free way of thinking questions the status quo. * Aachener Nachrichten *A polemical plea for a new use of language in public discourse. A polemic, however, that counteracts the battle cries with a personal tone and an inviting gesture to start a dialogue. * Deutschlandfunk *A reckoning with our linguistic habits * Zeit *
£13.49
Jessica Kingsley Publishers Rewriting Social Care
Book SynopsisThe way we communicate with people matters, and the way we communicate about people, and about the purpose and practice of social care and social work matters too. The words we use reflect our values and feelings which influences the way we think and behave. This is a book about language, and how the words we hear, read and choose to use both expose and perpetuate attitudes and behaviours. It's about the words that are too dominant in our narrative and practice, and the words that should dominate. It's also a book about change. Changing how we communicate about people. Changing how we understand and articulate the purpose of social care. Changing how we practice. And ultimately changing the story of social care. And mainly it's a book about being human. About recognising each other as equal, valued human beings, and about creating a more human, humane future for us all.
£18.04
Liberty Fund Inc Lectures on Rhetoric Belles Lettres
Book Synopsis
£10.95
HarperCollins Publishers A Secret Vice Tolkien on Invented Languages
Book SynopsisFirst ever critical study of Tolkien's little-known essay, which reveals how language invention shaped the creation of Middle-earth and beyond, to George R R Martin's Game of Thrones.J.R.R. Tolkien's linguistic invention was a fundamental part of his artistic output, to the extent that later on in life he attributed the existence of his mythology to the desire to give his languages a home and peoples to speak them. As Tolkien puts it in A Secret Vice', the making of language and mythology are related functions'.In the 1930s, Tolkien composed and delivered two lectures, in which he explored these two key elements of his sub-creative methodology. The second of these, the seminal Andrew Lang Lecture for 19389, On Fairy-Stories', which he delivered at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, is well known. But many years before, in 1931, Tolkien gave a talk to a literary society entitled A Hobby for the Home', where he unveiled for the first time to a listening public the art that he had Trade Review‘Anyone who has interest in language, linguistics, storytelling, or simply just fantasy in general should add this to their top shelf’5* Amazon Reviewer ‘An absolute MUST HAVE for any Tolkien fan!’5* Amazon Reviewer
£9.49
Oxford University Press Pragmatics A Slim Guide
Book SynopsisThis book offers a concise but comprehensive entry-level guide to the study of meaning in context. There can be a big difference between what a speaker says and what they mean - i.e. between literal meaning and intended meaning. A speaker who says I need coffee can mean anything from ''Please buy more coffee'' to ''I''m really sleepy''. How is a hearer to know? In this book, Betty Birner explores how we get from what is said to what is meant, from the perspective of both the speaker and the hearer, dealing with a range of context-dependent issues in language along the way: literal and non-literal meaning, implicature, speech acts, reference, definiteness, presupposition, and information structure. She reveals how language users can infer each other''s meanings using not just what is being said but also the context and an assumption of rationality and cooperation. This slim guide summarizes the most important and foundational theories in the field of linguistic pragmatics, illustrated with plenty of real-life examples, and including a helpful glossary of key terms. Written in a lively and accessible style, the book will appeal to a wide range of readers, from undergraduate and graduate students of pragmatics to general readers interested in how we successfully communicate with one another.Trade ReviewSumming up, Pragmatics: A slim guide is a valuable tool for anyone interested in the study of pragmatics. * Nicolas Ruytenbeek, Ghent University, Linguist List *Just what a slim guide should be: brisk, authoritative, even-handed, accessible, entertaining. Birner deftly traverses the theoretical and empirical landscape of contemporary pragmatics from (non-)literality to speech acts, from presupposition to implicature, from reference to information structure, enlivened at each stop with illustrative data from Poe's tales to political innuendo. * Laurence R. Horn, Yale University *Combining elegant exposition and well-chosen examples, this book serves not only to introduce the study of pragmatics to a new audience, but also to shed new light on several widely-discussed topics. * Chris Cummins, University of Edinburgh *Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Literal vs. non-literal meaning 3: Implicature 4: Speech acts 5: Reference 6: Definiteness and anaphora 7: Presupposition 8: Information structure 9: New directions 10: Conclusion Glossary
£17.99
Faber & Faber Travels in the Scriptorium
Book SynopsisAuster''s existential tale of Mr Blank from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy: ''a literary voice for the ages'' (Guardian) An old man sits in a room, with a single door and window, a bed, a desk and a chair. Each day he awakes with no memory, unsure of whether or not he is locked into the room. Attached to the few objects around him are one-word, hand-written, labels and on the desk is a series of vaguely familiar black-and-white photgraphs and four piles of paper. Then a middle-aged woman called Anna enters and talks of pills and treatment, but also of love and promises.Who is this Mr Blank, and what is his fate? What does Anna represent from his past - and will he have enough time to ever make sense of the clues that arise?After the huge success of The Brooklyn Follies, Travels in the Scriptorium sees Auster return to more metaphysical territory. A dark puzzle, and a game that implicates both readeTrade Review"'... as much a novel about the semantics of storytelling; Mr Blank remains a perfect study of confusion and memory that says everything about Auster's brilliance.' Metro"
£10.44
Edinburgh University Press Gilles Deleuzes Logic of Sense
Book SynopsisThis book offers the first critical study of Gilles Deleuze's The Logic of Sense, his most important work on language and ethics.Trade ReviewJames Williams has an amazing talent for extracting simple and important questions out of an apparently abstruse argument. He does so at regular intervals, so that the reader is able to grasp Deleuze's argument as it unfolds. This book will be essential reading for whoever wants to master Deleuze's philosophical project. -- Jean-Jacques LecercleTable of ContentsContentsChapter 1. Introduction to the logic of sense* Event and structure* Life and morals* Reading Logic of Sense* Preliminary critical questionsChapter 2. Language and event* Events as effects* Unfolding the circle of the proposition: denotation, manifestation, signification and sense* Sense and the circle* Series and paradox* Structure and esoteric words* Paradox and nonsenseChapter 3. Philosophy as event* Philosophy and diagrams* Height, depth and surface* Individuals* Singularities and sense* Transcendental deductions* Singularities and series* Problems* The connection of events* The ideal game* Static genesis* Deleuze and HusserlChapter 4. Morals and events* Placing the human* Principles for moral problems* How moral problems are replayed* How to act morally (principles)* How to act morally (examples)* The crack-up* Individuals, solipsism and the communication of events* Time and univocityChapter 5. Thought and the unconscious* The thinker deposed* Thought and problems* Seriation and the phantasm* Thought and sexuality* Dynamic genesisChapter 6. Conclusion: on method and metaphysicsBibliography
£28.49
Cambridge University Press The Hedonism of Eudoxus of Cnidus
Book SynopsisThis Element puts together the arguments of Plato and Aristotle in favor of the positive value of pleasure and in the direction of hedonism. It sets store for the activities which Eudoxus has been most renowned: mathematics and astronomy.Table of Contents1. Eudoxus: who he?; 2. Two anonymous appearances in Plato; 3. Witness; 4. Addition; 5. Honour; 6. Opposites; 7. Cradle; 8. End; 9. How much did Aristotle accept from Eudoxus?; References.
£17.00
Cambridge University Press Critical Realism in Applied Linguistics
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£30.40
Taylor & Francis Individuals
Book SynopsisSir Peter Strawson (1919â2006) was one of the leading British philosophers of his generation and an influential figure in a golden age for British philosophy between 1950 and 1970.Individuals, his most important book, is a modern philosophical classic. Bold in scope and ambition, it presents Strawsonâs now famous argument for descriptive metaphysics and his repudiation of revisionary metaphysics. Rather than setting out to replace our overall view of the world, in the manner of the great 'revisionary' philosophers of the past, Strawson sets himself the seemingly (but not actually) more modest task of simply describing it. The aim is nothing less than to lay bare the most basic structure of our thoughtâthe most general features of the way in which we think about particular things. A landmark book in the philosophical world and above all analytical philosophy, it remains of vital importance today.This Routledge Classics edition includes a substantial new Foreword by Michelle Montague, setting out some of Strawson's key themes and arguments. Also included is Strawson's essay 'Individuals'. Published thirty-five years after the book itself and until now not widely available, it sees Strawson summarizing and reflecting on some of the key arguments presented in his book of the same name.
£16.99
University of Minnesota Press Language and Reality
Book SynopsisIn Language and Reality, originally published in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1964, Vilém Flusser continues his philosophical and theoretical exploration into language. He begins to postulate that language is not simply a map of the world but also the driving force for projecting worlds and enters then into a feedback with what is projected.Flusser’s thesis leads him to claim, in a seemingly missed encounter of a dialogue with Wittgenstein, that language is not limited to its ontological and epistemological aspects but rather is at the service of its aesthetic. Traversing a diverse area of research and ruminations on cybernetics to poetry, music, the visual arts, religion, and mysticism, Language and Reality can be viewed as a vital transitional work in Flusser’s emerging thought that will eventually lead to his works in the 1970s and 1980s concerning what we would later consider media theory, design, and digital culture.
£20.89
Intellect Encountering the Plague
Book SynopsisEncountering the Plague explores human responses to epidemics, past and present, through the lens of different humanities disciplines. The book demonstrates how the humanities can play a meaningful role in key social and political debates, enriching our understanding of human responses to epidemics through time. 20 illus.
£28.45
Troubador Publishing The Office of Future Storytelling: A Novel
Book SynopsisNeil Powell fuses a critical look at language with an exploration of the political and existential problems facing humankind... The Storyteller is tired of telling stories about Love, God and Beauty. With the invention of Eric Crawford, an English teacher at Davenport College, he explores what is required to tell new stories. As a result, a tantalising world of freedom beckons. This encompasses Eric’s teaching, family and romantic life, the explosive relationship he has with troubled student, David Spurling, a protest movement about the role of Art, and a violent crime on college grounds. The Storyteller’s control of Eric’s life conversely makes the Storyteller realise the power language has over him. Reminding him that language is a public medium, not the exclusive tool of an authority or author. A stylistically innovative novel, at turns both a philosophy and black comedy, The Office of Future Storytelling, examines the relationship of language to individual identity and freedom. It argues that the stories we need are those which demonstrate our unequivocal connection to the world.
£8.99
Seagull Books London Ltd Masculine, Feminine, Neuter and Other Writings
Book SynopsisA major collection of essays and interviews from an iconic 20th-century philosopher in five volumes, now all available together in paperback. Roland Barthes was a restless, protean thinker. A constant innovator—often as a daring smuggler of ideas from one discipline to another—he first gained an audience with his pithy essays on mass culture and then went on to produce some of the most suggestive and stimulating cultural criticism of the late twentieth century, including Empire of Signs, The Pleasure of the Text, and Camera Lucida. In 1976, this one-time structuralist outsider was elected to a chair at France’s preeminent Collège de France, where he chose to style himself as a professor of literary semiology until his death in 1980. The greater part of Barthes’s published writings has been available to a French audience since 2002, but now, translator Chris Turner presents a collection of essays, interviews, prefaces, book reviews, and other journalistic material for the first time in English and divided into five themed volumes. Volume three, Masculine, Feminine, Neuter, consists of his writing on literature, covering his peers and influences, writers in French and other languages, contemporary and historical writers, and world literature. Trade Review"Given the diversity of these pieces in terms of history and content, it is crucial that the translator has made a good job of briefly contextualizing all the pieces and that the translations understand, especially in relation to the gendering that operates in the French language and to some of the more recondite references, that the renderings into English need, periodically, the helping-hand of an attuned and scholarly – that is experienced – editor and translator of Barthes." * H-France Review *Table of ContentsPre-Novels Recovering the Unburies Treasure (On Popular Poetry) The Man-Eater (On Zola’s Nana) Maupassant and the Physics of Misfortune The Cathedrals of Novels (On Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame of Paris) Round Table Discussions New Pathways of Literary Criticism in France A Personal Statement on Robbe-Grillet The Two Sociologies of the Novel Alain Girard: ‘The Diary’ Parallel Lives Pleasure in Language Edoardo Sanguineti Preface (to Ecyclopédie Bordas, Volume VIII) Preface (to Jacques Prévert, Fatras) Argument and Prospectus: A Letter to Philippe Roger Preface (to Ecyclopédie Bordas, Volume IX) Interview-Preface to Littérature occidentale From Them to Us ‘It All Comes Together’ Masculine, Feminine, Neuter
£13.29
Oxford University Press Inc Hegels Phenomenology of Spirit
Book SynopsisHegel''s Phenomenology of Spirit has a long-standing reputation as one of the key books in the history of Western philosophy, but many are unsure just what it is about. Even the words in the title are disputed: What sense of phenomenology is being used? Is Geist to be rendered spirit or mind? What does this have to do with Hegel''s original title, The Science of the Experience of Consciousness? To add to the perplexity, Hegel developed his own technical vocabulary in writing the book, but the jargon he created never caught on and thus there is no common usage for it. As a consequence, both the beginner and the Hegel specialist must make key decisions about to understand many basic terms in the book.This Oxford Guide walks the reader through this canonical text paragraph-by-paragraph using accessible and approachable language, such that both students and instructors--whether they come from philosophy, political theory, literature, or history backgrounds--will benefit.Table of ContentsPrelude 1st chapter: the
£999.99
Oxford University Press Medieval Philosophy
Book SynopsisPeter Adamson presents a lively introduction to six hundred years of European philosophy, from the beginning of the ninth century to the end of the fourteenth century. The medieval period is one of the richest in the history of philosophy, yet one of the least widely known. Adamson introduces us to some of the greatest thinkers of the Western intellectual tradition, including Peter Abelard, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and Roger Bacon. And the medieval period was notable for the emergence of great women thinkers, including Hildegard of Bingen, Marguerite Porete, and Julian of Norwich. Original ideas and arguments were developed in every branch of philosophy during this period - not just philosophy of religion and theology, but metaphysics, philosophy of logic and language, moral and political theory, psychology, and the foundations of mathematics and natural science.Trade ReviewAccessible and comprehensive. * Alban McCoy, The Tablet, Books of the Year 2019 *Peter Adamson's Medieval Philosophy gives fantastically compendious account of medieval philosophy. Adamson manages to be accessible, lucid, witty, incisive; luminously conveying the rambunctious ambivalences of the logic-chopping, devout, doubting, bawdy, bloodthirsty, mystical medievals. * Jane O'Grady, The Tablet *a volume that— despite its weight and heft—one could easily give to a non-philosopher as a first introduction to the field. For even the most obscure authors (such as that most prolific of medieval philosophers, Anon) and the most arcane of topics comes to life under Adamson's magic touch. But what is most impressive about the book is its sheer scope of knowledge. . . . If you want a good, light-touch, yet still not glossing over the difficulties, introduction to medieval philosophy, this is the book for you. * Sara L. Uckelman, Philosophical Quarterly *Adamson's history of medieval philosophy has, among its many merits, two great ones. First, is very clearly written and philosophically acute. . . .A second merit is that it proposes an updated interpretation of medieval philosophy, obtained by taking into account the most dominant trends present in literature. This makes Peter Adamson's volume a fine piece of work and a recommended volume. The history of medieval philosophy is investigated in its depth and full development, no significant gap can be found indeed in the proposed reconstruction. * Fabrizio Amerini, Philosophical Inquiries *Let me say at once on the evidence of this volume, [Adamson] succeeds brilliantly. Over some 78 sections he covers a huge range of figures ... Special attention is given - and rightly so - to female philosophers, such as Catherine of Siena ... This book (and the others in the series), which are a delight to read, will be of great interest to general readers, aside from students of culture. * Peter Costello, The Irish Catholic *Adamson writes with a light style, beginning each short chapter with an anecdote, which rewards both sticking with the long narrative and dipping in and out. * Nick Mattiske, Journey, Isolation Reading Recommendations *A staggering philosophical achievement ... the clarity of the animated text is further enhanced by the authors humour, bringing a light touch to complex matters ... This volume will surely attain classic status, and can be read either sequentially or consulted as a detailed encyclopaedia of mediaeval philosophy and its variegated personalities. * Paradigm Explorer *Table of ContentsPreface Early Medieval Philosophy 1: Arts of Darkness: Introduction to Medieval Philosophy 2: Charles in Charge: Alcuin and the Carolingian Period 3: Grace Notes: Eriugena and the Predestination Controversy 4: Much Ado About Nothing: Eriugena's Periphyseon 5: Philosophers Anonymous: The Roots of Scholasticism 6: Virgin Territory: Peter Damian on Changing the Past 7: A Canterbury Tale: Anselm's Life and Works 8: Somebody's Perfect: Anselm's Ontological Argument 9: All or Nothing: The Problem of Universals 10: Get Thee to a Nunnery: Heloise and Abelard 11: It's the Thought that Counts: Abelard's Ethics 12: Learn Everything: The Victorines 13: Like Father, Like Son: Debates over the Trinity 14: On the Shoulders of Giants: Philosophy at Chartres 15: The Good Book: Philosophy of Nature 16: One of a Kind: Gilbert of Poitiers on Individuation 17: Two Swords: Early Medieval Political Philosophy 18: Law and Order: Peter Lombard and Gratian 19: Leading Light: Hildegard of Bingen 20: Rediscovery Channel: Translations into Latin 21: Straw Men: The Rise of the Universities The Thirteenth Century 22: No Uncertain Terms: Thirteenth Century Logic 23: Full of Potential: Thirteenth Century Physics 24: Stayin' Alive: Thirteenth Century Psychology 25: It's All Good: The Transcendentals 26: Do the Right Thing: Thirteenth Century Ethics 27: A Light That Never Goes Out: Robert Grosseteste 28: Origin of Species: Roger Bacon 29: Stairway to Heaven: Bonaventure 30: Your Attention Please: Peter Olivi 31: None for Me, Thanks: Franciscan Poverty 32: Begin the Beguine: Hadewijch and Mechtild 33: Binding Arbitration: Robert Kilwardby 34: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Albert the Great's Natural Philosophy 35: The Shadow Knows: Albert the Great's Metaphysics 36: The Ox Heard Round the World: Thomas Aquinas 37: Everybody Needs Some Body: Aquinas on Soul and Knowledge 38: What Comes Naturally: Ethics in Albert and Aquinas 39: What Pleases the Prince: The Rule of Law 40: Onward Christian Soldiers: Just War Theory 41: Paris When it Sizzles: The Condemnations 42: Masters of the University:
£24.64
Orion Publishing Co Words And Rules The Ingredients of Language
Book SynopsisOne of the world's science superstars presents a brilliantly illuminating, entertaining and cutting-edge account of how language actually works.
£12.34
Oxford University Press Inc Rethinking Metaphysics
Book Synopsis
£21.84
Bloomsbury Publishing USA The Rhetoric of Manipulation
Book Synopsis
£20.89
Harvard University Press On the Donation of Constantine
Book SynopsisValla (1407-1457) was the most important theorist of the humanist movement. His most famous work is the present volume, an oration in which Valla uses new philological methods to attack the authenticity of the most important document justifying the papacy's claims to temporal rule.
£26.96
Faber & Faber Wittgensteins Poker
Book SynopsisOn 25 October 1946, in a crowded room in Cambridge, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper came face to face for the first and only time. The encounter lasted only ten minutes, and did not go well. Almost immediately, rumours started to spread around the world that the two philosophers had come to blows, armed with red-hot pokers. But what really happened? Wittgenstein''s Poker engagingly winds together philosophy, history and biography into a compelling piece of detective work. It ranges from the place of assimilated Jews in fin-de-siècle Vienna, to what happens to memory under stress, to a vivid portrait of Cambridge and its eccentric set of philosophy dons, including Bertrand Russell (who acted as umpire during the altercation). At the centre of the story stand the philosophers themselves, proud, irascible, larger than life, and spoiling for a fight.''Those ten minutes shook the world of Western philosophy literally to its foundations . . . Edmonds and
£11.69
Oxford University Press Inc Propositions Ontology and Logic RUTGERS LECTURES
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHis book adopts a self-consciously neo-Quinean methodology, and argues that the theory that is developed helps to motivate and clarify Quine's naturalistic metaphysical picture. * MathSciNet *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter I. The Quinean legacy Chapter II. Propositions Chapter III. Predicates and predication Chapter IV. First-order modal logic, and a first-order theory of propositions Chapter V. Properties and relations Chapter VI. Possible worlds and possible individuals References
£20.99
Oxford University Press Inc Toni Morrison
Book SynopsisWhen Toni Morrison declares that she can''t wait for the ultimate liberation theory to imagine its practice and do its work, she raises an issue at the heart of modern political thought: How should we understand freedom? And what does freedom mean in the shadow of racial slavery and colonialism? In this study of Toni Morrison''s writing, Lawrie Balfour explores Morrison''s reflections on the idea of freedom in her novels and nonfiction. While Morrison''s literary achievements are widely celebrated, her political thought has yet to receive the same attention. Balfour shows how Morrison''s writing illuminates the meanings of freedom and unfreedom in a democratic society founded on both the defense of liberty and the right to enslavement. Morrison''s fiction and meditations on the power of language challenge wishful notions of color-blindness and complaints that it is time to move beyond thinking and talking about race. Her attentiveness to the experiences of people no one inquired of--esTrade ReviewToni Morrison is yet another brilliant contribution to Balfour's body of work examining the political thought of black intellectuals, DuBois, and Baldwin. It makes a tremendous contribution to Political Philosophy, Political Theory, Black Studies, and American Intellectual History. Morrison scholars will find it especially important as well. * Farah Jasmine Griffin, Columbia University *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Freedom and Word-Work 1.
£24.49
Oxford University Press Inc Words in Action
Book SynopsisWords in Action explores the many ways in which language permeates our social world. Ishani Maitra and Mary Kate McGowan explain how tools from the philosophy of language can help illuminate how language works socially, and how we can challenge the injustices wrought by language use. Their accessible introduction to this growing subfield is suitable for both students and scholars.
£19.99
Oxford University Press Inc Language Mind and Culture
Book SynopsisThis book shows that given the new findings of cognitive linguistics, it is possible to offer a unified account of not only linguistic meaning but also that of meaning in a wide variety of social and cultural phenomena. It is suggested that cognitive linguistics is a much more comprehensive enterprise than is commonly accepted--both inside and outside the field. The book presents a comprehensive account of meaning in many linguistic and cultural phenomena that is crucially based and dependent on cognitive capacities that human understanders and producers of language possess independently of their ability to use language.Trade ReviewThis newest addition to the Kövecses canon will stand as one of his most engaging and conclusive works. Thus, it is highly recommended for all metaphor researchers and scholars. For a broader readership, the book is engaging as well as pedagogical. Thus, it is highly recommended as a fine overall introduction to the cognitive linguistics of metaphor and as an exceptional overview of the important roles of culture, history, and of course, context in figurative communication.
£37.99
Oxford University Press Inc Return of the Gods
Book SynopsisWhy was mythology of vital importance for the romantics? What role did mythology play in their philosophical and literary work? And what common sources of influence inspired these writers across Britain and Germany at the turn of the nineteenth century?In this wide-ranging study, Owen Ware argues that the romantics turned to mythology for its potential to transform how we see ourselves, others, and the world. Engaging with authors such as William Blake, Friedrich Schlegel, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis), and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ware shows why they believed that neither perception nor reason alone can sustain a vision of the unity of all things. A new mode of cognition is necessary, they claimed, one that revives the poetic origin of mythology and reveals our own mythmaking powers. Return of the Gods investigates the rise of mythology in the British and German traditions and the romantics' practices of reinterpreting old myths and inventing new ones. Their
£24.69