Philosophy of language Books
Edinburgh University Press The Henri Meschonnic Reader
Book SynopsisHenri Meschonnic was a linguist, poet, translator of the Bible and one of the most original French thinkers of his generation. This Reader, featuring fourteen texts covering the core concepts and topics of Meschonnic's theory, will enrich, enhance and challenge your understanding of language
£99.00
MIT Press Ltd Total Expansion of the Letter
Book Synopsis
£37.50
Princeton University Press Philosophy of Language
Book SynopsisIn this book one of the world's foremost philosophers of language presents his unifying vision of the field--its principal achievements, its most pressing current questions, and its most promising future directions. In addition to explaining the progress philosophers have made toward creating a theoretical framework for the study of language, ScottTrade Review"[Philosophy of Language] covers an impressive number of controversies in philosophy of language. And it does that in a nontechnical way that is likely to prove attractive to many instructors in the field."--Choice "[T]his is, in my view, a very valuable (though not at all introductory) overview, from a particular perspective, to be sure, of the trajectory on the philosophy of language from Frege to the present... [I]t covers a remarkable amount of ground in a short space, both presenting and contributing to an important network of themes that have shaped the philosophical study of language in the analytic tradition."--Kirk Ludwig, PhilosophiaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 PART ONE: A Century of Work in the Philosophy of Language Chapter One: The Logical Study of Language 7 1.1 Gottlob Frege--Origins of the Modern Enterprise 7 1.11 Foundations of Philosophical Semantics 7 1.12 Frege's Distinction between Sense and Reference 8 1.13 The Compositionality of Sense and Reference 10 1.14 Frege's Hierarchy of Indirect Senses and Referents 13 1.15 The Semantic Importance of Frege's Platonist Epistemology 15 1.16 Potential Problems and Alternative Analyses 16 1.17 The Fregean Legacy 20 1.2 Bertrand Russell: Fundamental Themes 20 1.21 Quantification, Propositions, and Propositional Functions 20 1.22 Generalized Quantifiers 23 1.23 Denoting Phrases, Definite Descriptions, and Logical Form 24 1.24 Russell's Theory of Scope 26 1.25 Thought, Meaning, Acquaintance, and Logically Proper Names 28 1.26 Existence and Negative Existentials 30 Selected Further Reading 32 Chapter Two: Truth, Interpretation, and Meaning 33 2.1 The Importance of Tarski 33 2.11 Truth, Models, and Logical Consequence 33 2.12 The Significance of Tarski for the Philosophy of Language 38 2.2 Rudolf Carnap's Embrace of Truth-Theoretic Semantics 41 2.3 The Semantic Approach of Donald Davidson 45 Selected Further Reading 49 Chapter Three: Meaning, Modality, and Possible Worlds Semantics 50 3.1 Kripke-Style Possible Worlds Semantics 50 3.2 Robert Stalnaker and David Lewis on Counterfactuals 56 3.3 The Montagovian Vision 63 Selected Further Reading 75 Chapter Four: Rigid Designation, Direct Reference, and Indexicality 77 4.1 Background 77 4.2 Kripke on Names, Natural Kind Terms, and Necessity 78 4.21 Rigid Designation, Essentialism, and Nonlinguistic Necessity 78 4.22 The Nondescriptive Semantics of Names 80 4.23 Natural Kind Terms 88 4.24 Kripke's Essentialist Route to the Necessary Aposteriori 91 4.3 Kaplan on Direct Reference and Indexicality 93 4.31 Significance: The Tension between Logic and Semantics 93 4.32 The Basic Structure of the Logic of Demonstratives 94 4.33 Direct Reference and Rigid Designation 97 4.34 'Dthat' and 'Actually' 99 4.35 English Demonstratives vs.'Dthat'-Rigidified Descriptions 100 4.36 Final Assessment 104 Selected Further Reading 105 PART TWO : New Directions Chapter Five: The Metaphysics of Meaning: Propositions and Possible Worlds 109 5.1 Loci of Controversy 109 5.2 Propositions 111 5.21 Why We Need Them and Why Theories of Truth Conditions Can't Provide Them 111 5.22 Why Traditional Propositions Won't Do 113 5.23 Toward a Naturalistic Theory of Propositions 116 5.231 The Deflationary Approach 117 5.232 The Cognitive-Realist Approach 121 5.3 Possible World-States 123 5.31 How to Understand Possible World-States 123 5.32 The Relationship between Modal and Nonmodal Truths 126 5.33 Our Knowledge of World-States 126 5.34 Existent and Nonexistent World-States 128 5.35 The Function of World-States in Our Theories 129 Selected Further Reading 130 Chapter Six: Apriority, Aposteriority, and Actuality 131 6.1 Language, Philosophy, and the Modalities 131 6.2 Apriority and Actuality 132 6.21 Apriori Knowledge of the Truth of Aposteriori Propositions at the Actual World-State 132 6.22 The Contingent Apriori and the Apriori Equivalence of P and the Proposition That P Is True at @ 134 6.23 Why Apriority Isn't Closed under Apriori Consequence: Two Ways of Knowing @ 135 6.24 Apriori Truths That Are Known Only Aposteriori 136 6.25 Apriority and Epistemic Possibility 137 6.26 Are Singular Thoughts Instances of the Contingent Apriori? 140 6.3 'Actually' 142 Selected Further Reading 143 Chapter Seven: The Limits of Meaning 145 7.1 The Traditional Conception of Meaning, Thought, Assertion, and Implicature 145 7.2 Challenges to the Traditional Conception 147 7.21 Demonstratives: A Revision of Kaplan 147 7.22 Incomplete Descriptions, Quantifiers, and Context 151 7.23 Pragmatic Enrichment and Incomplete Semantic Contents 155 7.231 Implicature, Impliciture, and Assertion 155 7.232 Pervasive Incompleteness? Possessives, Compound Nominals, and Temporal Modification 158 7.3 A New Conception of the Relationship between Meaning, Thought, Assertion, and Implicature 163 7.31 The Guiding Principle 163 7.32 Demonstratives and Incomplete Descriptions Revisited 164 7.33 Names and Propositional Attitudes 168 7.4 What Is Meaning? The Distinction between Semantics and Pragmatics 171 Selected Further Reading 173 References 175 Index 187
£19.80
Taylor & Francis The Rule of Metaphor The Creation of Meaning in
Book SynopsisA fruitful and insightful study of how language affects how we understand the world, this book is also an indispensable work for all those seeking to retrieve some kind of meaning in uncertain times.Trade Review'The writer's own introduction is a wonderful discourse on the whole state of language and meaning studies as these touch the issue of metaphor; few thinkers are as adept as Ricoeur at placing their own work in the context of that of others, naming the heroes and villains.' - John B. Davis, Philosophical Studies'...the density, acuity, and sheer scope of the argument are impressive.' - Times Literary Supplement'I do not think that anyone would fail to find illumination and challenge in reading him.' - Times Literary Supplement'This is Ricoeur at his pedagogical best - lucid, learned, inspiring. His generous range of reference - from Aristotle and Aquinas to Heidegger and Max Black - is breathtaking.' - Richard Kearney, Author of On Stories'I do not think that anyone would fail to find illumination and challenge in reading him.' - Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsTranslator's introduction Introduction Study 1/Between Rhetoric and Poetics: Aristotle 1. Rhetoric and Poetics 2. The intersection of the Poetics and the Rhetorics: 'Epiphora of the name' 3. An enigma: metaphor and simile (eikon) 4. The place of exis in rhetoric 5. The place of lexis in poetics Study 2/The decline of rhetoric: Tropology 1. The rhetorical 'model' of tropology Fontainer: the primacy of idea and of word 3. Trope and figure 4. Metonymy, synecdoche, metaphor 5. The family of metaphor 6. Forced metaphor and newly invented metaphorStudy 3/Metaphor and the semantics of Discourse 1. The debate between semantics and semiotics 2. Semantics and rhetoric of metaphor 3. Logical grammar and semantics 4. Literary criticism and semantics Study 4/Metaphor and the Semantics of the word 1. Monism of the sign and primacy of the word 2. Logic and linguistics of denomination 3. Metaphor as 'change of meaning' 4. Metaphor and the Saussurean postulates 5. Between sentence and word: the interplay of meaning Study 5/Metaphor and the new rhetoric 1. Deviation and rhetoric degree zone 2. The space of the figure 3. Deviation and reduction of deviation 4. The functioning of figures: 'semic' analysis Study 6/The work of resemblance 1. Substitution and resemblance 2. The 'iconic' moment of metaphor 3. The case against resemblance 5. Psycholinguistics of metaphor 6. Icon and image Study 7/Metaphor and reference 1. The postulates of reference 2. The case against reference 3. A generalized theory of denotation 4. Model and metaphor 5. Towards the concept of 'metaphorical truth' Study 8/Metaphor and Philosophical Discourse 1. Metaphor and the equivocalness of being: Aristotle 2. Metaphor and analogia entis: onto-theology 3. Meta-phor and meta-physics 4. The intersection of spheres of discourse 5. Ontological clarification of the postulate reference Appendix Notes Works cited Index of authors
£18.99
HarperCollins Publishers CHOMSKY Fontana Modern Masters
Trade Review‘Read this first, then read Chomsky.’John Searle, New York Review of Books ‘John Lyons’ book on Chomsky is simply the best short introduction in the English language. It is within the grasp of an intelligent layman. Anyone who reads it will understand the elements of tranformational grammar, and be able to follow current controversies.’Leonard Jackson, Times Educational Supplement ‘Lyons’ account is itself a minor modern masterpiece of compression and clarity.’Alan Ryan, New Society
£12.34
HarperCollins Publishers A Secret Vice
Book Synopsis First 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. 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
£13.39
HarperCollins Publishers The Grammar of Angels
Book Synopsis'Ingenious a glorious portrait of the great 15th-century prince of learning' Daily Telegraph
£20.00
Penguin Books Ltd Horrible Words
Book Synopsis''Stuffed with entertaining detail ... Horrible Words is lively, provocative, witty and enlightening'' The TimesNothing inflames the language purists like an illogical irregardless or a hideous otherization. But is it enough simply to dismiss these words as vile and barbarous howlers? Taking a genial tour far and wide through our linguistic badlands, Rebecca Gowers finds answers that are helpful, surprising and often extremely funny.''Exuberant, erudite, informative and fun ... a call on all English-speakers to trust their own feel for their language, to relish their verbal inventiveness and to do battle against the pedants who tell them they are wrong'' Michael Skapinker, Financial Times ''A very useful book, packed with good historical sense'' Lynne Truss, The TimesTrade ReviewA great delight -- David CrystalGowers is fierce, funny and staggeringly well informed -- Alan Connor * Mail on Sunday *Stuffed with entertaining detail ... Horrible Words is lively, provocative, witty and enlightening * The Times *Exuberant and stimulating ... erudite, informative and fun * Financial Times *Witty ... wry ... As a heretic, Gowers cuts a formidable figure * The Times Literary Supplement *A very useful book, packed with good historical sense -- Lynne Truss * The Times *A joy - informative and irreverent -- Caroline TaggartWitty and erudite ... A splendid antidote to small-minded pedantry -- Robbie Millen * The Times *Will have you enraptured by etymology ... Hugely enjoyable * Reader's Digest *
£10.44
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 Putnam Inc Arguing for a Better World
Book SynopsisIs it sexist to say that “men are trash”? Can white people be victims of racism? Do we bear any individual responsibility for climate change?We’ve all wrestled with questions like these, whether we’re shouting at a relative across the dinner table, quarreling with old classmates on social media, or chatting late into the night with friends. Many people give kneejerk answers that roughly align with their broader belief system, but flounder when asked for their reasoning, leading to a conversational stalemate—especially when faced with a political, generational, or cultural divide.The truth is that our answers to these questions almost always rely on unexamined assumptions. In Arguing for a Better World, philosopher Arianne Shahvisi shows us how to work through thorny moral questions by examining their parts in broad daylight, equipping us to not only identify our own positions but to defend them as well. This book demonstrates
£16.00
Oxford University Press Drama of History Ibsen Hegel Nietzsche
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewGjesdal's book is erudite, precise, and rich in detail, yet still elegant and accessible...Gjesdal shows how the characters in Ibsens plays, more than representing certain philosophical ideas, actively demonstrate how these ideas might play out in an embodied life... Gjesdal's work is not just yet another testimony to the greatness of Ibsen's writing. Her purpose is more pointedly to show that drama can develop philosophical thought in ways that philosophy on its own perhaps cannot... Gjesdal's book makes for essential reading for anyone interested in the complex relationship between drama and philosophy in the nineteenth century, and for those seeking to free philosophical reflection from the confines of academic discourse in the twenty-first. * Alice Lagaay, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Modern Drama *The scope of Gjesdal's work is monumental. She writes across almost the entire arc of Ibsen's oeuvre, a century of European philosophy, and the scholarly traditions of (at least) three languages...As valuable as Gjesdal's meticulous research is, the new interpretive possibilities she raises are an even greater critical contribution, not only for philosophers but for theatre scholars and practitioners as well. * Theatre Survey *The Drama of History deftly explores the synergy between drama and philosophy in 19th-century Europe as it finds expression in Henrik Ibsen via two of the leading thinkers of the age, Hegel and Nietzsche. Gjesdal...considers this particularly in terms of the trio's orientation to the unfolding of history in an age when new disruptive values supplanted the staid traditional norms that had governed human relations for centuries...Gjesdal reads seven Ibsen plays against the Hegelian and Nietzschean intellectual backdrop that dominated the Continent. Her interest is in determining not so much how Ibsen reflected these novel yet frequently unsettling ideas in his plays but how he grappled with them philosophically in order to forge a coherent and defensible world view. Gjesdal is especially adept at showing how Ibsen crafted psychologically complex characters who sought authentic rather than aestheticized selves...Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *Kristin Gjesdal has already published a long series of articles and one anthology on the philosophical impact of Ibsen's dramatic works. With the present volume she delivers a more comprehensive and more deeply analyzed study on the subject that focuses on Ibsen's discussion of the philosophy of history...I hope that my attempt to paraphrase the findings of the study indicates the originality of its perspective and the richness of its findings. All in all, the study offers one of the most interesting studies on Ibsen and philosophy to date...Looking at the sophisticated findings one could assume that the book is hard to read and to understand. The opposite holds true. Gjesdal's study is characterized by a highly transparent argumentation and a prose style that deserves the old rhetorical laud of clarity. * Ibsen Studies *Kristin Gjesdal's The Drama of History: Ibsen, Hegel, Nietzsche is a rich exploration of Hegelian and Nietzchean themes in and through Ibsen's work. Ibsen (1828–1906) was born shortly before Hegel's death (1831) and was a contemporary of Nietzsche (1844–1900). Some of Ibsen's best-known plays – A Doll's House, Ghosts, The Wild Duck – premiered during Nietzsche's most active period of philosophical writing. Gjesdal'sbook is also a window onto Hegel's and Nietzsche's 19th-century reception in Scandinavia, and their place in literary and artistic circles. That said, Gjesdal's book is not just about charting influence. This makes the study especially interesting andphilosophically rich... Gjesdal reads the plays as taking up Hegelian and Nietzschean themes, yet complicating and challenging them, in such a way as not only to have Hegel and Nietzsche shed light on Ibsen but also to have Ibsen shed light onHegel and Nietzsche. * Analysis *Kristin Gjesdal has written a lucid, fascinating book that will be valuable both for literary scholars and for philosophers. Without in the slightest sacrificing attention to the distinctive literary dimensions of Ibsen's work, she shows in unusual detail how his dramas bear on modern historical self-consciousness and on philosophers concerned with the same problems of historicity, like Hegel and Nietzsche. The Ibsen who emerges from her study is as compelling a thinker as he is a dramatist. * Robert B. Pippin, The Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy and Chair of The John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, The University of Chicago *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Losing Time (The Vikings at Helgeland) Chapter 2: History Adrift; Subjectivity Probed (Peer Gynt) Chapter 3: Ruins of Antiquity (Emperor and Galilean) Chapter 4: Modern Times (A Doll's House) Chapter 5: Tragedy and Tradition (Ghosts) Chapter 6: Teaching History (An Enemy of The People) Chapter 7: History and Existence (Hedda Gabler) Conclusion
£57.95
OUP India Language Limits and Beyond
Book SynopsisLudwig Wittgenstein''s interest in the writings of Rabindranath Tagore, is recognized among scholars worldwide though little has been written on his fascination with Tagore''s poetry and symbolic plays. In Language, Limits, and Beyond, Priyambada Sarkar explores Tagore and Wittgenstein''s philosophical arguments on the concept of ''threshold of language and meaning'', highlighting the systematic connections between Tagore''s canon and Wittgenstein''s early works. Situating her study in the early 1900s, when Tagore''s poetry had just become available in Europe, Sarkar finds similarities between Tagore''s and Wittgenstein''s exploration of the limits of language. She argues that Wittgenstein''s early philosophy can be better understood when juxtaposed with Tagore.Drawing parallels between the worlds of philosophy and poetry, Sarkar identifies the point of convergence of their two philosophies in the realm of language, tracing how they reach surprisingly similar conclusions through entire
£42.99
Oxford University Press Inc Instruction of Imagination
Book SynopsisThe book suggests a new perspective on the essence of human language. This enormous achievement of our species is best characterized as a communication technology - not unlike the social media on the Net today - that was collectively invented by ancient humans for a very particular communicative function: the instruction of imagination. All other systems of communication in the biological world target the interlocutors'' senses; language allows speakers to systematically instruct their interlocutors in the process of imagining the intended meaning - instead of directly experiencing it. This revolutionary function has changed human life forever, and in the book it operates as a unifying concept around which a new general theory of language gradually emerges. Dor identifies a set of fundamental problems in the linguistic sciences - the nature of words, the complexities of syntax, the interface between semantics and pragmatics, the causal relationship between language and thought, languagTrade ReviewFor anyone interested in language and how it works in modern day society, Dor offers a compelling account of competing positions in discourse linguistics...Overall, Dor's book has the potential to establish a new foundation for a communicative socially-based linguistic theory. Dor offers a framework for bringing together the two sides of linguistics which typically form psycholinguistics and socio-linguistics, and the book is about unpacking the tensions across the cognitive-social divide that can be said to be at play in trying to theorize new constructs. * Gavin Budge, The British Society for Literature and Science *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. The Functional Specificity of Language ; 3. How the Technology Works ; 4. Sign and Meaning ; 5. The Spiral of Relativity ; 6. Production and Comprehension ; 7. The Social Autonomy of Syntax ; 8. The Universality of Diversity ; 9. Acquisition as a Collective Enterprise ; 10. The Evolution of Language and its Users ; 11. Conclusion ; References
£74.25
Oxford University Press Language Cognition and Human Nature
Book SynopsisLanguage, Cognition, and Human Nature collects together for the first time much of Steven Pinker''s most influential scholarly work on language and cognition. Pinker''s seminal research explores the workings of language and its connections to cognition, perception, social relationships, child development, human evolution, and theories of human nature. This eclectic collection spans Pinker''s thirty-year career, exploring his favorite themes in greater depth and scientific detail. It includes thirteen of Pinker''s classic articles, ranging over topics such as language development in children, mental imagery, the recognition of shapes, the computational architecture of the mind, the meaning and uses of verbs, the evolution of language and cognition, the nature-nurture debate, and the logic of innuendo and euphemism. Each outlines a major theory or takes up an argument with another prominent scholar, such as Stephen Jay Gould, Noam Chomsky, or Richard Dawkins. Featuring a new introduction by Pinker that discusses his books and scholarly work, this collection reflects essential contributions to cognitive science by one of our leading thinkers and public intellectuals.Trade ReviewPinker is a star, and the world of science is lucky to have him." * Richard Dawkins, The Times Literary Supplement, 2002 *Steven Pinker is among the best synthesizers in the cognitive sciences. He is unique in the breadth of his interests and the depth of his knowledge. To top it off, his elegant and witty writings speak equally to specialists and to literate individuals everywhere." * Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University *Pinker is an intellectual giant in the field, one of the most important psychologists and thinkers in our day. This compilation is outstanding, a fitting crown on his career so far, although I suspect he has much more to contribute. Even though I'd read a handful of these papers before, there were some that I was unaware of that are gems. Even those I'd read before, I re-read, and got even more on the second reading." * David Buss, author of Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind *With wit and acumen, Pinker introduces us to some of his most important scientific contributions. These glimpses into the development of these foundational articles and of course the articles themselves will be of great interest to academics and to his many fans beyond the walls of academia." * David C. Geary, author of Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Difference *Pinker is a rarity among academic psychologists not only as a stylish writer, but also as a profound thinker with an ability to grasp the major issues of human nature and human evolution. Language, Cognition, and Human Nature: Selected Articles is as good an introduction as any into the range and depth of his thinking and will have general appeal beyond an academic readership." -Michael Corballis, PsycCRITIQUESTable of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Formal models of language learning ; 2. A computational theory of the mental imagery medium ; 3. Rules and connections in human language ; 4. When does human object recognition use a viewer-centered reference frame? ; 5. Natural language and natural selection ; 6. The acquisition of argument structure ; 7. The nature of human concepts: evidence from an unusual source ; 8. Why nature and nurture won't go away ; 9. The faculty of language: What's special about it? ; 10. So how does the mind work? ; 11. Deep commonalities between life and mind ; 12. Rationales for indirect speech: The theory of the strategic speaker ; 13. The cognitive niche: Coevolution of intelligence, sociality, and language ; Author Biography
£21.37
Oxford University Press The Poetry of Emily Dickinson
Book SynopsisOne of America''s most celebrated poets, Emily Dickinson was virtually unpublished in her lifetime. When a slim volume of her poems emerged on the American scene in 1890, her work created shockwaves that have not subsided yet. Famously precise and sparse, Emily Dickinson''s poetry is often described as philosophical, both because her poetry grapples with philosophical topics like death, spirituality, and the darkening operations of the mind, and because she approaches those topics in a characteristically philosophical manner: analyzing and extrapolating from close observation, exploring alternatives, and connecting thoughts into cumulative demonstrations. But unlike Lucretius or Pope, she cannot be accused of producing versified treatises. Many of her poems are unsettling in their lack of conclusion; their disparate insights often stand in conflict; and her logic turns crucially on imagery, juxtaposition, assonance, slant rhyme, and punctuation. The six chapters of this volume collectiTable of ContentsEditor's Introduction: Emily Dickinson's Epistemic Ambitions for Poetry Chapter 1: Forms of Emotional Knowing and Unknowing: Skepticism and Belief in Dickinson's Poetry, Rick Anthony Furtak Chapter 2: Interiority and Expression in Dickinson's Lyrics, Magdalena Ostas Chapter 3: How to Know Everything, Oren Izenberg Chapter 4: Form and Content in Emily Dickinson's Poetry, Antony Aumann Chapter 5: The Uses of Obstruction, David Hills Chapter 6: Dickinson and Pivoting Thought, Eileen John
£25.64
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.
£23.27
Oxford University Press Inc The Oxford Handbook of Elizabeth Anscombe Oxford
Book Synopsis
£171.61
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 Only Natural
Book SynopsisThis volume showcases the work of philosopher Louise Antony, and her influential contributions to feminist and analytic philosophy, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. Her broadly interdisciplinary work brings a naturalistic perspective to philosophical issues of both theoretical and practical importance and center on a key theme--whether, and how, facts about human embodiment ought to constrain philosophical theories. Antony argues that feminist criticisms of analytic epistemology have brought to light some serious limitations of mainstream approaches to the theory of knowledge, and that a naturalistic approach to epistemology is called for. In Part One of this volume, she considers the relationship between feminism and analytic philosophy of mind and language, with special attention to speech act theories of pornography. In Part Two, she defends naturalized epistemology both as a correct approach to the study of human knowledge, and as a useful tool for progressive activists inTrade ReviewIn Only Natural, Antony's tremendous philosophical insight illuminates a wide range of phenomena – some woefully neglected – that feminists of all stripes and disciplines should take seriously. Her tightly argued views draw on her expertise in philosophy of mind and epistemology and demonstrate the tremendous value of feminist work for a wide range of areas. Some of the essays have already had a major impact, and the newer ones surely will. It is essential reading for anyone interested in feminist theory. * Sally Haslanger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology *The breadth of this collection is staggering: epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind and language, moral and political theory, and the concept of human nature. But the underlying questions always concern the relationship between feminism and analytic philosophy. Antony argues that analytic philosophy has much to learn from feminism and, perhaps more surprisingly, that analytic philosophy has much to offer to feminism, a case she makes mostly through her own example. The discussion is shaped throughout by Antony's characteristic rigor, insight, wit, and humor, which makes it not just rewarding to read but enjoyable as well. * Richard Kimberly Heck, Brown University *Louise Antony is a towering figure in feminist philosophy, one of the founders of analytic feminism. The release of this volume, then, is a milestone event for feminist philosophy. Antony's work shows that it's possible to combine views that others thought utterly incompatible-- like feminism and individualism, or feminism and nativism. Her vision of feminist philosophy is a unique and necessary one, posing vital and important challenges to deeply held beliefs on all sides. Everyone should read this. * Jennifer M. Saul, The University of Sheffield *This collection of Antony's essays is an invaluable resource on the thought of one of the most important figures in analytical feminism. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: (My) Philosophy Meets (My) Feminism 1. Quine as Feminist: The Radical Import of Naturalized Epistemology 2. Is Psychological Individualism a Piece of Ideology? 3. Sisters, Please, I'd Rather Do It Myself: A Defense of Individualism in Epistemology. 4. Backlash and Double Binds 5. Fantasies of Embodiment and Entitlement: Feminism and Analytic Philosophy 6. Is There a 'Feminist' Philosophy of Language? 7. Pornography and the Philosophy of Language 8. Be What I Say Part II: Knowledge and Partiality 9. Naturalized Epistemology, Morality, and the Real World 10. The Puzzle of Patriotism 11. Because I Said So: Toward a Feminist Theory of Authority (with Rebecca Hanrahan) 12. The Socialization of Epistemology 13. Embodiment and Epistemology 14. Bias -- Friend or Foe? Reflections on Saulish Skepticism Part III: Beyond Nature v. Nurture 15. Human Nature and its Role in Feminist Theory 16. Back to Androgyn: What Bathrooms Can Teach Us About Equality 17. Natures and Norms 18. Different Voices or Perfect Storm? Explaining the Dearth of Women in Philosophy 19. Feminism without Metaphysics: A Deflationary Account of Gender
£116.99
Oxford University Press Derrida
Book SynopsisJacques Derrida, the French philosopher, developed his critical technique known as ''deconstruction''. His work is associated with ideas surrounding both post-structuralism and post-modern philosophy, and he was known to have challenged some of the unquestioned assumptions of our philosophical tradition. In this Very Short Introduction, Simon Glendinning explores both the difficulty and significance of the work of Derrida. He presents Derrida''s challenging ideas as making a significant contribution to, and providing a powerful reading of, our philosophical heritage. Defending Derrida against many of the charges that were placed against him, he attempts to show why Derrrida''s work causes such extreme reactions. Glendinning explains Derrida''s distinctive mode of engagement with our philosophical tradition, and shows that this is not a merely negative thing. By exploring his most famous and influential texts, Glendinning shows how and why Derrida''s work of deconstruction is inspired not by a ''critical frenzy'', but by a loving respect for philosophy.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 ReviewGlendinning's overview is accurate and informed * Times Literary Supplement *it's very short, and certainly worth reading * New Statesman *Glendinnings book is dense and fast-paced; although extensive philosophical knowledge is not assumed, its readers are required to assimilate complex ideas at quite some speed and this in itself will be enough to deter some. However, Glendinnings implied reader is perhaps not the philosophical novice, rather the curious student or scholar made wary by Derridas reputation and the hostility of the tradition. In this case, Glendinnings clarity and rigour, his commitment to careful reading, and his skilful mediation between Derridas voluminous back-catalogue and the inexperienced reader will be sufficient to engage and stimulate new readers and new readings of Derridas work.Table of Contents1. A picture of Derrida ; 2. Misunderestimating Derrida ; 3. Reading the logocentric heritage ; 4. The rehabiliation of writing ; 5. Law and justice ; 6. Politics and friendship ; 7. The ends of man ; 8. Starting over ; References ; Further Reading ; Index
£9.49
Clarendon Press Philosophical Papers
Book SynopsisThe influence of J. L. Austin on contemporary philosophy was substantial during his lifetime, and has grown greatly since his death, at the height of his powers, in 1960. Philosophical Papers, first published in 1961, was the first of three volumes of Austin''s work to be edited by J. O. Urmson and G. J. Warnock. Together with Sense and Sensibilia and How to do things with Words (both first published in 1962 and both still available), it has extended Austin''s influence far beyond the circle who knew him or read the handful of papers he published in journals.Table of ContentsAgathon and Eudaimonia in Ethics of Aristotle; Are there A Priori concepts?; The meaning of a word; Other minds; Truth; How to talk - some simple ways; Unfair to facts; A plea for excuses; Ifs and cans; Performative utterances; Pretending; Three ways of spilling ink; The line and the cave in Plato's Republic; Index
£44.99
Oxford University Press Temporal Experience
Book SynopsisMany physical theories suggest that time does not pass, yet temporality deeply permeates our experience. We perceive change and movement, we are aware of living in the present, of the constant flux of our sensations and thoughts, and of time itself flowing. In Temporal Experience, Torrengo considers the core facts of temporal experience and their interconnections, ultimately defending the atomist dynamic model of temporal experience. The book critically examines prevalent theories of experience of change, succession, and passage of time both in philosophy and psychology. Each chapter contributes to the construction of the atomist dynamic model. Experience of change and movement are explained through mental events that present virtually instantaneous movement and change. Torrengo challenges the common belief in the perception of ''presentness'' and proposes an error theory based on narrative cognition. The experience of succession is elucidated through the concept of an overarching phen
£90.00
Oxford University Press Freedom and Responsibility in Context
Book SynopsisFreedom and Responsibility in Context argues for a contextualist account of freedom and moral responsibility. It aims to challenge the largely unarticulated orthodoxy of invariantism, by arguing that contextualism is crucial to an understanding of both freedom and moral responsibility. The argument for contextualism regarding freedom and moral responsibility focuses upon their respective control conditions. Abilities are argued to be central to an understanding of the control required for freedom and moral responsibility. A unified, ability analysis of control is developed, which supports the thesis that attributions of freedom and moral responsibility are context dependent. The resulting contextualism offers a rapprochement of compatibilism and incompatibilism. By going beyond the false dichotomy of invariant compatibilism and invariant incompatibilism, it is argued that both positions can be given their due, since there is no ''right'' answer to the question of whether or not determinism undermines freedom and moral responsibility.Table of ContentsIntroduciton 1: Agential Modal Contextualism 2: Abilities and Incompatibilism 3: All-in Abilities in Context 4: A Contextualist Account of Regulative Freedom 5: Problems for Alternative Analyses 6: Control 7: Defending an Ability Analysis of Control 8: A Contextualist Account of Moral Responsibility 9: The Problem of Unfairness Conclusion
£76.00
Oxford University Press Essays on Relativism
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)
£57.00
Oxford University Press Philosophical Manuscripts
Book SynopsisDavid Lewis (1941-2001) was a celebrated and influential figure in analytic philosophy. When Lewis died, he left behind a large body of unpublished notes, manuscripts, and letters. This volume contains two longer manuscripts which Lewis had originally intended to turn into books, and thirty-one shorter items. The longer manuscripts are ''The Paradoxes of Time Travel'', his David Gavin Young Lectures at the University of Adelaide, and ''Confirmation Theory'', which is based on a graduate course on probability and logic that he gave at UCLA. Lewis''s described his purposes in ''The Paradoxes of Time Travel'' as being, `(1) to solve a philosophical problem hitherto largely ignored or casually mis-solved by philosophers []; (2) to introduce the layman to various topics in metaphysics, since our problem turns out to connect with many more familiar ones; and (3) to show of several of my favorite doctrines and methods in metaphysics''. By contrast, ''Confirmation Theory'' is a technical work Table of ContentsFrederique Janssen-Lauret and Fraser MacBride: Editors' Introduction Frederique Janssen-Lauret and Fraser MacBride : An Intellectual Biography Of The Young David Lewis Part I: Longer Manuscripts The Paradoxes of Time Travel: The Gavin David Young Lectures at the University of Adelaide (1971) 1: Time Travel without Hyperkinesis 2: Mapping Exercise 3: Personal Identity and Personal Time 4: Reversed Causation 5: Changing the Past: Failure 6: Changing the Past: Success References Confirmation Theory (1969) 0: Intensional Semantics 1: Probability Measures 2: Rational Belief: Statistics 3: Rational Belief: Kinematics 4: Scientific Method 5: Principles of Indierence 6: Carnap's lm-system: One Family 7: Carnap's lm-system: Many Families 8: Hintikka's lm-pa-system Confirmation Theory Bibliography Part II: Short Posthumously Published Papers (1965-2001) 1: Particular and General Causal Claims (c. 1965-66) 2: On the Nature of Certain Nonidentities: A Reply to Montague (1968) 3: Reply to Sommers (1969) 4: Contagion without Rigidity (1971) 5: Counterfactual Probability (1971) 6: Reply to Davidson (1972) 7: Insatiable Quantifiers (1972) 8: Counterfactual and Objective Probability (1973) 9: Counterpart Theory Mk. II (1974) 10: To the Thursday Logic Seminar (1976) 11: Reply to Pollock (1979) 12: Supervenience of Chances (1979) 13: Reply to Adams (1979) 14: From Phenomenal to Epiphenomenal (1981) 15: The Monty Hall Problem (c. 1982) 16: Richter's Problem (1983) 17: Russian Roulette (1984) 18: Mass and Value (1985) 19: De Se Detectivism (1986) 20: A Fifth Solution to the Problem of Temporary Intrinsics (c. 1987) 21: Acceptance Speech for the Behrman Award (1991) 22: Reply to Cresswell (1991) 23: Exclusion (1991) 24: Modal Demifictionalism (1994) 25: Merlin and Morgana (1999) 26: Reply to Martin's reply (1999) 27: Nihil Obstat: An Analysis of Ability (2001) 28: Divine Evil (2001) 29: Double Explanation by Double Having (2001) 30: Jack Is Unprovable (2001) 31: You Can't Win (2001)
£28.50
Oxford University Press Meanings as Species
Book SynopsisMark Richard presents an original picture of meaning according to which a word''s meaning is analogous to the biological lineages we call species. His primary thesis is that a word''s meaning - in the sense of what one needs to track in order to be a competent speaker - is the collection of assumptions its users make in using it and expect their hearers to recognize as being made. Meaning is something that is spread across a population, inherited by each new generation of speakers from the last, and typically evolving in so far as what constitutes a meaning changes in virtue of the interactions of speakers with their (linguistic and social) environment. Meanings as Species develops and defends the analogy between the biological and the linguistic, and includes a discussion of the senses in which the processes of meaning change are and are not like evolution via natural selection. Richard argues that thinking of meanings as species supports Quine''s insights about analyticity without reTable of ContentsIntroduction 1: Quine and the Species Problem 2: Internalism to the Rescue? 3: What Are Meanings, that We Might Share Them? 4: Conceptual Evolution 5: Meaning, Thought, and its Ascription 6: Sex and Conversation Coda Bibliography
£27.97
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: "Latin Averroism" 43: The Neverending Story: The Eternity of the World 44: Let Me Count the Ways: Speculative Grammar 45: Love, Reign Over Me: the Romance of the Rose 46: Frequently Asked Questions: Henry of Ghent 47: Here Comes the Son: The Trinity and the Eucharist 48: Once and for All: Scotus on Being 49: To Will or Not to Will: Scotus on Freedom 50: On Command: Scotus' Ethics 51: One in a Million: Scotus on Universals and Individuals The Fourteenth Century 52: Time of the Signs: the Fourteenth Century 53: After Virtue: Marguerite Porete 54: To Hell and Back: Dante Alighieri 55: Church and State: Theories of Political Authority 56: Keeping the Peace: Marsilius of Padua 57: Do As You're Told: Ockham on Ethics and Political Philosophy 58: A Close Shave: Ockham's Nominalism 59: What Do You Think? Ockham on Mental Language 60: Keeping it Real: Responses to Ockham 61: Back to the Future: Divine Foreknowledge 62: Trivial Pursuits: Fourteenth Century Logic 63: Quadrivial Pursuits: the Oxford Calculators 64: Get to the Point: Fourteenth Century Physics 65: Portrait of the Artist: John Buridan 66: Seeing is Believing: Nicholas of Autrecourt's Skepticism 67: On the Money: Medieval Economic Theory 68: Down to the Ground: Meister Eckhart 69: Men in Black: The German Dominicans 70: A Wing and a Prayer: Angels in Medieval Philosophy 71: Alle Maner of Thyng Shall be Welle: English Mysticism 72: Say it With Poetry: Chaucer and Langland 73: The Good Wife: Gender and Sexuality in the Middle Ages 74: The Most Christian Doctor: Jean Gerson 75: Morning Star of the Reformation: John Wyclif 76: The Prague Spring: Scholasticism Across Europe 77: Renaissance Men: Ramon Llull and Petrarch
£12.34
Oxford University Press The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of
Book SynopsisThe Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Language introduces readers to the main issues and theories in the philosophy of language as currently practised. Written by leading researchers and covering the central topics in the contemporary philosophical study of language, the twenty-seven chapters provide an overview of the state of the art, and a presentation of cutting-edge developments. Topics covered include: the nature of language; the nature and role of semantic and attitudinal content; the dynamics of communication and speech acts; meta-semantics and reference grounding; tense and modality; discourse dynamics and information structure; and the expressive, evaluative, subjective, and social aspects of language. Although some of the articles focus directly on technical issues following the recent approach of linguistically oriented philosophy of language, the majority of the contributions are primarily focused on foundational questions drawn from traditional philosophy of language. The volume offers a reconsideration of these foundational issues in a new light, while still bearing in mind the formal developments in recent literature, as well as a presentation of new foundational issues that have emerged as a result of these developments.
£123.50
Oxford University Press Nothing Is Said Utterance and Interpretation
Book SynopsisIn everyday talk about language, we distinguish between what someone said and what they implied, or otherwise conveyed, a distinction carried into theorising about language and communication. Nothing is Said argues that it is a mistake to import the notion of saying into our models of basic linguistic communication.Trade ReviewThe book is lively and engaging, and contains lots of penetrating detailed discussions of core, significant issues. It is an important contribution to the Semantics/Pragmatics literature. * Arthur Sullivan, Journal of Pragmatics *The book contains lots of penetrating detailed discussions of core, significant issues. This is an important contribution to the Semantics/ Pragmatics literature. * Arthur Sullivan, Journal of Pragmatics *
£76.00
Oxford University Press Dogwhistles and Figleaves
Book SynopsisPinpoints how dogwhistles and figleaves, two kinds of linguistic trick, distort political discourse and normalize racismIt is widely accepted that political discourse in recent years has become more openly racist and more accepting of wildly implausible conspiracy theories. Dogwhistles and Figleaves explores ways in which such changes--both of which defied previously settled norms of political speech--have been brought about. Jennifer Saul shows that two linguistic devices, dogwhistles and figleaves, have played a crucial role. Some dogwhistles (such as 88, used by Nazis online to mean Heil Hitler) serve to disguise messages that would otherwise be rejected as unacceptable, allowing them to be transmitted surreptitiously. Other dogwhistles (like the 1988 Willie Horton ad) work by influencing people in ways that they are not aware of, and which they would likely reject were they aware. Figleaves (such as just asking questions) take messages that could easily be recognized as unacceptablTrade ReviewIt's a scrupulous look at a damaging linguistic phenomenon that often hides in plain sight. * Publishers Weekly *What is interesting about Saul's study is the instability of meaning it reveals, the layers of deception employed not only by speakers, but by listeners, who are occasionally deluding themselves ... clear, engaging and very readable. * Roisin Kiberd, Irish Independent *There is no doubt that our current political climate is posing a threat to democracy. It is not only that we are polarized, but polarization is fueled by an onslaught of (often thinly veiled) manipulative speech and falsehoods. Media consumers absorb distorting messages without even being aware of it, and speakers are not held responsible. Dogwhistles and Figleaves provides an essential tool for seeing how our ability to communicate and to coordinate is being undermined. This theoretically rich and highly readable book is essential for those who value democracy, and the kind of public discourse that makes it possible. * Sally Haslanger, Ford Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Genders Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part 1: Racism 1: White Racism, White Folk Racial Theory, and White Racial Discourse 2: Racist Dogwhistles 3: Figleaves for Racism Part 2: Falsehood 4: The Rise of Blatant Falsehood and Wild Conspiracism 5: Figleaves, Dogwhistles, and Falsehood 6: Obvious Falsehoods Without Deniability 7: Dogwhistles, Figleaves, and the Fight Against Racism and Blatant Falsehood
£23.75
Oxford University Press Pragmatist Semantics
Book SynopsisJosé L. Zalabardo defends a pragmatist account of what grounds the meaning of central semantic discoursesascriptions of truth, of propositional attitudes, and of meanings. He argues that it is the procedures that regulate acceptance and rejection that give the sentences of these discourses their meanings, and explores the application of the pragmatist template to ethical discourse.The pragmatist approach is presented as an alternative to representationalist accounts of the meaning grounds of declarative sentences, according to which a sentence has the meaning it has as a result of links with the bits of the world that it purports to represent. Zalabardo develops a version of the open-question argument to support the claim that the meaning grounds of the discourses he focuses on cannot receive representationalist accounts. It is generally assumed that a declarative sentence cannot perform the function of representing the world unless it has a representationalist meaning ground. Zalabardo rejects this assumption, arguing that sentences with pragmatist meaning grounds can represent the world in exactly the same sense that sentences with representationalist meaning grounds do. This requires that there are states of affairs that the target sentences represent as obtaining, and Zalabardo develops an account of the nature of the states of affairs that can play this role for sentences with pragmatist meaning grounds.Pragmatist Semantics concludes by developing the suggestion that the meaning grounds of all our representational discourses might be ultimately pragmatist.Table of ContentsPreface 1: Representational discourse 2: The open-question argument in ethics 3: The open-question argument in semantics 4: Some reactions 5: Pragmatist meaning grounds 6: Belief and desire 7: Meaning and truth 8: Harmony and abstraction 9: The primacy of practice Epilogue: The meaning grounds of meaning-ground specifications
£73.79
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.
£8.99
Oxford University Press Good as Usual
Book Synopsis
£28.50
Oxford University Press Shifty Speech and Independent Thought Epistemic
Book SynopsisShifty Speech and Independent Thought is a manifesto for epistemic independence: the independence of good thinking from practical considerations. Mona Simion defends the independence of thought from the most prominent threat that has surfaced in the last twenty years of epistemological theorizing: the phenomenon of shiftiness of proper assertoric speech with practical context.This study does four things: firstly, it shows that, against orthodoxy, the argument from practical shiftiness of proper assertoric speech against the independence of proper thought from the practical does not go through, for it rests on normative ambiguation. Secondly, it defends a proper functionalist knowledge account of the epistemic normativity of assertion, in conjunction with classical invariantism about knowledge attributions. Thirdly, it develops the first integrated account of the normativity of constative speech. Lastly, it defends detailed normative accounts for conjecturing, telling, and moral assertion.Table of ContentsIntroduction Part 1: The Thought/Speech Shiftiness Dilemma 1: The Context Shiftiness Dilemma Generalized 2: Epistemic WAMs 3: Pragmatic WAMs 4: KK Compatibilism Part 2: Thought Invariantism and Speech Functionalism 5: Against the Shiftiness Dilemma 6: Assertion Functionalism and Context 7: Knowledge Norms for Constative Speech Acts Part 3: Constatives in Context 8: The Epistemic Normativity of Conjecture 9: No Special Treatment for the Epistemic Normativity of Telling 10: A Special Case: Moral Assertion Conclusion References
£76.00
Oxford University Press Imitation of Rigor An Alternative History of
Book SynopsisMark Wilson aims to reconnect analytic philosophy with the evolving practicalities within science from which many of its grander concerns originally sprang. He offers an alternative history of how the subject might have developed had the insights of its philosopher/scientist forebears not been cast aside in the vain pursuit of "ersatz rigor".Table of Contents1: Ersatz Rigor 2: Prospectus 3: Inductive Warrant Appendix: Historical Complexities 4: The Mystery of Physics 101 Appendix: Hertz' Critique of the Third Law 5: Multiscalar Architectures Appendix: Further Comments on Homogenization 6: Diversity in "Cause" 7: Dreams of a Final Theory T 8: Linguistic Scaffolding and Scientific Realism 9: Truth in a Multiscalar Landscape
£76.00
Oxford University Press Inc The Philosophy of Rhetoric
Book SynopsisIn this in-depth work, Richards defines rhetoric as the study of misunderstanding and its remedies. Focusing on how words work in discourse, he examines the interaction of words with each other and with their contexts, demonstrating how a continual synthesis of meaning--or principle of metaphor--gives life to discussion. He also argues that we can better control and animate our use of words, and therefore decrease misunderstanding, by comprehending the waymeaning changes in discourse.Trade Review"Chosen largely to present the philosophy of language informing [Richards's] approach....Should stimulate thoughtful re-examinations of our own positions on the important issues Richards addresses."--Freshman English News "Masterful (and manageable)....Has long been needed."-D.G. Myers, Texas A&M University "A deftly compiled reader."--William Doreski, Keene State College "Written in a lively style...Coherent and valuable."--John F. Cox, University of Arizona "This is perhaps one of the best texts for rhetoric courses I've found, and I intend to use it each time I teach graduate/undergraduate rhetorical theory and other language-theory courses."--Professor Lynn Dianne Beene, University of New Mexico "....an important part of the foundation of contemporary rhetoric. Clear and to the point, Richards illuminates the place rhetoric occupies in human societies."--Dr. William O. Boggs, Slippery Rock University
£13.49
Oxford University Press The Claim of Reason Wittgenstein Skepticism Morality and Tragedy
Book SynopsisThis reissue of an American philosophical classic includes a new preface by Cavell, in which he discusses the work''s reception and influence. The work fosters a fascinating relationship between philosophy and literature both by augmenting his philosophical discussions with examples from literature and by applying philosophical theories to literary texts. Cavell also succeeds in drawing some very important parallels between the British analytic tradition and the continental tradition, by comparing scepticism as understood in Descartes, Hume, and Kant with philosophy of language as practiced by Wittgenstein and Austin.Trade Review"An altogether remarkable work of American philosophy...that occupies the buffer zone between poetry and philosophy in a unique--and perhaps uniquely American way."--Critical Inquiry"An intensely personal and uniquely provocative book. Stanley Cavell is a philosophical original."--Review of MetaphysicsTable of ContentsPART ONE; WITTGENSTEIN AND THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE; PART TWO; SKEPTICISM AND THE EXISTENCE OF THE WORLD; PART THREE; KNOWLEDGE AND THE CONCEPT OF MORALITY; PART FOUR; SKEPTICISM AND THE PROBLEM OF OTHERS
£42.74
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 Metaphor
Book SynopsisCombining up-to-date scholarship with clear and accessible language and helpful exercises, Metaphor: A Practical Introduction is an invaluable resource for all readers interested in metaphor. This second edition includes two new chapters-on ''metaphors in discourse'' and ''metaphor and emotion''-along with new exercises, responses to criticism and recent developments in the field, and revised student exercises, tables, and figures.Trade ReviewAn excellent introduction to conceptual metaphor, one which undergraduate students, graduate students, and general readers will find accessible yet thought-provoking. This edition has been significantly updated and improved, while retaining the features that have made it a well-loved book for students, such as clear expression, interesting exercises with a useful key, concise chapter summaries, and a very handy index of metaphors and metonymies. * Linguist List *Table of ContentsGLOSSARY; SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES; REFERENCES; GENERAL INDEX; METAPHOR AND METONYMY INDEX
£30.87
Oxford University Press Inc Metaphysical Exile On J.M. Coetzees Jesus
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRobert Pippin's Metaphysical Exile is a quite exceptionally thought-provoking and astute account of these fictions. Beautifully articulated and deeply informed, its value first and foremost is that of a set of lucid and searching commentaries on specific details and difficulties. * Maximilian de Gaynesford, Mind *Robert Pippin's Metaphysical Exile is a quite exceptionally thought-provoking and astute account of [the Jesus fictions]... Beautifully articulated and deeply informed, its value first and foremost is that of a set of lucid and searching commentaries on specific details and difficulties. Many of the philosophical, theological, and literary allusions which form the texture of the books and which tug constantly and often uncomfortably at the flagging memory of the reader—allusions to Plato, the Bible, Augustine, Cervantes, Kleist, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein among many others—are chased down here and cogently explained. What makes Pippin's book particularly illuminating is that he is fully alive to what flummoxed the many talented and insightful reviewers who had a go at the first of the Jesus fiction .. * Mind *As one of Coetzee's foremost philosophical commentators, Pippin is well placed to separate the profound from the perplexing, notably by drawing on frameworks and ideas from Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Hegel. However, a key strength of his book is the way it registers the trilogy's uniquely literary engagement with its ideas.... Pippin is an adept (and accessible) surveyor, and there is no doubting the solidity of the foundations he lays out... the book is testament to Pippin not only as a thinker but as a reader of distinguished quality. * Modern Fiction Studies *Pippin has written a concise, cogent analysis of Coetzee's recent trilogy ... Perhaps the greatest strength of Pippin's analysis is his attention to intertextuality. He finds resonance with the New Testament, Plato, Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, Goethe, Kafka, Proust, and Cervantes, among others. * E. R. Baer, CHOICE *Coetzee's three Jesus novels have provoked much bafflement and consternation, but Pippin's lucid and probing appraisal makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of their complexities and appreciation of their importance. The book's style is clear and engaging, and in no way inaccessible to readers without a philosophical background. Pippin writes not as a philosopher who turns to literature for examples but as one who understands literature's singular contribution to the problems philosophy addresses. * Derek Attridge, University of York *This first book on Coetzee's trilogy of Jesus novels is criticism of the finest order, criticism that creates intimacy with its subject matter, that provides genuine disclosure of a major mind still at the peak of its powers. What results is an exegetical tour de force and something like 'cosmic' philosophy (Heidegger): reflection on first and last things, on art and its value, on human passion, on what it means to be alive with true understanding of the terms of living. Pippin's wise and compelling book sets the benchmark for all future attempts to comprehend Coetzee's Jesus novels and indeed Coetzee's later fiction as a whole. * Tim Mehigan, The University of Queensland, Australia *J.M. Coetzee's trilogy of Jesus novels is one of the more enigmatic achievements of contemporary world fiction. In a series of assured readings that are as generous to the reader as they are to the novels, Robert Pippin rises to the challenge, showing how Coetzee manages to be both disarming and philosophically profound. * David Atwell, University of York *Table of ContentsChapter One. Introduction: The Rules of the Game Chapter Two. The Regime of Reason: The Childhood of Jesus Chapter Three. The Regime of Passion: The Schooldays of Jesus Chapter Four. The Regime of Nothing: The Death of Jesus Concluding Remark
£85.49
Oxford University Press Inc Camuss The Plague Philosophical Perspectives
Book SynopsisLa Peste (in English The Plague), originally published in 1947 by the Nobel Prize-winning writer Albert Camus, chronicles the progression of deadly bubonic plague as it spreads through the quarantined Algerian city of Oran. While most discussions of fictional examples within aesthetics are either historical or hypothetical, Camus offers an example of pestilence fiction. Camus chose fiction to convey facts--about plagues in the past, his own bout with tuberculosis at age seventeen, living under quarantine away from home for several years, and forced separation from his wife who remained in Algiers while he was abroad in Nazi-occupied France. His own lived experiences undergird an imaginative account of shared human realities with which we can identify: vulnerability to the disease, isolation, fear, and finally humanitarianism. The Plague teaches us to neither covet nor expect what we so casually took for granted. This collection of original essays on philosophical themes in The Plague is of special relevance during and in the aftermath of Covid-19 but also provides reflections that will be of lasting value to those interested in this classic work of literature. The novel explores questions of enduring importance. Do we collectively meet the threshold of ethical behaviour posed by Camus who wrote, What''s true of all the evils in the world is true of plague as well. It helps men to rise above themselves? Or does the absurd undermine the compassionate? Do heroes dutifully fight a plague with common decency, or does human nature resign itself to the normalization of uncontrollable suffering and death? There are myriad ways to approach the novel and this volume encourages readers to ponder human dilemmas in fictional Oran informed by our current pandemic.Trade ReviewRecommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * Choice *Table of ContentsEmily Dickinson (1830-1886) poem Series Editor's Foreword Acknowledgements List of Contributors List of Illustrations Introduction, Peg Brand Weiser Chapter 1: The Plague and the Present Moment, Steven G. Kellman Chapter 2: Present in Effacement: The Place of Women in Camus's Plague and Ours, Jane E. Schulz Chapter 3: The Meaning of a Pandemic, Andrew Edgar Chapter 4: Grief and Human Connection in The Plague, Kathleen Higgins Chapter 5: Examining the Narrative Devolution of the Physician in Camus's The Plague, Edward B. Weiser Chapter 6: Horror and Natural Evil in The Plague, Cynthia A. Freeland Chapter 7: 'I Can't Breathe': Covid-19 and The Plague's Tragedy, Margaret E. Gray Chapter 8: Modern Death, Decent Death, and Heroic Solidarity in The Plague, Peg Brand Weiser
£18.49
Oxford University Press Inc Wittgenstein on Rules Justification Grammar and
Book SynopsisTrade Reviewthis book is excellent. * Choice *Table of ContentsAbbreviations Preface Chapter 1: Introduction Part I: The Bipartite Reading and the Role of Agreement Chapter 2: The Justificatory Question (§185) Chapter 3: The Justificatory Investigation (X-§201) Chapter 4: The Grammatical Investigation (§§199-242) Chapter 5: Agreement (§§240-242) Chapter 6: The Twofold Investigation: Philosophical Methodology and the Tractatus 1 Part II: Wittgenstein and Meaning Skepticism Chapter 7: Wittgenstein and Kripke Chapter 8: Kripkensteinean Skepticism through a Wittgensteinean Lens Chapter 9: Dispositions: an Exegetical Aside Chapter 10: Notions of Uniformity: A 'Wittgensteinean' Solution and its Precursors Chapter 11: Relativism: Communities, Languages, and Forms of Life Chapter 12: Kripke v. Wittgenstein: Some Final Remarks Bibliography Index
£59.85
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
£26.99
Oxford University Press Inc Vatsyayanas Commentary on the Nyayasutra
Book SynopsisVatsyayana''s Commentary on the Nyaya-sutra is one of classical India''s most important philosophical works. This Guide offers both a map and interpretation of this challenging canonical text, suitable for any student or novice reader.Treating them as a single hybrid text, the Nyaya-sutra with Vatsyayana''s commentary systematizes in skeletal form centuries of ancient Indian philosophical developments concerning logic, epistemology, and dialectics, while also defending a realist categorial metaphysics. It offers a number of epistemological and methodological insights that inform intellectual inquiry in the Subcontinent for over a millennium. Vatsyayana''s Commentary also provides sophisticated arguments for distinct positions in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, and value theory that stand amongst the best contributions to world philosophy.This guide, accessible to students and researchers not familiar with classical Indian philosophy, provides a distilled, accessible Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction Principles of Selection, Organization, and Translation Outline of the Text Chapter 1 - The Central Topics of Nyaya Chapter 2 - Epistemology and Philosophy of Language Chapter 3 - Objects of Knowledge Chapter 4 - Objects of Knowledge and the Knowledge that Leads to the Supreme Good Chapter 5 - Dialectics Appendix A - Thematic reading plans and recommended scholarship Appendix B - V=atsy=ayana's philosophical commitments summarized Appendix C - Immediate inference, postulation, and contraposition: on V=atsy=ayana's logical
£23.61
Oxford University Press Inc Language Science and Structure A Journey into the
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface Part 1: Introduction 1.1 The Philosophy of Linguistics 1.2 Generative and Non-Generative Frameworks 1.3 Structures and Structuralisms 1.4 A Guide to the Book Part 2: Old Landscapes, New Maps 2.1 What is a Language, Anyway? 2.2 Object-oriented accounts 2.3 State and Network accounts Part 3: The Many and the None 3.1 Anti-realist Accounts 3.2 Why I am not a Pluralist 3.3 No Country for Clear Resolutions Part 4: Language and Structure 4.1 Moderate Naturalism 4.2 Languages as Real Patterns 4.3 Grammars as Compression Algorithms Part 5: Linguistic Patterns and Biological Systems 5.1 Biolinguistics and Biology 5.2 Unbanishing the 'Linguistic Community' 5.3 A Note on Acquisition Part 6: A Case Study: Words and SLEs 6.1 The Naive Picture and Three Naturalistic Desiderata 6.2 Constructions and Constraints 6.3 A Structural Approach to Linguistic Entities Part 7: Structural Realism and the Science of Linguistics 7.1 The Aim and Scope 7.2 Linguistic Theory Change 7.3 Structural Realism in Generative Linguistics 7.4 The Problem of Multiple Grammars Part 8: Language at the Interface 8.1 A Note on Complex Systems 8.2 Levels of Abstraction 8.3 The Proposal 8.4 Semantic Metastructuralism Part 9: Language and Cognitive Science: an arranged marriage 9.1 The Dilemma 9.2 The Study of Mind in Language 9.3 Intersection, Integration, and Architecture 9.4 Unifying Cognitive Structures Conclusion: A Canopy in the Rainforest References
£54.00
Oxford University Press Inc No Professors Lectures Can Save Us William Jamess
Book SynopsisIn No Professor's Lectures Can Save Us, John J. Stuhr utilizes the thought of American philosopher and psychologist William James to develop an original world view that addresses both enduring philosophical problems and contemporary cultural issues.Trade ReviewJohn Stuhr's No Professor's Lectures Can Save Us masterfully voices the animating principles of William James's pragmatism as an on--going, collective project. Attuned to the full sweep of James's thought from his earliest to his latest writings, Stuhr gives us a new, and newly comprehensive James, one invigorated and tuned to the demands of our own time. Every day is a good day to read James. Stuhr not only reminds us why; he shows us how urgent it is to keep reading and to keep the pragmatic spirit alive * Megan Craig, Center for Embodied Cognition and Creativity, Stony Brook University *John Stuhr has provided an exhilarating exhibition of William James's own prose on virtually every aspect of his wide ranging philosophy. Like James, Stuhr invites his readers to develop their own always-personal philosophies, and generously offers his original Jamesian philosophy in dialogue with such leading contemporaries as Deleuze and Rorty, and every major cultural debate. This is the best, most up-to-date scholarship I have read in a long time. * Nancy Frankenberry, Dartmouth College *It is assuredly true that no professor's lectures-or books-can save us from the challenges of living our lives in an uncertain world. In this most Jamesian of books, however, John Stuhr powerfully demonstrates what they can do: help us connect with the authenticity of our experience; dynamogenically awaken our sense of agency, purpose, and community; and inspire us to the informed action needed to make our lives and our corner of the world better. Stuhr's work is a marvelous exemplar of the Positive Humanities and-at a time when good news can seem very hard to come by-presents a much-needed, practical philosophy to help us effectively cultivate our individual well-being and foster collective human flourishing. * James O. Pawelski, Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania *The book is written in a way that reflects the richness and interconnectedness of James' philosophy. * Céline Henne, The Metascience *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreviations of The Works of William James Introduction Chapter 1: Possibilities, Faith, and Action: Redeeming the Wild Universe through The Will to Believe Chapter 2: Avoiding Old-Fogeyism: Plasticity, Habits of Genius, and Acts of Greatness Chapter 3: More Inclusive Ideals: Ethical Lives After Old-Fashioned Moral Philosophy Chapter 4: The Political Philosopher and the Political Life Chapter 5: The Temperament of Pragmatism Chapter 6: Everything Here Is Plastic: Radical Empiricism and Worlds of Relations Chapter 7: Pluralism Unconcluded Works Cited Index
£45.21
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
Oxford University Press Inc Stereotypes and Scripts
Book Synopsis
£32.82