Philosophy Books
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Broken Body
Book Synopsis
£21.84
State University of New York Press Deconstructive Constitutionalism
Book SynopsisInvestigates, by way of Derrida''s engagements with Kant, how the foundations of modern constitutionalism can be differently conceived to address some of the challenges of the twenty-first century.Deconstructive Constitutionalism explores the relationship between the thinking of Immanuel Kant and Jacques Derrida concerning modern constitutionalism. Kant is widely recognized as one of the philosophical forebears of modern constitutionalism; that is, the notion that state powers should be defined and limited through a constitution. Kant laid the foundation of constitutionalism through his exposition of freedom, practical reason, and moral law. However, constitutionalism is under severe strain due to the challenges posed by inter alia climate change, global health, global conflict, authoritarianism, authoritarian populism, religious fundamentalism, migration, and inequality. Deconstructive Constitutionalism investigates, by way of Derrida''s engagements with Kant, how the foundations of constitutionalism can be conceived differently to address some of these twenty-first-century challenges. The book examines the possible implications of such a re-reading of Kant for democracy, the human-animal relation, criminal law and punishment, as well as for a global constitutional order.
£65.04
Edinburgh University Press Assemblage Theory
Book SynopsisManuel DeLanda provides the first detailed overview of the assemblage theory found in germ in Deleuze and Guattari's writings. Through a series of case studies DeLanda shows how the concept can be applied to economic, linguistic, and military history as well as to metaphysics, science, and mathematics.
£20.89
Edinburgh University Press A History of Modern Linguistics
Book SynopsisTakes a sociological approach to the history of linguistics
£22.49
Edinburgh University Press We Ourselves
Book SynopsisThroughout the history of human societies, the question of 'we' has always entailed the question of 'us and them'. Tristan Garcia's looks at the history of how people have imagined themselves in their societies. All in all, this work is a rigorous engagement with the history of humanity's attempts at being collectively.
£20.89
Edinburgh University Press Photography off the Scale
Book SynopsisThese essays address the epistemological, aesthetic and political implications of scale in both scholarly and artistic work. From the mass image in vernacular culture to transformations of photography in contexts of big data and artificial intelligence, they explore the massification of photography.
£19.94
Cornell University Press Toward a Concrete Philosophy Heidegger and the
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe variety of responses to Heidegger may be said to be the theme of a new history of the Frankfurt school of critical theory, Toward a Concrete Philosophy: Heidegger and the Emergence of the Frankfurt School This impressive account by Mikko Immanen leads us into a vanished world of high culture, learning, and urbane civility—and its ruins, as these great European minds fled to the New World when the Nazis seized power in Germany. * The Review of Politics *There are many more biographical, culture-historical, and thematic connections between Heidegger and the Frankfurt School than the quasi-official story of mutual hostility recognizes. In Toward a Concrete Philosophy, Mikko Immanen takes significant steps to set the record straight. * Constellations: An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Making Good on Heidegger's Promise Part I: Who Owns the Copyright to the Problematic of "Being and Time"? Marcuse, Heidegger, and the Legacy of Hegel 1. The Un-Heideggerian Core of Marcuse's Most Heideggerian Text: The Lukács Question 2. The Hegel Debate: The Pinnacle of Marcuse's Freiburg Years 3. Stakes of the Hegel Debate: Davos, Marxism, and the Black Notebooks Part II: The Frankfurt Discussion: Adorno, Heidegger, and the Frankfurt Heideggerians 4. The Frankfurt Discussion: A Sequel to the Epochal Davos Disputation 5. "What Is the Human Being?" Thrown Dasein or Cura Posterior? 6. Demythologizing Heidegger's Thrownness: Toward Dialectic of Enlightenment Part III: The Young Horkheimer on Heidegger: From Guarded Enthusiasm to Determined Opposition 7. Being and Time: The Primacy of Practical Reason Misunderstood 8. Critical Theory as a Reply to Heidegger, Scheler, and the Frankfurt Heideggerians Conclusion
£19.19
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Becoming an Artwork
Book SynopsisModern history is a history of aesthetizations – and every aesthetization raises a claim of protection. We aestheticize and want to protect almost everything, including Earth, oceans, the atmosphere, rare animal species and exotic plants. Humans are no exception. They also present themselves as objects of contemplation that deserve admiration and care. For some time, artists and intellectuals struggled for the sovereign right to present themselves to society in their own way – to become self-created works of art. Today everybody has not only a right but also an obligation to practice self-design. We are responsible for the way we present ourselves to others – and we cannot get rid of this aesthetic responsibility. However, we are not able to produce our own bodies. Before we begin to practice self-design, we find ourselves already designed by the gaze of others. That is why the practice of self-design mostly takes a critical and confrontational turn. We want to bring others to see us in the way we want to be seen – not only during our earthly life but also after our death. This is a complicated struggle, and the aim of this book is to describe and analyze it.Trade Review“Boris Groys’s Becoming an Artwork is distinguished by its originality, intelligence, economy, and vividness. Anyone can understand his arguments, which is why he has become the key art theorist of our time.”Matthew Jesse Jackson, The University of Chicago
£15.58
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Self in the West and East Asia
Book SynopsisFrom the fraught world of geopolitics to business and the academy, it's more vital than ever that Westerners and East Asians understand how each other thinks. As Jin Li shows in this groundbreaking work, the differences run deep. Li explores the philosophical origins of the concept ofselfin both cultures and synthesizes her findings with cutting-edge psychological research to reveal a fundamental contrast. Westerners tend to think of the self asbeing, as a stable entity fixed in time and place. East Asians think of the self as relational and embedded in a process ofbecoming. The differences show in our intellectual traditions, our vocabulary, and our grammar. They are even apparent in our politics: the West is more interested in individual rights and East Asians in collective wellbeing. Deepening global exchanges may lead to some blurring and even integration of these cultural tendencies, but research suggests that the basic self-models, rooted in long-standing philosophies, are likely to endure. The Self in the West and East Asiais an enriching and enlightening account of a crucial subject at a time when relations between East and West have moved center-stage in international affairs.
£28.50
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Rumors
Book Synopsis
£9.99
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Sad Planets
Book Synopsis
£13.49
Polity Press Making Multiplicity
Book SynopsisIn this poetical-philosophical manifesto, Gerald Raunig develops a materialist philosophy of multiplicity. On the basis of seventeen conceptual innovations from windy kin to transversal intellect, from dissemblage to technecologies, from minor masculinity to condividual revolution Raunig reformulates the question of revolutionary multiplicity. Always staying close to contemporary social struggles and movements, the book starts from the contention that we are in need of a storm against identitarian domination, unification, and homogeneity. Raunig argues that the conceptual and political experimentations with multiplicity around and after 1968 did not go far enough: today, anti-identitarian, queer, and multitudinarian positions should not just be defended but pushed further, over unexpected folds and along the flattest surfaces, beyond previous approaches and previous historical experiences. Making Multiplicityis a conceptual manifesto which sets a new tone in poststructural phil
£9.99
John Wiley and Sons Ltd In Praise of Philosophy
Book SynopsisWhat kind of philosophy do we need for the 21st century? To answer to this question, Alain Badiou imagines a dialogue between Tocéras, an earnest and engaging professor, and various interlocutors from different countries and philosophical cultures John After from Britain, Amantha from Greece, B'adj Akil from Senegal, Xi La Pong from China and several others. Their conversation takes readers on a playful journey through the history of philosophy framed by the five great questions that have preoccupied Alain Badiou: democracy, freedom, universality, language and being. At the same time, philosophy is presented not as a system or doctrine but as movement and dialogue. The philosopher is not a solitary figure; he is inseparable from his pupils, his disciples and his adversaries. It is only at the end of the journey that he arrives at the written, stable forms of his work. So we are dealing more with a play than a treatise, more with dialogues than monologues, more with a course than a book. The obvious model is Plato's Socrates, who, in founding philosophy as a discipline, ensured that it could be established anywhere in the world. In praise, yes, of philosophy as the public creation of a thought that, inventing itself and transporting itself anywhere, speaking to anyone about anything, invents the theatricalization of being.
£15.19
University of Minnesota Press A Third University Is Possible
Book SynopsisA Third University is Possible unravels the intimate relationship between the more than 200 US land grant institutions, American settler colonialism, and contemporary university expansion. Author la paperson cracks open uncanny connections between Indian boarding schools, Black education, and missionary schools in Kenya; and between the Department of Homeland Security and the University of California. Central to la paperson’s discussion is the “scyborg,” a decolonizing agent of technological subversion.Drawing parallels to Third Cinema and Black filmmaking assemblages, A Third University is Possible ultimately presents new ways of using language to develop a framework for hotwiring university “machines” to the practical work of decolonization. Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.
£10.64
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
Quercus Publishing 50 Big Ideas You Really Need to Know
In a series of 50 accessible essays, Ben Dupré introduces and explains the central ideas of politics, philosophy, religion, economics, science, and the arts that have engaged key thinkers and leaders, from Plato to the present day.From the Big Bang to romanticism, fate to democracy, 50 Big Ideas You Really Need to Know is a complete introduction to the most important concepts in history.
£9.99
Counterpoint Dogen's Genjo Koan: Three Commentaries
Book Synopsis
£16.19
Focus Publishing/R Pullins & Co Timaeus
Book Synopsis
£14.24
New World Library Myth and Meaning: Conversations on Mythology and
Book Synopsis
£22.95
Shambhala Publications Inc The Art of War
Book SynopsisThe most prestigious and influential book on strategy and dealing with conflict, beautifully translated for clear, accessible reading.In the words of Sun Tzu, "To win without fighting is best." This timeless Chinese classic captures the essence of military strategy used in ancient East Asia, with lessons on how to handle conflict confidently, efficiently, and successfully. The techniques and instructions discussed in The Art of War apply to competition and conflict on every level, from the interpersonal to the international. Its aim is invincibility, victory without battle, and unassailable strength through an understanding of the physics, politics, and psychology of conflict. Thomas Cleary''s translation is a breakthrough achievement that has been a gold standard among translations for three decades, offering the complete text in eminently readable prose with short commentaries by other ancient Chinese strategists and philosophers interwoven throughout.
£9.49
Boydell & Brewer Ltd The Philosophers RingWagner as Thinker and Dramatist
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£19.99
Sounds True Grounded
£15.68
Worlds Within Books Holden Hugs The World
Book Synopsis
£14.39
Arcturus Publishing Ltd Meditations
Book SynopsisMeditations is a collection of personal writings and spiritual reflections by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, translated by eminent Classical scholar George Long. His thoughts on how to lead a virtuous life, the importance of tranquillity and his ideas on how to reconcile the challenges of public and private life have become one of the world''s most important books. Meditations is a classic work of Stoic philosophy, emphasizing the need for inner peace and moral certainty in the face of the chaos and suffering encountered in life. As well as an intriguing philosophical text, it provides a fascinating insight into ancient Roman life.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with contemporary graphic cover designs. Together they make a wonderful collection which is perfect for any home library.
£999.99
Agenda Publishing What Matters Most: Conversations on the Art of
Book SynopsisThe ancient Greek philosopher Plotinus insisted that philosophy should be concerned with nothing less than “what matters most”. This collection of philosophical conversations seeks to honour Plotinus’ vision by addressing questions related to the art of living. Much has been written about the “art of living” and it typically conjures up ideas of therapy, meditation, peace, happiness, and so on. But what about the art of living in the midst of all the spectacular messiness generated by an aggressive, anxiety-ridden, acquisitive and lustful species? The conversations that make up this book explore the questions that matter most to us as citizens of increasingly fractious societies and inhabitants of an increasingly fractured planet. They invite us to think anew about the complexities and challenges involved in living a good life in a world characterized by uncertainty and change.Trade ReviewA series of gripping, personal interviews that bring philosophy to bear on matters of urgency: misinformation, racial politics, capitalism, justice, AI, and more. This book lets us eavesdrop on these vital conversations, a source not just of fresh ideas but of moral and political inspiration. -- Kieran Setiya, author of Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our WayI kept hearing these conversations in my head long after putting What Matters Most down. Unlike so many philosophy books, it never strays from what is morally and intellectually urgent. Ancient questions given modern relevance – this book is a field guide for how to think in the twenty-first century. -- Andy West, author of The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and PhilosophyDialogue is the lifeblood of philosophy, and What Matters Most captures the fun and immediacy of the subject in a masterful collection of thoughtful, urgent conversations on some of the most pressing issues of the moment. An invaluable window onto philosophy and its applications, this is a book that, through its many voices, models clearer and more careful ways of thinking. -- Arianne Shahvisi, author of Arguing for a Better World: How Philosophy Can Help Us Fight for Social JusticeTable of ContentsIntroduction, Anthony Morgan Part I: Living together 1. What is “we”? – Dan Zahavi with Luna Dolezal 2. Polarization and talking across difference – Elizabeth Anderson with Alexis Papazoglou 3. Misinformation and the right to know – Lani Watson with Aidan McGlynn 4. A decolonial ecology – Malcom Ferdinand with Romy Oppermann 5. Listening to animals – Eva Meijer with Adam Ferner and Darren Chetty 6. Relationality and political responsibility – Lewis Gordon with Olúfemi O. Táíwò Part II: Living with technology 7. Misunderstanding the internet – Justin E. H. Smith with Alexis Papazoglou 8. Artificial bodies and the promise of abstraction – Peter Wolfendale with Anthony Morgan 9. Will artificial intelligence transform ethics? – Shannon Vallor with John Zerilli 10. The algorithmic is the political – Annette Zimmermann with Matthew Lord 11. Intelligence and the future of AI – Stephen Cave with Sage Cammers-Goodwin 12. We and the robots – John Danaher with Anthony Morgan Part III: Living under oppression 13. The politics of gender and identity – Finn Mackay with Jana Bacevic 14. Submission and emancipation – Manon Garcia with Kate Kirkpatrick 15. Madness, identity, and recognition – Mohammed Abouelleil Rashed with Helen Spandler 16. Reimagining Black men – Tommy Curry with David Livingston Smith 17. Responsibility and structural injustice – Maeve McKeown with Alasia Nuti 18. Disobedience and seeing like an activist – Erin R. Pineda with Robin Celikates Part IV: Living in the end times 19. A world beyond capitalism – Martin Hägglund with Lea Ypi 20. Derrick Bell and racial realism – Timothy Golden with Darren Chetty 21. Spinoza in the Anthropocene – Beth Lord with Chris Meyns 22. Animals, pandemics, and climate change – Jeff Sebo with Lauren Van Patter 23. The task of thinking in the age of dumping – Michael Marder with Sofia Lemos 24. Why misanthropy? – Ian James Kidd with Anthony Morgan
£20.80
Agenda Publishing Circling Round Explicitness
Book SynopsisWith characteristic erudition and acuity across a breathtaking range of subjects, Ray Tallis explores how explicitness connects with fundamental ontological, metaphysical and epistemological questions that takes us closer to understanding what it is to be, to be human, and our connection with the material world.
£28.50
Equinox Publishing Ltd Embodied Meaning and Integration
Book SynopsisEmbodied meaning is a new approach to understanding the significance of all symbols, including those of language, as association in human experience. It has been developed since the 1980''s, but its full practical significance has rarely been applied, nor have the full challenges that it presents to entrenched assumptions been followed through. Robert M. Ellis here develops a detailed multi-disciplinary account of the role of embodied meaning in the Middle Way as a practical path. This includes criticisms of some ways that embodied meaning has been confused with belief. At the heart of his practical case for the applying embodied meaning in our lives are the concepts of fragmentation and integration of meaning. A variety of practices, including the arts, enable us to develop our meaning resources, both ''cognitively'' and ''emotionally'', and thus create the imaginative conditions for provisionality of belief.
£23.70
Seagull Books London Ltd Hölderlin′s Madness – Chronicle of a Dwelling
Book SynopsisOne of Europe’s greatest living philosophers, Giorgio Agamben, analyzes the life and work of one of Europe’s greatest poets, Friedrich Hölderlin. What does it mean to inhabit a place or a self? What is a habit? And, for human beings, doesn’t living mean—first and foremost—inhabiting? Pairing a detailed chronology of German poet Friedrich Hölderlin’s years of purported madness with a new examination of texts often considered unreadable, Giorgio Agamben's new book aims to describe and comprehend a life that the poet himself called habitual and inhabited. Hölderlin’s life was split neatly in two: his first 36 years, from 1770 to 1806; and the 36 years from 1807 to 1843, which he spent as a madman holed up in the home of Ernst Zimmer, a carpenter. The poet lived the first half of his existence out and about in the broader world, relatively engaged with current events, only to then spend the second half entirely cut off from the outside world. Despite occasional visitors, it was as if a wall separated him from all external events and relationships. For reasons that may well eventually become clear, Hölderlin chose to expunge all character—historical, social, or otherwise—from the actions and gestures of his daily life. According to his earliest biographer, he often stubbornly repeated, “nothing happens to me.” Such a life can only be the subject of a chronology—not a biography, much less a clinical or psychological analysis. Nevertheless, this book suggests that this is precisely how Hölderlin offers humanity an entirely other notion of what it means to live. Although we have yet to grasp the political significance of his unprecedented way of life, it now clearly speaks directly to our own. Trade Review"A work of retrieval. . . Agamben's main project is to uncover the political implications for the difference between the chronological life and the biographical life. This book is both creative and profound." * Choice *
£18.04
Olympia Publishers Simplism
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Amber Books Ltd Tao Te Ching
Book SynopsisThe Tao Te Ching, written around 300BC, describes the fundamental beliefs of Taoism, addressing how to live a simple, peaceful and harmonious life, how to rid oneself of desires and institutions that promote greed. This pocket dual-language edition presents the original Chinese text with a new translation on the facing page.
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Three Ecologies
Book SynopsisExtending the definition of ecology to encompass social relations and human subjectivity as well as environmental concerns, The Three Ecologies argues that the ecological crises that threaten our planet are the direct result of the expansion of a new form of capitalism and that a new ecosophical approach must be found which respects the differences between all living systems. This edition includes a chronology of Guattari's life and work, introductions to both his general philosophy and to the work itself, and extended notes to the original text.Table of ContentsFelix Guattari: A Chronology; Translator's Introduction; Note on the Translation and Acknowledgements; The Three Ecologies; Notes; The Life and Work of Felix Guattari: From Transversality to Ecosophy by Gary Genosko; Bibliography; Index.
£20.89
Rudolf Steiner Press Human Questions And Cosmic Answers
Book SynopsisIn the first full translation of this lecture course, Rudolf Steiner implores his audience to recognize the connections between the material and spiritual worlds. Eclipses of the sun and moon, for example, are forces at work in the universe, just like those we study today in the clinic or in the chemistry or physics laboratory'.
£19.00
Macat International Limited An Analysis of G.W.F. Hegel's Phenomenology of
Book SynopsisHegel’s 1807 Phenomenology of Spirit is renowned for being one of the most challenging and important books in Western philosophy. Above all, it is famous for laying out a new approach to reasoning and philosophical argument, an approach that has been credited with influencing Karl Marx, Jean-Paul Sartre, and many other key modern philosophers. That approach is the so-called “Hegelian dialectic” – an open-ended sequence of reasoning and argument in which contradictory concepts generate and are incorporated into a third, more sophisticated concept. While the Phenomenology does not always clearly use this dialectical method – and it is famously one of the most difficult works of philosophy ever written – the Hegelian dialectic provides a perfect template for critical thinking reasoning skills. A hallmark of good reasoning in the construction of an argument, and the searching out of answers must necessarily consider contradictory viewpoints or evidence. For Hegel, contradiction is key: it is precisely what allows reasoning to progress. Only by incorporating and overcoming contradictions, according to his method, is it possible for thought to progress at all. While writing like Hegel might not be advisable, thinking like him can help take your reasoning to the next level.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who was George W.F. Hegel? What does The Phenomenology of Spirit Say? Why does The Phenomenology of Spirit Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Alfred W. Crosby's The Columbian
Book SynopsisOne criticism of history is that historians all too often study it in isolation, failing to take advantage of models and evidence from scholars in other disciplines. This is not a charge that can be laid at the door of Alfred Crosby. His book The Columbian Exchange not only incorporates the results of wide reading in the hard sciences, anthropology and geography, but also stands as one of the foundation stones of the study of environmental history. In this sense, Crosby's defining work is undoubtedly a fine example of the critical thinking skill of creativity; it comes up with new connections that explain the European success in colonizing the New World more as the product of biological catastrophe (in the shape of the introduction of new diseases) than of the actions of men, and posits that the most important consequences were not political – the establishment of new empires – but cultural and culinary; the population of China tripled, for example, as the result of the introduction of new world crops. Few new hypotheses have proved as stimulating or influential.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who was Alfred W. Crosby? What does The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 Say? Why does The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Judith Butler's Gender Trouble
Book SynopsisJudith Butler's Gender Trouble is a perfect example of creative thinking. The book redefines feminism's struggle against patriarchy as part of a much broader issue: the damaging effects of all our assumptions about gender and identity. Looking at the factionalism of contemporary (1980s) feminism, Butler saw a movement split by identity politics. Riven by arguments over what it meant to be a women, over sexuality, and over class and race, feminism was falling prey to internal problems of identity, and was failing to move towards broader solidarity with other liberation movements such as LGBT. Butler turned these issues on their head by questioning the basis that supposedly fundamental and fixed identities such as 'masculine/feminine' or 'straight/gay' actually have. Tracing these binary definitions back to the binary nature of human anatomy ('male/female'), she argues that there is no necessary link between our anatomies and our identities. Subjecting a wide range of evidence from philosophy, cultural theory, anthropology, psychology and anthropology to a renewed search for meaning, Butler shows both that sex (biology) and gender (identity) are separate, and that even biological sex is not simplistically either/or male/female. Separating our biology from identity then allows her to argue that, while categories such as 'masculine/feminine/straight/gay' are real, they are not necessary; rather, they are the product of society's assumptions, and the constant reproduction of those assumptions by everyone around us. That opens up some small hope for change: a hope that – 25 years after Gender Trouble's publication – is having a huge impact on societies and politics across the world.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who is Judith Butler? What does Gender Trouble Say? Why does Gender Trouble Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue
Book SynopsisAlasdair MacIntyre’s 1981 After Virtue was a ground-breaking contribution to modern moral philosophy. Dissatisfied with the major trends in the moral philosophy of his time, MacIntyre argued that modern moral discourse had no real rational basis. Instead, he suggested, if one wanted to build a rational theory for morality and moral actions, one would have to go all the way back to Aristotle. To build his arguments – which are widely acknowledged to be as important as they are complex – MacIntyre relies on two critical thinking skills above all others: evaluation and interpretation.The primary goal of evaluation is to judge the strength or weakness of arguments, asking how acceptable a given line of reasoning is, and how adequate it is to the situation. In After Virtue, MacIntyre applies incisive evaluation skills to major positions and figures in moral philosophy one after the other – showing how and why Aristotle’s template remains a stronger way of considering moral questions. Throughout this process, MacIntyre also relies on his interpretative skills. As MacIntyre knows, clarifying meanings, questioning definitions, and laying down definitions of his key terms is as vital to advancing his arguments as it is to evaluating those of other philosophers.Table of ContentsWays In to the Text Who was Alasdair MacIntyre? What does After Virtue Say? Why does After Virtue Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of
Book SynopsisThomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions can be seen, without exaggeration, as a landmark text in intellectual history. In his analysis of shifts in scientific thinking, Kuhn questioned the prevailing view that science was an unbroken progression towards the truth. Progress was actually made, he argued, via "paradigm shifts", meaning that evidence that existing scientific models are flawed slowly accumulates – in the face, at first, of opposition and doubt – until it finally results in a crisis that forces the development of a new model. This development, in turn, produces a period of rapid change – "extraordinary science," Kuhn terms it – before an eventual return to "normal science" begins the process whereby the whole cycle eventually repeats itself. This portrayal of science as the product of successive revolutions was the product of rigorous but imaginative critical thinking. It was at odds with science’s self-image as a set of disciplines that constantly evolve and progress via the process of building on existing knowledge. Kuhn’s highly creative re-imagining of that image has proved enduringly influential – and is the direct product of the author’s ability to produce a novel explanation for existing evidence and to redefine issues so as to see them in new ways.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who was Thomas Kuhn? What does The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Say? Why does The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Mathis Wackernagel and William
Book SynopsisOur Ecological Footprint presents a powerful model for measuring humanity’s impact on the Earth to reduce the harm we are causing the planet before it’s too late. While some people believe we can find a middle ground between environmental conservation and economic development, or that future technological discoveries will solve the problem, the authors warn that our planet’s limited resources simply can’t support an economic system based on unlimited growth. Our Ecological Footprint offers a valuable tool to help us live more sustainably and safeguard our natural resources for generations to come.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who are Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees? What does Our Ecological Footprint Say? Why does Our Ecological Footprint Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles
Book SynopsisHerrnstein & Murray's The Bell Curve is a deeply controversial text that raises serious issues about the stakes involved in reasoning and interpretation.The authors’ central contention is that intelligence is the primary factor determining social outcomes for individuals – and that it is a better predictor of achievement than income, background or socioeconomic status. One of the major issues raised by the book was its discussion of 'racial differences in intelligence,' and its contention that there is a link between the low observed test scores and social outcomes for African-Americans and their lack of social attainment.While the authors produce and interpret a great deal of data to back up their contentions, they ultimately fail to tackle the problem that neither 'intelligence' nor 'race' have widely accepted definitions in biology, anthropology or sociology. In consequence, the book has been termed both ‘racist’ and ‘pseudoscientific’ thanks to what its critics see as both its faulty reasoning and its uncautious interpretation of evidence. The debate continues to this day, with academics on both sides engaged in fierce arguments over what can be argued from the data that Herrnstein and Murray used.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who were Herrnstein and Murray? What does The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life Say? Why does The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the
Book SynopsisFrantz Fanon is one of the most important figures in the history of what is now known as postcolonial studies – the field that examines the meaning and impacts of European colonialism across the world. Born in the French colony of Martinique, Fanon worked as a psychiatrist in Algeria, another French colony that saw brutal violence during its revolution against French rule. His experiences power the searing indictment of colonialism that is his final book, 1961’s The Wretched of the Earth. Fanon’s account of the physical and psychological violence of colonialism forms the basis of a passionate, closely reasoned call to arms – a call for violent revolution. Incendiary even today, it was more so in its time; the book first being published during the brutal conflict caused by the Algerian Revolution. Viewed as a profoundly dangerous work by the colonial powers of the world, Fanon’s book helped to inspire liberation struggles across the globe. Though it has flaws, The Wretched of the Earth is above all a testament to the power of passionately sustained and closely reasoned argument: Fanon’s presentation of his evidence combines with his passion to produce an argument that it is almost impossible not to be swayed by.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who was Frantz Fanon? What does The Wretched of the Earth Say? Why does The Wretched of the Earth Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£999.99
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Philip Zimbardo's The Lucifer
Book SynopsisWhat makes good people capable of committing bad – even evil – acts? Few psychologists are as well-qualified to answer that question as Philip Zimbardo, a psychology professor who was not only the author of the classic Stanford Prison Experiment – which asked two groups of students to assume the roles of prisoners and guards in a makeshift jail, to dramatic effect – but also an active participant in the trial of a US serviceman who took part in the violent abuse of Iraqi prisoners in the wake of the second Gulf War. Zimbardo’s book The Lucifer Effect is an extended analysis that aims to find solutions to the problem of how good people can commit evil acts. Zimbardo used his problem-solving skills to locate the solution to this question in an understanding of two conditions. Firstly, he writes, situational factors (circumstances and setting) must override dispositional ones, meaning that decent and well-meaning people can behave uncharacteristically when placed in unusual or stressful environments. Secondly, good and evil are not alternatives; they are interchangeable. Most people are capable of being both angels and devils, depending on the circumstances.In making this observation, Zimbardo also built on the work of Stanley Milgram, whose own psychological experiments had shown the impact that authority figures can have on determining the actions of their subordinates. Zimbardo's book is a fine example of the importance of asking productive questions that go beyond the theoretical to consider real-world events.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who was Philip Zimbardo? What does The Lucifer Effect Say? Why does The Lucifer Effect Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Jared M. Diamond's Collapse: How
Book SynopsisAmerican scholar Jared Diamond deploys his powers of interpretation to great effect in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, which seeks to understand the meaning behind the available evidence describing societies that have survived and those that have withered and died. Why, for example, did the Norsemen of Scandinavia who colonized Greenland in the early tenth century not survive, while the inhabitants of Highland New Guinea did? With the evidence to hand, Diamond notes that a society’s collapse tends to be preceded by a severe reduction in population and considerable decreases in political, economic and social complexity. Delving even deeper, Diamond isolates five major factors determine the success or failure of human societies in all periods of history: environmental degradation, which occurs when an ecosystem deteriorates as its resources are exhausted; climate change (natural or man-made); hostile neighbors; weakened trading partners; and access or otherwise to the resources that enable the society to adapt its challenges. The breadth of Diamond’s research provides the springboard from which to reach these definitions, but it inevitably also introduces complications; how can evidence produced by specialists in so many different disciplines be compared? Diamond’s ability to understand the meaning of the evidence at hand – and his readiness to seek and supply clarifications of meaning where necessary – underpin his achievement, and comprise a textbook example of how interpretative skills can provide a framework for strong critical thinking.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who is Jared Diamond? What does Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive Say? Why does Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Janet L. Abu-Lughod's Before
Book SynopsisThe modern vision of the world as one dominated by one or more superpowers begs the question of how best to understand the world-system that existed before the rise of the first modern powers. Janet Abu-Lughod's solution to this problem, in this highly influential work, is that Before European Hegemony, a predominantly insular, agrarian world was dominated by groups of mercantile city-states that traded with one another on equal terms across a series of interlocking areas of influence. In this reading of history, China and Japan, the kingdoms of India, Muslim caliphates, the Byzantine Empire and European maritime republics alike enjoyed no absolute dominance over their neighbours and commercial partners – and the egalitarian international trading network that they built endured until European advances in weaponry and ship types introduced radical instability to the system. Abu-Lughod's portrait of a more balanced world is a masterpiece of synthesis driven by one highly creative idea: her world system of interlocking spheres of influence quite literally connected masses of evidence together in new ways. A triumph of fine critical thinking.Table of ContentsWays In to the Text Who was Janet L. Abu-Lughod? What does Before European Hegemony Say? Why does Before European Hegemony Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Macat International Limited An Analysis of Mary Douglas's Purity and Danger:
Book SynopsisMary Douglas is an outstanding example of an evaluative thinker at work. In Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, she delves in great detail into existing arguments that portray traditional societies as “evolving” from “savage” beliefs in magic, to religion, to modern science, then explains why she believes those arguments are wrong. She also adeptly chaperones readers through a vast amount of data, from firsthand research in the Congo to close readings of the Old Testament, and analyzes it in depth to provide evidence that traditional and Western religions have more in common than the first comparative religion scholars and early anthropologists thought.First evaluating her scholarly predecessors by marshalling their arguments, Douglas identifies their main weakness: that they dismiss traditional societies and their religions by identifying their practices as “magic,” thereby creating a chasm between savages who believe in magic and sophisticates who practice religion.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who Was Mary Douglas? What Does Purity and Danger Say? Why Does Purity and Danger Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
£8.58
Hawthorn Press Twelve Ways of seeing the World: Philosophies and
Book SynopsisOur world view frames how we see things. In today's multicultural society, one'spersonal fi lter bubble' may clash with others'. Stepping back, you can becomefascinated by where people are coming from, how they know what they know. Tohelp refl ection, Mario Betti explores twelve archetypal ways of seeing the world.He clarifi es each world view and values them within the overall context of theother lenses. He outlines a path toward gaining mutual understanding betweenthe different worldviews, showing how they are connected beyond what apparentlydivides them.
£17.00
Istros Books Grimms Fairy Tales Decoded
Book SynopsisWith this book, the author opens up a new dimension to the best-loved fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm - so familiar to us and yet so full of unfamiliar imagery and inexplicable plot twists. He reminds us that these are stories originally aimed at adults, and that they carry in their imagery a symbolic understanding and a worldview that can offer us a key to overcoming our otherwise insoluble challenges: thus through the Anthroposophical worldview, these fairy tales become the springboards to spiritual insights. For centuries, these myth-like stories have been retold and spread across generations. When the people in the countryside had finished their work in the fields and in the kitchen, they came together and tried to fathom the secrets of life by sharing their experiences and immersing themselves in symbolic images. At a time when the rational view of life has almost completely suppressed the mysteries of existence between earth and heaven, perhaps this is the time for us to perceive the cosmic archetypes on which these tales rest.
£11.69
Urbanomic Media Ltd Parallel Minds
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Watkins Media Limited The German Ideology: A New Abridgement
Book SynopsisA new abridgement of Marx and Engels's 1846 reckoning with the philosophical tradition, edited and with an introduction by philosopher Tom Whyman. Edited and with an introduction by philosopher Tom Whyman, this new abridged version The German Ideology sheds new light on one of the most difficult, disputed texts in Marx's oeuvre. Written in 1846 and subsequently abandoned by Marx and Engels, only to be rescued in the 1930s by researchers in the USSR, The German Ideology is the high point of Marx's philosophical thought: a brilliantly insightful, still thrillingly radical work of materialist philosophical therapy. Yet there remains no wholly satisfactory stand-alone version in English, with only a heavily abridged 1970 edition edited by C.J. Arthur, or a facsimile edition taken from Vol. 5 of the Marx-Engels Collected Works, which does not include satisfactory scholarly notes, currently available. In this new Repeater Classics edition, Tom Whyman seeks to remedy this. By expanding on generally-available abridgements to include the bulk of the section on Max Stirner, as well as amending the translation, adding notes and providing a new critical introduction, this new edition of The German Ideology will allow non-specialists to engage with this critical work for the first time. At a time when interest in Marx's work is increasing, as people look for an alternative to our currently failing political system, this new edition of The German Ideology will bring Marx's most substantial vision of what communism might actually be like to a whole new audience.Trade Review"A much-needed popular edition of The German Ideology. Read this if you want to understand the explosive philosophy of Marx and Engels."
£10.44
