Philosophy Books

Book SynopsisAs a woman with a husband and other partners, philosopher Carrie Jenkins knows that love is complicated. Love is most often associated with happiness, satisfaction and pleasure. But it has a darker side we ignore at our peril. Love is often an uncomfortable and difficult feeling. The people we love can let us down badly. And the ways we love are often quite different to the romantic ideals society foists upon us. Since we are inevitably disappointed by love, wouldn’t we be better off without it? No, says Carrie Jenkins. Instead, we need a new philosophy of love, one that recognizes that the pain and suffering love causes are a natural, even a good part of what makes love worthwhile. What Jenkins calls “sad love” offers no bogus “happy ever afters”. Rather, it tries to find a way properly to integrate heartbreak and disappointment into the lived experience of love. It’s time we liberated love.Trade Review“This book will transform the ways people think about their love relationships.”Myisha Cherry, author of The Case for Rage “Do you ever get that feeling that a book just sees you? That was how I felt reading Sad Love. Jenkins deconstructs popular notions of happiness and romantic love with her characteristic combination of compassion, originality and rigour, challenging us to reconsider our foundational assumptions about what our relationships should even be for. I want everyone to read this book.”Eve Rickert, co-author of More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory“Sad Love zings with frustration at fairy tales, Valentine’s cards, romance novels and the ‘happy ever after’.”The Sunday Telegraph Magazine“Jenkins […] brings a light-touch speculative air to her ruminations.”London Magazine“Jenkins’s consideration of love beyond the traditional monogamous romantic model stimulates, and she’s equally thought-provoking whether unpacking 19th-century philosophers or Disney songs.”Publishers Weekly“a powerful alternative to ‘happily ever after.’”Readers’ DigestTable of ContentsPreface AcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1: The Paradox of HappinessChapter 2: The Romantic ParadoxChapter 3: DaimonsChapter 4: Know ThyselfChapter 5: Eudaimonic LoveNotes

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Book SynopsisIn this post-apocalyptic rollercoaster ride, philosopher Srećko Horvat invites us to explore the Apocalypse in terms of ‘revelation’ (rather than as the ‘end’ itself). He argues that the only way to prevent the end – i.e., extinction – is to engage in a close reading of various interconnected threats, such as climate crisis, the nuclear age and the ongoing pandemic. Drawing on the work of neglected philosopher Günther Anders, this book outlines a philosophical approach to deal with what Horvat, borrowing a term from climate science and giving it a theological twist, calls ‘eschatological tipping points’. These are no longer just the nuclear age or climate crisis, but their collision, conjoined with various other major threats – not only pandemics, but also the viruses of capitalism and fascism. In his investigation of the future of places such as Chernobyl, the Mediterranean and the Marshall Islands, as well as many others affected by COVID-19, Horvat contends that the ‘revelation’ appears simple and unprecedented: the alternatives are no longer socialism or barbarism – our only alternatives today are a radical reinvention of the world, or mass extinction. After the Apocalypse is an urgent call not only to mourn tomorrow’s dead today but to struggle for our future while we can.Trade Review‘Moneymen think of wars, earthquakes and pandemics as opportunities for exorbitant profiteering. Srećko Horvat, a personal hero of mine, has detected their new predilection: commodification of the Apocalypse, which they fear less than they do the end of capitalism.’Yanis Varoufakis, author of Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present ‘Srećko Horvat plays with the idea of Apocalypse in such a way that our sense of the end of times is transformed and becomes manageable. He takes the ball from great minds of the past and scores a goal for those who are certain that humanity can do better than this.’Ece Temelkuran, author of How to Lose a Country

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Book SynopsisThis volume comprises the lecture course that Heidegger gave in 1941 on the metaphysics of German Idealism. The first part of the lecture course contains a preliminary consideration of the distinction between ground and existence. The elucidation of the conceptual history includes a striking confrontation with Kierkegaard’s and Jaspers’ concepts of existence, as well as an elucidation of the concept of existence in Being and Time, which Heidegger distinguishes from the former concepts. Heidegger’s self-interpretation is not an end in itself, however, but rather a way of pointing to Schelling’s distinction between ground and existence, whose root and inner necessity and whose various versions Heidegger discusses subsequently. The second part of the lecture course is focused on Schelling’s “freedom treatise,” which Heidegger regards as the pinnacle of the metaphysics of German Idealism. Heidegger’s consideration of Schelling’s distinction between ground and existence finds its guiding thread in the introduction of the realms of being – eternal or finite, each being is a joining of the ground of existence and existence itself. In a subsequent overview, Heidegger discusses the relation of the distinction between ground and existence to the essence of human freedom and to the essence of the human. On the basis of this discussion, it becomes possible to grasp the connection between freedom and evil in Schelling’s system. This important work by Heidegger, published here in English for the first time, will be of great interest to students and scholars of philosophy and to anyone interested in Heidegger’s work.Trade Review“Unlike the course he offered on the same subject five years earlier, Heidegger’s 1941 lectures on Schelling’s ‘freedom treatise’ demonstrate his decisive break from ‘metaphysics,’ including German idealism, and allow us to see more clearly the radical reorientation of his later thought. No less fascinating is the large portion of the present volume devoted to an interpretation of Kierkegaard’s concept of existence and its relation to the (so-called) ‘existentialism’ of Being and Time. This excellent translation is a must-read for students and scholars alike.”Taylor Carman, Barnard College “Heidegger’s lecture course from 1941 not only attempts a new interpretation of Schelling’s essay on the essence of human freedom, extending his 1936 treatment of that same text, but contains a wealth of material on Heidegger’s ongoing reflections on the history of metaphysics and an important series of elucidations of Being and Time. This careful and sensitive translation will not only be of great interest to scholars of German Idealism, but is essential reading for anyone following Heidegger’s own philosophical development.”William McNeill, DePaul UniversityTable of ContentsTranslators’ Introduction INTRODUCTION THE NECESSITY OF A HISTORICAL THINKING § 1. Schelling’s Treatise as the Peak of the Metaphysics of German Idealism § 2. Historical Thinking, Historiographic Explanation, Systematic Reflection § 3. Elucidations of the Title of the Treatise § 4. The Organization of the Treatise § 5. Brief Excursus on a Further Misgiving (the Historiographic – the Current – That Which Has Been) PART I PRELIMINARY REFLECTION ON THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN GROUND AND EXISTENCE § 6. The Core Section of the Treatise: The Distinction between Essence Insofar as It Exists and Essence Insofar as it Is Merely Ground of Existence § 7. The Organization of the Preliminary Reflection First Chapter The Conceptual-Historical Elucidation of Ground and Existence § 8. Essentia and Existentia § 9. “Existence” and “Philosophy of Existence” (K. Jaspers) § 10. Kierkegaard’s Concept of Existence § 11. Kierkegaard, “Philosophy of Existence,” and Being and Time (1927) a) What Occasion Is There for Classifying Being and Time as “Philosophy of Existence”? ) Analytic of Existence ) Existence – As Understood in the Sense of Kierkegaard’s Restriction of It ) Philosophy of Anxiety, of the Nothing, of Death, of Care . . . ) Philosophical Anthropology b) Rejection of the Classification of Being and Time as Philosophy of Existence by Way of an Elucidation of the Concepts of Existence and Da-sein (Elucidations of Being and Time) ) Existence and Dasein as Meaning “Actuality in General” (As Understood in Traditional Usage of Language) ) Dasein as the Bodily-Psychic-Rational Being-Actual of the Human, and Existence as the Subjectivity of Self-Being (Jaspers) ) “Existentiell” and “Existential” Concepts of Existence ) “Understanding of Being” as the Decisive Determination of Dasein and Existence in Being and Time ) Dasein, Temporality, and Time ) Temporality, Da-sein, Existence ) Anxiety, Death, Guilt, the Nothing within the Realm of Questioning in Being and Time ) The “Essence” of Da-sein ) Understanding of Being, and Being ) Being and the Human – Anthropomorphism § 12. Preliminary Interpretation of Schelling’s Concept of Existence § 13. The Inceptive Impetuses Determining the Essence of Ground and Their Historical Transformation Second Chapter The Root of Schelling’s Distinction between Ground and Existence § 14. Elucidation of the Essential Determination of Being as Willing a) The Essential Predicates of Being ) Ground-lessness ) Eternity ) Independence from Time ) Self-Affirmation b) Justification of the Predicates of Being c) In What Way Willing Is Sufficient for the Predicates of Being d) Being in Its Highest and Ultimate Jurisdiction § 15. Being as Willing as the Root of the Distinction between Ground and Existence Third Chapter The Inner Necessity of Schelling’s Distinction between Ground and Existence Fourth Chapter The Various Formulations of Schelling’s Distinction between Ground and Existence § 16. The Proper Aim of the Interpretation of the Freedom Treatise: Reaching the Fundamental Position of the Metaphysics of German Idealism. Evil and the System § 17. Transition from the Preliminary Reflection to the Interpretation of the Core Section of the Treatise and of the Latter Itself PART II AN INTERPRETATION OF THE CORE SECTION, “THE ELUCIDATION OF THE DISTINCTION” BETWEEN GROUND AND EXISTENCE § 18. The “Elucidation of the Distinction” as the Presentation of Beings as a Whole (God, World, Human) First Chapter The Reflection that Takes God as a Starting Point § 19. The Direct Elucidation: The Presentation of the Being of Beings “in” God. Philosophy as Unconditional Knowledge of the Absolute in Contrast to Theology and Mathematics. The Various Senses of the Word “Nature” a) Philosophy and Theology b) Philosophy and Mathematics c) The Concept of the Absolute in Schelling and Hegel § 20. The Analogical Elucidation: Presentation of the Correspondence Between the Stations of the Being of the Absolute § 21. The Circularity of the Distinction Between Ground and Existence § 22. Summary of What Was Said about the Distinction in God § 23. Excursus: The Unconditional Precedence of the Certainty (That Is to Say, Concurrently: the Beingness) of the Absolute Second Chapter The Reflection that Takes its Point of Departure from Things § 24. The Ground in God as “Originary Yearning” § 25. Creation as Formation through the Imagination; the Creature as “Image” Third Chapter The Reflection that Takes its Point of Departure from the Human § 26. The Necessity of Creation and the Essence of the Human as the Proper Creature in which God Himself Reveals Himself § 27. Human Will as “Divine Glimpse of Life” and “Seed of God” CONCLUSION OVERVIEW § 28 The “Distinction” and the Essence of Freedom and of Human Freedom in Particular § 29 The “Distinction” in its Full Essence § 30. The “Distinction” and the Essence of the Human § 31. The Essence of Evil § 32. Evil and the System § 33. The System and the Truth (Certainty) of Beings as a Whole § 34. What Confrontation Means with Respect to Metaphysics RECAPITULATIONS AND COURSE OF THE INTERPRETATION Recapitulation of 14 January Recapitulation of 21 January Recapitulation of 28 January Recapitulation of 4 February Recapitulation of 11 February Recapitulation of 18 February Recapitulation of 25 February Recapitulation of 4 March Recapitulation of 11 March APPENDIX Preliminary Glimpses and Directives Transitional Reflection on Hegel The Confrontation with the Metaphysics of German Idealism and with Metaphysics in General Supplement (Leibniz) German–English Glossary English–German Glossary Greek/Latin–English Lexicon

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Book SynopsisPhenomenology is one of the leading movements in twentieth-century philosophy and continues to exert a strong influence on many contemporary philosophical traditions and investigations. In recent years, phenomenological insights have been increasingly developed in relation to philosophy of illness, disability, race, gender, sexuality, and politics, leading to the emergence of critical phenomenology as a new, prominent field for interdisciplinary research. Magrì and McQueen's Critical Phenomenology: An Introduction is the first book of its kind, addressing the critical questions at the core of both classical and contemporary phenomenology. This book provides a concise, accessible introduction to key areas of phenomenological research, such as intersubjectivity, bodily experience, race, gender, social experience, and political action. In doing so, it demonstrates both the rich history of phenomenology and its continuing philosophical and ethical importance. This textbook will be essential reading for undergraduate philosophy students and academics interested in critical phenomenology.Trade Review‘This is a highly needed, lucid and engaging exposition of a new field. A rich and rewarding read that introduces the reader to a range of contemporary debates and concepts, and their impact on phenomenology.’Havi Carel, University of Bristol ‘This book offers a clear, comprehensive overview of the core concepts and methods of critical phenomenology. It is a valuable guide for anyone who seeks to understand both what is distinctive about critical phenomenology and what it shares with classical phenomenology.’Lisa Guenther, Queen’s University ‘An enthusiastic thumbs-up. I anticipate using this book when I teach an upper-level phenomenology seminar.’Shannon Sullivan, UNC CharlotteTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 What is Critical Phenomenology? 2 Corporeality 3 Intersubjectivity 4 Gender and Sexuality 5 Race 6 Political Experience and Political Action Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisThis book is a critical inquiry into three ideas that have been at the heart of philosophical reflection since time immemorial: freedom, God and immortality. Their inherent connection has disappeared from our thought. We barely pay attention to the latter two ideas, and the notion of freedom is used so loosely today that it has become vacuous. Axel Hutter’s book seeks to remind philosophy of its distinct task: only in understanding itself as human self-knowledge that articulates itself in these three ideas will philosophy do justice to its own concept. In developing this line of argument, Hutter finds an ally in Thomas Mann, whose novel Joseph and His Brothers has more to say about freedom, God and immortality than most contemporary philosophy does. Through his reading of Mann’s novel, Hutter explores these three ideas in a distinctive way. He brings out the intimate connection between philosophical self-knowledge and narrative form: Mann’s novel gives expression to the depth of human self-understanding and, thus, demands a genuinely philosophical interpretation. In turn, philosophical concepts are freed from abstractness by resonating with the novel’s motifs and its rich language. Narrative Ontology is both a highly original work of philosophy and a vigorous defence of humanism. It brings together philosophy and literature in a creative way, it will be of great interest to students and scholars in philosophy, literature and the humanities in general.Trade Review‘Axel Hutter has been for years a powerful critic of philosophy’s post-metaphysical trends and its nihilist implications. The beautiful achievement of this philosophical tour de force is to outflank these trends by showing that metaphysics is quite literally revealed through text.’Omri Boehm, The New School for Social ResearchTable of ContentsForeword by Markus GabrielPrefaceIntroductionThe Art of Self-KnowledgeSelf-Knowledge – The Intangibility of the I – Who’s Speaking? – Narrative Meaning –Meaning and Being – The Project of a Narrative Ontology – The Truth of Art – Thomas Mann as Model – The Enigma of Human Being – Freedom – Selfhood as CharacterPart One: The Stories of Jacob1. The Ambiguity of the IThe Leitmotif – The Original Scene – Readings – The Unrest of the Blessing – Identity of Form and Content – The Narrative Decentring of the I – Coined Archetypes – Isaac’s ‘Blindness’ – Selfhood as Self-Understanding2. The World TheatreThe Thought-Model of the Actor – The World as Stage – History – Meaning of Life? – The Author as Narrator and Reader – Meaning as Happiness or Happiness as Meaning – Connecting Thoughts – Cain and Abel – The Role of Human Being – The Dignity of Universality – Humanity in Each Person3. Narrative IronyDeception and Disappointment – Leah – Day and Night – Nonsense – Jacob’s Four Deceptions – The Denied Sacrifice – Dialectic of Spiritual Inheritance – Hope – Joseph’s Gift – Mercy of the Last DeceptionPart Two: Time and Meaning4. The Well of the PastOntology of Egoism – Self-Respect – Descent into Hell – Wandering – The Abyss of Time – Desperation of Passing Time – Memento Mori – Promise and Expectation – Time that cannot be Enumerated – The Feast of the Narrative5. How Abraham Discovered GodWhere to Begin? – The Adventure of Self-Knowledge – In the Image of God – Self-Knowledge and Knowledge of God – The Courage for Monotheism – Not the Good, but the Whole – God’s History? – Model and Succession – Theology of Narration6. What are Human Beings, that You are Mindful of them? Higher Echelons – Human Reason and Language – Evil – On the Economy of Morality – The Narratable World of What Happens – Who Narrates? – The Novel of the Soul – Very Serious Jokes – In Praise of TransiencePart Three: The Stories of Joseph7. The FutureSelf-Love – Wit in Language –Ambiguity of the Talent – Knowledge of the Future? – Being on One’s Way – Sympathy – Certainty of Death – The Dreamer of Dreams – The Catastrophe8. The Dying GrainThe Oracle – The Simile of the Dying Grain – Joseph’s Awakening – Compassion – The Illusionary Character of Individuality – The Truth of Illusion – At the Empty Grave – The Other Simile – History in Becoming9. Only a SimileJoseph in Egypt – Historical and Narrative Attentiveness – Laban’s Realm – Huya and Tuya – Egypt as Symbol – The Sphinx – Interpreting Dreams – Pharaoh – Letter and Spirit of Understanding – Interpretation of God – Historical and Narrative Truth – Play and AllusionConclusionMaking PresentDiagnosis of Time – Nihilism as Human Self-Belittlement – Abraham’s LegacyReferencesNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisThe idea of a connection between poetry and religion is as old as civilization. Homer consulted the Olympian gods on the fate of the fighters on the plain before Troy, and the poet made the heavenly ones speak. It was through poetry that the gods were brought within reach of human hearing. In the centuries after Homer, the Athenian stage became the setting where gods made their poetic interventions, resolving human impasses and contributing to the emotional synchronization of the public life of the city. Sloterdijk argues that, as with the culture of the Ancient Greeks, all religions inscribe a kind of “theopoetry” at the heart of their cultural life and thought, even as they strenuously obscure these poetic origins through the cultivation and enforcement of orthodox norms. Sloterdijk also shows how, in conditions of religious pluralism, religions poetically reshape themselves to accommodate the demands of the religious marketplace. This highly original study of the poetic devices that inform accounts of the otherworldly offers a new interpretation of religious practice and its theological elaboration through history, as well as a fresh perspective on our contemporary age in which collective life, interwoven with imaginative fabrications, is fraying under critical stress.Trade Review"Religion is poetry, poetry is religion, and both are concerned with the 'overarching' that is at once cosmic and political. The avatars of this triple connectivity, and what happens to it when the overarching becomes paradoxically contested, are brilliantly explored in this new book. Agree with Peter Sloterdijk or not, he will assist you to think further about what is truly fundamental to our human existence and its future."—John Milbank, University of NottinghamTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface I Deus ex machina, Deus ex cathedra 1 The gods in the theater 2 Plato's contestation 3 Of the true religion 4 Representing God, being God: an Egyptian solution 5 On the best of all possible heaven dwellers 6 Poetries of power 7 Dwelling in plausibilities 8 The theopoetical difference 9 Revelation whence? 10 The death of the gods 11 'Religion is unbelief': Karl Barth's intervention 12 In the garden of infallibility: Denzinger’s world II Under the high heavens 13 Fictive belonging together 14 Twilight of the gods and sociophany 15 Glory: poems of praise 16 Poetry of patience 17 Poetry of exaggeration: religious virtuosos and their excesses 18 Kerygma, propaganda, supply-side offense, or, When fiction is not to be trifled with 19 On the prose and poetry of the search 20 Religious freedom In lieu of an afterword Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe time of the landscape is not the time when people started describing gardens, mountains and lakes in poems or representing them in works of art: it is the time when the landscape imposed itself as a specific object of thought. It is the time when both the harmony of arranged gardens and the disharmony of wild nature led to a revolution in the criteria of the beautiful and in the meaning of the word “art.” It coincided with the birth of aesthetics, understood as a regime for shaping how art is seen and thought, and also with the French Revolution, understood as a revolution in the very idea of what binds together a human community. The time of the landscape is the time when the conjunction of these two upheavals brought into focus, however hazily, a common horizon: that of a revolution that no longer concerns only the laws of the state or the norms of art, but the very forms of sensible experience. This brilliant and wide-ranging book will be of interest to students and scholars in philosophy, literature, the visual arts, and the humanities generally, and to anyone interested in critical theory and philosophy.Trade Review“This short, polemical intervention in the history of landscape aesthetics is sure to energize a fresh debate about the relations of painting, architecture, and visual experience in the nineteenth century.”W. J. T. Mitchell, University of Chicago“A decisive treatment of the perception and management of nature, The Time of the Landscape contends that the design and management of gardens in the post-revolutionary regime signal a sea-change in the ways we perceive, experience, and shape the world around us.”Tom Conley, Harvard UniversityTable of ContentsAbbreviations of frequently cited works List of Illustrations Foreword I. A Newcomer to the Fine Arts II. Scenes of Nature III. The Landscape as Painting IV. Beyond the Visible V. Politics of the Landscape Epilogue Notes

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Book SynopsisRevolutionary humanist and radical psychiatrist Frantz Fanon was one of the greatest Black thinkers of the twentieth century. Born in Martinique and known for his involvement in the Algerian liberation movement, his seminal booksBlack Skin, White MasksandThe Wretched of the Earthare widely considered to be cornerstones of anti-colonial and anti-racist thought.In this essential introduction to Fanon's remarkable life and philosophy, Nigel C. Gibson argues that Fanon's oeuvre is essential to thinking about race today. Connecting Fanon's writing, psychiatric practice, and lived experience in the Caribbean, France, and Africa, Gibson reveals (with startling clarity) his philosophical commitments and the vision of revolution that he stood for. Despite his untimely death, the revolutionary pulse of Fanon's ideas has continued to beat ever more strongly in the consciousness of successive revolutionary generations, from the Black Panthers and the Black Power to Black

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Book SynopsisThe challenges we face today are unprecedented, from the existential crisis of climate change to the global security threats posed by aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere. Add to this the crisis of liberal democracy and we seem to be swirling in a state of moral disarray, unsure whether there are any principles to which we can appeal today that would be anything other than particularistic. In contrast to this view, Markus Gabriel puts forward the bold argument that there are guiding moral principles for human behaviour. These guiding principles extend across cultures; they are universally valid and form the source of universal values in the twenty-first century. In developing what he calls a ‘New Moral Realism’, Gabriel breathes fresh life into the idea that humanity’s task on our planet is to enable moral progress through cooperation. It is only by achieving moral progress in a way that incorporates universal values – and thus embraces all of humanity – that we can avoid the abyss into which we will otherwise slide. Written with verve, wit and imagination, Gabriel's call for a new enlightenment is a welcome antidote to the value relativism and nihilism of our times, and it lays out a moral framework within which we can work together – as surely we must – to deal with the great challenges we now face.Trade Review"This book is a passionate defense of moral realism against the now standard relativism on the topic, written in Gabriel's usual clear prose. His gift for illuminating examples and anecdotes, combined with his thorough philosophical knowledge and hyper-alertness to world events, ensure that Moral Progress in Dark Times speaks directly to the conscience of the twenty-first-century citizen."—Graham Harman "In this book, Markus Gabriel seeks a possible resurrection of history from the normative foundations of a moral realism. In this search, we discover something like a non-Eurocentric universal history, based on the existence of universalizable moral facts capable of transcending specific contexts and guiding us through dark times. Aware of the challenges of this new universalism, Gabriel does not shy away from any controversy and invites us to a debate where the question is no less than the possibilities of a new enlightenment."—Vladimir Safatle“[T]he book’s themes that morality is real and grounded in facts, that scientific-technological progress should be guided by ethics, and that this requires heavy-duty interdisciplinary cooperation (including a role for the humanities!) as well as a fundamental belief in truth and human dignity, are desperately needed in our current historical moment.”—Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews“What is so impressive about Gabriel’s book is both its readability and that he is able to stand up for a form of European Enlightenment in German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s universalism, which is needed now more than ever.”—The Sociological Review“a challenging, provocative book”—Midwest Book ReviewTable of ContentsPreface to the English edition Introduction Chapter 1: What Values Are, and Why They Are Universal The Good, the Bad and the Neutral: Basic Moral Rules Moral Facts The Limits of Free Speech: How Tolerant Is Democracy? Morality Trumps Majority Cultural Relativism: The Law of the Strongest Boghossian and the Taliban There Are No Judeo-Christian Values - And Why Islam Is Clearly Part of Germany North Korea and the Nazi Machine Value Pluralism and Value Nihilism Nietzsche's Ghastly Confusion(s) Chapter 2: Why There Are Moral Facts but Not Ethical Dilemmas Universalism is not Eurocentrism Ageism Towards Children and Other Moral Deficits in Everyday Life Moral Tension Susceptibility to Error, a Fictional Messiah and the Nonsense of Postmodern Arbitrariness Moral Feelings Doctors, Patients, Indian Police Officers The Categorical Imperative as Social Glue 'A?' Don't Contradict Yourself! Self-Evident Moral Truths and the Descriptive Problem of Ethics Why the Federal Chancellor Is Not the Leader The Day of Judgement, or, How We Can Recognize Moral Facts With or Without God in the Kingdom of Ends Beating Children Was Never Good, Not Even in 1880 Chapter 3: Social Identity - Why Racism, Xenophobia and Misogyny Are Evil Habitus and Stereotypes: All Resources Are Scarce Lifting the Veil of Dehumanization: From Identity Politics to Difference Politics Coronavirus: Reality Strikes Back A Different Side of Thuringia: In Jena, Racism Is Debunked The Value of Truth (Without a Hall of Mirrors) Stereotypes, Brexit and German Nationalism The Effectiveness of Presumed Communities The Society of Populism The Contradictions of Left-Wing Identity Politics Everyone is the Other: From Identity Politics to Difference Politics (and Beyond) Indifference Politics: On the Way to Colour-Blindness Chapter 4: Moral Progress in the Twenty-First Century Slavery and Sarrazin (Supposedly) Different Conceptions of Humans Do Not Justify Anything, Least of All Slavery Moral Progress and Regression in the Time of the Coronavirus The Limits of Economism Biological Universalism and the Viral Pandemic For a Metaphysical Pandemic Morality Altruism Human Beings: Who We Are and Who We Want to Be Ethics for Everyone Epilogue Glossary Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThere is no normative concept more appealing today than the idea of individual freedom. Political party manifestos are drawn up, legal reforms are defended, military interventions are undertaken, even decisions in personal relationships are justified – all in the name of individual freedom. But our understanding of freedom is impoverished if we try to grasp its essence merely in terms of the subjective rights of the individual.In his new book, Axel Honneth shows that we still have a lot to learn from the tradition of philosophy about a rational concept of freedom. Honneth begins by re-examining the work of Hegel and Marx in order to clarify the concept of freedom. He then explores various social problem areas in which the ideals of freedom are directly confronted by contemporary obstacles. Honneth ends by examining potential forces which could give new impetus to our struggle for freedom.This new book by one of the leading social and political philosophers writing today will be of great interest to students and scholars of philosophy, political theory, social theory, and the social sciences and humanities generally.Trade Review“This collection of superbly translated essays demonstrates once again that Axel Honneth is not only an academic philosopher of the first rank but also a public intellectual of international significance. The astounding range of essays included here – on topics from the contradictions in our understanding of childhood to the history of European solidarity to the relation between education and democracy – will be of supreme interest to philosophers and non-philosophers alike who have some inkling of the poverty of both our dominant conceptions of freedom and of the social institutions that are grounded in them.”Frederick Neuhouser, Barnard College, Columbia University“These powerful and incisive essays are a major contribution to the contemporary struggle against fetishized conceptions of individual freedom. Their relevance in a world trying desperately to escape the impasse of neoliberalism is clear.”Raymond Geuss, Professor (Emeritus), University of CambridgeTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsPrefacePart I: Forms of Social Freedom1. The Depths of RecognitionThe legacy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau2. On the Poverty of Our FreedomRelevance and limits of the Hegelian ethical system3. The Normativity of Ethical Life4. Hegel and MarxA reassessment after one century5. Economy or Society?The greatness and limits of Marx’s theory of capitalism6. Three, Not Two Concepts of LibertyA proposal to enlarge our moral self-understandingPart II: Deformations of Social Freedom7. The Diseases of SocietyApproaching a nearly impossible concept8. Education and the Democratic Public SphereA neglected chapter of political philosophy9. Democracy and the Division of LabourA blind spot in political philosophy10. ChildhoodInconsistencies in our liberal imaginationPart III. Sources of Social Freedom11. Denaturalizations of the LifeworldOn the threefold use of the humanities12. Is There an Emancipatory Interest?An attempt to answer critical theory's most fundamental question13. A History of Moral Self-CorrectionTracing European solidarityNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisThe planet is in crisis. Time is short, but it is still possible to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions before disaster overtakes us all. Renowned philosopher Robin Attfield explains the moral reasons for urgent action based on current harms, threats to future generations, and to the species with which we share the planet. In compelling and student-friendly prose, he explores the science of climate change, biodiversity loss and air pollution, climate injustices, political implications of the crisis, and possible responses. Among other things, he argues that measures to introduce climate justice should be paid for by countries able to pay, and by the big polluters in particular. The recently agreed Loss and Damage fund can play a central part in climate funding. Related political measures, such as the introduction of Ecocide as an international crime alongside war crimes, also give cause for hope. Attfield's passionately argued twentieth book,The Ethics of the Climate Crisis, is crucial reading for our times.

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Book SynopsisA defining feature of being human is our ability to think. We refer to ourselves, after all, as Homo sapiens. But in a world where experiencing and achieving as much as possible is the number one preoccupation, there is little room for reflection. Technology is also making everything easier, eroding the need for us to think at all. Of course deep, critical thinking can be difficult, sometimes painful, and it takes time. But it is fundamental to our well-being. In this new book, bestselling philosopher and psychologist Svend Brinkmann argues for a return to the thoughtful life, where we learn to think well, to think deeply, to lose ourselves in reverie and tune in to our inner voice. By spending time in our thoughts and letting them wander freely, we will discover that thinking is one of the most enriching things we can do in life – and one of the most human, too.Trade Review‘Thinking is the greatest gift we humans possess. But we should use it responsibly and wisely, for the good of all. Brinkmann reminds us of just how much we stand to gain by doing so.’Tim Ingold, Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology, University of AberdeenTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. What do you think? 2. Why has it become difficult to think? 3. Happiness is a thoughtful life 4. Thinking as formation 5. Where does thinking come from? 6. How to think Notes

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Book SynopsisThis is a book about justice, but not as we know it. Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos argues that justice is alwayshydrojustice that is, always defined in relation to water, the element that constitutes and unites all bodies, human and nonhuman. Hence justice is not an ideal state reached through merely human procedures (legal, political, economic, etc.) but also a planetary one, always conjoined with the element of water that both constitutes and transcends the boundaries of the human. In short, hydrojustice is the just confluence of all bodies, human and nonhuman. For the first time, this book brings questions of justice into line with the current literature on water. Up to now, justice has been understood as an anthropocentric affair, with most existing theories accepting and reinforcing the division between human and nonhuman. This book builds on feminism, ecology, posthumanism and the current Blue Turn in the humanities and social sciences, and puts questions of justice at their core. What the book proposes, however, is not simply an ecological concept of justice. Rather, through examples taken from current affairs, science and the art world, it attempts a radical recalibration of what justice is. The book argues that hydrojustice is already here, part of our planetary condition, but it requires unearthing, in the double sense of revealing what is hidden and allowing earth to cede priority to the aquatic.

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Book SynopsisAs the world faces increasingly complex problems from pandemics to global poverty and climate change how do we decide where to concentrate our efforts and resources to do the most good possible? Effective altruism offers a way to do just that, focusing on evidence and rational arguments to identify crucial issues and the most impactful ways of solving them. In this new book, philosopher Jacob Bauer cuts through the uncritical hype and wholesale dismissal around effective altruism to offer a balanced overview of this movement's core concepts and approaches to doing good better. With examples spanning malaria-preventing bed nets to the dangers of AI, he illuminates how effective altruism is addressing some of the world's most pressing problems, all the while acknowledging its real limitations and showcasing its immense promise. Whether you are a skeptic or a new adherent seeking to understand the philosophy and community of effective altruism, this book is the definitive guide.

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

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

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Book SynopsisEven if you've just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, it's likely that you've been living with it for a long time. You've probably already developed your own ways of coping with recurring depression, the consequences of manic episodes, and the constant, uncomfortable feeling that you're at the mercy of your emotions. Some of these methods may work; others might do more harm than good. The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder will help you integrate your coping skills with a new and effective dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) plan for living well with bipolar disorder.The four DBT skills you'll learn in this workbook-mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness-will help you manage your emotional ups and downs and minimize the frequency and intensity of depressive and manic episodes. By using this book in conjunction with medication and professional care, you'll soon experience relief from your bipolar symptoms and come to enjoy the calm and confident feeling of being in control.Learn mindfulness and acceptance skillsCope with depressive and manic episodes in healthy waysManage difficult emotions and impulsive urgesMaintain relationships with friends and family members

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Book SynopsisPythagoras was one of the great geniuses of the West and yet, apart from his famous Pythagorean theorem, he is virtually unknown. If we rely on modern scholars and academics, argues Carol Dunn, we find that his long-forgotten legacy is misunderstood and even distorted, and is therefore almost nonexistent.First, it shows that the early pioneers of modern physics, mainly Newton and Kepler, scientifically and mathematically confirmed Pythagoras' discoveries of the sixth century BC -- the heliocentric theory of our cosmos and the parallel theory regarding the Harmony of the Spheres. These are discoveries for which Pythagoras has received scant recognition by the Western philosophical tradition.Second, the author argues against the proposition that the heliocentric theory was initiated not by Pythagoras but instead by his student Philolaus, who lived in the fifth century BC, and whose astronomical theory, according to Dunn, is not based on science.Pythagoras, the Master is well researched and accessible, offering readers a firm basis to reexamine the importance of Pythagoras' work and whether he or Philolaus discovered these paradigm-changing astronomical theories two thousand years before Western science rediscovered them in the seventeenth century.

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Book SynopsisEric Voegelin (1901–1985) is widely regarded as one of the greatest political philosophers of the 20th century, yet adequate understanding of his writings stands as a challenge for current and future generations. Voegelin’s thought continued to develop at a rapid pace during the last two decades of his life, and as Ellis Sandoz has written, his work found “not only its final but its most profound expression” during this period. Voegelin’s fame stemmed mostly from his many books and the laudatory review articles published in response to them, but he was “preeminently an essayist,” as Sandoz observes. The meditative analyses and essays written in the culminating phase of Voegelin’s career not only expand and deepen his work as a whole, but also revise central components of it in ways that compel reconsideration of even his most widely read texts. Voegelin’s books gave rise to a vast secondary literature that continues to grow, yet the exceptionally impactful late essays and meditative works have never received the scholarly commentaries they deserve because they were published originally as journal articles or chapters in edited collections. This volume remedies that shortcoming with 14 critical analyses that elucidate the late essays while also addressing their implications for the entirety of Voegelin’s thought. The commentaries will prove invaluable to students and scholars in political science, philosophy, history, theology, and other disciplines, serving as a companion piece to the singularly important Vol. 12 of Voegelin’s Collected Works, Published Essays 1966–1985.Trade ReviewEric Voegelin’s life work is best understood as a “zetema,” a philosopher’s life-long quest for truth, one that underwent substantial changes during the final phase of his quest. As Michael Franz explains in his Introduction, Voegelin’s last essays have not received the critical attention they deserve, yet they contain the most refined formulations of his thought. Franz has succeeded in enlisting scholars thoroughly aquatinted with Voegelin’s voluminous publications who are well qualified to analyze the theoretical advances in these last essays and relate them to the better-known, previous stages of his exploration of orders and disorders of the soul and of society. —Stephen A. McKnight, Professor Emeritus of European Intellectual and Cultural History, University of FloridaEric Voegelin was the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century. He not only stood up for liberal democracy and common sense against both Hitler and Stalin, working to understand the experiences that gave rise to their followings. Although his fully mature writings moved on from an early tendency to attribute many modern political and spiritual ills to a pattern of thinking he called “gnosticism,” many readers still tend to interpret his thought as centered on this outdated concept, which Voegelin himself later left behind. The analyses in this volume focus on essays representing his most developed and profound thought, offering us a more rounded understanding and enabling us to see how Voegelin can help us address the political and spiritual challenges of our present time. —Eugene Webb, Professor Emeritus, The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of WashingtonTable of ContentsIntroduction: Michael Franz Chapter 1: Voegelin’s “The German University and the Order of German Society: A Reconsideration of the Nazi Era" – Barry Cooper Chapter 2: Voegelin’s On Debate and Existence” – Steven F. McGuire Chapter 3: Voegelin’s "Immortality: Experience and Symbol" – Henrik Syse Chapter 4: Voegelin’s “Configurations of History” – Paul Kidder Chapter 5: Voegelin’s “Equivalences of Experience and Symbolization in History” – Glenn Hughes Chapter 6: Voegelin‘s “On Henry James’s Turn of the Screw” – Charles R. Embry Chapter 7: Voegelin’s “The Gospel and Culture” – Thomas Heilke Chapter 8: Voegelin’s “On Hegel: A Study in Sorcery” – David Walsh Chapter 9: Voegelin’s “On Classical Studies” – Julianne M. Romanello Chapter 10: Voegelin’s “Reason: The Classic Experience” – William Petropulos Chapter 11: Voegelin’s “Response to Professor Altizer” – Paulette Kidder Chapter 12: Voegelin’s “Remembrance of Things Past” – Paul Kidder Chapter 13: Voegelin’s "Wisdom and the Magic of the Extreme: A Meditation” – Michael Franz Chapter 14: Voegelin’s “Quod Deus Dicitur” — Thomas Heilke with Paul Caringella Index

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1845, this concise critique formed the basis of thirty later lectures delivered in 1848 by Ludwig Feuerbach, one of Germany's most influential humanist philosophers. In The Essence of Religion Feuerbach applied the analysis expounded in The Essence of Christianity (1841) to religion as a whole. The main thrust of Feuerbach's argument is aptly summed up in the original subtitle to this work: "God the Image of Man. Man's Dependence upon Nature the Last and Only Source of Religion." Feuerbach reviews key aspects of religious belief and in each case explains them as imaginative elaborations of the primal awe and sense of dependence that humans experience in the face of nature's power and mystery. Rather than humans being created in the image of God, the situation is quite the reverse: "All theology is anthropology," he says, and "the being whom man sets over against himself as a separate supernatural existence is his own being." Feuerbach goes on to argue that the attributes of God are no more than reflections of the various needs of human nature. Further, as human civilization has advanced, the role of God has gradually diminished. In ancient times, before human beings had any scientific understanding of the way nature works, divine powers were seen behind every natural manifestation, from lightning bolts to the change of seasons. By contrast, in the modern era, when an in-depth understanding of natural causes has been achieved, there is no longer any need to imagine God behind the workings of nature: "He who for his God has no other material than that which natural science, philosophy, or natural observation generally furnishes to him . . . ought to be honest enough also to abstain from using the name of God, for a natural principle is always a natural essence and not what constitutes the idea of a God." Feuerbach's naturalistic philosophy had a decisive influence on Karl Marx and radical theologians such as Bruno Bauer and David Friedrich Strauss. His incisive critique remains a challenge to religion to this day.

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Book SynopsisThough infrequently viewed as an environmental thinker, Karl Marx insisted that production as a social and material process is shaped and constrained by both historically developed relations among producers and natural conditions. Paul Burkett shows that it is Marx's overriding concern with human emancipation that impels him to approach nature from the standpoint of materialist history, sociology and critical political economy.Table of ContentsContents Preface and Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 Part I Nature and Historical Materialism 1. Requirements of a Social Ecology 17 2. Nature, Labor, and Production 25 3. The Natural Basis of Labor Productivity and Surplus Labor 33 4. Labor and Labor Power as Natural and Social Forces 49 Part II Nature and Capitalism 5. Nature, Labor, and Capitalist Production 57 6. Capital’s “Free Appropriation” of Natural and Social Conditions 69 7. Capitalism and Nature: A Value-Form Approach 79 8. Reconsidering Some Ecological Criticisms of Marx’s Value Analysis 99 9. Capitalism and Environmental Crisis 107 10. Marx’s Working-Day Analysis and Environmental Crisis 133 Part III Nature and Communism 11. Nature and the Historical Progressivity of Capitalism 147 12. Nature and Capitalism’s Historical Limits 175 13. Capital, Nature, and Class Struggle 199 14. Nature and Associated Production 223 Notes 259 References 297 Index 309

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Book SynopsisA Publishers Weekly Book of the YearThis pop culture presentation of Ken Wilber’s Integral Approach—an inclusive, visionary framework for understanding human potential—is as an easy introduction to his work What if we attempted to create an all-inclusive map that touches the most important factors from all the world’s great traditions? Using all the known systems and models of human growth—from the ancient sages to the latest breakthroughs in cognitive science—Ken Wilber distills their major components into five simple elements, ones that readers can relate to their own experience right now.   With clear explanations, practical exercises, and familiar examples, The Integral Vision invites readers to share in the innovative approach to spiritual growth, business success, and personal relationships. The Shambhala Pocket Library is a collection of short, portable teachings from notable figures across religious traditions and classic texts. The covers in this series are rendered by Colorado artist Robert Spellman. The books in this collection distill the wisdom and heart of the work Shambhala Publications has published over 50 years into a compact format that is collectible, reader-friendly, and applicable to everyday life.

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Book SynopsisDiscover a way of living that can help you slow down and stay grounded?and at the same time reduce your ecological impact and engage more fully with the climate crisis.It may seem as though living ecologically and engaging in activism sacrifices our own enjoyment and happiness on the altar of doing the right thing. In this book, professor, naturalist, and Buddhist author Christopher Ives offers an alternative: a way of living that can actually be more fulfilling than the modern consumerist lifestyle. Rather than deprivation, it can bring us richness. In Zen Ecology, Chris outlines his environmental ethic as a series of concentric circles, beginning with ourselves and then moving outward into our communities, all the while focusing on spaciousness, mindfulness, generosity, and contentment. At the individual level, we deal with distraction, clutter, and ecological harm. Here, Chris offers ways to help us pay attention, simplify our lives, and lower our impact. Then, we explore how to envision our home as a ?place of the Way,? with Zen monastic life as a model for this?without having to be a monk! Next, we realize our embeddedness in nature and emplace ourselves in community with others, including other forms of life. Finally, we build on this basis to engage in activism to create a world that is more supportive of ecological health and spiritual fulfillment. In this way, we avoid the two extremes of apathy and burnout, and uncover a way of living that is simple, joyful, embedded in nature, connected to others in community, and supportive of collective action.

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Book SynopsisHas civilisation been a good idea? Zerzan doesn't think so.

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Book SynopsisAs Deep as It Gets: Movies and Metaphysics is a witty and light-hearted introduction to philosophy through a deep study of some well-known movies and TV shows: Pulp Fiction, South Park, The Princess Bride, The Wizard of Oz, Super 8, The Twilight Zone, House of Cards, Inception, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, His Dark Materials, Sergio Leone’s westerns, and Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat.All the major branches of philosophy are covered, including aesthetics, political philosophy, metaphysics, and the theory of knowledge. The author’s approach is “Continental,” with some American idealism and process philosophy in support. The emphasis is on the primacy of time as a key to interpreting human experience. In that regard, existentialism, phenomenology, and process philosophy are better guides to thinking about time than the more popular approaches that depend on language analysis.Professor Randall E. Auxier says: “Philosophizing involves telling stories about life that are art, and making up stories that aren’t life but provide a contrast to it. I want readers to add to what I see, and to take up interpretations contrary to mine. A healthy discussion is good for everybody.”Trade Review"As Deep As It Gets is as good as it gets. Few find the philosophy in movies and television as well as Randy Auxier does, and even fewer do it in such a delightful way. These essays are loads of fun, and per-fect for the classroom. Hell, even movie critics are likely to enjoy this fine read!" -RICHARD GREENE, author of Spoiler Alert! (It's A Book About the Philosophy of Spoilers) (2019)"Reading As Deep As It Gets is like having a brunch conversation with your favorite cool professor, always engaging and never pedantic. Whether you're looking for Hitchcock or Heidigger, Plato's Forms or The Princess Bride, Auxier's personal twilight zones are sure to both edify and amuse."-MEGAN VOLPERT, co-editor of Ru Paul's Drag Race and Philosophy: Sissy That Thought (2020)"In our media culture where people tend to prefer watching to reading, movies have become a beloved focus for discussions about what matters in life. In this refreshingly honest and invitingly accessible book, Randy Auxier demonstrates his love of watching and discussing movies in a way that radiates contagion and philosophical interest."-RICHARD SHUSTERMAN, author of Philosophy and the Art of Writing (2022)"As Deep As It Gets: Movies and Metaphysics belongs not just in media studies libraries and classrooms, but in collections strong in modern philosophy, using popular current movies and TV shows to explore philosophical insights. Auxier's discussion of movies goes beyond plot and character outlines to consider the deeper meanings and inspections in essays which go beyond education to invite discussion and debate. From political metaphors in movies to enlightening surveys of ethics, religion, and connections between modern media and ancient philosophers, Auxier draws seemingly disparate subjects together in a moving survey that is surprisingly lively for its title and subject. This will make As Deep As It Gets attractive to much more than a singular audience of modern-day philosophy students."-The Bookwatch: September 2022: Midwest Book ReviewTable of ContentsNote to the Reader ivFrom the Alamo Draft House to the LivingroomCouch (Or There and Back Again) xiiiPart I Rated G: General Audiences 11. I Know Something You Don’t Know-THE PRINCESS BRIDE 32. Lions and Tigers and Bears-SCARY STUFF IN THE WIZARD OF OZ 173. The Monster and the Mensch-A CHILD’S EYE VIEW OF SUPER 8 374. Chef, Socrates, and the Sage of Love-FINDING LOVE IN SOUTH PARK 595. Killing Kenny-DEATH THERAPY IN SOUTH PARK 77Part II Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested 896. The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful-SERGIO LEONE’S ANIMALS, ACTORS, AND AESTHETICS 917. Democracy Adrift-HITCHCOCK’S LIFEBOAT 1098. Cuts Like a Knife-CUTTING TO THE CORE OF HIS DARK MATERIALS 1259. Mrs. Coulter—Overwoman?-HER DARK MATERIALS 153Part III Rated R: Restricted Audiences Only 17910. A Very Naughty Boy-GETTING RIGHT WITH BRIAN AND MONTY PYTHON 18111. Have You No Decency?-CLAIRE, FRANK, AND THEIR HOUSE OF CARDS 19912. Vinnie’s Very Bad Day-TWISTING THE TALE OF TIME IN PULP FICTION 22113. Once upon a Time-INCEPTION 24114. Dream Time-INCEPTION 263Part IV Director’s Cut 28915. To Serve Man-A Visit to The Twilight Zone 291Bibliography 315Suggestions for Reading 319Index 327

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Book SynopsisSam Harris, a previously unknown neuroscientist, single-handedly generated the New Atheism with his best-selling book The End of Faith, which quickly became a huge best-seller following its release in 2004.Harris went on to write several more best-sellers on a range of topics and has become one of the world’s most followed podcasters. He is well-known for his controversial positions in many areas, including the unique danger of Islam, the advocacy of atheist spirituality through meditation, the beneficial use of psychedelics, denial of the existence of free will, his belief that science can tell us what’s right and wrong, and his extreme alarmism with regard to the future of artificial intelligence. Sam Harris: Critical Responses is a collection of essays criticizing different aspects of Harris’s thinking from a range of diverse perspectives—left and right, Christian and atheist, philosophical, psychological, and political. These twenty serious criticisms of Sam Harris, written by experts from diverse political and ideological backgrounds, are often severe while maintaining an approach that is reasonable and respectful. As one noted author commented on Sandra Woien’s previous collection, Jordan Peterson: Critical Responses, “Both fans and foes will appreciate this volume.”Forward by Stephen R. C. Hicks. Stephen R.C. Hicks is a professor of Philosophy at Rockford University. He is the author of Explaining Postmodernism (2004) and Nietzsche and the Nazis (2010).Trade Review"Sam Harris is one of the world's most provocative and exciting thinkers and this volume is an essential contribution to the debate over his ideas. I highly recommend it."-Michael Shellenberger, author of San Fransicko (2021) and Apocalypse Never (2020)."Sam Harris is an important and influential public thinker on philosophy, science, religion, and socio-political life. Sam Harris: Critical Responses provides the reader with a survey of his thought that is often critical but always substantive. It is a welcome contribution written for a broad audience."-Joshua R. Farris, author of The Creation of Self: A Case for the Soul (2023)"As with Jordan Peterson, if you mention the name 'Sam Harris' in academic company, you invite snickers and sneers. Yet as this volume shows, popularity with the public is by no means a sign of shallow thinking, but often indicates deep engagement with philosophy as a way of life. Sam Harris's fans and critics alike should take notice."-Tristan J. Rogers, author of The Authority of Virtue: Institutions and Character in the Good Society (2020)"This is a delightful collection of well-wrought essays about a public intellectual whose notoriety rests on many ill-conceived ideas."-Michael Rectenwald, author of The Great Reset and the Struggle for Liberty (2023)"The greatest honor paid to a thinker is taking his ideas seriously. Sam Harris and his ideas have been given such a careful examination in this book. His critics respond to an important set of questions and potential answers that have formed an interesting career spanning several decades...Few agree with everything Harris has argued and few will agree with every essay in this book. The collection will improve the dialogue, however. This volume is well worth a careful read."-John Mark Reynolds, President of Saint Constatine College, where he teaches philosophy with a focus on PlatoSam Harris: Critical Responses blends philosophy with political science in a survey that intersects both disciplines by examining thinker Sam Harris and his ideas. Nineteen critical essays consider a wide range of Harris's social and political ideals, from how his Moral Landscape treatise works to his neuroscientific training and how it lends a particular perspective to his views of AI technology, superintelligence, and other scientific evolutionary processes. The result requires a prior familiarity with Sam Harris and his works, but will prove enlightening to those with such a background, or students interested in philosophical debates about his works and perspectives.James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief of Midwest Book ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments xiForeword: Why Sam Harris Matters STEPHEN R.C. HICKS xiiiThe Sam Harris Phenomenon xviiI What Human Life Is For 11. Another Red PillSANDRA WOIEN 32.My Life Gives the Moral Landscape Its Relief MARC CHAMPAGNE 17II Liberal Values 393.Spotting Dangerous Ideas DAVID RAMSAY STEELE 414.Intellectual Integrity or Social Justice? LUCAS RIJANA 575.Is Redistribution the Endgame? ANTONY SAMMEROFF 69III Science and Ethics 916. The Mantle of Neuroscience RAY SCOTT PERCIVAL 937.A Miserable Argument MARK WARREN 1158.Dark Spots in Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape DAVID GORDON 1279.A Moral Compass that Works ERIK BOORNAZIAN AND JAMES W. DILLER 139IV The Specter of Artificial Intelligence 15110.Sam Harris and the Myth of Machine Intelligence JOBST LANDGREBE AND BARRY SMITH 15311.Are We Too Dumb for Superintelligence? LISA BELLANTONI 16312.Solutions to the Existential Threat of AI LEONARD KAHN 177Part V I Feel Free 19113.Neural Determinism and Neural Roulette JOHN LEMOS 19314.Let’s Talk about Free Will! MEGAN DRURY 207Part VI Beyond the Physical Cosmos 22115.Another Thing in This Universe that Cannot Be an Illusion MAANELI DERAKHSHANI 22316.Intimations of the Numinous REG NAULTY 235Part VII No End to Faith 24717.A Rational Proposal BETHEL MCGREW 24918.Is Sam Harris Right about the Miracles of Jesus? MICHAEL BARROS AND BETHEL MCGREW 26119.Scientism as Religion and Religion as Wisdom RON DART 275About the Authors 287Index 295

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Book SynopsisKarel Kosík (1926-2003) reputation as a creative thinker is owed largely to his philosophical 'blockbuster' Dialectics of the Concrete, first published in Czechoslovakia in 1963. In reintroducing Kosik's philosophy to English-speaking readers, Kosik's work is shown to be important not only as a leading intellectual document of the Prague Spring, but also as an original theoretical contribution with international impact that sheds light on the meaning of labour and praxis, cognition and economic structure, and revolution and the crises of modernity. Contributors include: Ian Angus, Siyaves Azeri, Vit Bartos, Jan Černy, Joseph Grim Feinberg, Diana Fuentes, Gabriella Fusi, Tomas Hermann, Tomas Hřibek, Xiaohan Huang, Peter Hudis, Petr Kužel, Ivan Landa, Michael Lowy, Jan Mervart, Anselm K. Min, Tom Rockmore, Francesco Tava, and Xinruo Zhang.Table of ContentsTable of Contents IAcknowledgements Notes on Authors Introduction  Joseph Grim Feinberg, Ivan Landa, Jan Mervart Part 1 The Reform Years and the Origins of Dialectics of the Concrete 1 Karel Kosik as a Public Intellectual of the Reform Years  Jan Mervart 2 Karel Kosik and His 'Radical Democrats': The Janus Face of Dialectics of the Concrete Moving from a Historical to a Systematic Approach to Philosophy  Tomas Hermann Part 2 Praxis and Labour 3 Praxis in Progress: On the Transformations of Kosik's Thought  Francesco Tava 4 Labour and Time: Karel Kosik's Temporal Materialism  Ivan Landa 5 Inception of Culture from the Ontology of Labour: The Original Contribution of Karel Kosik to a Marxian Theory of Culture  Ian Angus 6 'The Philosophy of Labour' and Karel Kosik's Criticism of 'Care'  Siyaves Azeri 7 Kosik, Lukacs and the Thing in Itself  Tom Rockmore Part 3 Modernity, Nation, and Globalisation 8 The Ontological Dialectic and the Critique of Modernity: Based on the Interpretation of Kosik's Concrete Totality  Xinruo Zhang and Xiaohan Huang 9 And the 'Thing Itself' Is Man: Radical Democracy and the Roots of Humanity  Joseph Grim Feinberg 10 The Dialectic of Concrete Totality in the Age of Globalisation: Karel Kosik's Dialectics of the Concrete Fifty Years Later  Anselm K. Min Part 4 Intellectual Encounters 11 Kosik's Notion of 'Positivism'  Tomas Hřibek 12 Kosik's Concept of 'Concrete Totality': A Structuralist Critique  Vit Bartos 13 The World of the Pseudoconcrete, Ideology and the Theory of the Subject (Kosik and Althusser)  Petr Kužel 14 Karel Kosik and Martin Heidegger: From Marxism to Traditionalism  Jan Černy Part 5 Influence and Reception 15 A Route of Critical Thought: Between Italian and Czech Intellectuals  Gabriella Fusi 16 Karel Kosik in Mexico: Adolfo Sanchez Vazquez and the Dialectics of the Concrete  Diana Fuentes 17 Karel Kosik and US Marxist Humanism  Peter Hudis Postscript: Looking Backwards 18 Spirit of Resistance: Note for an Intellectual Biography of Karel Kosik  Michael Lowy References Index 

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Book SynopsisThe inspiring life of punk priestess Gina Birch, shocking tales from the Cynics of ancient Athens, Arthur Smith's best benches, joys of the e-bike, astrology in Middle Ages, plus sheds, beer, beekeeping and Stewart Lee's pop picks

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Book SynopsisIn this book Gay Watson offers an alternative view of emptiness via a tour of early and non-Western philosophy, taking us from Buddhism, Taoism and religious mysticism to the contemporary world of philosophy, science and art practice. While traditionally most Western philosophies have been concerned with substance and foundation, she finds that modern and postmodern times have seen a resurgence of ideas of emptiness and offers reasons why this concept has attracted contemporary musicians, artists and scientists, as well as pre-eminent thinkers of earlier ages. A Philosophy of Emptiness probes the idea of how a life without transcendence might be lived, and why one might choose it. It links these concepts to current ideas of meditation and the mind, and offers a rich and intriguing take on the idea of emptiness, reclaiming it as a positive, empowering state.Trade Review'Gay Watson's marvelous book provides the first in-depth study of the concept of emptiness as it is used in contexts as diverse as ancient Buddhist philosophy and the practice of contemporary art. A Philosophy of Emptiness is a penetrating inquiry into the liberating and challenging implications of an idea whose time may now be upon us.' - Stephen Batchelor, author of Confession of a Buddhist Atheist 'This insightful and fascinating dive into emptiness stimulates on every page.' - Wayne McGregor, resident choreographer, Royal Ballet 'Overflowing with clarity, insight, dry humour, and sheer verve in its explorations of reality and our consciousness ... this wide-ranging examination of existence and experience is both contemporary and likely to become a classic.' - Rick Hanson, author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom 'Gay Watson makes us think profoundly about that challenge of action and inaction, in the arts and in life ... a most stimulating reflection on the pressures of our time, which will give everyone pause for thought.' - Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director, Barbican CentreTable of ContentsIntroduction One: Experience Two: The Buddhist Philosophy of Sunyata Three: Following the Tao Four: Moving Westwards Five: Philosophic Modernity Six: Scientific Indeterminism Seven: Artistic Emptiness Eight: Empty Conclusions References Bibliography Acknowledgements

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Book SynopsisOne of the most important things we do every day is eat. The question of eating - what and how - may seem simple at first, but it is dense with possible interpretations, reflecting the myriad roles food plays in our lives. In fact, as Raymond D. Boisvert and Lisa Heldke show in this book, it's difficult to imagine a more philosophically charged act than eating. Philosophers at Table explores the philosophical scaffolding that supports this crucial aspect of everyday life, showing that humans are not just creatures with minds, but creatures with stomachs. Examining a wealth of myths, literary works, histories and films - as well as philosophical ideas - the authors make the case for a philosophy of food. They look at Babette's Feast in a discussion of hospitality as a central ethical virtue. They compare eating a fast-food meal in Accra with dining at a molecular gastronomy restaurant as a way of considering the nature of food as art. And they describe biting into a slug to explore tasting as a learning tool, a way of knowing. A surprising, original take on something we have not philosophically savoured enough, Philosophers at Table invites readers to think in fresh ways about the simple and important act of eating.

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