Popular philosophy Books

Book SynopsisAlan Moore''s Watchmen is set in 1985 and chronicles the alternative history of the United States where the US edges dangerously closer to nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Within this world exists a group of crime busters, who don elaborate costumes to conceal their identity and fight crime, and an intricate plot to kill and discredit these superheroes. Alan Moore''s Watchmen popularized the graphic novel format, has been named one of Time magazine''s top 100 novels, and is now being made into a highly anticipated movie adaptation. This latest book in the popular Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series peers into Moore''s deeply philosophical work to parse and deconstruct the ethical issues raised by Watchmen''s costumed adventurers, their actions, and their world. From nuclear destruction to utopia, from governmental authority to human morality and social responsibility, it answers questions fans have had for years about Watchmen''s ethical quandaries, themes, and cTable of ContentsAcknowledgments: They Left It Entirely in My Hands ix Introduction: A Rorschach Test 1 Part One The Politics of Power: Who Watches The Watchmen? 1 The Superman Exists, and He’s American: Morality in the Face of Absolute Power5 Christopher Robichaud 2 Can We Steer This Rudderless World? Kant, Rorschach, Retributivism, and Honor 19 Jacob M. Held 3 Super-Vigilantes and the Keene Act 33 Tony Spanakos 4 Superheroes and Supermen: Finding Nietzsche’s Übermensch in Watchmen 47 J. Keeping Part Two The Veidt Plan: Watchmen and Ethics 5 Means, Ends, and the Critique of Pure Superheroes 63 J. Robert Loftis 6 The Virtues of Nite Owl’s Potbelly 79 Mark D. White 7 Rorschach: When Telling the Truth Is Wrong 91 Alex Nuttall Part Three The Metaphysics of Dr. Manhattan 8 Dr. Manhattan, I Presume? 103 James DiGiovanna 9 A Timely Encounter: Dr. Manhattan and Henri Bergson 115 Christopher M. Drohan 10 Free Will and Foreknowledge: Does Jon Really Know What Laurie Will Do Next, and Can She DoOtherwise? 125 Arthur Ward 11 I’m Just a Puppet Who Can See the Strings: Dr. Manhattan as a Stoic Sage 137 Andrew Terjesen Part Four This Is Not Your Father’s Comic Book 12 “Why Don’t You Go Read a Book or Something?” Watchmen as Literature 157 Aaron Meskin 13 Watchwomen 173 Sarah Donovan and Nick Richardson 14 Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis: The Ambiguously Gay Duo 185 Robert Arp 15 What’s So Goddamned Funny? The Comedian and Rorschach on Life’s Way 197 Taneli Kukkonen Contributors: Who Writes about the Watchmen? 215 Index: After the Masquerade 221

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Book SynopsisARRESTED DEVELOPMENT AND PHILOSOPHY Is George Michael's crush on his cousin unnatural? Is it immoral for Lindsay to lie about stealing clothes to hide her job?Is Gob better off living his life in bad faith?What inferences can we draw from Tobias's double-entendres?Are the pictures really of bunkers or balls? The Bluth family's faults, foibles, and character flaws are so excruciatingly familiar that we squirm in painful recognition of the outrageous impulses that we all have but would never act on. The Bluths seem utterly unaware of the gaping distance between their behavior and accepted social norms. Lurking behind this craziness are large moral and philosophical issues to be explored. From Plato to Aristotle, from Descartes to Marx, Arrested Development and Philosophy draws from great philosophical minds to shed new light on the show's key questions and captivating themes, including the nature of self-knowledge and happiness, buTable of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS: And Now a Few Words from the New CEOs of the Bluth Company ix INTRODUCTION 1 Kristopher Phillips PART ONE FAMILY FIRST 1 Is the Examined Life a Huge Mistake?: Happiness, Self-Knowledge, and the Bluths 7 Jason Southworth and Ruth Tallman 2 Kissing Cousins: Incest, Naturalism, and the Yuck Factor 23 Deborah R. Barnbaum 3 Freudian Arrested Development 33 Tim Jung 4 Don't Know Thyself: Gob and the Wisdom of Bad Faith 46 Daniel P. Malloy PART TWO A BUSINESS MODEL 5 Dr. Fünke's 100 Percent Natural Good-Time Alienation Solution 61 Jeff Ewing 6 Family First: How Not to Run a Business 73 Brett Gaul 7 Bourgeois Bluths: Arrested Development and Class Status 85 Rachel McKinney PART THREE SOME HUGE MISTAKES 8 What Whitey Isn't Ready to Hear: Social Identity in Arrested Development 99 J. Jeremy Wisnewski 9 "I Just Blue Myself": The Use and Abuse of Language in Arrested Development 111 M. E. Verrochi 10 To Bias Tobias: Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Arrested Development 123 Darci Doll 11 I'm Oscar.com: The Problem(s) of Personal Identity in Arrested Development 136 Kristopher Phillips PART FOUR THE ONE WHERE THEY DO EPISTEMOLOGY 12 You Can't Do Magic: Gob Bluth and the Illusionists' Craft 151 Michael Cholbi 13 Is Justified True Bluth Belief Knowledge? 162 Brett Coppenger and Kristopher Phillips 14 Bunkers and Balls: Arrested Development, Underdetermination, and the Theory-ladenness of Observation 172 Michael Da Silva PART FIVE SOLID AS IRAQ: POLITICS AND ETHICS ARRESTED 15 No Touching! George Sr.'s Brush with Treason 185 Douglas Paletta and Paul Franco 16 "I've Made a Huge Mistake": George Oscar Bluth Jr. and the Role of Error in Character Development 197 Christopher C. Kirby, Jonathan Hillard, and Mathew Holmes 17 The Comedy of Contradiction 210 Erin Fay and Willie Young PARTS IX: AND ON THE EPILOGUE . . . 18 And Now the Story of a Wealthy Family Who Lost Everything: Arrested Development, Narrative, and How We Find Meaning 227 Tyler Shores CONTRIBUTORS: Banana Stand Employee Roster 241 INDEX: Banana Stand Inventory 247

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Book SynopsisTHE CLASSIC BOOK THAT HAS INSPIRED MILLIONSA penetrating examination of how we live and how to live betterFew books transform a generation and then establish themselves as touchstones for the generations that follow. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one such book. This modern epic of a man’s search for meaning became an instant bestseller on publication in 1974, acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters. It continues to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions on how to live. The narrator''s relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism

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Book SynopsisMany of the things we now live with do not take a purely physical form. Objects such as smart phones, laptops and wearable fitness trackers are different from our things of the past. These new digital forms are networked, dynamic and contextually configured. They can be changeable and unpredictable, even inscrutable when it comes to understanding what they actually do and whom they really serve.In Changing Things, Johan Redstrom and Heather Wiltse address critical questions that have assumed a fresh urgency in the context of these rapidly-developing forms. Drawing on critical traditions from a range of disciplines that have been used to understand the nature of things, they develop a new vocabulary and a theoretical approach that allows us to account for and address the multi-faceted, dynamic, constantly evolving forms and functions of contemporary things. In doing so, the book prototypes a new design discourse around everyday things, and describes them as ''fluid assemblages''.Trade ReviewReading Changing Things, you have the sense that until this book, we have been drifting when it comes to digital interaction design, inadequately translating how we make physical things to a realm with very different dynamics. Wiltse and Redstrom offer not just a guide for designers crafting coherent interactions in connected and flowing contexts, but the beginnings of an ontology of digitally-enabled or -located experiences. * Cameron Tonkinwise, Professor of Interdisciplinary Design at the University of Technology, Sydney *Things have never been stable. Yet, they have never been as fluid as they are today. By enriching our understanding of contemporary objects, Redström and Wiltse offer designers a new vocabulary to discuss how things exist and are expressed in a digital world. * Elisa Giaccardi, Professor and Chair of Interactive Media Design at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands *In Changing Things, Redström and Wiltse develop a critical, rich and compelling new theory of things that is essential for thinking, designing and living in a digital age. Their concept of fluid assemblages is a vital contribution for making sense of the networked and dynamic nature of designed digital things today as well as in the multiple possible futures that we may design. Most importantly, they invite us to join the conversation, paying close attention to the ways in which our shifting relations with things are as important as those we have with one another. * Laura Forlano, Associate Professor of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, USA *Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. What is going on with things 3. Just press play, please 4. Fluid assemblages 5. Things for us 6. Things in themselves 7. A conceptual toolkit 8. Assembling an analytic playlist 9. Making concepts References Index

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Book SynopsisWhat do we mean when we speak about the soul? What are the arguments for the existence of the soul as distinct from the physical body? Do animals have souls? What is the difference between the mind and the soul? The Soul Hypothesisbrings together experts from philosophy, linguistics and science to discuss the validity of these questions in the modern world. They contend that there is an aspect of the nature of human beings that is not reducible to the matter that makes up our bodies. This perspective is part of a family of views traditionally classified in philosophy as substance dualism, and has something serious in common with the ubiquitous human belief in the soul. The Soul Hypothesispresents views from a range of sciences and the resulting big picture shows, more clearly than could a single author with one area of expertise, that there is room for a soul hypothesis.Trade Review"Baker and Goetz have assembled an impressive interdisciplinary team of scholars to address questions about the existence and nature of the soul. The book is unique is combining philosophical and scientific arguments for dualism, and the result is a rigorous, exciting, persuasive presentation of the issues. The Soul Hypothesis is an excellent text that is sure to provoke a vigorous dialog about its content. I highly recommend it." - J. P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Biola University, USA"Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. "The Soul of the Matter" - Charles Taliaferro; 2. "Minds, Brains and Brains in Vats" - Daniel N. Robinson; 3. "Brains and Souls; Grammar and Speaking" - Mark Baker; 4. "Making Things Happen: Souls in Action" - Stewart Goetz; 5. "Energy of the Soul" - Robin Collins; 6. "The Measure of All Things: Quantum Mechanics and the Soul" - Dean Zimmerman; 7. "From Seeing to Seer" - Hans Halvorson; 8. "Souls Beastly and Human" - William Hasker; 9. "A Scientific Case for the Soul" - Robin Collins Afterword; Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisOur world is, increasingly, a digital one. Over half of the planet’s adult population now spend more of their waking hours ‘plugged in’ than not, whether to the internet, mobile telephony, or other digital media. To email, text, tweet and blog our way through our careers, relationships and even our family lives is now the status quo. But what effect is this need for constant connection really having? For the first time, Tom Chatfield examines what our wired life is really doing to our minds and our culture - and offers practical advice on how we can hope to prosper in a digital century. One in the new series of books from The School of Life, launched May 2012: How to Stay Sane by Philippa Perry How to Find Fulfilling Work by Roman Krznaric How to Worry Less About Money by John Armstrong How to Change the World by John-Paul Flintoff How to Thrive in the Digital Age by To

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Book SynopsisEdward Castronova is Professor of Media at Indiana University, USA. He is the author of Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games (2006), Exodus to the Virtual World (2008) and Wildcat Currency: The Virtual Transformation of the Economy (2014). He specializes in Games, Technology, and Society, and has served in the past as Director of the BS degree program in Game Design, and Chair of the Department of Media Arts and Production.Trade ReviewLife Is a Game goes beyond the new field of game design – beyond game theory and beyond the neurobiology of games ... Instead, the book centers on the human condition as it is reflected in game thinking ... Life Is a Game is inherently interdisciplinary, bringing together content from across academic fields, and appealing to any scholarly and lay readers with interests in politics, philosophy, economics, sociology, and of course, game design. * Popular Culture Studies Journal *Edward Castranova is one of the most brilliant minds ever to study games, so it's no surprise that his latest book, Life is a Game, is fascinating and wise. But it's more than that. It's also a hell of a lot of fun to entertain these mindblowing ideas - I couldn't put it down. This is must-reading for anyone who wants a a fresh philosophy on life, and a profound look at the deepest meaning of games. This book is grounded in history and centuries of wisdom, but at the same time bursts into the future with a visionary view of how we are all playing together, every human, every day. I truly love this book. * Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World (2011), USA *Can we win at the game of life? As Castronova writes with wisdom and humor, the game of life is not only about winning and losing, victories and defeats, but most of all why we play the game. For pleasure? Excellence? Faith? No matter what our life goal, Castronova brings strategic lessons learned from the field of game design and his own experience in the game of life to help us choose the kinds of games we play, and how to play hard for our victory conditions, quest, thrive, and win. * Joshua A.T. Fairfield, William Donald Bain Family Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law, USA *Table of ContentsIntroduction a. Stances and the Strategic Layer b. Concepts and Examples c. Is there a Game Designer? d. Life’s Important; So Are Games e. We Can Only Write From Who We Are Part I: The Strategic Turn 1. Why Do Great Thinkers Keep Saying That Life is a Game? a. The Many Similarities Between Living, Gaming, and Playing b. Focus: Four Books that Come Close to Life, the Game i. Hugo Rahner: Man at Play (1967/1949) ii. Bernard Suits: The Grasshopper (1978) iii. Michel de Certeau: The Practice of Everyday Life (1984) iv. James Carse: Finite and Infinite Games (1987) c. What is the Game of Life, Really? d. The Present Moment: An Insufferable Boredom e. How Game Design Responds to Boredom 2.The Environment of Decision a. The natural world b. Meaning and mind c. Boredom and Suffering d. The Immaterial World 3. Is this a game? a. First features of the game of everything i. Life as an idle game ii. Life as Minesweeper iii. Life as Role-Playing Game b. What explains the similarity of life to a game? c. How game design illuminates social processes d. How to play 4. The Strategic Layer a. Layers b. Strategy and tactics c. The strategic layer d. On victory conditions e. Operational goals 5. Stances a. Choosing stances b. Four strategic comments about philosophical commitments c. How to evaluate a stance d. How stances change Part II. A Catalog of Stances 6. The Hedonistic Stance a. Commitments b. Victory conditions c. Strategies d. Assessment 7. The Excellence Stance a. Commitments b. Victory conditions c. Strategies d. Assessment 8. The Heroic Stance a. Commitments b. Victory conditions c. Strategies d. Assessment 9. The Orthodox Stance a. Commitments b. Victory conditions c. Strategies d. Assessment 10. The Mystic Stance a. Commitments b. Victory conditions c. Strategies d. Assessment Part III. Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe last two decades have seen a massive increase in the scholarly interest in technology, and have provoked new lines of thought in philosophy, sociology and cultural studies. Gilbert Simondon (1924 - 1989) was one of Frances's most influential philosophers in this field, and an important influence on the work of Gilles Deleuze and Bernard Stiegler. His work is only now being translated into English. Chabot's introduction to Simondon's work was published in French in 2002 and is now available in English for the first time. It is the most accessible guide to Simondon's important but often opaque work. Chabot provides an excellent introduction to Simondon, positioning him as a philosopher of technology, and he describes his theory of individuation including his crystalline ontology. He goes on to offer a bridge between these two concerns, exploring how they are related.Table of ContentsPart One: Philosophy of Technology: Objects; The Encyclopaedic Character of Technique; Marx and Simondon on Alienation Cybernetics Part Two: Individuation: an Essay; Part Three: Bridges: Simondon and Depth Psychology An Ideal World Three Philosophies and The Matrix Index

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Book SynopsisThis book offers a lively and accessible introduction to philosophical paradoxes - ideal for anyone coming to this fascinating subject for the first time. Put your neurons through their paces with this lively and engaging introduction to paradoxes. From "Buridan's Ass" and the "Surprise Examination" to "The Liar" and "Sleeping Beauty", "This Sentence is False" introduces all the key philosophical paradoxes. This fascinating guide to logic and reasoning is packed with puzzles and thought experiments to actively engage the reader in critical thinking. As well as paradoxes that occur in our everyday lives, topics also include God, ethics, political philosophy, space and time. Ideal for anyone coming to philosophy for the first time, "This Sentence is False" will put your mind to the test, challenge what you think you know and lead you on a fascinating journey through logical reasoning.Trade Review"Peter Cave takes us on an edifying tour through the world of paradoxes, and there is much to be learned, as well as much enjoyment to be had, in the process." - Adrian W. Moore, University of Oxford, UK"‘This sentence is false' is a sentence printed on the cover of this book. A sentence is not a name. So what is the name of the book? This book (whatever its name) is full of intriguing philosophical puzzles ... Paradoxes may seem trivial at first glance, but further thought reveals them to be challenges to some of our most fundamental beliefs and preconceptions. Peter Cave entertainingly escorts the reader through a great variety of these fascinating puzzles, shining light that is fresh and bright."- Laurence Goldstein, University of Kent, UK"This is a truly wonderful book. The topic is tough, but Peter Cave brings it to life. He manages to give new insights on old topics, which is itself remarkable, and he also brings in plenty of less familiar topics ... All in all, it is a joy to see such cleverness and clarity of thought coexisting with such an easy (and light and amusing) writing style." - Professor Imre Leader, Cambridge University, UKAbsorbing and provocative - hard to put down, and light as a feather to pick up again. -- Law Society JournalTable of Contents1. The Good, the Bad and the Surprising; 2. Endlessness in Reasoning: 'Lather, Rinse, Repeat'; 3. Rationality: Trust Me!; 4. Endless Divisions: Catch Me if You Can; 5. Drawing Lines: Heaps, Frogs and Tachometers; 6. 'This Page is Left Blank': Liars, Luck and Emptiness; 7. God, Gods, Goods and Fictions; 8. Impossible Deeds: Beyond Belief and the Self; Appendix: Key Paradoxes; Index.

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Book SynopsisWhat if you aren’t who you think you are? What if you don’t really know the people closest to you? And what if your most deeply-held beliefs turn out to be … wrong? In Stop Being Reasonable, philosopher and journalist Eleanor Gordon-Smith tells six lucid, gripping stories that show the limits of human reason. From the woman who realised her husband harboured a terrible secret, to the man who left the cult he had been raised in since birth, and the British reality TV contestant who, having impersonated someone else for a month, discovered he could no longer return to his former identity, all of the people interviewed radically altered their beliefs about the things that matter most. What made them change course? How should their reversals affect how we think about our own beliefs? And in an increasingly divided world, what do they teach us about how we might change the minds of others? Inspiring, perceptive, and often moving, Stop Being Reasonable explores the place where philosophy and real life meet. Ultimately, it argues that when it comes to finding out what’s true or convincing others about what we know, being rational might involve our hearts as well as our minds. Trade Review‘Relevant and accessible … a witty book.’ -- Jonnie Wolf * The Observer *‘I knew how piercingly smart Eleanor Gordon-Smith is, and what a curious and resolute interviewer. But I was unprepared for how entertainingly she writes! I read this with pleasure.’ -- Ira Glass‘The book is slickly written and relies for its substance on contemporary epistemology and ethics, rather than the usual well-trodden paths of nudge theory and popular psychology.’ -- Dan Brotzel * Press Association *‘Gordon-Smith has written a book that not only questions long-held philosophical belief — can Descartes’ philosophy of doubt drive us from truth? — but one that engages with life in such a way that makes the argument feel existentially urgent.’ * Sydney Morning Herald *‘It is curious and intelligent and deeply researched and genuinely thoughtful, and at the same time consistently entertaining to read … If you want to introduce someone to philosophy, give them this book.’ -- Alex Tighe * Australian Book Review *‘Gordon-Smith does not have all the answers. But she gives us the tools we need to examine our biases and choose how we approach the decisions we need to make. For those of us who suspect the time for being reasonable — and not getting emotional — has passed, this is the book we need.’ -- Astrid Edwards * The Saturday Paper *‘I’ve never read anything quite like this book; it is empathetic, sharply intelligent, and accessible.’ -- Ellen Cregan * Kill Your Darlings *'A frank and thoughtful new voice ... this is an assured and companionable guide through the wilderness of contemporary ethics.' -- Shahidha Bari'This is a funny, sharp-edged and deeply serious book about a mainstream myth: that we all know what rationality demands. A pleasure to read.' -- Amia Srinivasan

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays, newly available in paperback, seeks to explore Agamben's work from philosophical and literary perspectives, thereby underpinning its place within larger debates in continental philosophy.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Notes on Contributors; The Enigma of Giorgio Agamben, Justin Clemens, Nicholas Heron, and Alex Murray; 1. K, Giorgio Agamben; 2. Integral Actuality: On Giorgio Agamben's Idea Of Prose, Alexander Garcia Duttmann; 3. The role of the shifter and the problem of reference in Giorgio Agamben, Justin Clemens; 4. 'Its silent working was a delusion', Jessica Whyte; 5. Politics and Poetics of Divine Violence: On a Figure in Giorgio Agamben and Walter Benjamin, Arne De Boever; 6. Idea of poetry, idea of prose, Nicholas Heron; 7. The fading memory of homo non sacer, Anton Schutz; 8. Soulblind, or On Profanation, Thanos Zartaloudis; 9. Face to Face with Agamben; or, the Other in Love, Julian Wolfreys; 10. Beyond Spectacle and the Image: the poetics of Guy Debord and Agamben, Alex Murray; 11. Dismantling theatricality: aesthetics of bare life, Barbara Formis; 12. Notes on Media and Biopolitics: 'Notes on Gesture', Deborah Levitt. Index.

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Book SynopsisThe new bestseller from one of Britain''s most pre-eminent philosophers and arguably the best known, A.C. GraylingEveryone wishes to live a life that is satisfying and fulfilling, in which there is achievement and pleasure, and which has the respect of people one, in turn, respects. And one of the fundamentals to living such a life is to reflect on the choices we make.In this new collection, A.C. Grayling invites the reader into a conversation with ideas. From personal questions about happiness and quality of life to wider public concerns such as war and democracy, these essays provide a springboard to thought and to exploring what is best about the human heart and mind.Trade Reviewprovocative... a stimulating handbook to the contemporary uses of philosophy * DAILY TELEGRAPH *

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Book SynopsisHow to know that you exist. How to be an object of desire. How to think like a bat. How to bring meaning to life. From the realm of the unconscious to the principles of logic, How to Outwit Aristotle will help you think like a philosopher. Witty and accessible, this is a superb introduction to the subject by one of Britain''s most engaging philosophical writers.Table of ContentsIntroduction. How to know that you exist. How to awake as a gigantic insect. How to fire the neurons in your head. How to be free. How to outwit Aristotle. How to know what knowledge is. How to stop worrying about the evil genius. How to be a ghost in the machine. How not to have feelings or beliefs. How to tell the future. How to be a philosophical scientist. How to turn noise into meaning. How to know what we are talking about. How to live on slippery slopes. How to judge whom to save. How not to eat people. How not to be harmed by your death. How to be God. How to sympathize with the devil. How to be a monkey endlessly typing. How to be seduced by logic. How to be an object of desire. How not to be nasty, brutish and short. How to tolerate the intolerable. How not to be a three-legged frog. How not to be squeezed by time. How to outdo artificial intelligence. How to deceive yourself. How to love what does not exist. How not to be left looking after the clothes. How to hear the Sirens' song in safety. How to think like a bat. How to see beauty. How to know when to stop. How to bring meaning to life. Glossary. Index.

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Book SynopsisMichael Hampe teaches philosophy at ETH Zurich.Trade ReviewThis is a work in the tradition - albeit with more varied arguments - of the Stoics, Marcus Aurelius and others. High praise. Moreover, it's very easy to read. * Times Higher Education *

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Book SynopsisWhat can epistemology tell us about love? Here two philosophers use their training in arguments and reasoning to uncover the role of ungrounded beliefs when we fall in love. This not a self-help book, it is a philosophy book. Free of advice, methods and strategies for being successful in love, it does not offer solutions for problems. What it gives us instead is a reading of love as it actually is. The authors illustrate the fallacies of love by drawing on personal experiences, literary characters and imaginary individuals. They provide examples of ungrounded beliefs in Aesop's Fables, Cinderella and Don Giovanni amongst others, and illustrate love as an inexhaustible source of misperceptions, misunderstandings and misconceptions. By tackling those characteristic and all-too familiar ways in which ungrounded love beliefs arise, the book forces us to question why baseless beliefs are maintained and reinforced, showing us that many love beliefs are built on anything but logic.Trade Review[A Short Philosophical Guide to Fallacies of Love] would be useful for anyone who wants to explore the intersection of informal logic, epistemology and love. * Teaching Philosophy *Love is one of the strongest emotions we experience, and it is a key driver of our actions. Love makes us write poetry, compose sonatas, and climb mountains, and can drive us to despair, up to the point where we kill in jealous rage. If you have ever wondered how we come to know about love – our own and others’ – and whether the feelings that drive our actions are justified, then this is the book for you. Díez and Iacona offer an authoritative discussion of the epistemology of love and provide a compelling analysis of its fallacies. It’s a must-read both for novices and veterans in matters of love. * Roman Frigg, Professor of Philosophy, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK *Love is the object of libraries of books, many of which bemoan or celebrate its illusions, follies and deceptions en bloc. Diez and Iacona, on the other hand, itemize, for the first time, the main forms of the illusions to which love is heir. Each is clearly described, anatomized and illustrated. Few readers will fail to experience the shock or click of recognition on reading one or more of these portraits. They neither preach nor praise. They simply describe, one after another, the different illusions of lovers and the beloved. They write lucidly. The philosophical distinctions they employ are introduced with a light touch and deftly deployed. Their book is for everyone interested in understanding one of the most important parts of life - but perhaps not for lovers. * Kevin Mulligan, Honorary Professor of Analytic Philosophy, University of Geneva, Switzerland *It is said that people don’t pay much attention to philosophy because philosophy doesn’t pay much attention to people. Fallacies of Love is a rare example of philosophers giving what we care about its due, setting analytic acumen to work on real-life ways we all fall into traps in affairs of the heart. * Richard Davies, Professor of Philosophy, University of Bergamo, Italy *Acute and stylishly written, this book is one of the best I have ever read on love. Diez and Iacona's elucidation of love’s epistemology is interesting and illuminating. Their book opens up fresh perspectives and it is sure to become a reference point in future debates of this topic * Vera Tripodi, Adjunct Professor, University of Turin, Italy *Díez and Iacona’s book is a fun-to-read inquiry into one of the most common sources of misjudgments: love. Although poets and thinkers have considered the fallacies of love, the idea of the authors of fathoming love’s misguiding nature through the means of analytic epistemology is new, entertaining and instructing. * Giuliano Torrengo, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Milan, Italy *A provocative, enlightening and entertaining book. Through vivid and amusing examples, Díez and Icona use the tools of logic and epistemology to deconstruct the myth of romantic love, which has always been a tool of social control and a powerful anaesthetic. * Eulalia Pérez Sedeño Professor of Science, Technology and Society, Spanish Center for Science and Research, Spain *Table of ContentsChapter 1: Basic Ideas about Love What we talk about when we talk about love Some fundamental properties of love Truth, justification, and knowledge The fallacies of love Sex, gender, and stereotypes Some final remarks Chapter 2: The Invention of Reasons Rationalization The you-you fallacy The virtue fallacy Purported sour grapes Lost love's labours Inference to the worst explanation Chapter 3: The Power of Desire over Belief The glasses of love Belief without evidence Evidence without belief Love is blind The diamond fallacy Chapter 4: Wanting it all Complex cases of cognitive mistakes The divided lover The princess The Don Juan The emotional terrorizer Chapter 5: When Love Goes Away The end of love The sunk costs fallacy The sweet lemons fallacy Inertia and uncertainty Desamor Index

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Book Synopsis Philosophy For Life is the definitive introduction to the history of Western thought, but more than that, it is a toolkit for using philosophy in your daily life. As you read, you will develop your own critical and creative thinking, exploring the key ideas in Western Philosophy and the arguments that continue to shape our world. You will discover what philosophy is really about, learn to be a sceptic, meet Plato and Aristotle, explore the concept of mind, question free will, use philosophy to be happy, find out about Marx and materialism, see how philosophy relates to everything from comics to coffee in, and ask whether god exists. Philosophy is a life-tool, a set of skills for engaging with any subject, and in Philosphy For Life, you will discover a body of wisdom and a way to develop your own critical and creative thinking.ABOUT THE SERIESPeople have been learning with Teach Yourself since 1938. With a vast range of practi

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Book SynopsisIn Philosophy: Principles and Problems Roger Scruton shares the ideas and arguments which initially attracted him to the subject and those which have engaged his attention throughout his career. Through discussions of major philosophers, Kant and Wittgenstein in particular, he attempts to show how philosophy is relevant to life in the modern world. The topics he discusses range from the nature of truth, to Music, History, sex, morality and God. Read this book, therefore, to share a profound philosopher''s thoughts about some of the major problems of our time. The Bloomsbury Revelations edition includes a new preface from the author.Trade ReviewScruton's forthrightness is exemplary. He is cogent without being coercive and his brevity does not wholly conceal his wit. * Sunday Times *Table of ContentsPreface 1. Why? 2. Truth 3. The Demon 4. Subject and Object 5. Persons 6. Time 7. God 8. Freedom 9. Morality 10. Sex 11. Music 12. History Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisExplains Cormac McCarthy's consistent philosophical preoccupations across the span of his literary output.

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Book SynopsisExplains Cormac McCarthy's consistent philosophical preoccupations across the span of his literary output.Trade Review"O'Connor's navigation of the sea of philosophical themes across McCarthy's corpus is exactly the intervention McCarthy studies needed. This lucid, path-breaking book does more than simply codify our sense of McCarthy's personal philosophy. It also helps to clarify what it means for any writer to write philosophical literature." -Chris Eagle, Editor of Beyond Reckoning: Philosophical Approaches to Cormac McCarthy

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Book SynopsisThe Film Theory in Practice series fills a gaping hole in the world of film theory. By marrying the explanation of a film theory with the interpretation of a film, the volumes provide discrete examples of how film theory can serve as the basis for textual analysis. Realist Film Theory and Bicycle Thieves offers a concise introduction to realist film theory in jargon-free language and shows how this theory can be deployed to interpret Vittorio De Sica's 1948 Italian neo realist masterpiece Bicycle Thieves. Hilary Neroni explores the original realist film theorists from the 1940s: André Bazin, Siegfried Kracauer, and Cesare Zavattini, among others. But rather than seeing realist film theory as simply a theory of the past to be moved beyond, the book argues that the prevalence of realism in many different forms within practice and theory suggests the importance of updating this original realist film theory with an understanding of realism that would sustain its viability. ThTrade ReviewNeroni’s Realist Film Theory and Bicycle Thieves brilliantly distils the conceptual moves and political stakes of Neorealism, while making an original and compelling case for the contemporary revitalization of realist film theory. By emphasizing realism’s dependence on mediation, Neroni eloquently argues for the radical power of the realist form to reveal the ways in which our reality is structured. Her novel reading of Bicycle Thieves powerfully demonstrates how filmic realism’s vital relationship to melodrama enables viewers to forge new relationships to the social order. * Jennifer Friedlander, Edgar E. and Elizabeth S. Pankey Professor of Media Studies, Pomona College, USA, and author of Real Deceptions: The Contemporary Reinvention of Realism (2017) *Grounded in traditional theorists of realism such as Bazin and Kracauer, Neroni’s book takes a welcome and unexpected turn, adroitly charting the rise of a postwar Italian neorealism in which melodrama (of all genres!) was deployed to impugn the ideological structures through which individuals understood and experienced the world around them. Neroni’s indispensable close reading of Bicycle Thieves combines history, theory, and semiotic analysis to make clear how neorealist figures such as De Sica, Zavattini, and Visconti weaponized melodrama to expose and ultimately fracture the mediation of the social order, inspiring generations of filmmakers to follow. * Hugh S. Manon, Associate Professor of Screen Studies, Clark University, USA *Hilary Neroni’s new book is a refreshing and original reevaluation of reality, realism, and realist cinema with a range and scope that is both exhilarating and expansive. Lucidly written and theoretically rigorous—a significant accomplishment in itself—the book offers readers the history of realist theory in film as well as contemporary engagements with realism in global cinema. A must read for both beginner and advanced students and scholars of cinema. * Gautam Basu Thakur, Associate Professor and Director of Critical Theory, Boise State University, USA *Table of ContentsDedication Introduction 1. Realist Film Theory 2. Realist Film Theory and Bicycle Thieves Conclusion Index

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Book SynopsisA memoir of one young man's coming of age on a journey across America--told through the stories of the people of all ages, races, and inclinations he meets along the way. Life is fast, and I've found it's easy to confuse the miraculous for the mundane, so I'm slowing down, way down, in order to give my full presence to the extraordinary that infuses each moment and resides in every one of us. At 23, Andrew Forsthoefel headed out the back door of his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, with a backpack, an audio recorder, his copies of Whitman and Rilke, and a sign that read "Walking to Listen." He had just graduated from Middlebury College and was ready to begin his adult life, but he didn't know how. So he decided to take a cross-country quest for guidance, one where everyone he met would be his guide. In the year that followed, he faced an Appalachian winter and a Mojave summer. He met beasts inside: fear, loneliness, doubt. But he also encountered incredible kindness from strangers. Thousands shared their stories with him, sometimes confiding their prejudices, too. Often he didn't know how to respond. How to find unity in diversity? How to stay connected, even as fear works to tear us apart? He listened for answers to these questions, and to the existential questions every human must face, and began to find that the answer might be in listening itself. Ultimately, it's the stories of others living all along the roads of America that carry this journey and sing out in a hopeful, heartfelt book about how a life is made, and how our nation defines itself on the most human level.

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Book SynopsisFrom Socrates to Sartre, Avicenna to Angela Davis, this accessible guide will get you up to speed on the world’s greatest minds and help you to think like them.You’ve heard of Plato, but do you understand his Theory of Forms? What does René Descartes’ maxim ‘I think, therefore I am’ actually mean? And how is philosophy relevant to modern life?Drawing on the thoughts and words of iconic philosophers from the ancient world right through to the present day, each chapter deals with a specific philosophical theory. Explore the conflict between free will and determinism, the political concept of Machiavellianism, the difference between metaphysics and epistemology, and what dialectics actually is in this accessibly-written guide to the smartest minds in history.

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Book SynopsisMartin Heidegger (1889-1976) is one of the most influential – and controversial – philosophers of the twentieth century. He is mostly associated with existentialism (the study of human experience) and phenomenology (the study of consciousness), and his work was enormously influential.In this story, Heidegger is exploring the relationship between 'beings' and their environments. How much does each – the rock, the lizard and the human – understand of the world around them?By adapting famous animal parables, the Pocket Philosophy series seeks to introduce inquisitive readers of all ages – from 1 to 100! – to the biggest names in philosophy.

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Book SynopsisThis innovative and challenging book presents cogent answers from some of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century to fifteen of the most enduring questions posed by humanity. For questioning minds who seek alternative philosophical viewpoints, this is a unique and accessible assessment of humankind's common experience that offers a new vision for the next millenium.Table of ContentsPart 1: Can We Known and Know That we Know? 21 Relativism 23 Universal Insights presupposed by science and philosophy 39 Part II: is matter the whole story 41 The existence of the soul 43 the freedom of the will 70 Life after death 83 Reincarnation 87 Part III: Are religion and Morality Simply and Solely By-products of the Socio-Cultural Environment? 95 Psychology,sociology and religious belief 97 Right and Wrong 100 Atheism 108 Part IV : Is There a God? 115 The existence of God 117 God and Modern Science 154 The Problem of Evil 191 Pantheism 206 Divine actions in the world and human history 212 Part V: What Can We Know About God? 219 Omniscience, omnipotence, eternity and infinity 221

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Book SynopsisDr Jared Noel was a young doctor whose inspirational blog The Boredom Blog outlined six years of living with cancer. He died in October 2014, leaving his wife Hannah and baby daughter Elise.David Wyn Williams, PhD, is a writer and academic who is published as a journalist and as a theologian.

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Book SynopsisOutspoken interrogates the meaning and practice of being outspoken in a world of right-wing populism, global capitalism, and climate emergency. Some of the world’s most radical thinkers – Rosi Braidotti, Henry A. Giroux, Amelia Jones, and Slavoj Žižek, among others – chart progressive courses for political antagonism and social intervention.Trade Review“Original, interesting, and written by a team of leading figures in contemporary philosophy and critical theory, Outspoken defines our present moment in terms of an imbricated social and environment crisis and redirects our efforts beyond tried-and-true methods to new forms of political organization and artistic and commercial engagements.” Jeffrey W. Robbins, Lebanon Valley College and author of Radical Democracy and Political Theology

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Book SynopsisOutspoken interrogates the meaning and practice of being outspoken in a world of right-wing populism, global capitalism, and climate emergency. Some of the world’s most radical thinkers – Rosi Braidotti, Henry A. Giroux, Amelia Jones, and Slavoj Žižek, among others – chart progressive courses for political antagonism and social intervention.Trade Review“Original, interesting, and written by a team of leading figures in contemporary philosophy and critical theory, Outspoken defines our present moment in terms of an imbricated social and environment crisis and redirects our efforts beyond tried-and-true methods to new forms of political organization and artistic and commercial engagements.” Jeffrey W. Robbins, Lebanon Valley College and author of Radical Democracy and Political Theology

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