Social and political philosophy Books

Book SynopsisConsiders Thomas More's early life-choices. This study is based on early testimonies, those of Erasmus, Roper, Harpsfield, Stapleton and Cresacre More, as well as More's early writings, the Pageant Verses, and his additions/omissions to the Life of Pico; evidence drawn from authors he recommended and finally, his epitaph.

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Book SynopsisWhat is ‘A Law of Nature’? It's a question that's vexed philosophers and scientists ever since Descartes first coined the term. Andrew Younan explores it in this insightful book. After carefully reviewing the positions of Humeans and Anti-Humeans, he employs the philosophy of Aristotle and Aquinas to argue for an essentialist understanding.

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Book SynopsisToday, American rugged individualism is in a fight for its life on two battlegrounds: in the policy realm and in the intellectual world of ideas that may lead to new policies. In this book, the authors look at the political context in which rugged individualism flourishes or declines and offer a balanced assessment of its future prospects.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAn admirable book—not only a thoughtful and impressively wide-ranging study of Plato’s dialogues, but a sharply focused and quite accessible one as well. It will be valuable to both experienced and relatively new readers of Plato…The book sets out a bright and novel agenda for reading and discussing Plato.” -- Stephen Salkever, Bryn Mawr College * The Review of Politics *This is a powerful and compelling book . . . Howland's detailed interpretation of each of the dialogues he treats sheds important and imaginative new light on the meaning and the significance of these dialogues . . . Howland makes his case in a completely convincing way . . . A remarkable and important contribution to Platonic scholarship . . . A truly exellent book from which scholars and students will benefit greatly. -- Drew A. Hyland, Charles A. Dana Professor of Philosophy, Trinity CollegeThis is an admirable book, thoughtful and impressively wide-ranging study of Platos's dialogues, but a sharply focused and quite accessible one as well. It will be valuable to both experienced and relatively new readers.Howland provides an insightful interpretation of Socrates'. -- J. Gough, Red deer College * CHOICE, September 1998 Vol. 36 No. 1 *Howland's argument for the thesis is forceful... * Review of Metaphysics *Howland provides a thoughtful consideration of philosophic drama, a close textual reading of the octology, and useful diagrams of the steps and divisions in the Sophist and the Statesman. . . . His insightful interpretation of Socrates' views and character is a useful companion to the octology while illuminating the sophist who is at the same time not a sophist. -- J. Gough, Red deer College * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisThe aim of the book is to make Socrates' investigation and resolution of the questions that still concern us as human beings more accessible to serious contemporary readers.Trade ReviewThis outstanding work provides the most penetrating analysis I have yet encountered of the precise goals and methods of that educational activity in which Socrates so fully and fruitfully engaged for the benefit of himself and others. The author proceeds through an interpretation, tightly and economically focused on this theme, of the shorter Platonic dialogues—many of which have never before received so serious and so illuminating an exegesis. . . . The scholarship is meticulous, the contribution—to the fields of Plato studies, educational theory, classical philosophy, and political philosophy—truly major. -- Thomas Pangle, University of TorontoThis is a valuable book. * The Heythrop Journal *Modestly suggesting that his commentaries are an 'introduction' to the dialogues, and that they are offered as a contribution to contemporary debates on liberal education, Bruell reveals himself a subtle exegete and makes a highly important contribution to classical scholarship. Attentive to every nuance and twist of a dialogue, he displays a discernment and irony developed only after years of painstaking reading and rereading of the dialogues. . . . The value of Bruell's portrait of Socrates extends beyond classical Athens and sheds light on contemporary platitudes that range from cultural relativism, legal positivism, and psychological reductionism to how to respond to the seductive appeal of sham teachers and the prolixity of those academics who lack the self-conscious, moderating reluctance to teach and open themselves to learning something from their students. -- Peter C. Emberley, Carleton University * American Political Science Review *Brilliant. Bruell's book gives an education in the proper method of following Socrates's highly eristic, mercurial arguments. -- Charles H. Fairbanks * Review of Metaphysics *This is a book to be studied, not merely read. . . . Few works can claim to give Socratic philosophy the kind of living force that Bruell achieves. * Polis *Serious students of Socratic education should find this book an invaluable supplement to the Platonic dialogues. On the Socratic Education is studded with startling insights into the dialogues, often advancing interpretations strikingly at odds with dominant views or, more often, raising questions and considerations not usually raised. It should remain a beacon of light and a stimulus to further investigation within the field of Platonic scholarship for many decades. -- Nathan Tarcov, University of ChicagoTable of ContentsPart 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Hipparchus, or Lover of Gain Chapter 3 Minos, or About Law Part 4 Students and Teachers Chapter 5 Alcibiades Chapter 6 Second Alcibiades Chapter 7 Laches Chapter 8 Euthydemus Chapter 9 Greater Hippias Chapter 10 Lesser Hippias Chapter 11 Theages Part 12 The Life Itself Chapter 13 Euthyphro Chapter 14 Apology of Socrates Chapter 15 Ion Chapter 16 Meno Chapter 17 Contents Part 18 Conclusion Chapter 19 Cleitophon Chapter 20 Menexenus Chapter 21 Crito Chapter 22 Index of Textual References Chapter 23 About the Author

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Book SynopsisWars of national secession and ethnic cleansing, based on the claims of supposedly distinct racial, ethnic, cultural, and national identities, have disfigured recent years. Probing the roots of these conflicts, this book provides the survey of the range of political theories of ethnicity and nationalism.

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Book SynopsisThis is a unique history of Masonry written from the perspective of an educated outsider. The author is sympathetic to Masonic goals, a historian of secret societies and political conspiracies, and an exhaustive researcher. He looks back to the earliest roots of the Craft, and then traces its influence into modern times. From the Bible''s Temple of Solomon through the Knights Templars, to the Rosicrucians and Illuminati, we learn of Masonry''s roots and early history. Enlightenment philosophy and the revolutionary currents of eighteenth-century Europe opened an opportunity for the American experiment. Sacred geometry and architecture combined to create Washington, DC, and the rest, as they say, is history. This second revised and enlarged edition includes a new chapter on Freemasonry in South America-from the revolution of Simón Bolívar to the capture and execution of Che Guevara.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays revisits Jacques Maritain's book, the University of Chicago Walgreen lectures of 1949, and critically engages its themes and arguments. It covers the character of the modern state, and its relation to the body politic and the state's functions and claims.

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Book SynopsisA collection of essays on the theoretical foundations of human freedom. It examines various aspects of the anthropological questions at the root of a number of critical social challenges confronting modernity. It is suitable for readers interested in educational theory, church and state, and the nature of love and friendship.

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Book SynopsisPOLITICAL THEORY WITHOUT BORDERS Political theory has traditionally focused on governance within the confines of a specific polity, but with the recent proliferation of environmental realities and national decisions that have global repercussions, political theory must now be re-imagined to confront globalization head-on. Political Theory Without Borders presents a collection scholarship that does just that. Each chapter focuses on answering specific questions that have arisen from issues of global spillover like climate change and pollution and the increasingly unrestricted flow of people, products, and financial capital across borders. With contributions from emerging scholars alongside key texts from some of the most well-known theorists of previous generations, this collection illustrates how the classic concerns of political theory justice and equality, liberty and oppression have re-emerged with a renewed significance at the global level.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii About the Contributors viii 1 Political Theory Without Borders: An Introduction 1Robert E. Goodin and James S. Fishkin PART I Global Spillovers 5 2 To Prevent a World Wasteland: A Proposal 7George F. Kennan 3 Two Kinds of Climate Justice: Avoiding Harm and Sharing Burdens 18Simon Caney 4 The Human Right to Water and Common Ownership of the Earth 46Mathias Risse PART II Global Flows 75 5 Tax Competition and Global Background Justice 77Peter Dietsch and Thomas Rixen 6 Sovereign Debt, Human Rights, and Policy Conditionality 107Christian Barry 7 Justice in the Diffusion of Innovation 133Allen Buchanan, Tony Cole and Robert O. Keohane 8 From Migration in Geographic Space to Migration in Biographic Time: Views From Europe 162Claus Offe 9 On Citizenship, States, and Markets 206Ayelet Shachar and Ran Hirschl PART III Global Interventions 235 10 Colonialism as Structural Injustice: Historical Responsibility and Contemporary Redress 237Catherine Lu 11 The Judging of Nations: Some Comments on the Assessment of Regimes in the New States 260Clifford Geertz 12 From Humanitarian Intervention to the Responsibility to Protect 275Gareth Evans 13 The Misuse of Power, Not Bad Representation: Why It Is Beside the Point that No One Elected Oxfam 293Jennifer C. Rubenstein Index 322

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Book SynopsisWhat is democracy really? What do we mean when we use the term? And can it ever truly exist? Astra Taylor, hailed as a New Civil Rights Leader (LA Times), provides surprising answers.There is no shortage of democracy, at least in name, and yet it is in crisis everywhere we look. From a cabal of thieving plutocrats in the White House to campaign finance and gerrymandering, it is clear that democracyspecifically the principle of government by and for the peopleis not living up to its promise.In Democracy Might Not Exist, but We''ll Miss It When It''s Gone, Astra Taylor shows that real democracyfully inclusive and completely egalitarianhas in fact never existed. In a tone that is both philosophical and anecdotal, weaving together history, theory, the stories of individuals, and interviews with such leading thinkers as Cornel West, Danielle Allen, and Slavoj Zizek, Taylor invites us to reexamine the term. Is democracy a means or an end

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Book SynopsisAlexandra Hudson, daughter of the Manners Lady, was raised to respect others. But as she grew up, Hudson discovered a difference between politenessa superficial appearance of good mannersand true civility. In this timely book, Hudson sheds light on how civility can help bridge our political divide.From classical philosophers like Epictetus, to great twentieth-century thinkers like Martin Luther King Jr., to her own experience working in the federal government during one of the most politically fraught eras in our nation''s history, Hudson examines how civilitya respect for the personhood and dignity of otherstranscends political disagreements. Respecting someone means valuing them enough to tell them when you think they are wrong.It's easy to look at the divided state of the world and blame our leaders, the media, or our education system. Instead, we should focus on what we can control: ourselves. The Soul of Civility empowers readers to live tolerantly with o

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Book SynopsisBeverley Clack is Professor in the Philosophy of Religion at Oxford Brookes University. Her publications include: Interrogating the Neoliberal Lifecycle: The Limits of Success, co-edited with Michele Paule (2019); Philosophy of Religion: A Critical Introduction, co-authored with Brian R Clack (3rd edition 2019); Freud on the Couch (2013); Feminist Philosophy of Religion: Critical Readings, co-edited with Pamela Sue Anderson (2004); Sex and Death: A Reappraisal of Human Mortality (2002); and Misogyny in the Western Philosophical Tradition (1999). From 2012-16 she was City Councillor for St Clements Ward in Oxford, and from 2016-2018 she was a member of the Labour Party's National Policy Forum. She is a member of the Methodist Church's Faith and Order Committee, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.Trade ReviewNothing succeeds like success? Perhaps not. How to be a Failure and Still Live Well is a powerful rejection of the language of ‘success' that dominates contemporary neo-liberal culture. Blending philosophy and personal experience Beverley Clack gives a moving defense of the necessity of loss and failure in building relationships, identity and a meaningful life. This splendid book gives us a picture of the kind of fuller existence we can aspire to as individuals who choose our own response to tragedy and as members of a community that does not rely on false optimism or selfish calculation to bind itself together. * Joshua Foa Dienstag, Professor of Political Science & Law, University of California, Los Angeles, USA *Thought-provoking and compelling, Bev Clack takes us into the heart of failure and loss, with personal depth and engaging philosophical and theological insights. Clack raises profoundly important questions and offers no easy answers - but helps the reader to engage more deeply with life, aided by failure and loss. * Alistair Ross, Associate Professor of Psychotherapy, Oxford University, UK *With characteristic wisdom, insight, humanity and wit, Clack shows us how dwelling with our failures can make genuine flourishing possible. This is philosophy at its best – philosophy that contributes to the shared human endeavour of living a good life, engaging deftly with psychology, politics, theology, feminist theory, literature and art. * Anastasia Scrutton, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Religion, University of Leeds, UK *The threat of failure is ever-present, but hardly ever openly examined. This thoughtful, honest and often moving book examines why so many of us are haunted by failure. Its erudite and detailed diagnosis of the reasons for widespread feelings of failure across modern societies makes for both fascinating and inspiring reading. * Anneliese Dodds, MP, House of Commons, UK *With characteristic wisdom, insight, humanity and wit, Clack shows us how dwelling with our failures can make genuine flourishing possible. This is philosophy at its best – philosophy that contributes to the shared human endeavour of living a good life, engaging deftly with psychology, politics, theology, feminist theory, literature and art. * Dr Anastasia Scrutton, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Religion, University of Leeds, UK *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Failure: And How to Live Well Chapter 1: Success, Failure, and the 21st Century Good Life Chapter 2: Women, Failure, and the Fear of Loss Chapter 3: Death and Sickness, Loss and Failure Chapter 4: Factoring Out Failure, Factoring Out Humanity: Bureaucracy, Metrics, and the Loss of Spontaneity Chapter 5: From Homo Economicus to Homo Religiosus: Remaking the Human Chapter 6: Accepting Failure, Embracing Loss Conclusion: Being a Failure and Living Well Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWritten by leading scholars and activists from Canada, Germany, Malta, Norway, Turkey and the USA, this book offers international perspectives on critical pedagogy during the Covid-19 pandemic. It examines the social and political impact of the pandemic on education, and explores how the creation of digital communities has become indispensable in maintaining connectivity and building networks. Including contributions from Michael W. Apple, Antonia Darder, Henry A. Giroux, Peter Mayo, Peter McLaren, Wayne Ross and Ira Shor, this volume examines critical issues, controversies of education, and social and political problems that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The chapters call for constructive critical consciousness and a commitment to social justice, addressing current issues, including Black Lives Matter, racism, poverty, social and gender inequality, women's rights and teachers' isolation during the pandemic. In part I, the authors address these issues through the lenses of nTrade ReviewAs we are moving into the third decade of the 21st century, this important text insightfully contributes to our contemporary understanding of the praxis of critical pedagogy. * James D. Kirylo, Professor, Curriculum Studies, University of South Carolina, USA *Amidst the pandemic there is an urgent need to critically make aware educators, students and parents about the possibilities of Critical Pedagogy to recreate human agents of change. Critical Pedagogy being a political and moral project that is connected to critical consciousness by following Freire’s humanizing praxis is a road to a Pandemic Pedagogy that can lead to a road of liberation. With contributions from some of the world's best scholars, this volume comes at a time most needed. * Maria Nikolakaki, Professor, University of Peloponnese, Greece *Mizikaci and Ata harmoniously assembled a group of critical voices from world-renowned authors with emerging voices in the area of critical pedagogy in Turkey. The analyzes incorporated in the text offer us a current vision of the struggle that must be maintained for social justice and against oppression in the context of neoliberal fascism that is trying to consolidate in these times. * Dr. Luis Herta-Charles, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, New Mexico State University, Mexico *This ground-breaking volume brings Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy to the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic. Bringing together an impressive line-up of the most potent critical minds of today, Critical Pedagogy and the Covid-19 Pandemic is an essential book that should be read, re-read, and shared with friends. * Petar Jandric, Professor, Zagreb University of Applied Sciences, Croatia, and University of Wolverhampton, UK *Table of ContentsList of Figures Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Constructing Communities of Critical Pedagogy in the Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Fatma Mizikaci (Ankara University, Turkey) Part I: New Cultural and Social Agendas of Totalitarian Regimes and Their Influence on Education in the Time of the Covid-19 Pandemic 1. An Interview with Henry Giroux: Cultural Studies and Pandemic Pedagogy, Henry A. Giroux (McMaster University, Canada) 2. Radical and Hopeful Discussions about Times of Brutal Conservatism: Paths of Fight and Transformation in the Light of Paulo Freire, Peter McLaren (Chapman University, USA) 3. Critical Analysis and Discussion of the Covid-19 Crisis, Michael W. Apple (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA) 4. Higher Education in the Time of Corona, Peter Mayo (University of Malta, Malta) 5. Freire and a Revolutionary Praxis of the Body: Countering the One-Dimensionality of Banking Education, Antonia Darder (Loyola Marymount University, USA) 6. A Crisis within a Crisis: Teaching, Learning, and Democracy under Neoliberalism during the Pandemic, Wayne Ross (University of British Columbia, Canada) 7. Paulo Freire at 100, Still Inspiring: An Interview with Ira Shor, Ira Shor (College of Staten Island, City University of New York, USA) Part II: From Geographical Pedagogies to Universal Moments: United States, Mexico, Turkey, Germany, Norway in the Pandemic 8. Race, Plague and Resistance, Guy Senese (Northern Arizona University, USA) 9. A Pedagogy of Questioning: Vocational Learning: The Art of Reflective Curiosity, Liv Mjelde (Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway) 10. Between Bildung and Erziehung: Mass Education during the Pandemic, Arnd-Michael Nohl (Helmut-Schmidt-Universität and Universität der Bundeswehr, Germany) 11. The Agenda of Critical Pedagogy during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Turkey, Fevziye Sayilan (Ankara University, Turkey) and Zeynep Alica (Ankara University, Turkey) Part III: Critical Reflections and Mobilization: Constructing Digital Communities 12. Transformative Power of Digital Communities: A Critical Educator’s Perspective, Eda Ata (Ankara University, Turkey) 13. Grounding Critical Educators’ Lives on Solidarity, Community and Friendship, Zeynep Alica (Ankara University, Turkey) and Yasemin Tezgiden Cakcak (Middle East Technical University, Turkey) 14. Coming to Terms with the Covid-19 Pandemic: Perceptions of a Language Teacher, Murat Ata (Middle East Technical University, Northern Cyprus Campus, Turkey) 15. Rethinking Social Transformation from Informal Learning to Political Learning in the Covid-19 Pandemic, Ali Tansu Balci (Ankara University, Turkey) 16. Critical Pedagogy Confronts Technology: Responses to the Challenges of the New Education Reality during the Pandemic, Kemal Inal (Helmut Schmidt University, Germany) 17. Cultural Resistance of Critical Pedagogy in the Age of Authoritarian Populism, Gamze Gonca Özyurt (Ankara University, Turkey) 18. Rediscovering Teacher Voice in Higher Education in the Covid-19 Pandemic, Nurcan Saltoglu Özleyen (TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey) References Index

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Book SynopsisPresents struggles for liberation in the Americas from the perspectives of structural victims Struggles for Liberation in Abya Yala explores the ways people occupying different positionalities respond to various catastrophes while discussing how collective processes of struggle make new meanings and create new forms of relationality and subjectivity. Bringing together contributions by a diverse panel of well-established voices and rising scholars, this provocative volume challenges readers to resist, take direct collective action, organize, protest, and give proper uptake to social movements that fight against injustice and life-threatening conditions. Operating primarily within the context of Abya Yala the term deployed by indigenous peoples to refer to the US, Latin America, and the Caribbean the volume demonstrates and advances the explanatory and normative power of Philosophy of Liberation and the Decolonial Turn through theoretical analysis of current social changes unfolding

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Book SynopsisA highly accomplished historian, Heyck relays this complicated story with unusual clarity.Trade ReviewIn Age of System, Heyck has given science studies and the history of science a useful and needed book. It will be an important resource for those of us who study the history of the human sciences, and for anyone whose work is touched by the rise and fall of the "New Deal/Cold War consensus" American ScienceTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. High Modern Social Science2. Patrons of the Revolution3. The Magical Year 1956, Plue or Minus On4. Producing Reason5. Modernity and Social Change in American Social Science6. A Model Science?ConclusionAppendixNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism shows how people can live together and overcome the challenge of religious terrorism by adopting a secular outlook on life and politics.Trade Review"This book would be ideal for an upper-level undergraduate or graduate religious studies or philosophy seminar. Highly educated lay readers and academics interested in religion and secularism will also likely find the book of interest." (Journal of Contemporary Religion, 1 January 2012) "The book is a balanced account of what went wrong in defending liberal democracy in the past two decades and what is to be done to revigorate the foundations for liberal democracy ." (Acta Politica, 2011) "The overall structure of the book is quite clear . . . Nevertheless, if I would be forced to summarise the book in its entirety, then I would claim that it can be seen as an elaborate and successful (as far as I am concerned) defense of the view that religion derives from morality and not the other way around." (International Humanist News, 1 April 2011) "It is a level-headed contribution to an important debate about how best to address religious fundamentalism and political fanaticism." (The Christian Century, 8 March 2011) "Cliteur's book is timely and well written. It covers some very recent events, and offers coherent - if sometime impatient - perspectives on religion from the secular standpoint. Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty." (Choice , 1 April 2011) "You actually have to focus on the paragraphs. That doesn't mean that the style is inaccessible or difficult - not at all, it's very readable - but this is a meaty book that asks for (and rewards) a certain amount of concentration." (Metamagician and the Hellfire Club, 7 April 2011) "The primary goal of this book, its author says, is ‘to show how religious believers and unbelievers can live peacefully together and what principles the state should try to stimulate in its citizenry to achieve social harmony and social cohesion.' He recommends a moral and political vision which he calls "a 'secular outlook' on life." Its four main components are atheism, criticism of religion, free speech, and ‘moral autonomy.' Cliteur wants us to be freethinkers and to expose the ways in which sacred texts actually endorse or even encourage violence, terrorism, and injustice. Cliteur is right, of course, that free inquiry and criticism should be protected." (Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 6 March 2011) "Accessible, engaging and convincing, it is the perfect tome for those who wish to learn about the ethical and logical case for a secular moral and political framework." (Tribune, 4 March 2011) "A robust defence of the Enlightenment tradition and a must-read for those concerned by the corrosive aspects of religion on society." (Times Higher Education, 10 February 2011) "But Cliteur challenges this interpretation, charging Armstrong with seeking to dismiss fundamentalism as a ‘perversion' of religion when in fact the fundamentalists can claim to be adopting the very attitude their sacred texts demand". (Church of England Newspaper, 7 January 2011) "The Secular Outlook is a thought-provoking discussion of how liberal, secular democracies can and should respond to extremism and a much-needed exposition of the vital importance, in that response, of rationality and an emphasis on common humanity". (New Internationalist, 1 December 2010) "Secularism is one of those concepts that is widely used without a clear notion of what it is. Dutch humanist philosopher Paul Cliteur's The Secular Out - look: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism supplies a theoretical clarification of what secularism is and what it is not. However, the book is more than a helpful analytical exercise-it is also an urgent plea for political and moral secularism." (Free Inquiry, October 2010)Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Secular Outlook. 1. Atheism, Agnosticism, and Theism. The Alpha Privative. Atheism and Liberal Concepts of God. Atheism as an Unpopular Position. A Definition of Atheism. Motives for Atheism. Atheist Values. Spiritual Excellences and the Liberal Decalogue. Agnosticism. The History of Agnosticism. Huxley and Russell. Pascal’s Wager. Pascal’s Insight. Atheism or Non-Theism? 2. Freethought I: Criticism of Religion. “Écrasez l’Infâme”. Religion and Evil. Religious Violence. Father and Daughter. How to Discover a Relationship between Religion and Violence. Ramadan v. Hirsi Ali. Religion “per se”. Textual Relativism. Can Translation Mitigate All Immoral Passages in Scripture? Can Interpretation Mitigate All Immoral Passages in Scripture? Why Are “Moderates” so Reluctant to Criticize Religion? The Bible on Apostasy. Biblical Terrorism: The Story of Phinehas. Biblical Violence and Modern Legal Practice. The Book of History. Some Objections. 3. Freethought II: Freedom of Expression. Mill on Liberty. Khomeini v. Rushdie. Fukuyama Giving Up on the Arab World. The Limits of Free Speech. The Deontological and Utilitarian Justifications for Free Speech. Clifford on the Duty to Critique. Freedom of Speech and Philosophers on the Index. Intolerance not Restricted to Islam. Giniewski v. France. Freethought under Fire. People Are not Being Insulted for Having a Religion. Racism without Race. Social Criticism not Identical with the Urge to Provoke. Flemming Rose on Why He Published the Danish Cartoons. The Theory of Evolution: Too Controversial to Defend? Is There Another Way to Discover the Truth than by Free Discussion? 4. Moral and Political Secularism. Pope Benedict XVI on the Apostles’ Creed. “Who Are You to Tell Believers What to Believe?” What Judaism, Christendom, and Islam Have in Common: Theism. Divine Command Theories. Abraham and Isaac. The Story of Abraham in the Qur’an. The Story of Jephtha. Adherents of Divine Command Theory. Command Ethics or Divine Command Ethics? An Assessment of Divine Command Ethics. Kierkegaard and Mill. Kohlberg and Moral Education. Religious and Secular Ethics. Worship. Kant’s Struggle with Moral Autonomy and Free Speech. Kant’s Legacy in Nineteenth-Century German Theology. Schleiermacher as the Father of Modern Hermeneutics. Armstrong’s Plea for Liberal Interpretation. A New Way to Look at the “Sacredness” of Scripture? Classic Books and Sacred Books. Violating the Integrity of the Text. Is Hermeneutics the Only Way to Modernize Traditions? Is Islam “Secularization-Resistant”? Two Kinds of Reformers: Liberal Islam and Secular Islam. Selected Reading. Index.

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Book SynopsisPierre Bourdieu is arguably the most influential sociologist of the twentieth century, especially since the once common criticisms of his determinism and reproductionism have receded. Now, however, his intellectual enterprise faces a new set of challenges unearthed by decades of sympathetic research: how to conceive the relationship between society and place, particularly in an increasingly global world; how to recognize the individual as a product of multiple forces and pressures; how to make sense of family relations and gender domination; and, ultimately, how to grasp how we each come to be the unique beings we are. This book tackles these challenges head on, starting from the philosophical core of Bourdieu's sociology and taking in hints and suggestions across his corpus, to propose a range of novel concepts and arguments. In the process it outlines a new way of looking at the world to complement Bourdieu's own – one in which the focus is on the multiple social structures shaping individuals' everyday lives, not the multiple individuals comprising a single social structure.Trade Review"This outstanding book is bound to inspire the growing numbers of students and academics interested in Pierre Bourdieu’s general orientation and in building their own work on it. It makes an important contribution, particularly to Bourdieusian studies in family, gender and childhood." Leena Alanen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland "Atkinson’s book pushes the field of Bourdieu studies into new and exciting territory. Drawing on the author’s expertise in phenomenology, it shows how Bourdieu’s theory can illuminate the study of everyday life, the family and gender. This will be an essential resource for Bourdieu scholars for years to come." Jeffrey J. Sallaz, University of Arizona"Rather than take 'field' as the starting point, as many interpreters of Bourdieu's work have done, Atkinson argues that the individual and their movement across time and space (their lifeworld) which creates and is constrained by 'circuits of symbolic power' is a better approach. […] Atkinson offers a corrective by placing the accent on the individual without forgetting the structures of power. […] This book will be of particular interest to scholars in the sociology of education, psychological sociology, the family, and gender studies."Deborah Reed-Danahay, AnthroposTable of Contents Acknowledgement 1. Introduction 2. The Lifeworld 3. The Field of Family Relations 4. Social Becoming 5. Gender Epilogue: Sketch of a Research Programme Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisH.L.A. Hart is among the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, with an especially great influence on the philosophy of law. His 1961 book The Concept of Law has become an enduring classic of legal philosophy, and has also left a significant imprint on moral and political philosophy. In this volume, leading contemporary legal and political philosopher Matthew H. Kramer provides a crystal-clear analysis of Hart’s contributions to our understanding of the nature of law. He elucidates and scrutinizes every major aspect of Hart’s jurisprudential thinking, ranging from his general methodology to his defense of legal positivism. He shows how Hart’s achievement in The Concept of Law, despite the evolution of debates in subsequent decades, remains central to contemporary legal philosophy because it lends itself to being reinterpreted in light of new concerns and interests. Kramer therefore pays particular attention to the strength of Hart’s insights in the context of present-day disputes among philosophers over the reality of normative entities and properties and over the semantics of normative statements.This book is an invaluable guide to Hart’s thought for students and scholars of legal philosophy and jurisprudence, as well as moral and political philosophy.Trade Review"Matthew Kramer is one of the most important figures in legal theory today. His deep analysis of H.L.A. Hart's legal philosophy will be an invaluable resource for scholars and serious students of jurisprudence."—Brian Bix, University of Minnesota "Written with Kramer’s characteristic care and attention to detail, this marvelous book provides a sympathetic, yet critical, account of Hart's views on the nature of law and of legal reasoning. A valuable source of insight for student and seasoned scholar alike."—Wil Waluchow, McMaster University

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Book SynopsisG. A. Cohen was one of the towering political philosophers of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. His intellectual career was unusually wide-ranging, and he was celebrated internationally not only for his penetrating ideas about liberty, justice and equality, but also for his method, a highly original and influential combination of analytical philosophy and Marxism. Christine Sypnowich guides readers through the rich body of Cohen's work. By identifying five paradoxes in his thought, she explores the origins of his interest in analytical philosophy, his engagement with the ideas of right-wing libertarianism, his critique of John Rawls's work, his late-career turn to conservatism, and the tension between his preoccupation with individual responsibility and the idea of a socialist ethos. Sypnowich acknowledges the strengths of Cohen's positions as well as their tensions and flaws, and presents him as a thinker of startling insight. This compelling introduction is a

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Book SynopsisHuman beings universally dream of a better world. For centuries they have expressed their yearning for ways of life that are free from oppression, want and fear, through philosophy, art, film and literature. In this concise and engaging book, Mark Jendrysik examines the multifarious ways utopians have posed the question of how human beings might establish justice and realize truly human values. Drawing upon a range of sources, from Plato’s Republic and Thomas More’s Utopia to Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, he argues that, though for many utopia means ‘demanding the impossible’, the goals that seemed out of reach for one generation are often realized in the next. Nonetheless, he shows that, while utopian thought points toward our most noble aspirations, it also illustrates the dangers of totalitarianism, of the surveillance state and of global climate change. This engaging book will be an invaluable guide for anyone seeking to understand how, for good or ill, utopian aspirations shape our lives, even in times that seem designed to close off dreams of a better world.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 What is Utopia? What is Utopian Political Thought? 2 Utopianism before Utopia 3 Inventing Utopia 4 Utopia and the Age of Revolution 5 Utopia and Modernity 6 Utopia and/as Ideology 7 From Utopia to Dystopia 8 Does Utopia Have a Future? Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSocieties around the world are struggling to think clearly about trans realities and understand trans identities.Real Genderis the first book to present acisdefence of what it means to be transgender. Moyal-Sharrock and Sandis delve into the various factors which make many trans people's experience of their gender (or lack thereof) as natural and unquestionable as that of cispeople. While recognising the undeniably social aspects of gender, they find that gender cannot be completely divorced from our biological underpinnings.Contrary to popular opinion, gender self-identification does not require the denial of either biology or sex. What is needed is a more liberal understanding of our gender concepts, which would prevent us from confusing diversity with pathology. Steeped in published and personal trans testimonials,RealGenderdoes not seek to provoke or attack, but to unequivocally defend trans realities. A powerful exploration of a divisive topic,this b

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Book SynopsisThe global triumph of democracy was announced thirty years ago, promising an age of consensus in which the dispassionate consideration of objective problems would give birth to a world at peace. Today, these grand hopes lie in ruins, and the era touted as new has turned out to be remarkably similar to the old order. To understand why this might be so, we need to examine the nature of the consensus itself, which is not the peace that it promised but rather the map of a territory on which new forms of warfare are being waged. The objective reality that imposed itself at the end of the 1990s was an absolutized and globalized capitalism which has produced ever more inequality, exclusion and hate. In this book Jacques Rancière delivers a frank and piercing critique of the globalized capitalist consensus. The invasion of Iraq, the riots on Capitol Hill and the rise of the European far right all attest to the true nature of this consensus, as does the current state-sanctioned racism which exploits the disenchanted progressive tradition and is led by an intelligentsia that claims to be left-wing. At the same time, Rancière praises the dynamism of social movements which affirm the power of the assembly of equals and its capacity for worldmaking: autonomous protest collectives have proven themselves capable of opening breaches in the consensual order and challenging the post-1989 system of domination.Trade Review‘One of our most original radical philosophers explores why the post-Cold War consensus anticipating global liberal democracy unfolded its opposite. Critically interrogating idioms of populism, secularism, class struggle, democracy, and more, this timely and brilliant collection tracks the domination in consensus itself, placing all bets for an emancipatory, egalitarian future on uprisings that break it.’Wendy Brown, Institute for Advanced Study, PrincetonTable of ContentsPreface Part One. The violence of consensus Chapter One. The new racism: a passion from above Chapter Two. A modest proposal to help the victims Chapter Three. An elusive populism Chapter Four. Unravelling the confusions serving the dominant order Chapter Five. On freedom of expression Chapter Six. The Hatred of Equality Chapter Seven. Fools and sages. Reflections on the end of the Trump presidency Chapter Eight. A golden opportunity? Reflections in the time of lockdown Part Two. Moments of democracy Chapter Nine. The pandemic and inequality Chapter Ten. Interpreting the event 68: politics, philosophy, sociology Chapter Eleven. Occupation Chapter Twelve. Nuit Debout: Desire for Community or Egalitarian Invention? Chapter Thirteen. The virtues of the inexplicable. On the Gilets Jaunes Chapter Fourteen. Beyond the hatred of democracy Chapter Fifteen. Speech at the assembly of railway workers Notes

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Book SynopsisThe world is never going to make complete sense to us, yet we find that conclusion almost impossible to accept. Can we live, and feel at home, in a world composed at best of incompatible fragments of meaning?This is the theme that runs through this collection of essays by Raymond Geuss. Drawing on a characteristically wide range of insights from moral and political philosophy, history, and aesthetics, he addresses topics such as knowledge (of self, the world, and others), language, the visual and the auditory, authority, hope, and the success and failure of life projects. He argues that, to get by in our bewildering world, we must embrace the virtue of double vision': that is, immersing ourselves in and learning the ways of the culture surrounding us, even as we feel alienated from it. Together the essays explore some of the consequences of abandoning the idea of a unitary view of the world, while at the same time trying to avoid quietism. Seeing Doubleis a compelling collection of w

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Book SynopsisAll human beings are born with equal dignity and possess equal rights.This statement appears normatively just as irrefutable as it is empirically refuted every day.But what are the grounds of this principle, and how should we think about its realization? Its philosophical truth can best be explained by going back to (and beyond) Kant's notion of a noumenal republic' in which every person is an equal co-author of the laws that bind all. At the same time, a critical analysis of society and politics must show the extent to which the reality of power and ideology makes a mockery of this constructivist conception of dignity. To bridge the gap between unworldly idealism and practical hopelessness, we need a critical theory after Kant. Rainer Forst, one of the world's most influential political philosophers, works to develop just such a theory in this powerful and illuminating volume. It contains no less than a new systematic account of concepts such as alienation, progress and regression, so

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Book SynopsisA close examination of the relationship between media, art, and the “Electra complex” The feminist counterpart to Deleuze and Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus, Anti-Electra is a philosophy of “the girl” as a model of contemporary transgressive subjectivity. Elisabeth von Samsonow asserts that focusing on the girl’s escape from the Oedipus complex leads to a fundamental shift in our most common views on media and art.Presenting an interpretation of contemporary technics, Anti-Electra argues that technology today encompasses Electra’s gadgets and toys. According to von Samsonow, satellite drive technologies such as wireless telephones, WLAN, and GPS echo the “preoedipal constellation” that the girl specializes in. And with the help of the girl, the cartography of overlapping zones between humankind and animals, as well as between humankind and apparatuses, is redesigned through what the book holds as a “radical totemism.” Anti-Electra ultimately offers a new view on gender, the contemporary world dyed by symbolic girlism, and the (universal) girl in critical dialogue with media, ecology, and society.Trade Review"Anti-Electra constitutes an occasionally uncanny and always fascinating work, which advocates a constellational, schizogamous relationality. This intellectually engaging and witty book will be of interest to art historians, scholars with interests in media studies, and those who are open to be challenged by an exciting feminist revaluation of ancient myths and their relation to the present."—IdentitiesTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface to the English Language EditionIntroduction1. Electra as Female “Oedipus”Positive Unrelatedness and ExogamyConstitutive Strangeness or Primary ExoticismSchizogamyXenological AnamnesisTotemistic “Objectification”2. Radical Totemism and AutomatismTheogenesis and the Twilight of MachinesTotem and XenocracyAnimal Mummy and the Apparatus-FunctionAnthropomorphization of the DeityApparatus or Weak Totem3. Totemism and Sculpture: Preliminaries to a Theory of SchizosomaMetabolism and Therapeutic SchizosomaPre-oedipality as a “Plastic Phase”Excursus: Plasma, Forming, SculptureThe Statue Delivering OraclesThe Two-Body DoctrineThe One and the ManySocial Sculpture4. The Labyrinth: General Theory of SchizosomaPasiphae’s CowThe Satellite5. The Four Pre-oedipal ObjectsFailing Equalization and the Emergence of the ComplexElectrificationAppendixIndex

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Book SynopsisPhilosopher Ted Honderich insightfully relates four shattering current events in this articulate, well-reasoned moral and political analysis. Exploring the war in Iraq, the controversy in Palestine, and the tragic events of 9-11 and London’s 7-7, Honderich elucidates the great questions of right and wrong in a conflict-ridden era.

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Book SynopsisThe author of The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible explores the history and potential future of civilization, tracing the converging crises of our age to the illusion of the separate self Our disconnection from one another and the natural world has mislaid the foundations of science, religion, money, technology, economics, medicine, and education as we know them. It has fired our near-pathological pursuit of technological Utopias even as we push ourselves and our planet to the brink of collapse. Fortunately, an Age of Reunion is emerging out of the birth pangs of an earth in crisis. Our journey of separation hasn''t been a terrible mistake but an evolutionary process and an adventure in self-discovery.Even in our darkest hour, Eisenstein sees the possibility of a more beautiful world—not through the extension of millennia-old methods of management and control but by fundamentally reimagining ourselves and our systems. We must shift away from our Babelian efforts to build ever-higher towers to heaven and instead turn out attention to creating a new kind of civilization—one designed for beauty rather than height.

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Book SynopsisA philosopher and political thinker describes a new political grammar free of modernist assumptions.In 2004 and 2005, Antonio Negri held ten workshops at the Collège International de Philosophie in Paris to formulate a new political grammar of the postmodern. Biopolitics, biopowers, control, the multitude, people, war, borders, dependency and interdependency, state, nation, the common, difference, resistance, subjective rights, revolution, freedom, democracy: these are just a few of the themes Negri addressed in these experimental laboratories. Postmodernity, Negri suggests, can be described as a “porcelain factory”: a delicate and fragile construction that could be destroyed through one clumsy act. Looking across twentieth century history, Negri warns that our inability to anticipate future developments has already placed coming generations in serious jeopardy. Describing the years 1917-1968 as the “short century,” Negri suggests that by the end of it, all of the familiar markers of modernity (including that of socialism) had lost their relevance. Confronted with an intolerable reality, indignation and the revolutionary will to transform the world have both taken new forms and must be understood anew, free of modernist assumptions. In the impassioned debates recounted in this book, Antonio Negri attempts to describe the formation of an alternative political horizon and looks for a way to define the practices and modes of expression that democracy could take.Antonio Negri is a philosopher and essay writer. A political and social activist in the 1960s and 1970s in Italy, he taught political sciences for many years and has written numerous books on political philosophy including Marx beyond Marx (1979), The Savage Anomaly (1983), Insurgencies (1997); and in collaboration with Michael Hardt, Empire (2000) and Multitude (2004).

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