Western philosophy from c 1800 Books

Book SynopsisOn Ceasing to be Human explores and develops a question posed by Stanley Cavell, "Can a human being be free of human nature?" particularly in terms of the link between freedom and nonidentity.Trade Review"On Ceasing to be Human is a must read in terms of recent discussions relating to the man/animal distinction. It does a brilliant job of bringing together strands of intellectual history—Deleuze, Nancy, Derrida, Agamben, Bataille, Blanchot, and Levinas—whose interconnections enable us to read French theory in an entirely new way even as they inform questions about the end of the human." -- Herman Rapaport"On Ceasing to be Human lays out with exemplary clarity the stakes of recent debates over the human. Bruns provides a commentary on the major positions presently in play, placing them in dialogue with one another and sketching out alternatives, fault lines, and disagreements. In his account, the human, as a concept or category, is inseparable from a conservative program to shore up currently dominant practices and institutions. He asks whether, in conceiving non-human others principally on the basis of their lack of human capacities, we remain fully human ourselves." -- R.M. Berry"Bruns has written yet another interesting book on his lifelong passions: the relation of literature and philosophy to their language; and the theme of poetry and ethics belonging to the domain of openness, responsibility, the singular, and the irreducible—versus traditional respect for rules . . . Overall, this short book is a wonderful aid in understanding current French thought on the title's topic . . . Recommended." -- S. Correa * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisA translation of a succinct introduction to the challenging and far-reaching thought of Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969), one of the twentieth centurys most important thinkers.Trade Review“[Schweppenhäuser’s] book (now expanded and available in English in James Rolleston’s brisk and lucid translation) provides a concise but astonishingly thorough overview of the main elements of Adorno’s thought, while simultaneously highlighting both Adorno’s importance as a thinker and his continued relevance for today.” - Erica Weitzman, German Quarterly“[I]t is fair to say that appreciating the brilliance and fecundity of Adorno’s thought remains a difficult challenge. . . . [G]iven the difficulties that are bound to be experienced, any reader new to him is likely to be eternallygrateful for the existence of Gerard Schweppenhäuser’s introductory volume. . . . Schweppenhäuser’s text is never less than eminently read -able and often deeply insightful and it serves to remind us how, in an age dominated by consumerism, this great thinker’s ideas remain deeply relevant.” - Peter Sedgwick, Times Higher Education Supplement“Schweppenhäuser is intimately familiar with the complexity of Adorno’s thought, but he is able to truly translate and introduce these ideas in a remarkably clear, engaging, jargon-free, and highly readable language.” - Shannon Mariotti, Review of Politics“The book's general clarity, breadth and depth of understanding make it a valuable, informative and advanced introduction to one of the more complex thinkers of the twentieth century.” - Paul Mazzocchi, Political Studies Review“In this work, Schweppenhäuser, through his lucid representation of Adorno’s often esoteric prose, which is augmented by James Rolleston’s exemplarytranslation, and his erudite comparison with similar theorists, presents uswith an examination of Adorno that remains faithful to the theorist’s owncommitment to an interdisciplinary and contextually aware approach tophilosophy.” - Steven Leddin, International Journal of Philosophical Studies“Theodor W. Adorno: An Introduction is a useful survey of Adorno’s thought. It is concise, written in plain language, and focused on the most important topics and themes of the theorist’s work. Gerhard Schweppenhäuser gives basic background about the intellectual and historical context of Adorno’s thought and writings, and he makes a convincing case for the internal coherence of a complex and at times apparently heterogeneous body of work.”—Uwe Steiner, Rice University“This is a clear and concise overview of Theodor W. Adorno’s philosophical, political, sociological, and aesthetic thought, written by a brilliant German critical theorist. Gerhard Schweppenhäuser covers all the central topics in Adorno’s writing, shows a firm grasp not only of his work but also of the secondary literature on it, and relates his thought to the more recent theoretical literature that has challenged it.”—George Steinmetz, University of Michigan“This superb introduction to Adorno’s complex and difficult work is full of extraordinary insights, which will benefit the old hands as well as the beginners.”—Fredric Jameson, Duke University“[I]t is fair to say that appreciating the brilliance and fecundity of Adorno’s thought remains a difficult challenge. . . . [G]iven the difficulties that are bound to be experienced, any reader new to him is likely to be eternally grateful for the existence of Gerard Schweppenhäuser’s introductory volume. . . . Schweppenhäuser’s text is never less than eminently readble and often deeply insightful and it serves to remind us how, in an age dominated by consumerism, this great thinker’s ideas remain deeply relevant.” -- Peter Sedgwick * Times Higher Education *“[Schweppenhäuser’s] book (now expanded and available in English in James Rolleston’s brisk and lucid translation) provides a concise but astonishingly thorough overview of the main elements of Adorno’s thought, while simultaneously highlighting both Adorno’s importance as a thinker and his continued relevance for today.” -- Erica Weitzman * German Quarterly *“In this work, Schweppenhäuser, through his lucid representation of Adorno’s often esoteric prose, which is augmented by James Rolleston’s exemplary translation, and his erudite comparison with similar theorists, presents us with an examination of Adorno that remains faithful to the theorist’s own commitment to an interdisciplinary and contextually aware approach to philosophy.” -- Steven Leddin * International Journal of Philosophical Studies *“Schweppenhäuser is intimately familiar with the complexity of Adorno’s thought, but he is able to truly translate and introduce these ideas in a remarkably clear, engaging, jargon-free, and highly readable language.” -- Shannon Mariotti * Review of Politics *“The book's general clarity, breadth and depth of understanding make it a valuable, informative and advanced introduction to one of the more complex thinkers of the twentieth century.” -- Paul Mazzocchi * Political Studies Review *Table of ContentsPreface to the English Edition vii Translator's Preface xi 1. The Project of Renewing Childhood by Transforming One's Life 1 2. Critical Theory 11 3. Reason's Self-Criticism 18 Defined Negation 20 The Two Faces of Enlightenment 26 4. Rescuing What is Beyond Hope 34 Philosophy from the Perspective of Redemption 34 Primacy of the Object 38 5. The Totally Socialized Society 51 The Concept of Society 52 Liquidation of the Individual 58 Critical Theory on Morality 68 6. The Goal of the Emancipated Society 77 7. The Powerless Utopia of Beauty 91 The Destruction and Salvation of Art 93 The Silence of Music 102 The Transition from Art to Knowledge 109 Theorizing Art and Culture in the Institute for Social Research 112 Benjamin and Kracauer: Theorizing Mass Art 120 Anarchistic and Bourgeois Romanticism: Adorno's Critique of Benjamin 125 The Work of Art and the Concept of Truth 128 8. The Failure of Culture 136 The Radically Pathetic and Guilty Culture 137 Enlightenment as Mass Deception 144 Biographical Timeline 159 Notes 163 Bibliography 171 Index 179

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Book SynopsisEngages a neglected dimension of Charles S Peirce's philosophy, human embodiment, to highlight the compatibility between Peirce's ideas and contemporary work in social criticism focusing on feminism and race theory.Trade Review"This is a brave book balancing strong scholarship, clear organization, and a provocative reading of Peirce." -- -Roger Ward Georgetown College "Examines what is termed a neglected element of embodiment in the philosophy of Charles Sanders Pierce." -The Chronicle of Higher Education "The Politics of Survival provides a lucid, compelling, and exceptionally accessible account of the relevance of Peirce and pragmatism to contemporary discussions of social justice. Trout demonstrates how Peirce's philosophy rises above his personal prejudices to provide a unique set of tools for analyzing and criticizing the nonconscious biases of those who believe that they are free from prejudice. The Politics of Survival is unmatched in the manner in which it makes Peirce and pragmatism relevant to recent literature on racism and sexism." -- -Mitchell Aboulafia The Juilliard School

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Book SynopsisJohn Hospers is Professor Emeritus in Philosophy at the University of Southern California and author of such important philosophical texts as Meaning and Truth in the Arts, Human Conduct and An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis.

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Book Synopsis A landmark of Enlightenment thought, Hume''s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is accompanied here by two shorter works that shed light on it: A Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh, Hume''s response to those accusing him of atheism, of advocating extreme skepticism, and of undermining the foundations of morality; and his Abstract of A Treatise of Human Nature, which anticipates discussions developed in the Enquiry. In his concise Introduction, Eric Steinberg explores the conditions that led Hume to write the Enquiry and the work''s important relationship to Book I of Hume''s A Treatise of Human Nature.

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Book SynopsisIncludes a preface and an appendix with footnotes keyed to the manuscript classifications.

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Book SynopsisJustus Hartnack provides a highly accessible, philosophically astute introduction to Hegel''s logic--one of those rare books that rewards readers at any level of sophistication--and the ideal text for students about to embark on the study of this challenging topic.Trade ReviewOne of the best short introductions to Hegel's logic I know. It gives a comprehensive survey that is easy to understand. --Michael Wolff, Universitat BielefeldTable of ContentsContents: Preface; Introduction; With What Must the Science of Logic Begin?; Being; Quality; Quantity; Essence; Ground; Appearance; Relation; Actuality; Absolute Relations; The Concept; The Object; The Idea; Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisDostoevsky''s disturbing and groundbreaking novella appears in this new annotated edition with an Introduction by Charles Guignon and Kevin Aho. An analogue of Guignon''s widely praised Introduction to his 1993 edition of The Grand Inquisitor, the editors'' Introduction places the underground man in the context of European modernity, analyzes his inner dynamics in the light of the history of Russian cultural and intellectual life, and suggests compelling reasons for our own strange affinity for this nameless man who boldly declares, I was rude and took pleasure in being so.Trade ReviewA timely re-issue of the Notes with an Introduction that is a lively and informative invitation to engage with Dostoevsky's text.--Raymond Boisvert, Department of Philosophy, Siena College

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Book SynopsisA reprint of the New American Library edition of 1970.

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Book Synopsis The Government of Poland is the only finished work in which Rousseau himself dons the mantle of legislator, applying the principles of the Social Contract to the real world around him. Poland teaches us much about the mysterious art of the Social Contract''s ''legislator,'' how he transforms each individual into part of a larger whole. Only in . . . Poland do we find what this crucial transformation entails and what it presupposes. But probably the greatest lesson to be learned from . . . Poland concerns Rousseau''s understanding of the proper relationship between theory and practice. . . . Time and again we see Rousseau advising the Poles to do things which are in gross violation of the strict principles of political right he had elaborated in the Social Contract. --Richard Myers in Canadian Journal of Political Science Trade ReviewThe Government of Poland is the only finished work in which Rousseau himself dons the mantle of legislator, applying the principles of the Social Contract to the real world around him. Poland teaches us much about the mysterious art of the Social Contract's 'legislator,' how he transforms each individual into part of a larger whole. Only in . . . Poland do we find what this crucial transformation entails and what it presupposes. But probably the greatest lesson to be learned from . . . Poland concerns Rousseau's understanding of the proper relationship between theory and practice. . . . Time and again we see Rousseau advising the Poles to do things which are in gross violation of the strict principles of political right he had elaborated in the Social Contract. --Richard Myers in Canadian Journal of Political Science

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe Government of Poland is the only finished work in which Rousseau himself dons the mantle of legislator, applying the principles of the Social Contract to the real world around him. Poland teaches us much about the mysterious art of the Social Contract's 'legislator,' how he transforms each individual into part of a larger whole. Only in . . . Poland do we find what this crucial transformation entails and what it presupposes. But probably the greatest lesson to be learned from . . . Poland concerns Rousseau's understanding of the proper relationship between theory and practice. . . . Time and again we see Rousseau advising the Poles to do things which are in gross violation of the strict principles of political right he had elaborated in the Social Contract. --Richard Myers in Canadian Journal of Political Science

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Book SynopsisThis is a new interpretation and analysis of John Rawls''s leading theory of distributive justice, which also considers the responding egalitarian theories of scholars such as Richard Arneson, G. A. Cohen, Ronald Dworkin, Martha Nussbaum, John Roemer, and Amartya Sen. Rawls''s theory, Kaufman argues, sets out a normative ideal of justice that incorporates an account of the structure and character of relations that are appropriate for members of society viewed as free and equal moral beings. Forging an approach distinct amongst contemporary theories of equality, Rawls offers an alternative to egalitarian justice methodologies that aim primarily to compensate victims for undeserved bad luck. For Rawls, the values that ground the most plausible account of egalitarianism are real equality of economic opportunity combined with the guarantee of a fair distribution of social goods. Kaufman''s analysis will be of interest to scholars and advanced students of political theory and political philosophy, particularly those working on justice, and on the work of John Rawls.Trade Review'Kaufman's book is an important contribution to the elaboration of Rawls's theory of distributive justice and its defense against many recent criticisms developed over the past 10–15 years. It should appeal to academic philosophers and political theorists who work on Rawls and on distributive justice more generally, including graduate students and upper level undergraduates.' Samuel Freeman, Avalon Professor of the Humanities, University of Pennsylvania'This book reflects a deep engagement with the work of John Rawls, and it captures both the general spirit and the details of that theory better than the great majority of commentaries. The most prominent criticisms of Rawls's work - including notably those of G. A. Cohen and Amartya Sen - rely on misunderstandings of the target view, and this manuscript goes a long distance toward explaining how and why that is so. Graduate students in philosophy or political science who are writing on Rawls (or on the particular critics considered here) will do very well to read this book, regardless of whether their own work is ultimately in sympathy with Rawls's work or critical of it. Critics of Rawls would also do well to read this book, since that would enable sharper and more sympathetic treatment of Rawls's views in the presentations of their own criticisms.' Jon Garthoff, University of Tennessee'… a learned and engaging book, and it will be of interest to scholars of Rawls and political equality. It pays meticulous attention to Rawls's particular arguments while keeping his entire political vision in mind.' Andrius Gališanka, Journal of Moral PhilosophyTable of ContentsIntroduction: democratic equality: retrieving Rawls's egalitarianism; 1. Rawls's practical conception of justice opinion, tradition and objectivity in political liberalism; 2. Stability, fit, and consensus; 3. Rawls and ethical constructivism; 4. A satisfactory minimum conception of justice reconsidering Rawls's maximin argument; 5. Cohen's ambiguities; 6. Justice as fairness and fair equality of opportunity; 7. Democratic equality; 8. Ideal theory and practical judgment; 9. Poverty, inequality, and justice.

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Book SynopsisOn Philosophy and Philosophers is a volume of unpublished philosophical papers by Richard Rorty, a central figure in late-twentieth-century intellectual debates and a primary force behind the resurgence of American pragmatism. The first collection of new work to appear since his death in 2007, these previously unseen papers advance novel views on metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, philosophical semantics and the social role of philosophy, critically engaging canonical and contemporary figures from Plato and Kant to Kripke and Brandom. This book''s diverse offerings, which include technical essays written for specialists and popular lectures, refine our understanding of Rorty''s perspective and demonstrate the ongoing relevance of the iconoclastic American philosopher''s ground-breaking thought. An introduction by the editors highlights the papers'' original insights and contributions to contemporary debates.Trade Review'The Rorty that emerges from these essays is an ardent but not doctrinaire pragmatist and naturalist, who warns about the political dangers inherent in the idealist and anti-naturalist positions, while also seeing the risks of a headlong rush by philosophers into accepting Locke's vision of the philosopher as a follower, not a leader, a mere 'under-labourer, removing some of the Rubbish,' in the wake of 'the incomparable Mr. Newton.' This volume sets a timely example of how a politically engaged philosopher can put hard won expertise to valuable use.' Daniel C. Dennett'[W]e consistently observe in this collection a rigorous, voracious reader developing and refining his metaphilosophical views via analysis of first-order debates and their hidden assumptions. Rorty still has much to teach us about both these debates and about metaphilosophy itself.' Metascience'… will be of interest to scholars who specialize in Rorty's work, to those invested in the nature and development of neopragmatism, and to any philosophical audience who enjoys bracing, clear, and unique perspectives on a range of philosophical topics-from the interpretation of Kant, to discussions of contemporary metasemantics, to, above all, the nature of philosophy itself.' Matthew Shields, MetascienceTable of ContentsIntroduction. Rorty as a Critical Philosopher Wojciech Małecki and Christopher Voparil; Part I. Early Papers: 1. Philosophy as Ethics; 2. Philosophy as Spectatorship and Participation; 3. Kant as a Critical Philosopher; 4. The Paradox of Definitism; 5. Reductionism; 6. Phenomenology, Linguistic Analysis, and Cartesianism: Comments on Ricoeur; 7. The Incommunicability of 'Felt Qualities'; 8. Kripke on Mind-Body Identity; Part II. Later Papers: 9. Philosophy as Epistemology: Reply to Hacking and Kim; 10. Naturalized Epistemology and Norms: Replies to Goldman and Fodor; 11. The Objectivity of Values; 12. What is Dead in Plato; 13. The Current State of Philosophy in the U.S.; 14. Brandom's Conversationalism: Davidson and Making It Explicit; 15. Bald Naturalism and McDowell's Hylomorphism; 16. Reductionist vs. Neo-Wittgensteinian Semantics; 17. Remarks on Nishida and Nishitani.

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Book SynopsisOn Philosophy and Philosophers is a volume of unpublished philosophical papers by Richard Rorty, a central figure in late-twentieth-century intellectual debates and a primary force behind the resurgence of American pragmatism. The first collection of new work to appear since his death in 2007, these previously unseen papers advance novel views on metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, philosophical semantics and the social role of philosophy, critically engaging canonical and contemporary figures from Plato and Kant to Kripke and Brandom. This book''s diverse offerings, which include technical essays written for specialists and popular lectures, refine our understanding of Rorty''s perspective and demonstrate the ongoing relevance of the iconoclastic American philosopher''s ground-breaking thought. An introduction by the editors highlights the papers'' original insights and contributions to contemporary debates.Trade Review'The Rorty that emerges from these essays is an ardent but not doctrinaire pragmatist and naturalist, who warns about the political dangers inherent in the idealist and anti-naturalist positions, while also seeing the risks of a headlong rush by philosophers into accepting Locke's vision of the philosopher as a follower, not a leader, a mere 'under-labourer, removing some of the Rubbish,' in the wake of 'the incomparable Mr. Newton.' This volume sets a timely example of how a politically engaged philosopher can put hard won expertise to valuable use.' Daniel C. Dennett'[W]e consistently observe in this collection a rigorous, voracious reader developing and refining his metaphilosophical views via analysis of first-order debates and their hidden assumptions. Rorty still has much to teach us about both these debates and about metaphilosophy itself.' Metascience'… will be of interest to scholars who specialize in Rorty's work, to those invested in the nature and development of neopragmatism, and to any philosophical audience who enjoys bracing, clear, and unique perspectives on a range of philosophical topics-from the interpretation of Kant, to discussions of contemporary metasemantics, to, above all, the nature of philosophy itself.' Matthew Shields, MetascienceTable of ContentsIntroduction. Rorty as a Critical Philosopher Wojciech Małecki and Christopher Voparil; Part I. Early Papers: 1. Philosophy as Ethics; 2. Philosophy as Spectatorship and Participation; 3. Kant as a Critical Philosopher; 4. The Paradox of Definitism; 5. Reductionism; 6. Phenomenology, Linguistic Analysis, and Cartesianism: Comments on Ricoeur; 7. The Incommunicability of 'Felt Qualities'; 8. Kripke on Mind-Body Identity; Part II. Later Papers: 9. Philosophy as Epistemology: Reply to Hacking and Kim; 10. Naturalized Epistemology and Norms: Replies to Goldman and Fodor; 11. The Objectivity of Values; 12. What is Dead in Plato; 13. The Current State of Philosophy in the U.S.; 14. Brandom's Conversationalism: Davidson and Making It Explicit; 15. Bald Naturalism and McDowell's Hylomorphism; 16. Reductionist vs. Neo-Wittgensteinian Semantics; 17. Remarks on Nishida and Nishitani.

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Book SynopsisWittgenstein is often regarded as the most important philosopher of the twentieth century, and in recent decades, his work has begun to play a prominent role in literary studies, particularly in debates over language, interpretation, and critical judgment. Wittgenstein and Literary Studies solidifies this critical movement, assembling recent critics and philosophers who understand Wittgenstein as a counterweight to longstanding tendencies in both literary studies and philosophical aesthetics. The essays here cover a wide range of topics. Why have contemporary writers been so drawn to Wittgenstein? What is a Wittgensteinian response to New Historicism, Post-Critique, and other major critical movements? How does Wittgenstein help us understand the nature of style, fiction, poetry, and the link between ethics and aesthetics? As the volume makes clear, Wittgenstein''s work provides a rare bridge between professional philosophy and literary studies, offering us a way out of entrenched positTable of ContentsIntroduction Robert Chodat and John Gibson; 1. Writing after Wittgenstein Michael LeMahieu; 2. A Wittgensteinian phenomenology of criticism Toril Moi; 3. Appreciating material: criticism, science, and the very idea of method Robert Chodat; 4. A vision of language for literary historians: forms of life, context, use Sarah Beckwith; 5. Wittgenstein and the prospects for a contemporary literary humanism Espen Hammer; 6. Storied thoughts: Wittgenstein and the reaches of fiction Magdalena Ostas; 7. Wittgenstein and lyric Hannah Vandegrift Eldridge; 8. Life, logic, style: on late Wittgenstein Henry Pickford; 9. Wittgenstein's apocalyptic subjectivity Benjamin Ware.

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Book SynopsisThis volume celebrates the centenary of the birth of Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch. These four remarkable women were philosophical colleagues in Oxford in the 1940s, and their careers intertwined and overlapped henceforth. The papers in this book are all by prominent philosophers who spoke at the Royal Institute of Philosophy''s annual lecture series from 2018-9. Together they cover the philosophical careers of Anscombe, Foot, Midgley and Murdoch, focusing on their thinking on morality, human nature and action and the place of humanity in the animal and natural world, all areas to which they made notable and distinctive contributions. Connexions are drawn to the thought of Wittgenstein, Aquinas and Aristotle. This book demonstrates the way these four philosophers individually and collectively changed the direction of philosophy in the English speaking world in the mid-twentieth-century and how they continue to influence it one hundred years after theiTable of ContentsPreface Anthony O'Hear; 1. The women are up to something Benjamin J. B. Lipscomb; 2. A philosopher of singular style and multiple modes John Haldane; 3. Revisiting Modern Moral Philosophy Jennifer A. Frey; 4. Anscombe on brute facts and human affairs Rachael Wiseman; 5. Aristotelian Necessity Candace Vogler; 6. Volunteers and conscripts: Philippa Foot and the amoralist Nakul Krishna; 7. Virtues as perfections of human powers: on the metaphysics of goodness in Aristotelian naturalism John Hacker-Wright; 8. Depicting human form Clare Mac Cumhaill; 9. Love and unselfing in Iris Murdoch Julia Driver; 10. The elusiveness of the ethical: from Murdoch to Diamond Sabina Lovibond; 11. Iris Murdoch and common sense or, what is it like to be a woman in philosophy Hannah Marije Altorf; 12. Philosophical plumbing in the twenty-first century Liz McKinnell; 13. Relationality in the thought of Mary Midgley Gregory S. McElwain; 14. 'Removing the barriers': Mary Midgley on concern for animals David E. Cooper; 15. Evolution as a religion: Mary Midgley's hopes and fears Anthony O'Hear.

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Book SynopsisAt the turn of the twentieth century, G. E. Moore contemptuously dismissed most previous ''ethical systems'' for committing the ''Naturalistic Fallacy''. This fallacy - which has been variously understood, but has almost always been seen as something to avoid - was perhaps the greatest structuring force on subsequent ethical theorising. To a large extent, to understand the Fallacy is to understand contemporary ethics. This volume aims to provide that understanding. Its thematic chapters - written by a range of distinguished contributors - introduce the history, text and philosophy behind Moore''s charge of fallacy and its supporting ''open question'' argument. They detail how the fallacy influenced multiple traditions in ethics (including evolutionary, religious and naturalistic approaches), its connections to supposed dichotomies between ''is''/''ought'' and facts/values, and its continuing relevance to our understanding of normativity. Together, the chapters provide a historical and Table of ContentsIntroduction Neil Sinclair; 1. The naturalistic fallacy and the history of metaethics Neil Sinclair; 2. The naturalistic fallacy: what it is, and what it isn't Fred Feldman; 3. The context and origin of Moore's Formulation of the Naturalistic Fallacy in Principia Ethica Consuelo Preti; 4. No-ought-from-is, the naturalistic fallacy and the fact/value distinction: the history of a mistake Charles Pigden; 5. Evolution and the naturalistic fallacy Michael Ruse; 6. Motivation, recommendation, non-cognitivism and the naturalistic fallacy Mark van Roojen; 7. Open question arguments and the irreducibility of ethical normativity William J. FitzPatrick; 8. Should analytical descriptivists worry about the naturalistic fallacy? Susana Nuccetelli; 9. Normativity and the naturalistic fallacy Connie S. Rosati; 10. The naturalistic fallacy and theological ethics Christian B. Miller; 11. The phenomenology of moral deliberation and the non-naturalistic fallacy Terry Horgan and Mark Timmons; 12. Epistemic relativism and the naturalistic fallacy J. Adam Carter.

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Book SynopsisIn SARS Stories, Belinda Kong delves into the cultural archive of the 2003 SARS pandemic, examining Chinese-language creative works and social practices at the epicenters of the outbreak in China and Hong Kong. As the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted issues of anti-Asian racism and sinophobia, Kong traces how Chinese people navigated the SARS pandemic and created meaning amid crisis through cultures of epidemic expression. From sentimental romances and Cantopop songs to raunchy sex comedies and crowdsourced ghost tales, unexpected and minor genres and creators of Chinese popular culture highlight the resilience and humanity of those living through the pandemic. Rather than narrating pandemic life in terms of crisis and catastrophe, Kong argues that these works highlight Chinese practices of community, care, and love amid disease. She also highlights the persistence of orientalism in anglophone accounts of SARS index patients and global reporting on COVID-era China. Kong shows hTrade Review“As we still come to grips with the COVID-19 pandemic, Belinda Kong’s SARS Stories provides a powerful testament to the ways in which cultural discourse—fiction, film, and digital media—shape our understanding of pandemic narratives. In the process, Kong reveals the often tenuous line between the truths conveyed through ‘fiction’ and the lies that sometimes haunt the ‘facts.’” -- Michael Berry, author of * Translation, Disinformation, and Wuhan Diary: Anatomy of a Transpacific Cyber Campaign *“As our contemporary pandemic commonsense swings from jingoism to denialism, reading Belinda Kong’s incredibly learned and daring book has been not just enlightening but, dare I say, therapeutic. Kong has taught me to think anew about pandemic epistemologies in relation to race, empire, and power while giving name to my own desire for ‘pandemic prosociality.’ Written with warmth, curiosity, and verve, SARS Stories will speak to anyone and everyone who has tried to make sense of the past several years of pandemic life.” -- Sunny Xiang, author of * Tonal Intelligence: The Aesthetics of Asian Inscrutability During the Long Cold War *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1. Pandemic Ordinariness: Epidemic Romances and Female Sentiments 33 2. Pandemic Humor: Digital Prosociality for the Epidemic Socius 77 3. Pandemic Resilience: Deextinction and the Hong Kong Cantophone 112 4. Pandemic First Patients: Deperilizing the Anglophone SARS Archive 180 Afterword 238 Notes 241 Bibliography 267 Index 285

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Book SynopsisIllustrations and examples have always been deemed rare in the otherwise abundant materials Kant sent to be printed. In this sense, tradition has made out of the Königsbergs philosopher a rather arid writer. He himself advocated for the perks of a proper scholastic method in presenting arguments. It is thus a common place among scholars that Herr Professor valued discursive clarity over any whimsical rhetorical garments the popular thinker could have been tempted to wield in defense of his surely more than dubious reasons. But even with that in mind, in Kants writings there is this persistent and everlasting metaphor regarding the activity of navigation. A metaphor going all through the Kantian philosophical enterprise: either in the form of sailing the thin air and pretending to avoid -- or surf -- any resistance, like the figure of the dove in the Critique of Pure Reason (1781); or better with the picture of the wandering unconcerned under the celestial and immeasurable vault only to discover we were lost in search for the North in What Does It Mean To Orient Oneself In Thinking?(1786), Kants critical philosophy insisted in the depiction of the task of thinking not only as a concrete one depending on facts and experience gathered -- pinpoint locations -- but also as a matter of orientation depending on the necessity of categories -- criteria, cardinal points -- of thought. If fanciful aspirations of ideas happen to take off from the objective ground irresponsibly as if empirical experience and facts had no substance at all -- it is with good reason that due operations of counterbalance should be taking place with help of the sound weight of articulated reasonable concepts based on formal and material reality. Kants theory of mind presupposes a responsibility of a subject in relation to several types of objects. The two of these epistemic extremes are intertwined and in need of each other. When it comes to orientation, leaning on some sort of inner compass, each of us would have both in regard to sensitivity, knowledge, and moral thinking which serves like a guide to the trip within all three domains, and even comes in handy to map them out. This collective volume is precisely devoted to the task of revisiting some landscapes of the Kantian thought-itinerary along the brave seas and deep into the thick forests of justified knowledge, principles of morals and judgement in aesthetics: through its pages this work has put together renowned scholars from very different traditions eager to circumnavigate again the issues and concerns of 18th Century Philosophy and the particular Kantian solution of a new branded type of metaphysical inquiry, one inquiry subject to intellectual global duties as well.

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Book SynopsisThe integrity of the human being made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) has been a challenge confronting not just the theologian, but great rulers, politicians, reformers, scientists, poets, artists, composers and novelists over centuries. The Orthodox Tradition might note that our human condition in time and space is shaped and challenged by this journey from likeness to image. Biblically we journey to see the face of God. Less theologically, the human condition is shaped by the tensions and contradictions as we journey to seek 'freedom'. Paradigms of Freedom explores, in the context of the unfolding of modern history, how this challenge has been compounded and enriched by the people and institutions who have sought to find and promote the concept of freedom (and issues of personal liberty) in the face of contrary or oppressive circumstances and systems. Importantly, it will examine the contribution of the artist to various models of freedom, some of which may be identified as vectors of transcendence; when image becomes likeness. The nature of human society, the sense of social harmony and paternalistic control that characterized society for centuries, and especially the emergence of Western culture, began to crumble in the fourteenth century with the cataclysmic onslaught of the Black Death; the challenge to the monolithic power of the Church and the nature of feudalism; the growth of new philosophical and political theories; and overall crumbling of authority. In the fifteenth century new developments like the invention of printing; the standardization of modern languages; and the global expansion of exploration, mercantilism and colonization presented unprecedented horizons of growth and challenges to the place and meaning of humanity in the world. These challenges are embodied in the Renaissance and Reformation, where the very foundations of belief and knowledge were questioned in new processes of discovery in both the world and the cosmos. The nature of freedom to search, to question and to discover new things brought about political and intellectual developments in an ever-expanding series of movements and interrogations. Moved by the annals of the times, individuals have sought to understand and perpetuate the heroic struggles through their own creative power. This in turn can draw us to share in those lost or sorrowful times, and reflect on the sacrifice and vision of those who have been prepared to witness fearlessly to the indomitable spirit of mankind, and his slow but inexorable movement or journey into the light. This exposition will examine various types/paradigms that have proposed and embodied concepts of freedom. These have tried, and often succeeded, in serving as vectors of transcendence, meditating on and mediating human aspiration. Such reflective movements of mind and heart are embodied both contemporaneously and retrospectively in various historical movements, political gestures and artistic creativity that have provoked thoughts on human liberty: political actions, decrees, philosophy, books, pictorial art, novels, poetry, theatre, opera and film. Representatives and examples (in words and imagery) of all these modes are exemplified in the chapters that explore certain iconic movements and personalities in some of the key historical and social events of the past six centuries. The process is of necessity selective. Religious conflict, freedom of thought and denomination, the wars fought over faith and control of the land, the desire for liberty of choice, challenging new discoveries in science and geography, cosmology, colonialism and slavery, Enlightenment, revolution and the search for national identity and independence-these are all areas that have absorbed human thought, knowledge and aspiration, and resulted in inevitable artistic reflection. This is not a history but a consideration of mankind's search to be free, and how this striving is embodied in the poetry of liberation.Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Age of Reformation and Jacobs Ladder (The Sixteenth Century); Religion and the Age of Science (The Seventeenth Century); Justice and Freedom in the Age of Enlightenment (The Eighteenth Century); Romanticism and Aspiration (The Nineteenth Century); A Time of Conflict and Murder (The Twentieth Century); Conclusion; Notes; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis anthology brings together 45 selections by a wide range of philosophers and other thinkers, and provides a representative sampling of the approaches to the study of human nature that have been taken within the western tradition.The selections range in time from the ancient Greeks to the 1990s, and in political orientation from the conservative individualism of Ayn Rand to the liberalism of John Rawls. Classic writings from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries are here (Descartes, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, and so on), but so are a wide range of twentieth-century writings, including a number of feminist voices, the biological theory of Edward O. Wilson, and the cultural materialist theory of Marvin Harris. A substantial selection of Christian views of human nature is a central part of the anthology.The anthology is as notable for its depth as it is for its breadth; an important editorial principle has been to include a variety of substantial selections, thus allowing the reader to engage more readily with some of the complexities of each approach.Trade Review“The readings are skillfully selected. […] Although there is a decided emphasis on the moral, social and political dimensions of human nature, yet another nice feature is the inclusion of scientific approaches. On the whole this is a commendable anthology, […] expansive and engaging, filled with an instructive assortment of classical and contemporary readings, with just enough little-known, off-the-beaten-path selections to pique the interest of most any veteran instructor or beginning students.” — Philosophy in Review“I look forward to using the readings in my class on human nature—the selections are balanced, sensible, and promise to engage the reader. Loptson has done a fine job.” — Frederick Kaufman, Ithaca College“I cannot think of a better book to which to refer someone who wants to understand in a short compass what Aristotle, liberalism, Rousseau, Marx or feminism are all about. And Loptson makes a genuinely novel contribution to scholarship.” — Julian Young, University of AucklandTable of ContentsAncient and Early Modern Views of Human Nature Plato, Republic Aristotle, Nocomachean Ethics; Politics René Descartes, Principles of Psychology Francois de la Rochefoucald, Maxims Earl of Rochester, A Satire Against Mankind Christian Views of Human Nature St. Augustine, Confessions; On Free Choice of the Will St. Thomas Aquinas, On the Virtues in General; On Free Choice Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity; The Second Treatise of Government; A Letter Concerning Toleration Joseph Butler, Fifteen Sermons Immanuel Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament to Freedom Liberalism Immanuel Kant, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? Antoine-Nicolas de Concordet, Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind Wilhelm Von Humboldt, The Limits of State Action J. S. Mill, On Liberty L.T. Hobhouse, Liberalism John Rawls, Political Liberalism Conservative Individualism Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathon James Boswell, The Life of Dr Johnson; Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, The Idler Simone Weil, The Need for Roots Ayn Rand, For the New Intellectual Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics Dialectical Theories of Human Nature Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origins of Inequality G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Mind; Philosophy of Right Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844; Thesis on Feuerbach; The German Ideology Friedrich Nietzche, On the Geneology of Morals Biological Theories Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man Edward O. Wilson, On Human Nature FreudSigmund Freud, Character and Culture; Civilization and its Discontents Behaviorism and Non-Self Theories David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature Julien de La Mettrie, Man a Machine J.B. Watson, The Ways of Behaviorism; Behaviourism Margaret A. Boden, Artificial Intelligence in Psychology Daniel C. Dennett, Consciousness Explained Feminism Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex Juliet Mitcell, Psychoanalysis and Feminism; Women: The Longest Revolution Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice. Katha Politt, Marooned on Gilligan’s Island: Are Women Morally Superior to Men? Some Contrary Voices Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Humanism Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae Twentieth-Century Views in Sociology and Anthropology Ferdinand Tonnies, Community and Society. Marvin Harris, Cultural Materialism; Our Kind. Works Cited and Recommended Reading

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Book SynopsisContemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy is a collection of essays dedicated to Vere Chappell, one of the most respected scholars in the field of early modern philosophy. Seventeen distinguished scholars have contributed essays to this collection on topics including dualism, identity and essence, causation, theodicy, free will, perception, abstraction, and the moral law.Trade Review“Original, incisive, probing essays on central topics in the history of modern philosophy by leaders in the field in honor of one of the masters in the discipline.” — R.C. Sleigh, Jr., University of Massachusetts, Amherst“This volume of eighteen well-crafted analytical essays on Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant is authored and edited by some of the best known historians of philosophy today. Ranging over issues in the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, moral philosophy, and the philosophy of science, it is a fitting tribute to a notable scholar.” — Catherine Wilson, City University of New York Graduate CenterTable of ContentsIntroduction Gary Matthews Descartes’s Fourth Meditation as Theodicy Lisa Shapiro “Turn My Will in Completely the Opposite Direction”: Radical Doubt and Descartes’s Account of Free Will Marleen Rozemond Descartes’s Ontology of the Eternal Truths Thomas M. Lennon The Significance of Descartes’s Objection of Objections Alison Simmons Guarding the Body: A Cartesian Phenomenology of Perception John Carriero Substance and Ends in Leibniz G.A.J. Rogers Locke and the Creation of the Essay Nicholas Jolley Lockean Abstractionism Versus Cartesian Nativism Edwin McCann Identity, Essentialism, and the Substance of Body in Locke Dan Kaufman The Resurrection of the Same Body and the Ontological Status of Organisms: What Locke Should Have (and Could Have) Told Stillingfleet Michael Jacovides Lockean Fluids Kenneth P. Winkler Locke’s Defense of Mathematical Physics Martha Brandt Bolton Intellectual Virtue and Moral Law in Locke’s Ethics Margaret Atherton What Have We Learned When We Learn to See?: Lessons Learned from the Theory of Vision Vindicated Janet Broughton Hume’s Explanation of Causal Inference Stephen Voss A Critique of Kantian Sensibility Paul Guyer Object, Self, and Cause: Kant’s Answers to Hume Index

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Book SynopsisContinental Philosophy: A Critical Approach is a lucid and wide-ranging introduction to the key figures and philosophical movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Includes chapters on Hegel; Marx and Western Marxism; Schopenhauer, Freud, and Bergson; Nietzsche; hermeneutics; phenomenology; existentialism; structuralism,; poststructuralism; French feminism; and postmodernism. Provides an ideal text or background resource for many different introductory and advanced courses on modern European philosophy. Trade Review"Schroeder has a masterful command of the Continental tradition after Kant in European philosophy. He presents a comprehensive critical introduction to the philosophers who have shaped it, in an admirably clear and concise idiom that is readily accessible to academics, students, and general readers alike."—Richard Schacht, University of Illinois "This is an enormously impressive work. In the fashion of a panoramic mosaic, it assembles incisive analyses of the host of thinkers who comprise the 'Continental Tradition' in philosophy. Like no other book before it, it succeeds not only in helping us to understand the past, but also defines an array of future tasks that those working in this field will have to address."—Frithjof Bergmann, University of Michigan "Schroeder captures Continental philosophy's complex trajectory in clear and thoughtful language. Along the way, he offers provocative challenges to many of its central figures."—Todd May, Clemson UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Preface x Introduction 1 Descartes 1 Empiricism and the Rise of Science 4 Rationalism 7 The French Enlightenment 8 Challenges to the Enlightenment: Rousseau and Romanticism 11 Kant 16 Problems with Kant’s System 20 Fichte 23 Schelling 25 Hölderlin, Novalis, and Schiller 28 1 Hegel 30 Core Contributions 30 Life 32 The Phenomenology of Spirit 33 Philosophy of History 41 Politics and Ethics 44 Aesthetics 47 Philosophy of Mind 50 The Preface to the Phenomenologyas a Transition to the System 52 The System 55 Assessment 56 2 Marx And Western Marxism 60 Marx: Core Contributions 60 Life 61 Early Marx: Alienation and Capitalism 62 The Materialist Conception of History 66 Marx’s Analysis of the Capitalist Mode of Production 71 Assessment 74 Western Marxism 76 Core Contributions 79 Gramsci 80 Horkheimer 83 Marcuse 85 Habermas 88 Assessment 91 Summary 92 3 Life-Philosophy And Subconscious Forces: Schopenhauer, Freud, And Bergson 93 Core Contributions 93 Schopenhauer 95 Freud 98 Bergson 107 Comparisons 111 Assessment 113 4 Nietzsche 117 Core Contributions 117 Life 119 On Reading Nietzsche 119 The Death of God and the Struggle Against Nihilism 120 Critique of Morality and Revaluation of Values 124 Constructive Ethics: Life-Affirmation, Power, Individuated Virtues 130 Art 132 History 134 Culture and Politics 136 Human Life and Consciousness 138 Epistemology and Metaphysics 140 New Philosophers 142 Comparisons 143 Assessment 146 5 Hermeneutics 149 Core Contributions 149 A Precursor: Schleiermacher 152 Dilthey 154 Heidegger 158 Gadamer 165 Betti 167 Comparisons 169 Assessment 170 6 Phenomenology 174 Introduction 174 Core Contributions 177 Some Types of Phenomenology 181 The Contributions of the Founder: Husserl 183 Concrete Phenomenological Studies 187 Phenomenology and Social Science 199 Other Applications 201 Comparisons 202 Assessment 203 7 Existentialism And Philosophical Anthropology 206 Core Contributions 206 Existentialism 207 Kierkegaard 209 Heidegger 215 Sartre 221 Philosophical Anthropology 228 Scheler 229 Goldstein 234 Gehlen 237 Assessment 240 8 Structuralism 243 Core Contributions 243 Saussure 245 Barthes 249 Lévi-Strauss 253 Lacan 257 Althusser 260 Barthes’s Transcendence of Structuralism 263 Assessment 264 9 Philosophies Of Dispersion 267 Introduction 267 Core Contributions 268 Foucault 271 Derrida 280 Deleuze 287 Assessment 291 10 French Feminist Philosophy 297 Core Contributions 297 De Beauvoir 299 Kristeva 305 Irigaray 310 Le Doeuff 315 Comparisons 319 Assessment 320 11 Postmodernism 323 Some Distinctions 323 Core Contributions 325 Lyotard 327 Baudrillard 332 Assessment 341 Conclusions 345 Strengths and Achievements 345 Decision-points 351 Specific Field Contributions 357 Dispersionist Challenges to the Tradition: A Response 363 Notes 374 Bibliography 403 Index 429

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Book Synopsis This is an English translation of Descartes'' seminal discourse, with an original essay by Richard Kennington. This text is designed to provide the student with a close translation, notes, and a glossary of key terms, facilitating access to ideas as they originally were presented and helping to make the translator''s work transparent. Focus Philosophical Library translations are close to and are non-interpretative of the original text, with the notes and a glossary intending to provide the reader with some sense of the terms and the concepts as they were understood by Decartes'' immediate audience. The Focus Philosophical Library publishes clear, faithful editions enabling access for modern students to the essential ideas and wisdom of the world's greatest thinkers.

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Book SynopsisEva Brann, who has been teaching at St. Johns College, Annapolis, for sixty years, wrote these essays largely as clarifying incitements to students who were reading, or ought to have been reading, the works discussed. In her words: The first essay looks at the Pre-Socratics Heraclitus and Parmenides. They appear to be in radical opposition, but they are really doing the same, new thing: seeing the world as an intelligible whole. Both observe external nature, construing it in their mindsso, from the outside in. The final essay again describes two ways of world-construing from the outside inone by penetrating the surface of reality, the other by spinning a web of complexity over it. The five essays in between focus on works by Kant and display the world as constituted from the human inside out. An appreciative review of the Critique of Pure Reason shows how Kant brilliantly justifies a science of nature by making nature itself the construct of our understanding. But he leads us to the abyss of more idealism; externality and realism escape him. The explication of his one absolute moral commandment similarly defines his morality entirely in terms divorced from objective good and concentrated on internal integrity. Finally, his huge unpublished legacy agonizes about bringing a god, first conceived as an inner need, into external existence.

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Book SynopsisThis substantially revised new edition of Rousseau: The Basic Political Writings features a brilliant new Introduction by David Wootton, a revision by Donald A. Cress of his own 1987 translation of Rousseau's most important political writings, and the addition of Cress' new translation of Rousseau's State of ?War. New footnotes, headnotes, and a chronology by David Wootton provide expert guidance to first-time readers of the texts.

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Book SynopsisIn the winter of 1807, while Berlin was occupied by French troops, the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte presented fourteen public lectures that have long been studied as a major statement of modern nationalism. Yet Fichte's Addresses to the German Nation have also been interpreted by many as a vision of a cosmopolitan alternative to nationalism.This new edition of the Addresses is designed to make Fichte's arguments more accessible to English-speaking readers. The clear, readable, and reliable translation is accompanied by a chronology of the events surrounding Fichte's life, suggestions for further reading, and an index. The groundbreaking introductory essay situates Fichte's theory of the nation state in the history of modern political thought. It provides historians, political theorists, and other students of nationalism with a fresh perspective for considering the interface between cosmopolitanism and republicanism, patriotism and nationalism.

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Book SynopsisIn the winter of 1807, while Berlin was occupied by French troops, the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte presented fourteen public lectures that have long been studied as a major statement of modern nationalism. Yet Fichte's Addresses to the German Nation have also been interpreted by many as a vision of a cosmopolitan alternative to nationalism.This new edition of the Addresses is designed to make Fichte's arguments more accessible to English-speaking readers. The clear, readable, and reliable translation is accompanied by a chronology of the events surrounding Fichte's life, suggestions for further reading, and an index. The groundbreaking introductory essay situates Fichte's theory of the nation state in the history of modern political thought. It provides historians, political theorists, and other students of nationalism with a fresh perspective for considering the interface between cosmopolitanism and republicanism, patriotism and nationalism.

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Book SynopsisThis edited book pays homage to the conceptual gifts left by Michel Foucault and it assesses different aspects of social sciences such as sociology, economics, arts, volunteering, crime, sexuality. The book is comprised of seven compelling chapters that together illustrate the impact of Foucault''s influence on diverse traditions. This is followed by a number of outstanding papers; each shining light on Foucault''s impact on particular inter-disciplinary forms of knowledge.

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Book Synopsis"Margaret Cavendish's philosophical work is at last taking its rightful place in the history of seventeenth-century thought, but her writings are so voluminous and wide-ranging that introducing her work to students has been difficult—at least until this volume came along. This carefully edited abridgment of Observations upon Experimental Philosophy will be indispensable for making Cavendish's fascinating ideas accessible to students. Marshall's Introduction provides a helpful overview of themes in Cavendish's natural philosophy, and the footnotes contain useful background information about some of the texts and philosophers that Cavendish mentions. The additional selections from Descartes, Hobbes, Boyle, and Hooke also help contextualize Cavendish's views." —Deborah Boyle, College of CharlestonTrade Review"An excellent introduction to an interesting but neglected voice in early-modern philosophy. Though her views don't fit neatly into the standard story of the development of natural philosophy in the period, Margaret Cavendish very much deserves to be read and appreciated for the alternatives she presents to what became the dominant picture. Marshall's Introduction and selection of texts allow the student to appreciate the diversity of views available at that crucial moment when the philosophical canon was being formed." —Daniel Garber, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsEditor's Introduction Life and Works Natural Philosophy Other Works, Other Themes Reading Cavendish Today A Note on This Edition Observations upon Experimental PhilosophyChapters 1-3, 5, 15-17, 19-21, 25-26, 31, 35-17Further Observations upon Experimental PhilosophyChapters 2-3, 5-8, 10-11, 13-15Selections from the Writings of Cavendish's Contemporaries From The Principles of Philosophy, by Rene Descartes From Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes From The Usefulness of Experimental Philosophy, By Robert Boyle From Micrographic, by Robert Hooke From The Excellence and Grounds of the Mechanical Natural Philosophy, by Robert Boyle Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis edition of Leviathan is intended to provide the reader with a modestly abridged text that is straightforward and accessible, while preserving Hobbes' main lines of argument and of thought. It is meant for those who wish to focus primarily on the philosophical aspects of the work, apart from its stylish but often daunting early modern prose. The editors have updated language, style, punctuation, and grammar throughout. Very long, complicated sentences have been broken into two or more sentences for enhanced readability. In some instances, terms within a sentence are rearranged for enhanced clarity. Occasionally, an equivalent contemporary word is substituted for an archaic one. Ellipses indicate omissions of more than one sentence. Care has been taken to maintain the strength, nuance, and flavor of the work, especially of Hobbes' most difficult arguments. In addition, the volume offers a general Introduction and concise headnotes to each chapter. Annotation is geared to the student or novice reader. A glossary of key terms is also included, as well as an index.Trade Review"Essential Leviathan is a translation of Hobbes' work, due to the fact that certain words and grammar have been altered to make the text more approachable. This 'translation' is very good: it makes the text highly accessible, certainly for the first time reader, but achieves this without jeopardizing original spirit or meaning. . . . Stanlick and Collette make up for a short introduction with a wealth of supporting footnotes, which give much needed information and clarification. This method has immediate benefits: it allows for the student to learn the background and context of Leviathan as they read through the text. . . . The footnotes on the intellectual context of Leviathan are particularly well done: they are both extensive and informative, and effectively enlighten the reader to the philosophical issues Hobbes was addressing. . . . [E]xcellent chapter introductions . . . effectively make the purpose of each individual chapter clearer, and link the arguments of different chapters together. . . . Educators . . . will certainly welcome Stanlick and Colette's modernized edition; it is a work which successfully makes Hobbes' arguments clear, approachable, and most importantly, relevant to the Twenty-First Century reader, whilst simultaneously maintaining the spirit and beauty of Hobbes' original text." —Ruairidh J Brown, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, in Hobbes Studies

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Book SynopsisThis edition of Leviathan is intended to provide the reader with a modestly abridged text that is straightforward and accessible, while preserving Hobbes' main lines of argument and of thought. It is meant for those who wish to focus primarily on the philosophical aspects of the work, apart from its stylish but often daunting early modern prose. The editors have updated language, style, punctuation, and grammar throughout. Very long, complicated sentences have been broken into two or more sentences for enhanced readability. In some instances, terms within a sentence are rearranged for enhanced clarity. Occasionally, an equivalent contemporary word is substituted for an archaic one. Ellipses indicate omissions of more than one sentence. Care has been taken to maintain the strength, nuance, and flavor of the work, especially of Hobbes' most difficult arguments. In addition, the volume offers a general Introduction and concise headnotes to each chapter. Annotation is geared to the student or novice reader. A glossary of key terms is also included, as well as an index.Trade Review"Essential Leviathan is a translation of Hobbes' work, due to the fact that certain words and grammar have been altered to make the text more approachable. This 'translation' is very good: it makes the text highly accessible, certainly for the first time reader, but achieves this without jeopardizing original spirit or meaning. . . . Stanlick and Collette make up for a short introduction with a wealth of supporting footnotes, which give much needed information and clarification. This method has immediate benefits: it allows for the student to learn the background and context of Leviathan as they read through the text. . . . The footnotes on the intellectual context of Leviathan are particularly well done: they are both extensive and informative, and effectively enlighten the reader to the philosophical issues Hobbes was addressing. . . . [E]xcellent chapter introductions . . . effectively make the purpose of each individual chapter clearer, and link the arguments of different chapters together. . . . Educators . . . will certainly welcome Stanlick and Colette's modernized edition; it is a work which successfully makes Hobbes' arguments clear, approachable, and most importantly, relevant to the Twenty-First Century reader, whilst simultaneously maintaining the spirit and beauty of Hobbes' original text." —Ruairidh J Brown, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, in Hobbes Studies

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Book SynopsisThis edition of Utilitarianism supplements the text of Mill's classic essay with 58 related remarks carefully selected from Mill's other writings, ranging from his treatise on logic to his personal correspondence. In these remarks, Mill comments on specific passages of Utilitarianism, elaborates on topics he handles briefly in Utilitarianism, and discusses additional aspects of his moral thought. Short introductory comments accompany the related remarks, and an editor's introduction provides an overview of Utilitarianism crafted specifically to enhance accessibility for first-time readers of the essay.Trade Review"Some of the ambiguity of Utilitarianism can be resolved, or at least debated, by attention to Mill's other writings. Eggleston's edition provides the primary sources for such discussion in its endnotes. A serious teacher of Utilitarianism should use this edition." —Henry West, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Macalester College"Eggleston has produced easily the best edition of Utilitarianism available. By conveniently including so many of the relevant passages from supplementary works, all organized for ease of reference, scholars and students alike will now have at their fingertips the materials needed to make sense of Mill's classic text. This is important not just for an accurate understanding of Mill's own moral and political philosophy, but for a proper appreciation of utilitarianism as a leading moral tradition." —Piers Norris Turner, Associate Professor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University"Wonderful idea to publish Mill's Utilitarianism with related remarks from Mill's other writings. Like Nietzsche, Mill clearly assumed that the readers of Utilitarianism knew his other writings, which is no longer the case. That is why this is such a valuable edition, especially for students." —Robert H. Haraldsson, University of Iceland

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Book SynopsisThinking Through Utilitarianism: A Guide to Contemporary Arguments offers something new among texts elucidating the ethical theory known as Utilitarianism. Intended primarily for students ready to dig deeper into moral philosophy, it examines, in a dialectical and reader-friendly manner, a set of normative principles and a set of evaluative principles leading to what is perhaps the most defensible version of Utilitarianism. With the aim of laying its weaknesses bare, each principle is serially introduced, challenged, and then defended. The result is a battery of stress tests that shows with great clarity not only what is attractive about the theory, but also where its problems lie. It will fascinate any student ready for a serious investigation into what we ought to do and what is of value.Trade Review"A wonderfully executed introduction to utilitarianism that is unlike anything else on the market. It begins with a set of structural issues facing any ethical theory and then carefully shows how utilitarianism fills in that structure by considering the choices it faces at each step. In the way the reader is led from one distinction to the next (as each structural issue is addressed) and in the accessible, conversational style of the prose, the book also has the feel of a philosophical dialogue. It sets out the leading commitments of the view and then breaks down precisely how each commitment might be challenged and defended. The book will be an excellent resource for students who have already been introduced to utilitarianism and want to get clearer—much clearer—on the implications of accepting the view." —Piers Norris Turner, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Ethics and Human Values, The Ohio State University"Thinking Through Utilitarianism: A Guide to the Contemporary Arguments (‘TTU’) is a careful, precise piece of work that aims to lay out what its authors take to be the strongest case for Utilitarianism. . . . TTU offers an excellent overview of many of the most impressive contemporary arguments in favor of utilitarianism, and therefore represents a useful resource for instructors who wish to move beyond the established canon of Bentham, Mill, Sidgwick, and perhaps Singer. . . . I am not aware of a work that fits the same niche as TTU, or which matches it in terms of placing the most persuasive arguments in favor of a specific moral theory in one place." —Ben Davies, in Teaching Philosophy"In Thinking Through Utilitarianism: A Guide to Contemporary Arguments, Andrew Forcehimes and Luke Semrau tackle the main problems and spare no effort to build a strong case for a widely disputed ethical theory. The book is well organized in three parts and does not hinge on historical or biographical details of classical utilitarians. With the exception of the first two chapters, which provide the basic concepts, the remaining chapters summarize and interact with recent work in the field. The explanations are straightforward, and the authors also inform readers how they plan to answer difficulties related to the nine principles discussed in the book. Although suitable for those already familiar with this normative theory, I believe the book will serve a wider audience. Thinking Through Utilitarianism is a helpful guide to recent arguments in support of utilitarianism that illustrates how well it undergoes critical scrutiny. Even though one may be familiar with some of the topics discussed, the detailed exposition of the arguments makes this volume a relevant contribution to the field." -Marco Oliveira in Journal of Moral Philosophy

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Book SynopsisThinking Through Utilitarianism: A Guide to Contemporary Arguments offers something new among texts elucidating the ethical theory known as Utilitarianism. Intended primarily for students ready to dig deeper into moral philosophy, it examines, in a dialectical and reader-friendly manner, a set of normative principles and a set of evaluative principles leading to what is perhaps the most defensible version of Utilitarianism. With the aim of laying its weaknesses bare, each principle is serially introduced, challenged, and then defended. The result is a battery of stress tests that shows with great clarity not only what is attractive about the theory, but also where its problems lie. It will fascinate any student ready for a serious investigation into what we ought to do and what is of value.Trade Review"A wonderfully executed introduction to utilitarianism that is unlike anything else on the market. It begins with a set of structural issues facing any ethical theory and then carefully shows how utilitarianism fills in that structure by considering the choices it faces at each step. In the way the reader is led from one distinction to the next (as each structural issue is addressed) and in the accessible, conversational style of the prose, the book also has the feel of a philosophical dialogue. It sets out the leading commitments of the view and then breaks down precisely how each commitment might be challenged and defended. The book will be an excellent resource for students who have already been introduced to utilitarianism and want to get clearer—much clearer—on the implications of accepting the view." —Piers Norris Turner, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Ethics and Human Values, The Ohio State University

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Book SynopsisBernard Bolzano’s (1781–1848) writings in aesthetics are clear, concise, and explicit about method. Provocative and revisionary, they champion broad views of beauty, the arts, and their social function. Dominic McIver Lopes's introductory materials place Bolzano's essays in context, give them a new interpretation, and map out how to teach them, in full or in part, in a variety of courses.Trade Review"In two eminently teachable essays—clear, controversial, methodologically acute—Bolzano recasts a broadly Kantian aesthetics, connecting beauty to intellectual achievement, education, and art practice. Immensely helpful guidance, for scholars and students, is provided by the editorial materials: translation notes, an elegant theoretical and contextual Introduction of Bolzano and the text, and a forcefully argued Appendix detailing Bolzano’s criticisms of Kant’s aesthetics." —Rachel Zuckert, Northwestern University"An exciting arrival for anyone interested in fresh perspectives on central debates in aesthetics and its history. Lopes gives a lively and efficient overview of Bolzano's life and historical context, and then provides a short, engaging sketch of how the conceptions of beauty and art that Bolzano develops in these essays might compare (and contrast) with leading positions in classical and contemporary aesthetics. Bolzano’s essays themselves are especially exemplary of his philosophical and writerly virtues. Both the translation and Lopes’s interpretive commentary make for great additions to the pedagogical and scholarly resources in aesthetics and the philosophy of the arts, and the whole volume is a welcome and important contribution for anyone interested in the rich legacies of modern German philosophy." —Clinton Tolley, University of California San Diego

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Book Synopsis"A social work pioneer debunks the myth of a Great Society. Embedded in a contrapuntal culture, while societal dysfunctionality and institutional meltdown play havoc with mortals, we stand on the edge of an existential abyss. Humanity confronts its own monsters: Fury of fires, floods; scourges of a pandemic; random mass shootings; and mayhem, not to speak of the ravages of pervasive inequality, injustice, and ubiquity of fear. A culture of falsification, terror, and nihilist narcissism obscures small steps toward progress. The algorithms of change thwart human and social development since structural anomalies breed dysfunctional outcomes. They also manifest contours of frayed institutions in a broken society. The result is paradoxical convulsions of hopeand despair. Once the structure of values erodes, our social-institutional foundation requires transformational renewal. The author calls for a new Social Contract and Enlightenment Two - a movement of reconstruction - in search of a new society. Implicit here is a compelling argument to reinvent homo-sapiens and rediscover the purpose of life i.e., global harmony"--

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Book SynopsisThe history of scepticism is assumed by many to be the history of failed responses to a problem first raised by Descartes. While the thought of the ancient sceptics is acknowledged, their principle concern with how to live a good life is regarded as bearing little, if any, relation to the work of contemporary epistemologists. In "Scepticism" Neil Gascoigne engages with the work of canonical philosophers from Descartes, Hume and Kant through to Moore, Austin, and Wittgenstein to show how themes that first emerged in the Hellenistic period are inextricably bound up with the historical development of scepticism. Foremost amongst these is the view that scepticism relates not to the possibility of empirical knowledge but to the possibility of epistemological theory. This challenge to epistemology itself is explored and two contemporary trends are considered: the turn against foundationalist epistemology and towards more naturalistic conceptions of inquiry, and the resistance to this on the part of non-naturalistically inclined philosophers. In contextualizing the debate in this way Gascoigne equips students with a better appreciation of the methodological importance of sceptical reasoning, an analytic understanding of the structure of sceptical arguments, and an awareness of the significance of scepticism to the nature of philosophical inquiry.Trade Review"A vivid and clearly written tour de force, admirably ready and willing to dismiss any position in epistimology if it ignores the sceptical problem." - The Philosophers' Magazine "An excellent and thought-provoking introduction - his ambitious coverage of the history of sceptical thought is quite astounding for such a slim book." - Duncan Pritchard, University of Edinburgh, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction: the whimsical condition of mankind 1. Scepticism and knowledge 2. The legacy of Socrates 3. Demons, doubt and common life 4. Transcendental meditations 5. Un/natural doubts 6. Internalisms and externalisms. Index

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Book SynopsisWird die Verbindung von Materie und Form, Begrifflichkeit und Sinnlichkeit, von Sinnlichem und Unsinnlichem zum Problem, so geistert in der Geschichte der Philosophie seit der Antike der Begriff des Schemas herum und ist auch heutzutage etwa in Theorien der Verkörperung zentral. Während Kant das Schema als Bedingung der Bedeutungsentstehung versteht und in kritischer Absicht von Bildern, Zeichen und Symbolen abgrenzt, ordnen Maimon, Hamann, Herder, Hegel und später Plessner dem Schematismus sinnliche und sprachliche Prozesse einer Morphogenese zu. Diese Revisionen geben Anlass zu einer neuen Theorie des Schematismus, in welcher der Versinnlichung der Status einer transzendentalen Bedingung der Verkörperung zukommt. So verstanden hat Versinnlichung als systematischer Kern der aktuellen Sprach- und Erkenntnistheorie zu gelten.

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Book SynopsisAlthough considered as one of the 20th century most central ethical thinkers, Emmanuel Levinas claimed that his task was not to construct an ethics, but to seek the meaning of the ethical. This claim is the point of departure of the present study, which asks how ethics could be regarded as meaningful at all in light of the crisis of meaning that according to Levinas is inherent to being.Ethical meaning is for Levinas sought otherwise than being or beyond essence in terms of a radical responsibility for the Other. At the same time, it is questionable whether the ethical may be said to represent an overcoming of the crisis of meaning. This is visible in Levinas rather harsh descriptions of the ethical situation, involving not only the meaningless, but also feelings like melancholy, trauma, and shame.As the study shows, such feelings can for Levinas not be seen apart from their religious significance, although Levinas does not rely on conventional theology, but rather understands transcendence in a deeply sensible manner. This is shown in the radical passivity and self-emptying to the point of messianism of the responsible subject, which is the only way the meaning of the ethical may be rescued.The study also discusses how the utopian aspect of such a position is problematic in practical life, and why Levinas therefore admits the need for the ethical to be betrayed in ontology, which also implies an involvement with aesthetics as ontological par excellence. Although considered as one of the 20th century most central ethical thinkers, Emmanuel Levinas claimed that his task was not to construct an ethics, but to seek the meaning of the ethical. In this study Stine Holte examines the problem of ethical meaning in Levinas thinking and shows how the articulation of the ethical implies notions like trauma, melancholy, and shame, and hence a questioning of what we normally regard as meaningful.

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Book SynopsisThe notion of "the problematic" has changed its meaning within the history of power and knowledge since the early 20th century, leading up to today's performative, neocybernetic fascination with generalized management ideas and technocratic models of science. This book explores central scenes, conceptual elaborations, and practical affiliations of what historically has been called "the problem" or "the problematic". By way of considering modes of problematization as modes of inhabitation, intervention, and transformation the contributions map its current conceptual-political uses as well as onto-epistemological challenges. Thus, "problematization" is positioned as a critical concept that links, often in intricate ways, several currents from speculative philosophy to the formation of interdisciplinary fields. The "problematic", as it turns out, has been the source of change in philosophy and the sciences all along.

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Book SynopsisIn a review of the work of Karl Jaspers composed several years before the publication of his book Being and Time, Martin Heidegger suggested that the philosophical orientations of his period had made a wrong turn and skirted by the fundamental path of thought. He suggested that instead of taking up a heritage of original questions, his contemporaries had become preoccupied with secondary issues, accepting as fundamental what was in fact only incidental. In the years that followed, Heidegger's promise to reorient philosophy in terms of the Seinsfrage, the question of Being, exercised a well-known influence on successive generations of thinkers on a global scale.The present book delves into the philosophical sources of this influence and raises the question whether Heidegger indeed made good on the promise to reveal for thought what is truly fundamental. In proposing this investigation, the author assumes that it is not sufficient to take Heidegger at his word, but that it is necessary to scrutinize what is posited as fundamental in light of its broader implications–above all for ethico-political judgment and for historical reflection. After addressing this question in the first part of the book, the second part examines the significance of Heidegger's reorientation of philosophy through the prism of its critical reception in the thought of Hannah Arendt, Emmanuel Levinas, and Paul Ricœur.

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Book SynopsisDanish Yearbook of Philosophy - Volume 40

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Book SynopsisThis volume of Danish Yearbook of Philosophy contains articles read as papers at the Symposium on Social Constructivism held in Copenhagen in 1992.Table of ContentsHow to do the sociology of knowledge, Barry Barnes; social constructivism without paradox, Finn Collin; social constructivism teaching itself a lesson, Steve Fuller; self-defining worlds, Kirsten Hastrup; construction and fiction, Karin Knorr Cetina; what matters? on Parfit's ideas of personal identity and morality, Paul Luebcke.

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Book SynopsisDanish Yearbook of Philosophy - Volume 29Table of ContentsL'heritage Husserlien chez Koyre et Bachelard, Soren Gosvig Olesen; beyond realism and idealism in Husserl's late concept of constitution, Dan Zahavi; some derivations of Bell's inequality, Kaj Borge Hansen; once more, Jan Faye Bohr-Hoffding; die ontologie des intentionalen, Soren Harnow Klausen.

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Book SynopsisDanish Yearbook of Philosophy - Volume 31Table of ContentsMetaphor and ambiguity, Anders Engstrom; metaphor, interpretation and contexualization, Claes Entzenberg; from a semiotic to a neo-pragmatic understanding of metaphor, Drude von der Fehr; understanding metaphors with the two hemispheres of the brain, Nikolaj Frandsen; Kierkegaard - metaphor and the musical-erotic, Cynthia Grund; the irrelevance of meaning, Thorsteinn Gylfason; metaphors for living - living metaphors, Arto Haapala; man as wolf (once more), Thorleifur Hauksson; visual metaphors, Hans Siggaard Jensen; musicalization of metaphor and metaphoricalness in music, Hroar Klempe; metaphor - a semiotic perspective, Svend Erik Larsen; obscurity as a linguistic device - introductory and historical notes, Paivi Mehtonen; the limits of literal meaning, Erna Oesch; metaphor and conceptual change, Veikko Rantala; how can a metaphor be genuinely illuminating?, Stig Rasmussen.

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