Western philosophy from c 1800 Books

6040 products


  • History of Philosophy Volume 10

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC History of Philosophy Volume 10

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis addition to Copleston's covers Russian thought from the eighteenth century to Lenin and the post-Stalin period. Frederick Copleston was Professor of the History of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Theology at London University. This eleven-volume work is one of the most remarkable single-handed scholarly enterprises of modern times. Volume 10 covers Mikhail Bakunin, Nikolai Bukharin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Alexander Herzen, Vladimir Lenin, George Plekhanov and Leo Tolstoy.In the course of tracing the evolution of philosophical thought in Russia from the time of Catherine the Great into the present century, the author devotes careful analysis to radical thinkers, Marxists and the relevant ideas of the great Russian writers. He also includes a discussion on Russian thinkers in exile. Brimming with detail and enthusiasm, A History of Philosophy gives an accessible account of philosophers from all eras and explains their works in relation to other philosophers. Each volume is an ideal guide for students studying specific eras and as a set offers a complete and unrivalled overview of the entire western philosophical tradition.Trade ReviewA monumental history ... learned, lucid, patient and comprehensive. * New Statesman *We can only applaud at the end of each act and look forward to applauding again at the final curtain. * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsAuthor's Preface 1 Introduction 2 Chaadaev: Russia and the West 3 Ivan Kireevsky and Integral Knowledge 4 From Reconciliation with Reality to Revolution 5 The New Men 6 Peter Lavrov and the Subjective Method 7 Dostoevsky and Philosophy 8 Meaning in Life and History 9 Religion and Philosophy: Vladimir Solovyev 10 Marxism in Imperial Russia (1): Plekhanov 11 Marxism in Imperial Russia (2): Lenin 12 Marxism in the Soviet Union 13 Philosophers in Exile (1) 14 Philosophers in Exile (2) Epilogue Bibliography Index

    1 in stock

    £21.84

  • Philosophical Investigations

    John Wiley and Sons Ltd Philosophical Investigations

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn this definitive new en face German-English edition, Wittgenstein experts Peter Hacker and Joachim Schulte have incorporated significant editorial changes to earlier editions of Philosophical Investigations in order to reflect more closely Wittgenstein's original intentions.Table of ContentsEditorial Preface to the Fourth Edition and Modified Translation viii The Text of the Philosophische Untersuchungen xviii Philosophische Untersuchungen Philosophical Investigations 1 Philosophie der Psychologie – Ein Fragment Philosophy of Psychology – A Fragment 182 Endnotes 244 Register 267 Index 288

    2 in stock

    £29.40

  • Brutalism

    Duke University Press Brutalism

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn Brutalism, eminent social and critical theorist Achille Mbembe invokes the architectural aesthetic of brutalism to describe our moment, caught up in the pathos of demolition and production on a planetary scale. Just as brutalist architecture creates an affect of overwhelming weight and destruction, Mbembe contends that contemporary capitalism crushes and dominates all spheres of existence. In our digital, technologically focused era, capitalism has produced a becoming-artificial of humanity and the becoming-human of machines. This blurring of the natural and artificial presents a planetary existential threat in which contemporary society’s goal is to precipitate the mutation of the human species into a condition that is at once plastic and synthetic. Mbembe argues that Afro-diasporic thought presents the only solution for breaking the totalizing logic of contemporary capitalism: repairing that which is broken, developing a new planetary consciousness, and reforming a coTrade Review“In an argument both elegant and urgent, Achille Mbembe focuses our attention on the African continent, which is not only where the forms of domination and deprivation that increasingly affect the entire globe are most fully deployed but also where the forms of reparation necessary for a future world can be glimpsed.” -- Michael Hardt, author of * The Subversive Seventies *“This is a fantastic translation of a vital text. The poetry, intensity, complexity, and subtlety that we have come to expect from Achille Mbembe’s work are all here in Brutalism.” -- Laurent Dubois, translator of * Critique of Black Reason *Table of ContentsPreface xi Acknowledgments xvii Introduction 1 1. Universal Domination 9 2. Fracturing 27 3. Animism and Viscerality 40 4. Virilism 58 5. Border-Bodies 78 6. Circulations 91 7. The Community of Captives 105 8. Potential Humanity and the Politics of the Living 125 Conclusion 147 Notes 151 Index 179

    15 in stock

    £18.99

  • Walter Benjamin

    The New York Review of Books, Inc Walter Benjamin

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisGershom Scholem is celebrated as the twentieth century''s most profound student of the Jewish mystical tradition; Walter Benjamin, as a master thinker whose extraordinary essays mix the revolutionary, the revelatory, and the esoteric. Scholem was a precocious teenager when he met Benjamin, who became his close friend and intellectual mentor. His account of that relationship—which was to remain crucial for both men—is both a celebration of his friend''s spellbinding genius and a lament for the personal and intellectual self-destructiveness that culminated in Benjamin''s suicide in 1940. At once prickly and heartbroken, argumentative and loving, Walter Benjamin: The Story of a Friendship is an absorbing memoir with the complication of character and motive of a novel. As Scholem revisits the passionate engagements over Marxism and Kabbala, Europe and Palestine that he shared with Benjamin, it is as if he sought to summon up his lost friend''s spirit again, to have the last word in the argument that might have saved his life.

    2 in stock

    £16.19

  • Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt

    Verso Books Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn 1923, a group of young radical German thinkers and intellectuals came together to at Victoria Alle 7, Frankfurt, determined to explain the workings of the modern world. Among the most prominent members of what became the Frankfurt School were the philosophers Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse. Not only would they change the way we think, but also the subjects we deem worthy of intellectual investigation. Grand Hotel Abyss combines biography, philosophy, and storytelling to reveal how the Frankfurt thinkers gathered in hopes of understanding the politics of culture during the rise of fascism. Some of them, forced to escape the horrors of Nazi Germany, later found exile in the United States. By taking popular culture seriously as an object of study-whether it was film, music, ideas, or consumerism-the Frankfurt School elaborated upon the nature and crisis of our mass-produced, mechanised society. Grand Hotel Abyss shows how much these ideas still tell us about our age of social media and runaway consumption.Trade ReviewMarvellously entertaining, exciting and informative. Jeffries is no idolator of great reputations, and his treatment of Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas is refreshingly breezy, though never less than serious and carefully judged. -- John Banville * Guardian, Books of the Year *Attempts something rather daring ... An easily accessible, funny history of one of the more formidable intellectual movements of the 20th century ... an easy, witty, pacy read -- Owen Hatherley * Guardian *This seemingly daunting book turned out to be an exhilarating page-turner.Grand Hotel Abyss is an outstanding critical introduction to some of the most fertile, and still relevant, thinkers of the 20th century -- Michael Dirda * Washington Post *A towering work of staggering scholarship. * Irish Times *A fractious Europe, a failing currency, a challenged economy, populist parties on the rise, a divided left, migration from the east, an atmosphere of fear combined with social and sexual liberalism. The parallels between Britain today and Germany in the 1920s may well make this a compelling moment to revisit those postwar German thinkers who gathered in what was known as the Frankfurt school for social research - something akin to a Marxist thinktank, though one whose policy papers and brilliant books fed future generations as much or more than their own ... Little wonder, given the history of the 20th century, that the Frankfurt school gave us intellectual pessimism and negative dialectics. Jeffries's biography is proof that such a legacy can be invigorating. -- Lisa Appignanesi * Observer *Intriguing and provocative . . . Jeffries has done a great service in producing such a readable, wry and detailed introduction. -- Stuart Kelly * The Scotsman *hroughout the book, Jeffries demonstrates that he is comfortable and conversant with the often thorny philosophical ideas of his subjects. A rich, intellectually meaty history. * Kirkus *[Jeffries] humanises some of the most austere, (philosophically) negative, and intellectually intimidating thinkers of the past century. Drawing on innumerable letters, published diaries, biographies, auto-biographies and his own substantial research, Jeffries draws out the intense and evolving relationship between these idiosyncratic theorists and their work, and eloquently illuminates the extent to which crude contingency shaped their philosophies and output. Jeffries succeeds in making this a truly personal, truly human illumination, be it presenting Marcuse's letters addressing Adorno 'dear Teddy' (341), or Adorno signing off his missives to his parents affectionately, with 'heartiest kisses from your Hippo King' (212). -- Neal Harris * Marx & Philosophy Review of Books *

    2 in stock

    £10.99

  • Everything, All the Time, Everywhere: How We

    Verso Books Everything, All the Time, Everywhere: How We

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisBut where do these ideas come from and how have they impacted on the world? In his brilliant history of a dangerous idea, Stuart Jeffries tells a narrative that starts in the early 1970s and continue to today. He tells this history through a riotous gallery that includes, amongst others: David Bowie * the Ipod * Frederic Jameson * the demolition of Pruit-Igoe * Madonna * Post-Fordism * Jeff Koon's 'Rabbit' * Deleuze and Guattari * the Nixon Shock * The Bowery series * Judith Butler * Las Vegas * Margaret Thatcher * Grand Master Flash * I Love Dick * the RAND Corporation * the Sex Pistols * Princess Diana * the Musee D'Orsay * Grand Theft Auto* Perry Anderson * Netflix * 9/11We are today scarcely capable of conceiving politics as a communal activity because we have become habituated to being consumers rather than citizens. Politicians treat us as consumers to whom they must deliver. Can we do anything else than suffer from buyer's remorse?Trade ReviewMarvellously entertaining, exciting and informative. -- John Banville * Guardian Books of the Year [For Grand Hotel Abyss] *This seemingly daunting book turned out to be an exhilarating page-turner.Grand Hotel Abyss is an outstanding critical introduction to some of the most fertile, and still relevant, thinkers of the 20th century. -- Michael Dirda * Washington Post [For Grand Hotel Abyss] *Attempts something rather daring . An easily accessible, funny history of one of the more formidable intellectual movements of the 20th century . an easy, witty, pacy read -- Owen Hatherley * [for Grand Hotel Abyss] *Throughout the book, Jeffries demonstrates that he is comfortable and conversant with the often thorny philosophical ideas of his subjects. A rich, intellectually meaty history. * Kirkus [for Grand Hotel Abyss] *Stuart Jeffries has produced a compelling and politically pressing group portrait of the philosophers associated with the Frankfurt School. Their thinking has never seemed less forbidding and more inspiring -- Matthew Beaumont * [for Grand Hotel Abyss] *An engaging and accessible history of the lives and main ideas of the leading thinkers of the Frankfurt School * New York Review of Books [for Grand Hotel Abyss] *

    1 in stock

    £11.39

  • Introducing Sartre: A Graphic Guide

    Icon Books Introducing Sartre: A Graphic Guide

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisINTRODUCING guide to the father of existentialism and one of 20th century philosophy's most famous characters. Jean-Paul Sartre was once described as being, next to Charles de Gaulle, the most famous Frenchman of the 20th century. Between the ending of the Second World War in 1945 and his death in 1980, Sartre was certainly the most famous French writer, as well as one of the best-known living philosophers. Introducing Sartre explains the basic ideas inspiring his world view, and pays particular attention to his idea of freedom. It also places his thinking on literature in the context of the 20th century debate on its nature and function. It examines his ideas on Marxism, his enthusiasm for the student rebellion of 1968, and his support for movements of national liberation in the Third World. The book also provides a succinct account of his life, and especially of the impact which his unusual childhood had on his attitude towards French society.

    2 in stock

    £7.59

  • An Analysis of Martin Buber's I and Thou

    Macat International Limited An Analysis of Martin Buber's I and Thou

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisMartin Buber’s I and Thou argues that humans engage with the world in two ways. One is with the attitude of an ‘I’ towards an ‘It’, where the self stands apart from objects as items of experience or use. The other is with the attitude of an ‘I’ towards a ‘Thou’, where the self enters into real relation with other people, or nature, or God. Addressing modern technological society, Buber claims that while the ‘I-It’ attitude is necessary for existence, human life finds its meaning in personal relationships of the ‘I-Thou’ sort. I and Thou is Buber’s masterpiece, the basis of his religious philosophy of dialogue, and among the most influential studies of the human condition in the 20th century.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who was Martin Buber? What does I and Thou Say? Why does I and Thou Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited

    2 in stock

    £8.58

  • Beyond Good And Evil

    Double 9 Booksllp Beyond Good And Evil

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisFriedrich Nietzsche's philosophical work Beyond Good and Evil questions conventional morality and intellectual assumptions. According to Nietzsche, conventional morality, which is founded on cultural and religious conventions, is constrictive and inhibits people from completely expressing who they really are. According to Nietzsche's will to power theory, people naturally want to use their power and influence to influence others. He also presents the notion of the superman, a mythical being free to choose their own moral standards and transcend conventional morality. Nietzsche criticises standard philosophical notions like the concept of truth and the notion of free will throughout the whole book. He contends that reality is relative and dependent on one's viewpoint, and that free will is an illusion produced by our need for control. While Beyond Good and Evil is difficult to read, it is nonetheless a significant contribution to contemporary philosophy. It inspires people to reconsider their convictions and look for a more genuine and satisfying existence outside of conventional cultural conventions.

    2 in stock

    £11.67

  • The Scientific Background to Modern Philosophy:

    Hackett Publishing Co, Inc The Scientific Background to Modern Philosophy:

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThrough a collection of works from key thinkers in natural philosophy, the second edition of The Scientific Background to Modern Philosophy illuminates the central role scientific writing played in developing modern philosophical thought. This revised and expanded edition includes many new translations and incorporates works by foundational eighteenth- and nineteenth-century thinkers not in the first edition, including selections from works by Jean-Baptiste, le Rond d’Alembert, Denis Diderot, Émilie Du Châtelet, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Joseph Priestley, Immanuel Kant, Carl Linnaeus, William Paley, and Charles Robert Darwin. These new additions provide students with a more comprehensive understanding of the scientific context in which the major philosophical works of the modern era were written and complement the selections from works by Nicolaus Copernicus, Francis Bacon, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Robert Boyle, Christiaan Huygens, and Isaac Newton that are retained from the first edition.Trade Review"Students will find it approachable and accessible, and they will have at their fingertips a good deal of material for discussion of theories of matter and method in seventeenth-century science." -- Catherine Wilson, in Canadian Philosophical Review

    2 in stock

    £16.14

  • The Essential Jung

    HarperCollins Publishers The Essential Jung

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisA sparkling and up-to-date new cover for one of Fontana Press's strongest-selling titles.Jung was on a giant scalehe was a master physician of the soul in his insights, a profound sage in his conclusions. He is also one of Western Man's great liberators.' J. B. Priestly, Sunday TelegraphJung can sometimes rise to the heights of a Blake or a Nietzsche or a Kierkegaardlike any true prophet or artist, he extended the range of the human imaginationto be able to share Jungian emotions is surely an almost necessary capacity of the free mind.' Philip Toynbee, ObserverThis compact volume of extracts from the twenty volumes of Jung's published writings presents him clearly, in his own words and in precis.Jung's writing is the key to understanding 20th-century psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Most of the terms of reference now used (extrovert', collective unconscious', archetype') are Jungian.This is essential reading for both students of psychology and the general reader.Trade Review‘Storr presents a selection characterised by clarity of organisation and sympathetic understanding which will be of value both to the general reader and the more serious student.’ Journal of Analytical Psychology ‘Anthony Storr offers a commentary that is admirably clear and unfailingly level in tone.’ Liam Hudson, Sunday Times

    2 in stock

    £15.29

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein

    Vintage Publishing Ludwig Wittgenstein

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisRay Monk is also the author of Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude and Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Centre. He is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton.Trade ReviewMonk's energetic enterprise is remarkable for the interweaving of the philosophical and the emotional aspects of Wittgenstein's life * Sunday Times *Ray Monk's reconnection of Wittengenstein's philosophy with his life triumphantly carries out the Wittengensteinian task of "changing the aspect" of Wittgenstein's work, getting us to see it in a new way * Sunday Telegraph *This biography transforms Wittengenstein into a human being * Independent on Sunday *It is much to be recommended * Observer *Monk's biography is deeply intelligent, generous to the ordinary reader... It is a beautiful portrait of a beautiful life * Guardian *

    15 in stock

    £15.29

  • Power

    Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Power

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe key to human nature that Marx found in wealth and Freud in sex, Bertrand Russell finds in power. Power, he argues, is man's ultimate goal, and is, in its many guises, the single most important element in the development of any society. Writting in the late 1930s when Europe was being torn apart by extremist ideologies and the world was on the brink of war, Russell set out to found a 'new science' to make sense of the traumatic events of the day and explain those that would follow. The result was Power, a remarkable book that Russell regarded as one of the most important of his long career. Countering the totalitarian desire to dominate, Russell shows how political enlightenment and human understanding can lead to peace - his book is a passionate call for independence of mind and a celebration of the instinctive joy of human life.Trade Review'Extremely penetrating analysis of human nature in politics' - The Sunday Times'An acute and learned study.' - The EconomistTable of ContentsChapter 1 THE IMPULSE TO POWER; Chapter 2 LEADERS AND FOLLOWERS; Chapter 3 THE FORMS OF POWER; Chapter 4 PRIESTLY POWER; Chapter 5 KINGLY POWER; Chapter 6 NAKED POWER; Chapter 7 REVOLUTIONARY POWER; Chapter 8 ECONOMIC POWER; Chapter 9 POWER OVER OPINION; Chapter 10 CREEDS AS SOURCES OF POWER; Chapter 11 THE BIOLOGY OF ORGANISATIONS; Chapter 12 POWERS AND FORMS OF GOVERNMENTS; Chapter 13 ORGANISATIONS AND THE INDIVIDUAL; Chapter 14 COMPETITION; Chapter 15 POWER AND MORAL CODES; Chapter 16 POWER PHILOSOPHIES; Chapter 17 THE ETHICS OF POWER; Chapter 18 THE TAMING OF POWER INDEX;

    2 in stock

    £14.99

  • This Sex Which Is Not One

    Cornell University Press This Sex Which Is Not One

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn eleven acute and widely ranging essays, Irigaray reconsiders the question of female sexuality in a variety of contexts that are relevant to current discussion of feminist theory and practice.Trade ReviewPsychoanalyst and philosopher by profession, feminist by choice, and radical by nature, Irigaray is one of the most important women writers of contemporary France, with an armful of books since the early seventies, two of them now translated into English. * The Antioch Review *This Sex is complex, readable, and worth the effort it takes to make it part of what you know. It is a valuable step in disrupting phallic discourse and jamming the theoretical machinery itself. * Perspectives *The publication of these two translations is an event to be celebrated by feminists of all persuasions. * Women's Review of Books *Table of Contents1. The Looking Glass, from the Other Side2. This Sex Which Is Not One3. Psychoanalytic Theory: Another Look4. The Power of Discourse and the Subordination of the Feminine5. Cosi Fan Tutti6. The "Mechanics" of Fluids7. Questions8. Women on the Market9. Commodities among Themselves10. "Frenchwomen," Stop Trying11. When Our Lips Speak TogetherPublisher's Note and Notes on Selected Terms

    2 in stock

    £20.39

  • Introduction to Metaphysics

    Yale University Press Introduction to Metaphysics

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisFeatures a revised and expanded translators' introduction and an updated translation, as well as the English versions of author's draft of a portion of the text and of his later critique of his own lectures.Trade Review"The translators have improved upon their excellent, earlier translation: nuances have been made clearer and the style brought closer to Heidegger's own style. Eminently readable, this translation should stand the test of time."—Dennis J. Schmidt, Pennsylvania State University"This revised edition of the translation of Heidegger’s 1935 lectures, with its inclusion of helpful new materials, superbly augments the excellent translation provided in the first edition. The result is a richly rewarding volume, to be recommended to every student of Heidegger’s works, whether a novice or a long-time reader."—Daniel Dahlstrom, Boston University"The quality of the translation is outstanding, and the introduction and glossary are eminently clear and helpful."—Bret W. Davis, author of Heidegger and the Will: On the Way to Gelassenheit"There is no questioning the exceedingly high quality of Polt and Fried’s translation as well as their reliably judicious choice of words. Students and scholars alike profit immensely, too, from the explanations that they give of specific translations."—Daniel Dahlstrom, Boston University"Fried and Polt have produced a first-rate edition of this pivotal and important text. Their new translation is rigorous and abides by the best standards of Heidegger scholarship. It also has a new fluency that brings this difficult text into reach of English language readers."—Dennis J. Schmidt, Penn State University

    7 in stock

    £16.99

  • A Brief History of Everything (20th Anniversary

    Shambhala Publications Inc A Brief History of Everything (20th Anniversary

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis“A clarion call for seeing the world as a whole,” this philosophical bestseller takes readers through history, from the Big Bang through the 21st century—now featuring an afterword with the writer-director of the Matrix franchise (San Francisco Chronicle) Join one of the greatest contemporary philosophers on a breathtaking tour of time and the Cosmos—from the Big Bang right up to the eve of the twenty-first century. This accessible and entertaining summary of Ken Wilber’s great ideas has been expanding minds now for two decades, providing a unified field theory of the universe. Along the way, Wilber talks on a host of issues related to that universe, from gender roles, to multiculturalism, environmentalism, and even the meaning of the Internet.   This special anniversary edition contains an afterword, a dialogue between the author and Lana Wachowski—the award-winning writer-director of the Matrix film trilogy—in which we’re offered an intimate glimpse into the evolution of Ken’s thinking and where he stands today. A Brief History of Everything may well be the best introduction to the thought of this man who has been called the “Einstein of Consciousness” (John White).

    1 in stock

    £17.09

  • Martin Heidegger

    Harvard University Press Martin Heidegger

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe story of Heidegger’s life and philosophy, a quintessentially German story in which good and evil, brilliance and blindness are inextricably entwined and the passions and disasters of a whole century come into play, is told in this brilliant biography.Trade ReviewRüdiger Safranski’s evenhanded study, Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil, is equally successful at illustrating its subject’s pettiness and at displaying the vast power of his imagination. It is the first comprehensive biography of the man, and supersedes both Victor Farías’s Heidegger and Nazism and Hugo Ott’s Martin Heidegger: A Political Life. It reports many facts that these books did not, and it offers a detailed account of Heidegger’s intellectual development—relating his twists and turns, with great skill and remarkable concision, to German intellectual and political life in the first half of this century. -- Richard Rorty * New York Times Book Review *Rüdiger Safranski has written a remarkably detailed, full-scale biography. Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil is a labor of philosophic devotion, entering…deeply and appreciatively into the thought and sensibility of Heidegger. -- Thelma Z. Lavine * Washington Post Book World *Neither apologist nor accuser, Safranski treads a delicate winding path through the Black Forest of the modern Germanic mind. The result is impressively judicious, offering us a privileged glance into that nation’s intellectual unconscious… Safranski’s biography is brisk, lucid and illuminating. The manner in which he weaves Heidegger’s thinking into the intrigues of his life makes for fascinating reading… His book also gives an excellent account of Heidegger’s ‘existential’ ideas, highlighting the inimitable charisma surrounding both his writing and person. This is a towering biography of a giant intellectual. -- Richard Kearney * The Independent [UK] *A superb work of synthesis, the book places Heidegger’s thought and life in the volatile context of 20th-century German and European politics and philosophy… Although Safranski sees Heidegger as a towering figure in 20th-century philosophy, this is a ‘warts and all’ biography. The author leaves no doubt about Heidegger’s self-centeredness, his intellectual arrogance, and his convenient lapses of memory about his role in the Nazi years. But the book’s primary merit is a superb explication of Heidegger’s thought, its antecedents, and its place in the context of his political and philosophical times. For an English-speaking audience, Safranski’s treatment is easily the best introduction to Heidegger’s complex philosophy… This [is] an important book, highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of 20th-century Continental philosophy and Martin Heidegger’s place in it. -- Dietrich Orlow * Boston Sunday Globe *[A] thoughtful, sensitive and sympathetic biography. -- Ray Monk * Times Literary Supplement *This biography of Martin Heidegger is an impressive achievement, and English-speaking readers are fortunate that it is now available to them… Martin Heidegger is the first comprehensive biography of one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. It offers a detailed view of Heidegger’s intellectual development provided by no previous book, and it gives new information on his involvement with the Nazis. Given the importance of Heidegger’s thought for many celebrated left-wing thinkers, including Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, Safranski’s careful consideration of the relation between Heidegger’s right-wing politics and his thought can help readers struggle with the much-debated question of whether the contemporary leftists of the postmodern movement are really cultural reactionaries in disguise… Safranski’s biography is both the most authoritative and the most approachable of the recent Heidegger books. -- Carl L. Bankston III * Magill’s Literary Annual *Table of ContentsPreface: A Master from Germany Chronology Abbreviations Translator's Note Childhood and School Idealism and Materialism: German Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century Career Planning and Career Problems The Outbreak of World War I: Habilitation, War Service, Marriage The Triumph of Phenomenology: Husserl and Heidegger, Father and Son Revolution in Germany and the Question of Being Parting with Catholicism and Studying the Laws of Free Fall while Falling Marburg University and Hannah Arendt, the Great Passion Being and Time: What Being? What Meaning? The Mood of the Time: Waiting for the Great Day A Secret Principal Work: The Metaphysics Lectures of 1929-30 Balance Sheets at the End of the Republic The National Socialist Revolution and Collective Breakout from the Cave Is Heidegger Anti-Semitic? Heidegger's Struggle for the Purity of the Movement Departure from the Political Scene The Age of Ideology and Total Mobilization: Heidegger Beats a Retreat The Philosophical Diary and Philosophical Rosary Heidegger under Surveillance Heidegger Faces the Denazification Committee: Barred from University Teaching What Do We Do When We Think? Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, and Karl Jaspers after the War Heidegger's Other Public Adorno and Heidegger: From the Jargon of Authenticity to the Authentic Jargon of the 1960s Sunset of Life Notes Works Cited Further Reading Index

    15 in stock

    £25.16

  • Poststructuralism

    Oxford University Press Poststructuralism

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisVery Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, InspiringPoststructuralism challenges traditional ways of thinking about human beings and our relation to the world. Language, meaning, and culture are all reappraised, and with them assumptions about what it''s possible for us to know. More interested in posing sharply focused questions than in reassuring with certainties, its theorists tend to clarify the options, while leaving them open to debate. At once sceptical towards inherited authority and positive about future possibilities, poststructuralism asks above all that we reflect on its findings.In this Very Short Introduction, Catherine Belsey traces the key arguments that have led poststructuralists to challenge traditional theories of language and culture. In this new edition, such well-known figures as Barthes, Foucault, and Derrida are joined by less famous theorists, and examples are drawn from both high art and popular culture. Shakespeare features alongside advertising and Christmas cards, as well as Lewis Carroll, Marcel Duchamp, Toni Morrison, and the tantalizing lithographs of M. C. Escher.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade ReviewA wonderfully clear account * Guardian *Table of ContentsPreface by Neil Badmington 1: Creatures of difference 2: Difference and culture 3: The differed subject 4: Difference or truth? 5: Difference in the world 6: Dissent References Further reading Glossary Index

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Philosophy and Social Hope

    Penguin Books Ltd Philosophy and Social Hope

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisRichard Rorty is one of the most provocative figures in recent philosophical, literary and cultural debate. This collection brings together those of his writings aimed at a wider audience, many published in book form for the first time. In these eloquent essays, articles and lectures, Rorty gives a stimulating summary of his central philosophical beliefs and how they relate to his political hopes; he also offers some challenging insights into contemporary America, justice, education and love.Table of ContentsPart 1 Autobiographical: Trotsky and the wild orchids. Part 2 Hope in place of knowledge - a version of pragmatism: truth without correspondence to reality; a world without substances or essences; ethics without principles. Part 3 Some applications of pragmatism: the banality of pragmatism and the poetry of justice; pragmatism and law - a response to David Luban; education as socialization and as individualization; the humanistic intellectual - eleven theses; the pragmatist's progress - Umberto Eco on interpretation; religious faith, intellectual responsibility and romance; religion as conversation-stopper; Thomas Kuhn, rocks and the laws of physics; on Hiedegger's Nazism. Part 4 Politics: failed prophecies, glorious hopes; a spectre is haunting the intellectuals - Derrida on Marx; love and money; globalization, the politics and identity and social hope. Part 5 Contemporary America: looking backwards from the year 2096; the unpatriotic academy; back to class politics.

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • Our Knowledge of the External World

    Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Our Knowledge of the External World

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisOur Knowledge of the External World is a compilation of lectures Bertrand Russell delivered in the US in which he questions the very relevance and legitimacy of philosophy. In it he investigates the relationship between individual' and scientific' knowledge and questions the means in which we have come to understand our physical world. This is an explosive and controversial work that illustrates instances where the claims of philosophers have been excessive, and examines why their achievements have not been greater.Trade Review‘It is in every sense an epoch-making book: one that has been needed and expected for years.’ - Cambridge Magazine‘The author maintains a fresh and brilliant yet easy style which always makes his writings a pleasure to read.’ - Nature Table of ContentsIntroduction Preface 1. Current Tendencies 2. Logic as the Essence of Philosophy 3. On Our Knowledge of the External World 3. The World of Physics and the World of Sense 4. The Theory of Continuity 5. The Problem of Infinity Considered Historically 6. The Positive Theory of Infinity 7. On the Notion of Cause, with Applications to the Free-Will Problem Index

    2 in stock

    £14.99

  • The Blue and Brown Books

    John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Blue and Brown Books

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisOffers unfinished sketches for "Philosophical Investigations". This title contains: The "Blue Book" - A set of notes dictated to Witgenstein's Cambridge students and The "Brown Book" - A draft for what eventually became the growth of the first part of "Philosophical Investigations". It is intended for students of Witgenstein's thought.

    1 in stock

    £23.70

  • Illuminations

    New Directions Publishing Corporation Illuminations

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe definitive translation of the one of the brightest geniuses of French poetry.

    1 in stock

    £12.34

  • Cambridge University Press Heidegger on Ethics

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £17.00

  • Logics of Worlds

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Logics of Worlds

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisLogics of Worlds is the sequel to Alain Badiou''s masterpiece, Being and Event. Tackling the questions that had been left open by Being and Event, and answering many of his critics in the process, Badiou supplements his pioneering treatment of multiple being with a daring and complex theory of the worlds in which truths and subjects make their mark - what he calls a materialist dialectic. Drawing on his most ambitious philosophical predecessors - Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Lacan, Deleuze Badiou ends this important later work with an impassioned call to ''live for an Idea''.Trade ReviewArguably Europe’s most influential living philosopher, Badiou engages here with art, poetry, and history in daring ways. Supplementing arguments made in his magnum opus, he challenges readers to follow him on an arduous journey into a complex “theory of the worlds” and a materialist dialectic foregrounding truths and events, subjects and points … It is a reconstruction, a far-reaching, incisive, compelling way of reinterpreting the world. Badiou’s fervent plea, in the conclusion, to “live for an Idea” should be heard. Summing Up: Essential. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsTranslator's Note Preface Technical Note Book I: Formal Theory of the Subject (Meta-Physics) Book II: Great Logic 1: The Transcendental Book III: Great Logic 2: The Object Book IV. Great Logic 3: The Relation Book V: The Four Forms of Change Book VI: Theories of Points Book VII: What is a Body? Conclusion: What Is It to Live? Notes, Commentaries and Digressions Statements, Dictionaries, Bibliography, Iconography and Index

    2 in stock

    £23.74

  • Wittgensteins Family Letters

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Wittgensteins Family Letters

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisTranslated into English for the first time, the letters collected here bring to life one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century, Ludwig Wittgenstein.In letters written over forty years, we see how his ideas and relationships developed during his time as a prisoner of war, a school teacher, an architect and throughout his years at Cambridge. Always frank and often brutally honest, these letters between Wittgenstein, his brother Paul and his three sisters, Hermine, Margaret and Helene are filled with a familiarity and an intimacy. Now available in paperback with an updated introduction by editor, Brian McGuinness, the letters are accompanied by photographs and allow us to enter the bygone world of an extraordinary family, revealing a side of Wittgenstein we have never seen before.Trade ReviewAnyone interested in the period, the Wittgenstein family, or the lost art of letter writing will find this a delightful read. Summing Up: Essential. * CHOICE *This meticulously edited and superbly translated volume of letters written between 1908 and weeks before Ludwig's death in 1951 swings seamlessly between mundane trivialities and profound insights ... The letters offer incredible insight into Wittgenstein. * Times Higher Education *The letters Wittgenstein exchanged with his siblings and other family members make fascinating reading for the light they shed on his cultural background, particularly the central role that music played in his life. Here, they are presented in a beautiful edition, superbly translated and edited. * Ray Monk, author of Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius *There are not many families of the twentieth century as fascinating as the Wittgensteins. This is a valuable and often moving collection. The letters reveal how tight the bonds between family members were – but they also expose the tensions, that led ultimately to an irreparable split. * David Edmonds, co-author of Wittgenstein’s Poker *This beautifully illustrated and edited translation of Wittgenstein's correspondence with his family will appeal to anyone interested in learning more about his life or in exploring connections between his life and work. The present edition includes a new introduction, family tree, an annotated list of people and places and informative footnotes, all of which will be invaluable to readers. * David G. Stern, Professor of Philosophy, University of Iowa, USA *Wittgenstein fans will want this newly translated, intimate look over 40 odd years into the on-going soap opera that characterized the Wittgenstein family, ranging from personal hurts to life-or-death decisions; ranging from aesthetic, mainly musical, judgments to assessments of the obligations of friendship and family relations. It includes some three dozen newly published letters between Ludwig and his brother Paul. * James C. Klagge, Professor of Philosophy, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA and editor of Wittgenstein: Biography and Philosophy (2001) *The publication of this, the first English translation of the correspondence between Ludwig Wittgenstein and family—specifically, with his siblings Hermine, Margarete, Helene, and Paul—is an important event. As Brian McGuinness says in his incisive introduction, “The Wittgenstein’s were a family that might well have figured in one of the nineteenth century sagas they read.” A close but often contentious family, the siblings, especially Ludwig’s elder sister Hermine, wrote long and detailed letters to their famous brother; he responded with unusual candor –and often severity-- and so we learn a great deal about the Wittgenstein way of doing things—which was by no means always Ludwig’s way. The letters of the World War II years are especially interesting. This excellent translation by Peter Winslow, thoroughly annotated and copiously illustrated, is a real page-turner. * Marjorie Perloff, Sadie Dernham Patek Professor of Humanities, Emerita, Stanford University, Author of Wittgenstein’s Ladder *What does the correspondence have to offer beyond specialist interest? One answer, surprisingly, is pleasure. The siblings - 'rather hard and prickly elements', Ludwig calls them - slowly develop their own characteristics in the reader's mind ... The letters also offer a startling insight into what it meant to be a wealthy Viennese family in the early 20th century. * Literary Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction Family Tree Cast of Characters Ludwig’s Early Letters 1908 The War Years August 1914–April 1918 Captivity November 1918–September 1919 The Tractatus and the elementary school years October 1920–March 1926 A Viennese intermezzo a letter from late 1928? Cambridge January 1929–February 1938 121 The Anschluss and World War Two March 1938–May 1945 172 Ludwig’s last letters January 1946–April 1951 Index

    2 in stock

    £20.89

  • The Poverty of Ethics

    Verso Books The Poverty of Ethics

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Poverty of Ethics stands the usual moral-political dichotomy on its head. It argues that moral principles do not in fact underlie or inform political decisions. It is, rather, the conceptual primacy of political discourse that rescues ethics from its poverty. Our ethical convictions receive their substance from historical narratives, political analyses, empirical facts, literary-educational models, political activity and personal experience. Yet morality, essentially, doesn't leave room for relativity: not every ethos deserves to be titles 'moral'. Hence the book argues further, it is the left ethos, as it has evolved over years, which forms the basis for ethics: morality is left-wing! Clarifying and justifying this seemingly odd statement is the main purpose of this essay.Appealing to philosophical ideas on the essence of language, on meaning, on understanding and persuasion, this book scrutinizes the system of concepts and attitudes informing our common view of the relationship between the moral and the political. It argues that the traditional conception of morality is far too narrow to form a basis for political thought and political action. Its carefully unfolded argument concludes that none of the current philosophical accounts of morality can be translated into terms of political will, much less into direct political action. Being too general and elastic, neither abstract moral principles, ethical-aesthetic sensibilities, nor the ethical demand emanating from an Other, can fulfill these tasks. Instead, the false primacy of the ethical over the political and the infinite flexibility of vacuous moral discourse are often mobilized to launder wrongs and delegitimize radical left politics. Gratification of the moral high ground becomes an implement of de-politicization, and thus a powerful political instrument in the hands of those seeking to shore up the existing order.Trade ReviewThe Poverty of Ethics, Anat Matar's book, is a rich essay, full with insights, which manages to bridge the divide between a serious philosophical discussion and actions and values belonging to the political reality. The solidarity which Matar is interested in promoting ensues from the ability to detect historical-economical structures of injustice and to recognize their oppressed victims. Matar aims at establishing a kind of solidarity, whose model she finds in Karl Marx. But she also describes in detail the limitations of the explanatory power of the Marxist model. Matar has no presumption to prophesize that such a solidarity would indeed be established. Her optimism is the optimism of the political activist rather than the investigating philosopher. -- Dr. Rami Godovitz * Haaretz *It is not easy to explain how a philosophy book can be so relevant and biting, while it's based on close readings in philosophical texts. The Poverty of Ethics is a brave book, because it reminds us not only how important philosophy is for everyday political discussion, but also for the self-criticism of academia and its ties to the governing powers. In an exceptional manner, the book forges links between wide streams of thought and local action - and lack of action. Matar chooses to do this through a serious, non-compromising examination of the ideas and of the philosophers identified with them in the last hundred years. Unlike reference-loaded discussions in professional journals, she discusses these philosophers and their ideas in a direct and impartial manner; the intrigued reader will find here a fresh - almost respect-less - examination of "big names". If this sounds hard to digest, the book presents alongside its criticism a clear optimistic vision and a huge love - for philosophical thinking (especially that of Wittgenstein and Derrida); for Left thinking, to which the book is explicitly committed; and to the people who create, alongside Anat Matar, possibilities of solidarity. The Poverty of Ethics is not merely an intellectually brilliant book, but a political and humane spotlight, which warns us against the penetration of fascism to everyday life, including everyday academic life. This is an exciting and magnanimous book, and I hope that the future generation of researchers and thinkers will be directed by its light. -- Prof. Nitzan Lebovic, Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values, Lehigh University * Hazman Hazeh *In today's confusion, when the lowest form of political opportunism is regularly masked as the appeal to highest ethical principles, Anat Matar's book sets the record straight. It doesn't argue for the subordination of ethics to political pragmatism, quite the opposite. It demonstrates how authentic ethics are always grounded in a basic political decision. It is rare that one sees such a combination of progressive political engagement and deepest philosophical reflection as in The Poverty of Ethics. Matar's book is a guide for all those who are trying to survive with dignity in a topsy-turvy world that is our own. -- Slavoj ZizekAn unusually and attractively bold and passionate work that crosses the idioms of Analytical and European Philosophy, challenges the orthodoxies and complacencies of each tradition, while animating the subject of Ethics from within the urgencies of contemporary political debate and action -- Akeel Bilgrami, Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy, Columbia UniversityA bracing and illuminating challenge to moral philosophy in its many guises. Matar offers philosophers a stark choice: to understand morality through the history and practice of radical left struggle, or to serve as an apologist for the dominant order. -- Amia SrinivasanPhilosophy can and should be a crucial component in the toolbox enabling our political struggles, Anat Matar argues compellingly in this elegant, erudite text. Indeed, bringing all her philosophical rigour to the question of the 'poverty of ethics', no-one is better placed than Matar to teach us the relevance of committed philosophical reflection to resisting injustice and oppression, situated as she is in the heart of Israel, and a supporter of Palestinian rights. This book is essential reading for all political thinkers and activists. -- Lynne SegalA learned and engaging work.Matar's greatest achievement in this book is to refute the too-widespread assumption that a 'Levinasian' ethics can precede our life with language - with each other, at large. Rather, politics goes all the way down.A powerful antidote to depoliticisations of ethics, a powerful paean to the power of community -- Rupert Read, author of Wittgenstein’s Liberatory Philosophy

    2 in stock

    £16.14

  • Knowledge Mind and the Given

    Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Knowledge Mind and the Given

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"Knowledge, Mind, and the Given serves three purposes, and it serves them very well. First, it patiently, accurately and comprehensively supplies the necessary information about the historical and contemporaneous ideas, views, problems and theories which constitute the conceptual setting for Sellars’s theses and argumentation. Second, it provides a careful and lucid section-by-section interpretive explanation of Sellars’s own principal views and claims and, crucially, undertakes to support them. And third, it offers its readers the beginnings of an engaged critical discussion of Sellars’s critique of givenness and epistemological foundationalism. What is particularly impressive about this work is its marvelous clarity. . . a highly polished, accessible text" --Jay F. Rosenberg, Taylor Grandy Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

    4 in stock

    £18.89

  • Reforming Modernity

    Columbia University Press Reforming Modernity

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisReforming Modernity is a sweeping intellectual history and philosophical reflection built around the work of the philosopher Abdurrahman Taha. Wael B. Hallaq explores how Taha’s philosophical project sheds light on recent intellectual currents in the Islamic world and puts forth a formidable critique of Western and Islamic modernities.Trade ReviewReforming Modernity is the first work that examines an under-researched contemporary Arab philosopher and his unprecedented philosophical project from the Islamic tradition, a project that presents a staunch critique of both Arab-Islamic discourses of reform as well as a staunch critique of European-American (i.e. “Western”) modernity and its malaise since the Enlightenment. Reforming Modernity, written by an international scholar on an influential philosopher, is original, timely, and a needed contribution to the field. -- Mohammed Hashas, Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIIIThe English-speaking world needs to discover the work of Abdurrahman Taha, one of the most important Muslim philosophers of our postcolonial time. Wael B. Hallaq proves himself as a profound, rigorous reader and interlocutor in Reforming Modernity, which brilliantly manifests the Moroccan thinker’s oeuvre. -- Souleymane Bachir Diagne, author of Open to Reason: Muslim Philosophers in Conversation with the Western TraditionThis is a fascinating book. Abdurrahman Taha is one of the Arab world’s best grounded and most daring thinkers, and Wael B. Hallaq’s book gives a comprehensive overview of his thought. Taha knows his Kant as well as his Ghazali, and his critique of modernity—both Western and Arab—is pitiless. He goes on to propose an Islamic modernity, Qur’ānic and ethical. Since Hallaq provides interpretation as well as exposition, this book is also part of Hallaq’s own ongoing (and equally fascinating) project of critique and reconstruction. -- Mark Sedgwick, author of Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth CenturyIn Reforming Modernity, Wael B. Hallaq proves to be an ideal guide through the dense logic and complex language of Abdurrahman Taha, perhaps the most original Muslim philosopher of ethics and modernity unknown in the English-speaking world. Taha posits nothing less than the self-sufficiency of Islamic moral philosophy, yet his is a project at once critical of and open to other philosophies rather than mired in the futile pursuit of an Islam purged of “foreign influence.” A critical and sympathetic reader, Hallaq scrutinizes the content of these arguments, the way they are made, and how they unfold. The effect is not only to make Taha’s thought accessible, but also to invite readers to dwell within its texture and richness. Few scholars aside from Hallaq have the depth and breadth of knowledge to accomplish such a feat; we are indebted to him. -- Roxanne L. Euben, University of PennsylvaniaReforming Modernity is another great success of Hallaq. Indeed, if Hallaq is indebted to Taha having given new blood to his philosophical project, Taha ought to be indebted to Hallaq having widened his readership by introducing him accurately to the English audience. * Journal of Islamic Ethics *Recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsCitation Method and Abbreviated TitlesPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction 1. “Rethinking the Islamic Tradition”: A Conceptual Framework 2. The Spirit of Modernity 3. Islamic Applications of Modernity’s Spirit4. Recasting Reason5. Religion, Secularism, Ethics: A Concept of Critique6. Sovereignty, Ethical Management, and TrusteeshipEpilogue: A New Concept of the HumanAppendix: Taha Responding Notes Bibliography Index

    2 in stock

    £46.75

  • All Things are Nothing to Me: The Unique

    Collective Ink All Things are Nothing to Me: The Unique

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisMax Stirner’s The Unique and Its Property (1844) is the first ruthless critique of modern society. In All Things are Nothing to Me, Jacob Blumenfeld reconstructs the unique philosophy of Max Stirner (1806–1856), a figure that strongly influenced—for better or worse—Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Emma Goldman as well as numerous anarchists, feminists, surrealists, illegalists, existentialists, fascists, libertarians, dadaists, situationists, insurrectionists and nihilists of the last two centuries. Misunderstood, dismissed, and defamed, Stirner’s work is considered by some to be the worst book ever written. It combines the worst elements of philosophy, politics, history, psychology, and morality, and ties it all together with simple tautologies, fancy rhetoric, and militant declarations. That is the glory of Max Stirner’s unique footprint in the history of philosophy. Jacob Blumenfeld wanted to exhume this dead tome along with its dead philosopher, but discovered instead that, rather than deceased, their spirits are alive and quite well, floating in our presence. All Things are Nothing to Me is a forensic investigation into how Stirner has stayed alive throughout time.

    1 in stock

    £11.39

  • Eclipse of Reason

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Eclipse of Reason

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn his most important work, Max Horkheimer surveys and demonstrates the gradual ascendancy of Reason in Western philosophy, its eventual total application to all spheres of life, and what he considers its present reified domination. First published in 1947, Horkheimer here explores the ways in Nazism - that most irrational of political movements - had co-opted ideas of rationality for its own ends. Ultimately, the book is a warning of the ways this might happen again and, as such, this is a book that has never appeared more timely. Table of ContentsI. Means and Ends \ II. Conflicting Panaceas \ III. The Revolt of Nature \ IV. Rise and Decline of the Individual \ V. On the Concept of Philosophy \ Index.

    1 in stock

    £18.99

  • An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

    Hackett Publishing Co, Inc An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

    Book SynopsisPart of a two-volume set of work containing words of all four books comprising the "Essay", this book provides marginal analyses of almost every paragraph, and explanatory footnotes which comment, elaborate and explain difficult points.Trade ReviewThis abridgment by Kenneth Winkler is the best that has ever been done. Winkler's judgment as to what must be kept and what may be dropped is unerring, and his literary skill has enabled him to fashion a text that reads smoothly. An illuminating Introduction and comprehensive glossary enhance the value of this volume for students. --Vere Chappell, University of Massachusetts, AmherstLocke's Essay is a massive, scarcely organized work that is easy for students to get lost in and difficult for teachers to lend coherence to. But Winkler's abridgment succeeds remarkably at bringing out the underlying structure of Locke's masterpiece without sacrificing any of the long and important passages that put the meat on that structure. I didn't think this could be done until I came across Winkler's abridgment. It certainly makes teaching Locke much easier, since it makes the structure of the Essay more apparent, and leaves the teacher thus freer to concentrate on the details of the text. I know of no passages from the Essay left out of this abridgment that I would prefer to use in a lower-level class. If anything, I would have made the abridgment shorter still. But to my knowledge, nobody has yet done a better job than Winkler. --Michael Rolf, University of PennsylvaniaTable of ContentsLocke's Life and Writing; The Essay concerning Human Understanding; Books I and II: Ideas and Principles; Book III: Language and Abstraction; Book IV: Knowledge; Reception and Legacy; A Chronology of John Locke; An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 1; Appendix Extracts from Locke's Letters to Edward Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester; Explanatory Notes; Index.

    £13.29

  • Free Will

    Oxford University Press Free Will

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisDo we really make our own decisions? Or are we compelled to act by factors beyond our control? This introduction is an investigation of one of the most important problems of Western philosophy. It looks at a range of issues surrounding this fundamental philosophical question, exploring it from the ideas of the Greek and medieval philosophers.Table of Contents1. The free will problem ; 2. Freedom as free will ; 3. Compatibilism and reason ; 4. Compatibilism and nature ; 5. Morality without freedom? ; 6. Libertarianism and scepticism ; 7. Self-determination and the will ; 8. Freedom and its place in nature

    4 in stock

    £9.49

  • Martin Heidegger

    The University of Chicago Press Martin Heidegger

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £21.85

  • Materialism

    Yale University Press Materialism

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"He has lost neither his bracing self-certainty nor his caustic sense of humour. . . . Eagleton’s central argument is straightforward and suggestive."—Josh Cohen, New Statesman"Materialist thinkers of various stripes have been struggling of late to renew our sense of 'the commons.' They would do well to take to heart Terry Eagleton’s new, eminently commonsensical elaboration of the concept of materialism. Eagleton partners up with Marx, Nietzsche, Freud and Wittgenstein to awaken us to the materialism we already live, to which we have always already committed, in our embodied practices. We thereby come to see how the natural history of our forms of life implicates us in a creaturely solidarity with one another, the elaboration of which constitutes the conflict-ridden realm of politics. Eagleton’s uncommonly luminous prose holds out the promise that a genuinely common life – call it ordinary life – for creatures such as us might yet be achievable."—Eric L. Santner, author of On Creaturely Life"This is a well written and engaging book packed with interesting observations, analyses, some quite brilliant insights, and not a few jokes."—Paul O’Grady, editor of The Consolations of Philosophy

    1 in stock

    £11.99

  • Sceptical Essays

    Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Sceptical Essays

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn this revolutionary book, never out of print since its first publication in 1928, Russell guides us through the key philosophical issues that affect our daily lifeTrade Review'The result is the present volume, a collection of some of the most beautifully written and engaging essays in the English language, in which he tries to show that sceptical doubt can change the world.' - John Gray'This collection rocked me when I was in my early 20s.' - The Age Sunday Life MagazineTable of Contents1. Introduction: On the Value of Scepticism 2. Dreams and Facts 3. Is Science Superstitious? 4. Can Men Be Rational? 5. Philosophy in the Twentieth Century 6. Machines and the Emotions 7. Behavourism and Values 8. Eastern and Western Ideals of Happiness 9. The Harm that Good Men Do 10. The Recrudescence of Puritanism 11. The Need for Political Scepticism 12. Free Thought and Official Propaganda 13. Freedom in Society 14. Freedom Versus Authority in Education 15. Psychology and Politics 16. The Danger of Creed Wars 17. Some Prospects: Cheerful and Otherwise

    1 in stock

    £14.99

  • Scientific Outlook

    Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Scientific Outlook

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisAccording to Bertrand Russell, science is knowledge; that which seeks general laws connecting a number of particular facts. It is, he argues, far superior to art, where much of the knowledge is intangible and assumed. In The Scientific Outlook, Russell delivers one of his most important works, exploring the nature and scope of scientific knowledge, the increased power over nature that science affords and the changes in the lives of human beings that result from new forms of science. Insightful and accessible, this impressive work sees Russell at his very best. Table of ContentsPreface by David Papineau; Introduction Part 1: Scientific Knowledge 1. Examples of Scientific Method 2. Characteristics of Scientific Method 3. Limitations of Scientific Method 4. Scientific Metaphysics 5. Science and Religion Part 2: Scientific Technique 6. Beginnings of Scientific Technique 7. Technique in Inanimate Nature 8. Technique in Biology 9. Technique in Physiology 10. Technique in Psychology 11. Technique in Society Part 3: The Scientific Society 12. Artificially Created Societies 13. The Individual and the Whole 14. Scientific Government 15. Education in a Scientific Society 16. Scientific Reproduction 17. Science and Values Index

    1 in stock

    £14.99

  • Marriage and Morals

    Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Marriage and Morals

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisControversial and remarkably forward thinking, this book explores the changing role of marriage and codes of sexual ethics, and daringly sets out a new morality shaped by the dramatic societal changes which took place in the early parts of twentieth century.Trade Review‘…pungent quotations that underlie Lord Russell’s views on dogmatic authority as one of the greatest obstacles to human advancement.’ – Times Educational SupplementTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. Matrilineal Societies 3. Patriarchal Systems 4. Phallic Worship, Asceticism and Sin 5. Christian Ethics 6. Romantic Love 7. The Liberation of Women 8. The Taboo of Sex Knowledge 9. The Place of Love in Human Life 10. Marriage 11. Prostitution 12. Tribal Marriage 13. The Family at the Present Day 14. The Family in Individual Psychology 15. The Family and the State 16. Divorce 17. Population 18. Eugenics 19. Sex and Individual Well-being 20. The Place of Sex among Human Values 20. Conclusion

    1 in stock

    £14.99

  • Freedom and Organization

    Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Freedom and Organization

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisWritten by one of the twentieth century's most significant thinkers, Freedom and Organization, is considered to be Bertrand Russell's major work on political history. It traces the main causes of political change during a period of one hundred years, which he argues were predominantly influenced by three major elements economic technique, political theory and certain significant individuals. In the witty, approachable style that has made Bertrand Russell's works so revered, he explores in detail the major forces and events that shaped the nineteenth century. Table of ContentsPreface Part 1: The Principle of Legitimacy 1. Napoleon’s Successors 2. The Congress of Vienna 3. The Holy Alliance 4. The Twilight of Metternich SPart 2: The March of Mind Section A: The Social Background 5. The Aristocracy 6. Country Life 7. Industrial Life Section B: The Philosophical Radicals 8. Malthus 9. Bentham 10. James Mill 11. Ricardo 12. The Benthamite Doctrine 13. Democracy in England 14. Free Trade Section C: Socialism 15. Owen and Early British Socialism 16. Early Trade Unionism 17. Marx and Engels 18. Dialectical Materialism 19. The Theory of Surplus Value 20. The Politics of Marxism Part 3: Democracy and Plutocracy in America Section A: Democracy in America 21. Jeffersonian Democracy 22. The Settlement of the West 23. Jacksonian Democracy 24. Slavery and Disunion 25. Lincoln and National Unity Section B: Competition and Monopoly in America 26. Competitive Capatalism 27. The Approach to Monopoly Part 4: Nationalism and Imperialism 28. The Principle of Nationality 29. Bismarck and German Unity 30. Imperialism 31. The Arbiters of Europe Conclusion Bibliography Index

    2 in stock

    £16.99

  • On Education

    Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) On Education

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisBertrand Russell is considered to be one of the most significant educational innovators of his time. In this influential and controversial work, Russell calls for an education that would liberate the child from unthinking obedience to parental and religious authority. He argues that if the basis of all education is knowledge wielded by love then society can be transformed. One of Bertrand Russell's most definitive works, the remarkable ideas and arguments in On Education are just as insightful and applicable today as they were on first publication in 1926. Table of ContentsIntroduction Part 1: Educational Ideals 1. Postulates of Modern Educational Theory 2. The Aims of Education Part 2: Education of Character 3. The First Year 4. Fear. 5. Play and Fancy 6. Constructiveness 7. Selfishness and Property 8. Truthfulness 9. Punishment 10. Importance of Other Children 11. Affection and Sympathy 11. Sex Education 13. The Nursery School Part 3: Intellectual Education 14. General Principles 15. The School Curriculum Before Fourteen 16. Last School Years 17. Day Schools and Boarding Schools 18. The University 19. Conclusion Index

    2 in stock

    £16.99

  • Content and Consciousness

    Taylor & Francis Content and Consciousness

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisContent and Consciousness is an original and ground-breaking attempt to elucidate a problem integral to the history of Western philosophical thought: the relationship of the mind and body. In this formative work, Dennett sought to develop a theory of the human mind and consciousness based on new and challenging advances in the field that came to be known as cognitive science. This important and illuminating work is widely-regarded as the book from which all of Dennett's future ideas developed. It is his first explosive rebuttal of Cartesian dualism and one of the founding texts of philosophy of mind.Trade Review‘It presents a compelling and sometimes profound conception of the subject; it is ambitious without being grandiose; it employs scientific information effectively and ingeniously; its style, moreover, is enviable clear witty, clear, fluent and relaxed. One rarely encounters a difficult work of technical philosophy that is such a pleasure to read.’ - Thomas Nagel, Journal of Philosophy‘Content and Consciousness is an extraordinarily interesting and original book, and one which will raise the level of current discussion in the philosophy of mind.’ - Richard Rorty, Philosophical Studies'I have certainly been greatly stimulated by reading the book, and I recommend it to all others who have an interest in the problems of mind and body and of physicalism and its alternatives.' - J.C.C. Smart, Mind'One rarely encounters a difficult work of technical philosophy that is such a pleasure to read.’ – Thomas Nagel, Journal of PhilosophyTable of ContentsPreface to the Routledge Classics Edition Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Part 1: The Language of the Mind I. The Ontological Problem of the Mind 1. The Mind and Science 2. Existence and Identity II. Intentionality 3. The Problem of Intentionality 4. Two Blind Alleys 5. The Way Out III. Evolution of the Brain 6. The Intelligent Use of Information 7. The Evolution of Appropriate Structures 8. Goal-directed Behaviour IV. The Ascription of Content 9. Function and Content 10. Language and Content 11. Personal and Sub-Personal Levels and Explanation: Pain Part 2: Consciousness V. Introspective Certainty 12. The Certainty of Certain Utterances 13. A Perceiving Machine VI. Awareness and Consciousness 14. The Ordinary Words 15. Awareness and Control 16. Consciousness VII. Mental Imagery 17. The Name of Images and the Introspective Trap 18. Colours VIII Thinking and Reasoning 19. People and Processes 20. Reasons and Causes IX. Actions and Intentions 21. Intentional Actions 22. Willing 23. The Importance of Intentional Actions X. Language and Understanding 24. Knowing and Understanding 25. Language and Information 26. Conclusions Index

    1 in stock

    £16.99

  • The Ontology of the Accident

    John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Ontology of the Accident

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis* Catherine Malabou is a rising star of French philosophy and has a high reputation in the English speaking world. This is the second of several books by her that Polity will publish, the first being Changing Difference.Trade Review"Situating the concept of plasticity within the history of philosophy, specifically the work of Hegel, Catherine Malabou has developed the means of invigorating philosophy's relation to science. Here she takes up the challenge of rethinking 'destruction', 'negativity', 'loss' and 'death'; terms which stand opposed to plasticity within the structure of plasticity itself. This work marks a significant development in Malabou's important philosophical project."Andrew Benjamin, Monash University "Through profiles of Spinoza, Deleuze, Proust, Kafka, Duras, Freud and others, Catherine Malabou has produced an exciting extension of her analysis of plasticity in its darkest and most disturbing dimension. Explosive plasticity - catastrophe, breakdown, destruction without remission, repair or promise - sculpts a new deformed form, a deviation in being as a form of being, an adieu to life while still alive, each with a phenomenology of its own. Her exploration of the accident as a category of being confirms once again her reputation as one of the brightest stars of the new generation of French philosophers."John D. Caputo, Syracuse University

    1 in stock

    £9.99

  • Gilles Deleuzes Logic of Sense

    Edinburgh University Press Gilles Deleuzes Logic of Sense

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis book offers the first critical study of Gilles Deleuze's The Logic of Sense, his most important work on language and ethics.Trade ReviewJames Williams has an amazing talent for extracting simple and important questions out of an apparently abstruse argument. He does so at regular intervals, so that the reader is able to grasp Deleuze's argument as it unfolds. This book will be essential reading for whoever wants to master Deleuze's philosophical project. -- Jean-Jacques LecercleTable of ContentsContentsChapter 1. Introduction to the logic of sense* Event and structure* Life and morals* Reading Logic of Sense* Preliminary critical questionsChapter 2. Language and event* Events as effects* Unfolding the circle of the proposition: denotation, manifestation, signification and sense* Sense and the circle* Series and paradox* Structure and esoteric words* Paradox and nonsenseChapter 3. Philosophy as event* Philosophy and diagrams* Height, depth and surface* Individuals* Singularities and sense* Transcendental deductions* Singularities and series* Problems* The connection of events* The ideal game* Static genesis* Deleuze and HusserlChapter 4. Morals and events* Placing the human* Principles for moral problems* How moral problems are replayed* How to act morally (principles)* How to act morally (examples)* The crack-up* Individuals, solipsism and the communication of events* Time and univocityChapter 5. Thought and the unconscious* The thinker deposed* Thought and problems* Seriation and the phantasm* Thought and sexuality* Dynamic genesisChapter 6. Conclusion: on method and metaphysicsBibliography

    2 in stock

    £28.49

  • The Agamben Dictionary

    Edinburgh University Press The Agamben Dictionary

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis the first dictionary dedicated to the work of Giorgio Agamben, the radical Italian philosopher. Bringing together leading scholars in the field, it provides a unique and comprehensive introduction to his work, offering readers a range of clear and concise entries on all the key topics of Agamben's oeuvre.Trade ReviewThis is not yet another dictionary listing keywords so as to provide quick access to a philosopher's work. Rather it is a dictionary that justifies its form by referring to Giorgio Agamben's own idea of language. -- Alexander Garcia Duttmann, Goldsmiths, University of London This is not yet another dictionary listing keywords so as to provide quick access to a philosopher's work. Rather it is a dictionary that justifies its form by referring to Giorgio Agamben's own idea of language.Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Lexicographer and the Sovereign, Alex Murray and Jessica Whyte; Entries A-Z; Bibliography; Further Reading; Notes on Contributors.

    2 in stock

    £26.09

  • Class Acts

    Fordham University Press Class Acts

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisClass Acts examines two often neglected aspects of Jacques Derrida's work as a philosopher, his public presentations at lectures and conferences and his teaching, along with the question of the speech act that links them. What, Michael Naas asks, is one doing when one speaks in public in these ways?The book follows Derrida's itinerary with regard to speech act theory across three public lectures, from 1971 to 1997, all given, for reasons the book seeks to explain, in Montreal. In these lectures, Derrida elaborated his critique of J. L. Austin and his own subsequent redefinition of speech act theory. The book then gives an overview of Derrida's teaching career and his famous seminar presentations, along with his own explicit reflections on pedagogy and educational institutions beginning in the mid-1970s. Naas then shows through a reading of three recently published seminarson life death, theory and practice, and forgivenessjust how Derrida the teacher interrogatedTable of ContentsAbbreviations of Works Cited | xi Introduction: The Program | 1 Part I: Derrida in Montreal (A Play in Three Speech Acts ) Argument and Dramatis Personae | 13 Act 1. The Context (1971) | 15 Intermission 1: Glyph 1 | 41 Act 2. The Signature (1979) | 45 Intermission 2: Glyph 2 | 55 Act 3. The Event (1997) | 59 Encore: Cocoon | 69 Part II: The Open Seminar The Counter-Program (Syllabus) | 75 Class 1. Agrégations: The Chance of Life Death (1975–76) | 93 Class 2. Education in Theory and Practice (1976–77) | 111 Class 3. Grace and the Machine: Perjury and Pardon (1997–98) | 127 Conclusion: Actes de naissance | 149 Acknowledgments | 157 Notes | 159 Index | 183

    1 in stock

    £17.59

  • Selections from Political Writings 19101920

    Lawrence & Wishart Ltd Selections from Political Writings 19101920

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £25.00

  • SieyÃs Political Writings

    Hackett Publishing Co, Inc SieyÃs Political Writings

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis new English edition of some of Sieyes' key texts is to be warmly welcomed. . . . Michael Sonenscher's scholarly Introduction is devoted to a discussion of different aspects of Sieyes' political ideas, rather than to a detailed examination of the texts themselves. He concentrates mainly, and quite properly, on Sieyes' concept of representation, which he analyses with sensitivity, linking it to Sieyes' concept of the nation, and distinguishing it carefully from the conventional view of representation held by the man in the street. . . . Sonenscher has researched widely and his allusions are original and stimulating. . . . [He] has done a good service in making these compelling and subversive writings more widely available. --Murray Forsyth, History of Political ThoughtThis is an invaluable contribution to the study of political thought. Sieyès was the most important political thinker of the French Revolution and one of the great theorists of representative government. Michael Sonenscher has made it easier for Anglophone readers to understand why. In addition to excellent translations, he provides a brilliantly original and illuminating Introduction to these fundamental texts. --Keith Michael Baker, Stanford UniversityMichael Sonenscher's edition of Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes's political writings is, in effect, two substantial works in one. First, Sonenscher provides readers with a sorely needed English-language edition of Sieyes's work that goes beyond the frequently anthologized, but almost inevitably excerpted, 'What is the Third Estate?' With the addition of two contemporaneous pamphlets ('Views of the Executive Means Available to the Representatives of France in 1789' and 'An Essay on Privileges') as well as Sieyes's 1791 debate with Tom Paine, Sonenscher has crafted a scholarly resource that will remain a point of reference for some time. Second, by way of an introduction to this well-translated and annotated edition, Sonenscher offers a lengthy, ambitious essay that, drawing on manuscript sources, gives a fresh and equally overdue perspective on Sieyes's political thought. . . . With this edition of Sieyès's works, Hackett has proven once again that it is much more than a niche publisher of staid and inexpensive classroom editions of the classics in politics and philosophy. As readers of Hackett's editions of Bernard Mandeville (ed. E. J. Hundert), Edmund Burke (ed. J. G. A. Pocock), Niccolo Machiavelli (ed. David Wootton) and Charles-Louis Montesquieu (ed. Melvin Richter)--to name just a few--already know, Hackett is no country cousin to the higher profile series, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, but is also reshaping and reinvigorating the discipline of the history of political thought. Sonenscher's edition of Sieyès's political writings is no exception. --Paul Cheney, University of Chicago, for H-France Review

    4 in stock

    £14.24

  • Judgement and Sense in Modern French Philosophy

    Cambridge University Press Judgement and Sense in Modern French Philosophy

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisJudgement and Sense in Modern French Philosophydevelops a series of new readings ofkey figures in the French tradition that together constitute a new reading of the traditionitself. Written in an accessible style, it will be of interest to both students andestablished scholars.

    2 in stock

    £23.74

  • German Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

    Taylor & Francis Ltd German Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe path taken by German philosophy in the twentieth century is one of the most exciting and controversial in the history of human thought, by turns radical and conservative and secular and religious. In this outstanding introduction, German Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: Dilthey to Honneththe third and final volume in his trilogyJulian Young examines the work of eight German philosophers and theologians of the period. He discusses their engagement with the deepest existential questions, their critique of the rationalization and mechanization of modernity, and their commitment to varying forms of liberalism, socialism, and democracy.Young introduces and assesses the thought of the following figures: Wilhelm Dilthey: the need for worldviews', and the distinction between explanation' and understanding' as a bulwark against the reduction of human beings to scientific quanta Karl Jaspers: existentialism, the challenge of nihilism,Trade Review"Preceded by volumes covering Weber to Habermas and Lukács to Strauss,(published in 2018 and 2020) this third and final volume of Young’s German Philosophy in the Twentieth Century examines eight philosophers and theologians who once were, but no longer are, central to the pressing philosophical debates of the 20th century. ... In company with the previous two volumes in the set, this insightful, well-written volume is an exciting guide through 20th-century German philosophy. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." - J. A. Fischel, CHOICE "Preceded by volumes covering Weber to Habermas and Lukács to Strauss,(published in 2018 and 2020) this third and final volume of Young’s German Philosophy in the Twentieth Century examines eight philosophers and theologians who once were, but no longer are, central to the pressing philosophical debates of the 20th century. ... In company with the previous two volumes in the set, this insightful, well-written volume is an exciting guide through 20th-century German philosophy. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." - J. A. Fischel, CHOICE Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction 1. Wilhelm Dilthey: Explanation and understanding 2. Karl Jaspers: The first existentialist 3. Edith Stein: Empathy, community, and Catholicism 4. Paul Tillich: Religious existentialism 5. Martin Buber: I and thou 6. Hans Jonas: Responsibility for the planet 7. Erich Fromm: Humanistic psychology 8. Axel Honneth: The struggle for recognition Afterword. Bibliography Index

    2 in stock

    £35.99

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