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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Epistemology, theory of knowledge
In Everything Ancient Was Once New, Emalani Case explores
Indigenous persistence through the concept of Kahiki, a term that
is at once both an ancestral homeland for Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiians)
and the knowledge that there is life to be found beyond Hawai'i's
shores. It is therefore both a symbol of ancestral connection and
the potential that comes with remembering and acting upon that
connection. Tracing physical, historical, intellectual, and
spiritual journeys to and from Kahiki, Emalani frames it as a place
of refuge and sanctuary, a place where ancient knowledge can
constantly be made anew. It is in Kahiki, she argues, and in the
sanctuary it creates, that today's Kanaka Maoli can find safety and
reprieve from the continued onslaught of settler colonial violence,
while also confronting some of the often uncomfortable and
challenging realities of being Indigenous in Hawai'i, in the
Pacific, and in the world. Each chapter of the book engages with
Kahiki as a shifting term, employed by Kanaka Maoli to explain
their lives and experiences to themselves at different points in
history. In doing so, Everything Ancient Was Once New proposes and
argues for reactivated and reinvigorated engagements with Kahiki,
each supporting ongoing work aimed at decolonizing physical and
ideological spaces, and reconnecting Kanaka Maoli to other peoples
and places in the Pacific region and beyond in ways that are both
purposeful and meaningful. In the book, Kahiki is therefore traced
through pivotal moments in history and critical moments in
contemporary times, explaining that while not always mentioned by
name, the idea of Kahiki was, and is, always full of potential. In
writing that is both personal and theoretical, Emalani weaves the
past and the present together, reflecting on ancient concepts and
their continued relevance in movements to protect lands, waters,
and oceans; to fight for social justice; to reexamine our
responsibilities and obligations to each other across the Pacific
region; and to open space for continued dialogue on what it means
to be Indigenous both when at home and when away. Combining
personal narrative and reflection with research and critical
analysis, Everything Ancient Was Once New journeys to and from
Kahiki, the sanctuary for reflection, deep learning, and continued
dreaming with the past, in the present, and far into the future.
Included in this volume is an introduction by the translator,
J.M.D. Meiklejohn. Revised edition, originally published by The
Colonial Press in 1899.
Included in this volume is an introduction by the translator,
J.M.D. Meiklejohn. Revised edition, originally published by The
Colonial Press in 1899.
The second edition of this popular text, updated throughout and now
including Covid-19 and the 2020 presidential election and
aftermath, introduces students to the research into conspiracy
theories and the people who propagate and believe them. In doing
so, Uscinski and Enders address the psychological, sociological,
and political sources of conspiracy theorizing. They rigorously
analyze the most current arguments and evidence while providing
numerous real-world examples so students can contextualize the
current debates. Each chapter addresses important current
questions, provides conceptual tools, defines important terms, and
introduces the appropriate methods of analysis.
When we talk about delusions we may refer to symptoms of mental
health problems, such as clinical delusions in schizophrenia, or
simply the beliefs that people cling to which are implausible and
resistant to counterevidence; these can include anything from
beliefs about the benefits of homeopathy to concerns about the
threat of alien abduction. Why do people adopt delusional beliefs
and why are they so reluctant to part with them? In Why Delusions
Matter, Lisa Bortolotti explains what delusions really are and
argues that, despite their negative reputation, they can also play
a positive role in people's lives, imposing some meaning on adverse
experiences and strengthening personal or social identities. In a
clear and accessible style, Bortolotti contributes to the growing
research on the philosophy of the cognitive sciences, offering a
novel and nuanced view of delusions.
Notes from the Crawl Room employs the lens and methods of horror
writing to critique the excesses and absurdities of philosophy.
Each story reveals disastrous and de-humanising effects of
philosophies that are separated from real, lived experience (e.g.
the absurdity of arguing over a sentence in Kant while the world
burns around us). From a Kafkaesque exploration of administrative
absurdities to the horrors of discursive violence, white supremacy
and the living spectres of patriarchy, A.M. Moskovitz doesn't shy
away from addressing the complex aspects of our lives. In addition
to offering often humourous critiques of philosophy, these works
are also, somewhat ironically, pieces of philosophy themselves.
Each story seeks to move a subject area forward offering the reader
the capacity to think through ideas in a weirder and more open way
than traditional philosophy usually allows. An antidote to
philosophy that seeks to close down and shut off the imaginative
potential of human thought, Notes from the Crawl Room revels in the
unsettling and creative potential of stories for revealing what
thinking philosophically might really mean.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the 'why' of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie - man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality.
The book argues that human civilisation is a defence against the knowledge that we are mortal beings. Becker states that humans live in both the physical world and a symbolic world of meaning, which is where our 'immortality project' resides. We create in order to become immortal - to become part of something we believe will last forever. In this way we hope to give our lives meaning.
In The Denial of Death, Becker sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates decades after it was written.
Challenging existing methodological conceptions of the analytic
approach to aesthetics, Jukka Mikkonen brings together philosophy,
literary studies and cognitive psychology to offer a new theory on
the cognitive value of reading fiction. Philosophy, Literature and
Understanding defends the epistemic significance of narratives,
arguing that it should be explained in terms of understanding
rather than knowledge. Mikkonen formulates understanding as a
cognitive process, which he connects to narrative imagining in
order to assert that narrative is a central tool for communicating
understanding. Demonstrating the effects that literary works have
on their readers, he examines academic critical analysis, responses
of the reading public and nonfictional writings that include
autobiographical testimony to their writer's influences and
attitudes to life. In doing so, he provides empirical evidence of
the cognitive benefits of literature and of how readers demonstrate
the growth of their understanding. By drawing on the written
testimony of the reader, this book is an important intervention
into debates on the value of literature that incorporates
understanding in new and imaginative ways.
This collection provides the first in-depth introduction to the
theory of the religious imagination put forward by renowned
philosopher Douglas Hedley, from his earliest essays to his
principal writings. Featuring Hedley's inaugural lecture delivered
at Cambridge University in 2018, the book sheds light on his robust
concept of religious imagination as the chief power of the soul's
knowledge of the Divine and reveals its importance in contemporary
metaphysics, ethics and politics. Chapters trace the development of
the religious imagination in Christian Platonism from Late
Antiquity to British Romanticism, drawing on Origen, Henry More and
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, before providing a survey of alternative
contemporary versions of the concept as outlined by Karl Rahner,
Rene Girard and William P. Alston, as well as within Indian
philosophy. By bringing Christian Platonist thought into dialogue
with contemporary philosophy and theology, the volume
systematically reveals the relevance of Hedley's work to current
debates in religious epistemology and metaphysics. It offers a
comprehensive appraisal of the historical contribution of
imagination to religious understanding and, as such, will be of
great interest to philosophers, theologians and historians alike.
The Essential Berkeley and Neo-Berkeley is an introduction to the
life and work of one of the most significant thinkers in the
history of philosophy and a penetrating philosophical assessment of
his lasting legacy. Written in clear and user-friendly style,
Berman provides: * A concise summary of George Berkeley
(1685-1753)'s life and writings * An accessible introduction to the
structure of Berkeley's most authoritative work, The Principles of
Human Knowledge * An overview of common misunderstandings of
Berkeley's philosophy, and how to avoid them Beyond solely an
introduction, Berman also gives us a broader and deeper
appreciation of Berkeley as a philosopher. He argues for Berkeley's
work as a philosophical system with coherence and important key
themes hitherto unexplored and provides an analysis of why he
thinks Berkeley's work has had such lasting significance. With a
particular focus on Berkeley's dualist thinking and theories of
'mental types', Berman provides students and scholars with a key to
unlocking the significance of this work. This introductory text
will provide an insight into Berkeley's full body of work, the
distinctiveness of his thinking and how deeply relevant this key
thinker is to contemporary philosophy.
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