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Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy
In Self-Reliance, Emerson expounds on the importance of trusting
your soul, as well as divine providence, to carve out a life. A
firm believer in nonconformity, Emerson celebrates the individual
and stresses the value of listening to the inner voice unique to
each of us?even when it defies society's expectations. This new
2019 edition of Self-Reliance from Logos Books includes The
American Scholar, a stirring speech of Emerson's, as well as
footnotes and images throughout.
Aristotle's Topics is a handbook for dialectic, i.e. the exercise
for philosophical debates between a questioner and a respondent.
Alexander takes the Topics as a sort of handbook teaching how to
defend and how attack any philosophical claim against philosophical
adversaries. In book 3, Aristotle develops strategies for arguing
about comparative claims, in which properties are said to belong to
subjects to a greater, lesser, or equal degree. Aristotle
illustrates the different argumentative patterns that can be used
to establish or refute a comparative claim through one single
example: whether something is more or less or equally to be chosen
or to be avoided than something else. In his commentary on Topics
3, here translated for the first time into English, Alexander of
Aphrodisias spells out Aristotle's text by referring to issues and
examples from debates with other philosophical school (especially:
the Stoics) of his time. The commentary provides new evidence for
Alexander's views on the logic of comparison and is a relatively
neglected source for Peripatetic ethics in late antiquity. This
volume will be valuable reading for students of Aristotle and of
the developments of Peripatetic logic and ethics in late antiquity.
This volume brings together an unprecedented compilation of papers
from esteemed Russian psychophysiologists, cognitive scientists,
and neuroscientists. The contributors explain the disciplinary
trajectories and theoretical foundations inspiring their
experimental research, providing important intellectual contexts.
Commentaries by editors Chris Forsythe and Gabriel Radvansky
discuss the relationships between Russian, European, and American
developments in cognitive science and neuroscience. This volume
provides a detailed exposition of the distinctively Russian
advances in neuropsychology and cognitive science from the late
nineteenth century to the present.
Love him or hate him, you certainly can't ignore him. For the past twenty years, Australian philosopher and professor of bioethics Peter Singer has pushed the hot buttons of our collective conscience. In addition to writing the book that sparked the modern animal rights movement, Singer has challenged our most closely held beliefs on the sanctity of human life, the moral obligation's of citizens of affluent nations toward those living in the poorest countries of the world, and much more, with arguments that intrigue as often and as powerfully as they incite. Writings On An Ethical Life offers a comprehensive collection of Singer's best and most provocative writing, as chosen by Singer himself. Among the controversial subjects addressed are the moral status of animals, environmental account-ablility, abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and the ultimate choice of living an ethical life. This book provides an unsurpassed one-volume view of both the underpinnings and the applications of Singer's governing philosophy.
When Michael Walzer's Spheres of Justice was published ten years
ago, the front page of The New York Times Book Review hailed the
work as "an imaginative alternative to the current debate over
distributive justice". Now in Thick and Thin, Walzer revises and
extends his arguments in Spheres of Justice, framing his ideas
about justice, social criticism, and national identity in light of
the new political world that has arisen in the past decade. Walzer
focuses on two different but interrelated kinds of moral argument:
maximalist and minimalist, thick and thin, local and universal.
According to Walzer the first, thick type of moral argument is
culturally connected, referentially entangled, detailed, and
specific; the second, or thin type, is abstract, ad hoc, detached,
and general. Thick arguments play the larger role in determining
our views about domestic justice and in shaping our criticism of
local arrangements. Thin arguments shape our views about justice in
foreign places and in international society. The book begins with
an account of minimalist argument, then examines two uses of
maximalist arguments, focusing on distributive justice and social
criticism. Walzer then discusses minimalism with a qualified
defense of self-determination in international society, and
concludes with a discussion of the (divided) self capable of this
differentiated moral engagement. Walzer's highly literate and
fascinating blend of philosophy and historical analysis will appeal
not only to those interested in the polemics surrounding Spheres of
justice but also to intelligent readers who are more concerned with
getting the arguments right.
This second of a two-volume work provides a new understanding of
Western subjectivity as theorized in the Augustinian Rule. A
theopolitical synthesis of Antiquity, the Rule is a humble, yet
extremely influential example of subjectivity production. In these
volumes, Jodra argues that the Classical and Late-Ancient
communitarian practices along the Mediterranean provide historical
proof of a worldview in which the self and the other are not
disjunctive components, but mutually inclusive forces. The
Augustinian Rule is a culmination of this process and also the
beginning of something new: the paradigm of the monastic self as
protagonist of the new, medieval worldview. In the previous volume,
Jodra gave us the Mediterranean backstory to Augustine's Rule. In
this volume two, he develops his solution to socialism, through a
kind of Augustinian communitarianism for today, in full. These
volumes therefore restore the unity of the Hellenistic and Judaic
world as found by the first Christians, proving that the self and
the other are two essential pieces in the construction of our
world.
This collection brings together two of Schopenhauer's most
respected works, wherein the philosopher shares his views on life
and what he believes to be follies of human behavior. Writing with
incisive poise and a great sense of humor, Schopenhauer introduces
the various ideas present in his pessimistic philosophy. Holding
the usual goals of life - money, position, material and sexual
pleasures - in low regard, he explains how the cultivation of one's
individuality and mind are far better pursuits, albeit those that
most people neglect. Rather than simply criticize the state of
humanity, Schopenhauer uses wit and lively argument to convince the
reader of the value in his outlook. The practice of an ordinary
life and career is thereby demonstrated as spiritually draining, in
contrast to concentration upon a wise mind and strong body, plus a
moderated or even ascetic approach to material things.
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