Michael Moran is fascinated by the thinkers he discusses. But unlike most of them, he has no illusion that philosophy can do the work of science and be even a minor source of factual knowledge. Moreover, being highly speculative, it is unlikely that most philosophy will reveal more to us about the `nature of reality' than, say, imaginative literature. Among other things, the author considers both where the usefulness, and indeed the dangers, of philosophy may lie and how, as an academic subject, it might be practised. `I have written this volume not primarily for fellow academics but for anyone who is really interested in modern philosophy and who would like to know what another thoughtful reader has made of it. In other words, I still cling to the hope that there must somewhere exist an intelligent readership outside the routines of academia itself, consisting of individuals who are deeply concerned with ideas, are already reasonably informed, but feel the need for more stimulus. This book is primarily meant for them.' (Introduction, p. 9) Sir Isaiah Berlin, commenting on the author's article on Coleridge: `It seems to me to be one of the most perceptive pieces on Coleridge that I have ever read in English.'

The twenty chapters of the book are divided into three parts. Part One contains the leading essay in the book, `Metaphysical Imagination', a study of two complex concepts that have been of great importance in our understanding of both science and philosophy, together with an essay on how the writings of past philosophers are to be understood. The essays in Part Two are individual studies of some of the most influential European thinkers of the nineteenth century. While Hegel, Nietzsche and the continental tradition of Dialectical Thought might appear to have little in common with the English tradition of Mill, Bentham and Coleridge, the author points to the similarities as well as the differences. Part Three has essays on major twentieth century thinkers: Benedetto Croce, Bertrand Russell, Ernst Cassirer, Ortega y Gasset, C.J. Jung and J.P. Sartre, and a chapter in which the author gives a fascinating account of his personal relations with Sir Isaiah Berlin. Berlin once wrote to the author thanking him for a review which, he said, `is at once the most generous, penetrating, interesting and to me ... unbelievably welcome review of anything I have ever written... It shows more Einfuhlung into the character and purpose of what I think and believe than anyone has ever shown.' (p. 657, chapter 18 of this book) In the final two essays of Part Three the author considers the nature of philosophy. He is critical of certain movements in current philosophical thought, and, unlike many of the thinkers that he discusses, he does not believe that philosophy can be a source of factual knowledge or that it can reveal some 'true essence' of reality. He sets out his own view of what philosophy is, and the implications of this view for the teaching of the subject.

The islands of the Outer Hebrides are home to some of the most remote and spectacular scenery in the world. They host an astonishing range of mysterious structures - stone circles, beehive dwellings, holy wells and 'temples' from the Celtic era. Over a twelve-day pilgrimage, often in appalling conditions, Alastair McIntosh returns to the islands of his childhood and explores the meaning of these places. Traversing moors and mountains, struggling through torrential rivers, he walks from the most southerly tip of Harris to the northerly Butt of Lewis. The book is a walk through space and time, across a physical landscape and into a spiritual one. As he battled with his own ability to endure some of the toughest terrain in Britain, he met with the healing power of the land and its communities. This is a moving book, a powerful reflection not simply of this extraordinary place and its people met along the way, but of imaginative hope for humankind.

This collection sheds new light on the nature, role and practice of philosophy and science in the renewed Berlin Academy from the mid-1740s to the 1770s, and in so doing provides a robust new instalment of materials for the broader task of constructing a historiography of philosophy at this important Enlightenment institution. The collection ranges from discussions of the roles of philosophy and natural philosophy in the formation of the reinvigorated Academy in the mid-1740s, to conceptions of the correct philosophical methodology to be deployed by the Academy. It provides the first ever study of the nature and arrangement of the new classes of the Academy, and a fresh appraisal of the Academy's methodological eclecticism. One recurring theme is the status of metaphysics: there are studies of both special metaphysics, including the study of the soul; general metaphysics, that is, the study of being in general; and foundational metaphysical principles and concepts, such as Maupertuis's Principle of least action, Euler's concept of space and Lambert's notion of an experimental metaphysics. The collection also takes the study of the Academy in new directions through focused studies of important figures whose writings deserve to be better understood, such as Jean Bernard Merian, Louis de Beausobre, Jean Henri Samuel Formey and Johann Georg Sulzer.

The author of "The Prince"--his controversial handbook on power, which is one of the most influential books ever written--NiccolO Machiavelli (1469-1527) was no prince himself. Born to an established middle-class family, Machiavelli worked as a courtier and diplomat for the Republic of Florence and enjoyed some small fame in his time as the author of bawdy plays and poems. In this discerning new biography, Ross King rescues Machiavelli's legacy from caricature, detailing the vibrant political and social context that influenced his thought and underscoring the humanity of one of history's finest political thinkers.

It is illustrated in a fresh and modern way with a touch of abstract and so should appeal to a wider audience. With hints of social and human psychology, spirituality combinded with creativity - it just scratches each issue on the surface. The book doesn't impose any strong views or lengthy "deep" writing to bore, but is says enough - acting as a catalyst to encourage deeper thought, reflection and discussion. "Themes Of Life.... A simple but Spiritual, Creative and Psychological approach to tackling some key issues which we face, In Human relationships & in Society today"

Modern life doesn't always go our way. Loss, rejection, uncertainty and loneliness are unavoidable parts of the human experience -- but there is solace to be found.

In When Things Don't Go Your Way, Zen Buddhist teacher Haemin Sunim provides simple but powerful wisdom for navigating life's challenges. Through his trademark combination of beautiful illustrations, insightful stories, and contemplative aphorisms, Sunim helps us reframe our mindsets and develop emotional agility.

When Things Don't Go Your Way is a soothing balm that helps us all find courage and comfort when we need it most.

The head space that one has is the back office to all actions and reactions following an experience. Now, let it be known that the time frame between the experience and the response relies on the back office to generate chatter that takes place in autopilot. Further, when we slow down the gap between the experience and the reaction the chatter becomes a wiser chatter. the wise chatter is referred to as Mindfulness. I decided to document my mindful chatter to open up the secrets of the back office. It involved thinking out aloud. the hardest think was keeping it in raw form. I learnt a thing or two about my self beliefs.

When I Loved Myself Enough is a beautiful collection of wisdom that is startling in its simplicity. By the end of the book the message becomes clear: loving yourself holds the key to loving others and having others love you. By sharing her insights, the author also shows us how to feel the same sense of peace and quiet joy that illuminated her life.

This book began as one woman's gift to the world, hand-made by Kim McMillen and handed out to friends. After Kim's death her daughter Alison continued making the books - and word of mouth turned this into an underground bestseller in America. Today, over two decades later, it brings comfort and inspiration to readers around the world.

Stephen C. Ferguson II provides a philosophical examination of Black popular culture for the first time. From extensive discussion of the philosophy and political economy of Hip-Hop music through to a developed exploration of the influence of the postmodernism-poststructuralist ideology on African American studies, he argues how postmodernism ideology plays a seminal role in justifying the relationship between corporate capitalism and Black popular culture. Chapters cover topics such as cultural populism, capitalism and Black liberation, the philosophy of Hip-Hop music, and Harold Cruse’s influence on the “cultural turn” in African American studies. Ferguson combines case studies of past and contemporary Black cultural and intellectual productions with a Marxist ideological critique to provide a cutting edge reflection on the economic structure in which Black popular culture emerged. He highlights the contradictions that are central to the juxtaposition of Black cultural artists as political participants in socioeconomic struggle and the political participants who perform the rigorous task of social criticism. Adopting capitalism as an explanatory framework, Ferguson investigates the relationship between postmodernism as social theory, current manifestations of Black popular culture, and the theoretical work of Black thinkers and scholars to demonstrate how African American studies have been shaped.

There is an art to stillness and silence - its almost a religious experience. So, take a moment to re-align your thinking and recognise the gifts that are around you. Nothing is more valuable than the here and now - in case you hadn't noticed.

From Kathmandu to Toronto, what to do with waste has become a major problem. In the UK this problem is dealt with by public inquiries. These tend to involve emotive issues where human energy becomes embroiled passionately, to satisfy personal desires. The author deals with these issues by introducing the reader to the philosophy of an American scientist and philosopher, Charles Sanders Peirce, whose particular interest was logic - 'the science of drawing conclusions': the greatest need of inquiries By providing a case study of one such planning inquiry, the author considers aesthetic, instrumental and scientific arguments which are connected to Peirce's three categories: experiencer's feelings (Firstness), actions (Secondness) and thoughts (Thirdness) as these refer to something outside the self.Traditionally the pursuit of philosophy was regarded as leading to wisdom through investigating man's nature and his relationship to the world. Today the call is for relevance, a view captured by John Dewey's insistence on how philosophy can be put to good use within a culture. As a student of Peirce, as well as an educational theorist and philosopher in his own right, Dewey's work has had an important bearing on landscape aesthetics. The author follows his example. He also relates the issues of the inquiry to those in ecological ethics, showing how arguments can be used to defend one's own piece of landscape threatened by developments.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

American Disaster Movies of the 1970s is the first scholarly book dedicated to the disaster cycle that dominated American cinema and television in the 1970s. Through examining films such as Airport (1970), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Two-Minute Warning (1976) and The Swarm (1978), alongside their historical contexts and American contemporaneous trends, the disaster cycle is treated as a time-bound phenomenon. This book further contextualises the cycle by drawing on the longer cultural history of modernist reactions to modern anxieties, including the widespread dependence on technology and corporate power. Each chapter considers cinematic precursors, such as the ‘ark movie’, and contemporaneous trends, such as New Hollywood, vigilante and blaxploitation films, as well as the immediate American context: the end of the civil rights and countercultural era, the Watergate crisis, and the defeat in Vietnam.As Scott Freer argues, the disaster movie is a modern, demotic form of tragedy that satisfies a taste for the macabre. It is also an aesthetic means for processing painful truths, and many of the dramatized themes anticipate present-day monstrosities of modernity.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.