Rethinking humanity as a concept in our age of globalization and its relevance to the social and political reality of our times are the topic of this book. It calls for the reclaiming of humanism as an effective response to the conflict, turmoil, and violence we witness in the world today. Concepts of humanity and humanism have become suspect of naivete at best, and guilty of bad faith and repressive ideologies at worst. Yet, hope for improvement is incorrigibly human; the concept of humanity still holds enormous attraction to intellectuals and humanistic scholars. At the same time, it is important to realize that the critique of humanism is very much based on - and limited to - Western social and historical experience. To re-conceptualize humanity and humanism from a truly global perspective will help in relclaiming a more inclusive kind of humanism. In this sense, a cross-cultural perspective is important for reclaiming humanism in our age of globalization. The present volume is the result of such an effort. The diversity of the authors views speaks eloquently to the complexity of the concept of humanity or what constitutes the distinctly human, and therefore the necessity to have an in-depth dialogue on the fate of humanity.

In Medieval Allegory as Epistemology, Marco Nievergelt argues that late medieval dream-poetry was able to use the tools of allegorical fiction to explore a set of complex philosophical questions regarding the nature of human knowledge. The focus is on three of the most widely read and influential poems of the later Middle Ages: Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose; the Pélerinages trilogy of Guillaume de Deguileville; and William Langland's vision of Piers Plowman in its various versions. All three poets grapple with a collection of shared, closely related epistemological problems that emerged in Western Europe during the thirteenth century, in the wake of the reception of the complete body of Aristotle's works on logic and the natural sciences. This study therefore not only examines the intertextual and literary-historical relations linking the work of the three poets, but takes their shared interest in cognition and epistemology as a starting point to assess their wider cultural and intellectual significance in the context of broader developments in late medieval philosophy of mind, knowledge, and language. Vernacular literature more broadly played an extremely important role in lending an enlarged cultural resonance to philosophical ideas developed by scholastic thinkers, but it is also shown that allegorical narrative could prompt philosophical speculation on its own terms, deliberately interrogating the dominance and authority of scholastic discourses and institutions by using first-person fictional narrative as a tool for intellectual speculation.

Leo Bersani, known for his provocative interrogations of psychoanalysis, sexuality, and the human body, centers his latest book on a surprisingly simple image: a newborn baby simultaneously crying out and drawing its first breath. These twin ideas--absorption and expulsion, the intake of physical and emotional nourishment and the exhalation of breath--form the backbone of Receptive Bodies, a thoughtful new essay collection. These titular bodies range from fetuses in utero to fully eroticized adults, all the way to celestial giants floating in space. Bersani illustrates his exploration of the body's capacities to receive and resist what is ostensibly alien using a typically eclectic set of sources, from literary icons like Marquis de Sade to cinematic provocateurs such as Bruno Dumont and Lars von Trier. This sharp and wide-ranging book will excite scholars of Freud, Foucault, and film studies, or anyone who has ever stopped to ponder the give and take of human corporeality.

William of Ockham (1287-1347) is oft considered the most important nominalist thinker of the Middle Ages. Nominalism, a metaphysical view that has had adherents throughout the history of Western philosophy, largely denies the extramental existence of universals and abstract objects by reducing them to linguistic or mental items. Philosopher Claude Panaccio views Ockham's genre of nominalism as consisting of three theses: that there are no universals in the external world, no relations, and no quantities considered as distinct entities. Claude Panaccio here displays the outlines of a rich and carefully crafted nominalist system that is still of great philosophical interest today. In so doing, the volume situates Ockham's thought with respect to several salient contemporary debates in philosophy. Ockham's Nominalism provides a unique systematic introduction to his thought about universals, relations, and quantities, situating his doctrines on these matters with respect to today's debates in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and epistemology.

Some consider this to be the best book on magic available. The system of magic found here originated in Egypt from a magician who was known as Abramelin the Mage. It became the main source in the work of Aleister Crowley, who based many of his magical concepts and rituals on it. This book contains a complete system of ceremonial magic, covering areas considered to be both black and white. It is an advanced test that requires focus and concentration. If patience is used, one can be successful in its practice.

This Handbook is intended to show the links between the philosophy written in the Middle Ages and that being done today. Essays by over twenty medieval specialists, who are also familiar with contemporary discussions, explore areas in logic and philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology, moral psychology ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy and philosophy of religion. Each topic has been chosen because it is of present philosophical interest, but a more or less similar set of questions was also discussed in the Middle Ages. No party-line has been set about the extent of the similarity. Some writers (e.g. Panaccio on Universals; Cesalli on States of Affairs) argue that there are the closest continuities. Others (e.g. Thom on Logical Form; Pink on Freedom of the Will) stress the differences. All, however, share the aim of providing new analyses of medieval texts and of writing in a manner that is clear and comprehensible to philosophers who are not medieval specialists. The Handbook begins with eleven chapters looking at the history of medieval philosophy period by period, and region by region. They constitute the fullest, most wide-ranging and up-to-date chronological survey of medieval philosophy available. All four traditions - Greek, Latin, Islamic and Jewish (in Arabic, and in Hebrew) - are considered, and the Latin tradition is traced from late antiquity through to the seventeenth century and beyond.

Peter Adamson presents a lively introduction to six hundred years of European philosophy, from the beginning of the ninth century to the end of the fourteenth century. The medieval period is one of the richest in the history of philosophy, yet one of the least widely known. Adamson introduces us to some of the greatest thinkers of the Western intellectual tradition, including Peter Abelard, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and Roger Bacon. And the medieval period was notable for the emergence of great women thinkers, including Hildegard of Bingen, Marguerite Porete, and Julian of Norwich. Original ideas and arguments were developed in every branch of philosophy during this period - not just philosophy of religion and theology, but metaphysics, philosophy of logic and language, moral and political theory, psychology, and the foundations of mathematics and natural science.

Presents a new, critical introduction to Machiavelli's thought for students of politics and philosophy. All students of Western political thought encounter Niccolo Machiavelli's work. Nevertheless, his writing continues to puzzle scholars and readers who are uncertain how to deal with the seeming paradoxes they encounter. The Political Philosophy of Niccolo Machiavelli is a clear account of Machiavelli's thought, major theories and central ideas. It critically engages with his work in a new way, one not based on the problematic Cambridge school approach. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Machiavelli's ideas, it is the ideal companion to the study of this influential and challenging philosopher. Introduces Machiavelli's life and the historical and theoretical context within which he developed his ideas; detailed examinations Machiavelli's most commonly encountered texts, including The Prince, The Discourses, The Florentine Histories and The Art of War; critically analyses Machiavelli's most important concepts and shows how they continue to reverberate within Western political philosophy and pays particular attention to Machiavelli's language and central themes such as Virtue, Fortune, Conflict, History and Religion.

This volume casts a new light on Byzantium as a geographical and cultural intersection. For nearly a millennium, Byzantium was an important crossroads where cultures, people, and institutions from the entire Mediterranean area came together. Key subjects of interest explored by this volume include reciprocal cultural and epistemic processes of reception and transformation and the forms of knowledge associated with them.

Die menschliche Lebensfuhrung ist weder durch Wesenheiten vorherbestimmt noch eine beliebige Konstruktion. Sie bedarf der Aufdeckung der zum Leben notigen Moglichkeiten. Dieser Kategorische Konjunktiv beugt der unmenschlichen Verstetigung ungespielten Lachens und Weinens vor. Menschliche Lebewesen brauchen einen geschichtlichen Prozess, um ihre Natur offentlich herausproduzieren zu konnen. Die Wahrnehmung der ersten Person bedeutet Teilnahme an der Semiosis lebendiger Augenblicke. Diesseits von Naturalismus und Sprachidealismus wird hier der dritte Weg eines modernitatskritischen Philosophierens erkundet. Auf jenem Weg Philosophischer Anthropologie kommt der Geschlechterfrage ein hoher Stellenwert zu. Die Selbstermachtigung zur Produktion biologischer und soziokultureller Geschlechterbestimmungen hat ihre Grenzen am notigen Respekt vor unserer erotischen Leibesnatur."

Eva Brann examines the great philosophers and their articulations of the idea of "will." The diversity of thought found in the roughly fifty writers considered here suggests that the term refers not to just one fixed constituent of the "soul," but to many senses--perhaps linked, perhaps disparate.

Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA prasentieren seit ihrer Grundung durch Paul Wilpert im Jahre 1962 Arbeiten des Thomas-Instituts der Universitat zu Koeln. Das Kernstuck der Publikationsreihe bilden die Akten der im zweijahrigen Rhythmus stattfindenden Koelner Mediaevistentagungen, die vor uber 50 Jahren von Josef Koch, dem Grundungsdirektor des Instituts, ins Leben gerufen wurden. Der interdisziplinare Charakter dieser Kongresse pragt auch die Tagungsakten: Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA versammeln Beitrage aus allen mediavistischen Disziplinen - die mittelalterliche Geschichte, die Philosophie, die Theologie sowie die Kunst- und Literaturwissenschaften sind Teile einer Gesamtbetrachtung des Mittelalters.

Using new and cutting-edge perspectives, this book explores literary criticism and the reception of Aristotle's Poetics in early modern Italy. Written by leading international scholars, the chapters examine the current state of the field and set out new directions for future study. The reception of classical texts of literary criticism, such as Horace's Ars Poetica, Longinus's On the Sublime, and most importantly, Aristotle's Poetics was a crucial part of the intellectual culture of Renaissance Italy. Revisiting the translations, commentaries, lectures, and polemic treatises produced, the contributors apply new interdisciplinary methods from book history, translation studies, history of the emotions and classical reception to them. Placing several early modern Italian poetic texts in dialogue with twentieth-century literary theory for the first time, The Reception of Aristotle's Poetics in the Italian Renaissance and Beyond models contemporary practice and maps out avenues for future study.

What is a renaissance? This title examines the phenomenon of a cultural re-birth. What causes a society suddenly to review and re-shape its identity and future is an exciting and galvanising thrust which has brought South Africa out from utter isolation to participation in the world community. The stress and advancement of such radical growth has caused many South Africans to call for a complete African renaissance. By investigating the English Renaissance, one detectes elements that are crucial to an appreciation and energetic deployment of the term. The island people of England had to adapt to a new world vision and reassess their place in a new environment of societal upheaval and religious revolution. How to make the most of the challenge of a renaissance and how to avoid some of the pitfalls, is the scope of this exciting new volume. The renaissance takes on a new focus by means of the African context and contemporary scholarly insights.

This book is a study ofthe psychology of Averroes and its influence on Roman philosophy. It addresses his famous doctrine of the intellect, and its critical defence by the English 14th-century theologian Thomas Wylton. The major questions related to the body-mind problem are tackled: the relation between soul and body, the status of imagination, the nature of the intellect s power, and the autonomy of the thinker."

This book gathers wide-ranging essays on the Italian Renaissance philosopher and cosmologist Giordano Bruno by one of the world's leading authorities on his work and life. Many of these essays were originally written in Italian and appear here in English for the first time. Bruno (1548-1600) is principally famous as a proponent of heliocentrism, the infinity of the universe, and the plurality of worlds. But his work spanned the sciences and humanities, sometimes touching the borders of the occult, and Hilary Gatti's essays richly reflect this diversity.

The book is divided into sections that address three broad subjects: the relationship between Bruno and the new science, the history of his reception in English culture, and the principal characteristics of his natural philosophy. A final essay examines why this advocate of a "tranquil universal philosophy" ended up being burned at the stake as a heretic by the Roman Inquisition. While the essays take many different approaches, they are united by a number of assumptions: that, although well versed in magic, Bruno cannot be defined primarily as a Renaissance Magus; that his aim was to articulate a new philosophy of nature; and that his thought, while based on ancient and medieval sources, represented a radical rupture with the philosophical schools of the past, helping forge a path toward a new modernity.

Housing the powers? What powers? Soul powers - powers that shape the lives of human souls. They may be housed, and exercised, by those souls or by other agents. This book is about views on that subject developed by Christian philosophical theologians in western Europe from the mid-12th to the early 14th century, with some borrowing of thoughts from their Islamic counterparts. Chapters 1 to 3 discuss in increasing breadth and depth those theologians' views about their own housing and exercise of soul powers. Chapters 4 to 8 discuss their views as to the possibility of some of our soul powers being outsourced - that is, housed and exercised by God or a super-human emanation of God. Chapter 4 is about outsourcing the subject - in an Islamic form that postulated an outsourcing of intellectual thinking from individual human beings to a single intellect that is eternally emanated from God and is the sole thinker of all the thoughts that humans ever think. That theory attracted the interest, though not the agreement, of European Christian philosophers. They found ideas of outsourcing the object, rather than the subject, of religious thought more congenial. The remaining four chapters of the book deal with that more congenial topic. In chapters 5 and 6 the focus is mainly on divine gifts of knowledge and understanding, and in chapters 7 and 8 on gifts of action and willing or desire.