Peter Bornedal provides an interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophy as a whole in the context of 19th century philosophy of mind and cognition. The study explains Nietzsche's notion of truth; his epistemology; his notions of the split and fragmented subject, of master, slave, and priest; furthermore, it offers a new interpretation of the enigmatic "eternal recurrence". It also suggests how important aspects of Nietzsche's thinking can be read as a sophisticated critique of ideology. From studies in Nietzsche's work as a whole, not least in his so-called Nachgelassene Fragmente, thebook reconstructs aspects of Nietzsche's thinking that have largely been under-described in especially the Anglo-Saxon Nietzsche-reception. The study makes the case that Nietzsche in his epistemology, his psychology, and his cognitive theory is responding to several scientific discoveries occuring during the 19th century. Read within the context of contemporary cognitive-psychological-evolutionary debates, Nietzsche's philosophy is seen as far more scientistic, and far less poetical-metaphysical, than it has in recent reception-history been received.

Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake in Rome in 1600, accused of heresy by the Inquisition. His life took him from Italy to Northern Europe and England, and finally to Venice, where he was arrested. His six dialogues in Italian, which today are considered a turning point towards the philosophy and science of the modern world, were written during his visit to Elizabethan London, as a gentleman attendant to the French Ambassador, Michel de Castelnau. He died refusing to recant views which he defined as philosophical rather than theological, and for which he claimed liberty of expression. The papers in this volume derive from a conference held in London to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Bruno's death. A number focus specifically on his experience in England, while others look at the Italian context of his thought and his impact upon others. Together they constitute a major new survey of the range of Bruno's philosophical activity, as well as evaluating his use of earlier cultural traditions and his influence on both contemporary and more modern themes and trends.

This work brings together a collection of essays on the contemporary relevance of, and outstanding issues in, Hegel's legal theory. Particular attention is paid to the different parts of the legal curriculum which Hegelian analysis could contribute to in a positive manner.

The Spectre of Babeuf is a long-awaited introduction to Babeuf written by Ian Birchall. Little known to today's radicals, Babeuf and his conspiracy of equals were in some ways the direct historical precursor of the revolutionary socialist movement. Ian Birchall, a prolific writer and authority on Babeuf, has produced a long-awaited introduction to him - his historical significance, his ideas and his practice in revolutionary France.

The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals^ is one of the most important works of moral philosophy ever written, and Kant's most widely read work. It attempts to demonstrate that morality has its foundation in reason and that our wills are free from both natural necessity and the power of desire. It is here that Kant sets out his famous and controversial 'categorical imperative', which forms the basis of his moral theory.
This book is an essential guide to the groundwork and the many important and profound claims that Kant raises. The book combines an invaluable introduction to the work offering an exploration of these arguments and setting them in the context of Kant's thinking, along with the complete H.J Paton translation of the work, and a selection of six of the best contemporary commentaries. It is the ideal companion for all students of Kantian ethics and anyone interested in moral philosophy.

Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation is one of the central texts in the history of Western philosophy. It is one of the last monuments to the project of grand synthetic philosophical system-building, where a single, unified work could aim to clarify, resolve, and ground all the central questions of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, religion, aesthetics and science. Poorly received at its initial publication, it soon became a powerful cultural force, inspiring not only philosophers but also artists, writers and musicians, and attracting a large popular audience of non-scholars. Perhaps equally importantly, Schopenhauer was one of the first European philosophers to take non-Western thought seriously and to treat it as a living tradition rather than as a mere object of study. This volume of new essays showcases the enormous variety of contemporary scholarship on this monumental text, as well as its enduring relevance.

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit is famed for its account of the problem of recognition. Yet while readers agree about the importance of its influential accounts of the struggle to the death and the master/slave relation in developing that problem, there is no consensus regarding what sorts of relations among subjects would count as successful forms of recognition. Timothy Brownlee articulates the essential connections between Hegel's concepts of recognition and the self, and presents a novel interpretation of the Phenomenology that traces the emergence of actual relations of reciprocal recognition through the work as a whole. He focuses on the distinctive social constitution conception of the self that Hegel develops in his account of 'spirit,' and demonstrates that the primary significance of recognition lies in its contribution to self-knowledge. His book will be valuable for scholars and students interested in Hegel, German Idealism, and philosophical conceptions of recognition.

This study investigates the thinking of European authors from Vitoria to Kant about political justice, the global community, and the rights of strangers as one special form of interaction among individuals of divergent societies, political communities, and cultures. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it covers historical material from a predominantly philosophical perspective, interpreting authors who have tackled problems related to the rights of strangers under the heading of international hospitality. Their analyses of the civitas maxima or the societas humani generis covered the nature of the global commonwealth. Their doctrines of natural law (ius naturae) were supposed to provide what we nowadays call theories of political justice. The focus of the work is on international hospitality as part of the law of nations, on its scope and justification. It follows the political ideas of Francisco de Vitoria and the Second Scholastic in the 16th century, of Alberico Gentili, Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf, Christian Wolff, Emer de Vattel, Johann Jacob Moser, and Immanuel Kant. It draws attention to the international dimension of political thought in Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, and others. This is predominantly a study in intellectual history which contextualizes ideas, but also emphasizes their systematic relevance.

The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon is the definitive reference source on Rene Descartes, 'the father of modern philosophy' and arguably among the most important philosophers of all time. Examining the full range of Descartes' achievements and legacy, it includes 256 in-depth entries that explain key concepts relating to his thought. Cumulatively they uncover interpretative disputes, trace his influences, and explain how his work was received by critics and developed by followers. There are entries on topics such as certainty, cogito ergo sum, doubt, dualism, free will, God, geometry, happiness, human being, knowledge, Meditations on First Philosophy, mind, passion, physics, and virtue, which are written by the largest and most distinguished team of Cartesian scholars ever assembled for a collaborative research project - 92 contributors from ten countries.

Irish philosopher George Bishop Berkeley was one of the greatest philosophers of the early modern period. Along with David Hume and John Locke he is considered one of the fathers of British Empiricism. Berkeley is a clear, concise, and sympathetic introduction to George Berkeley s philosophy, and a thorough review of his most important texts. Daniel E. Flage explores his works on vision, metaphysics, morality, and economics in an attempt to develop a philosophically plausible interpretation of Berkeley s oeuvre as whole. Many scholars blur the rejection of material substance (immaterialism) with the claim that only minds and things dependent upon minds exist (idealism). However Flage shows how, by distinguishing idealism from immaterialism and arguing that Berkeley s account of what there is (metaphysics) is dependent upon what is known (epistemology), a careful and plausible philosophy emerges. The author sets out the implications of this valuable insight for Berkeley s moral and economic works, showing how they are a natural outgrowth of his metaphysics, casting new light on the appreciation of these and other lesser-known areas of Berkeley s thought. Daniel E. Flage s Berkeley presents the student and general reader with a clear and eminently readable introduction to Berkeley s works which also challenges standard interpretations of Berkeley s philosophy.

This book presents an historical and conceptual reconstruction of the theories developed by Meinong and a group of philosophers and experimental psychologists in Graz at the turn of the 19th century. Adhering closely to original texts, the contributors explore Meinong's roots in the school of Brentano, complex theories such as the theory of intentional reference and direct reference, and ways of developing philosophy which are closely bound up with the sciences, particularly psychology. Providing a faithful reconstruction of both Meinong's contributions to science and the school that arose from his thought, this book shows how the theories of the Graz school raise the possibility of engaging in the scientific metaphysics and ontology that for so long have been considered off limits.

Benedict de Spinoza [1632-1677] is among the most fascinating and the most controversial of Western philosophers. These volumes provide a comprehensive selection of high quality critical discussions of his philosophy published in, or translated into English since 1970.
The collection is designed to allow current debates on key themes to be followed through in depth. At the same time, the selection and organisation of the articles give readers an appreciation of the diversity of philosophical approach and interpretation that characterises recent Spinoza scholarship.

Adam Smith, in his The Theory of Moral Sentiments, largely left his readers to develop his argument's full implications. Many philosophers famously did so, including Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Paine, and John Millar, among others, but less known are Sophie de Grouchy's own contributions, presented here alone in translation. Grouchy (1764-1822) published her Letters on Sympathy in 1798 together with her French translation of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. While Grouchy's Letters mainly engage critically with Smith's philosophical analysis of sympathy, they offer valuable perspectives and original thoughts about the relationship of emotional and moral development to legal, economic, and political reform. In particular, Grouchy sought to understand how the mechanisms of sympathy could help the development of new social and political institutions after the revolution. Her Letters further contain profound reflections on the dangers of demagoguery, the nature of tragedy, and the roles of love and friendship. Though ostensibly a commentary on Smith, the Letters stand in their own right as significant and original contributions to political philosophy. This new translation by Sandrine Berges of a text by a forgotten female philosopher illuminates new inroads to Enlightenment and feminist thought and reveals insights that were far ahead of their time. The volume includes a critical introduction, explanatory notes, and a glossary of terms to provide critical and historical analysis for the novice reader.

This collection brings together in translation the finest postwar German-language scholarship on Nietzsche's philosophy, ranging over his concept of irony, his thoughts on music, his relation to the pre-Socratics, his concept of truth, and numerous other topics. Many of the essays appear in English here for the first time, and all are newly translated for the volume.

This book investigates the writings of German intellectual historian and philosopher Hans Blumenberg. While Blumenberg was not an explicitly political thinker and remains relatively under-explored in Anglophone academia, this project demonstrates that his work makes a valuable contribution to political science. The author considers the intellectual contributions Blumenberg makes to a variety of themes focusing primarily on myth. Rather than seeing myths in a pejorative sense, as primitive modes of thought that have been overcome, Blumenberg reveals that myths are crucial to dealing with the existential anxieties we face. When we trace his thought as it developed throughout his life, we find a rich source of philosophical insights that could enhance our understandings of politics today.

In this updated edition of his outstanding introduction to Kant, Paul Guyer uses Kant's central conception of autonomy as the key to his thought. Beginning with a helpful overview of Kant's life and times, Guyer introduces Kant's metaphysics and epistemology, carefully explaining his arguments about the nature of space, time and experience in his most influential but difficult work, The Critique of Pure Reason. He offers an explanation and critique of Kant's famous theory of transcendental idealism and shows how much of Kant's philosophy is independent of this controversial doctrine. He then examines Kant's moral philosophy, his celebrated 'categorical imperative' and his theories of duty, freedom of will and political rights. This section of the work has been substantially revised to clarify the relation between Kant's conceptions of "internal" and "external" freedom. In his treatments of Kant's aesthetics and teleology, Guyer focuses on their relation to human freedom and happiness. Finally, he considers Kant's view that the development of human autonomy is the only goal that we can conceive for both natural and human history. Including a chronology, glossary, chapter summaries and up-to-date further reading, Kant, second edition is an ideal introduction to this demanding yet pivotal figure in the history of philosophy, and essential reading for all students of philosophy.

This Element examines the entirety of Kant's Critique of Taste (in Part One of the Critique of Judgment) with particular emphasis on its political and moral aims. Kant's critical treatment of aesthetic judgment is both an extended theoretical response to influential predecessors and contemporaries, including Rousseau and Herder, and a practical intervention in its own right meant to nudge history forward at a time of civilizational crisis. Attention to these themes helps resolve a number of puzzles, both textual and philosophic, including the normative force and meaning of judgments of taste, and the relation between natural and artful beauty.

The Critique of Pure Reason Kant's First Critique is one of the most studied texts in intellectual history, but as Alfredo Ferrarin points out in this radically original book, most of that study has focused only on very select parts. Likewise, Kant's oeuvre as a whole has been compartmentalized, the three Critiques held in rigid isolation from one another. Working against the standard reading of Kant that such compartmentalization has produced, The Powers of Pure Reason explores forgotten parts of the First Critique in order to find an exciting, new, and ultimately central set of concerns by which to read all of Kant's works. Ferrarin blows the dust off of two egregiously overlooked sections of the First Critique the Transcendental Dialectic and the Doctrine of Method. There he discovers what he argues is the Critique's greatest achievement: a conception of the unity of reason and an exploration of the powers it has to reach beyond itself and legislate over the world. With this in mind, Ferrarin dismantles the common vision of Kant as a philosopher writing separately on epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics and natural teleology, showing that the three Critiques are united by this underlying theme: the autonomy and teleology of reason, its power and ends. The result is a refreshing new view of Kant, and of reason itself.

In his Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (1786), Kant accounts for the possibility of an acting-at-a-distance gravitational force, demonstrates the infinite divisibility of matter, and derives analogues to Newtonian laws of motion. The work is his major statement in philosophy of science, and was especially influential in German-speaking countries in the nineteenth century. However, this complex text has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. The chapters of this Critical Guide clarify the accounts of matter, motion, the mathematization of nature, space, and natural laws exhibited in the Metaphysical Foundations; elucidate the relationship between its metaphysics of nature and Kant's critical philosophy; and describe the historical context for Kant's account of natural science. The volume will be an invaluable resource for understanding one of Kant's most difficult works, and will set the agenda for future scholarship on Kant's philosophy of science.

John Locke's religious interests and concerns permeate his philosophical production and are best expressed in his later writings on religion, which represent the culmination of his studies. In this volume, Diego Lucci offers a thorough analysis and reassessment of Locke's unique, heterodox, internally coherent version of Protestant Christianity, which emerges from The Reasonableness of Christianity and other public as well as private texts. In order to clarify Locke's views on morality, salvation, and the afterlife, Lucci critically examines Locke's theistic ethics, biblical hermeneutics, reflection on natural and revealed law, mortalism, theory of personal identity, Christology, and tolerationism. While emphasizing the originality of Locke's scripture-based religion, this book calls attention to his influences and explores the reception of his unorthodox theological ideas. Moreover, the book highlights the impact of Locke's natural and biblical theology on other areas of his thought, thus enabling a better understanding of the unity of his work.

Johann Gottfried Herder was a philosopher and important intellectual presence in eighteenth-century Germany. Herder's Political Thought examines the work of this significant figure in the context of both historical and contemporary developments in political philosophy.

Vicki A. Spencer reveals Herder as one of the first Western philosophers to grapple seriously with cultural diversity without abandoning a commitment to universal values and the first to make language and culture an issue of justice. As Spencer argues, both have made Herder a source of inspiration for the pluralist turn of contemporary political philosophy. Contending that in an era of globalization, it is no longer possible to ignore Herder's crucial insights on the relationship between cultural membership and individual identity, Spencer demonstrates how these ideas can help us understand, and perhaps resolve, the linguistic and cultural-political struggles of our times.

This Element introduces the philosophy of Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904), a very well-known moral theorist, advocate of animal welfare and women's rights, and critic of Darwinism and atheism in the Victorian era. After locating Cobbe's achievements within nineteenth-century British culture, this Element examines her duty-based moral theory of the 1850s and then her 1860s accounts of duties to animals, women's rights, and the mind and unconscious thought. From the 1870s, in critical response to Darwin's evolutionary ethics, Cobbe put greater moral weight on the emotions, especially sympathy. She now criticised atheism for undermining morality, emphasised women's duties to develop virtues of character, and recommended treating animals with sympathy and compassion. The Element links Cobbe's philosophical arguments to her campaigns for women's rights and against vivisection, brings in critical responses from her contemporaries, explains how she became omitted from the history of philosophy, and shows the lasting importance of her work.

The Sickness unto Death (1849) is commonly regarded as one of Kierkegaard's most important works - but also as one of his most difficult texts to understand. It is a meditation on Christian existentialist themes including sin, despair, religious faith and its redemptive power, and the relation and difference between physical and spiritual death. This volume of new essays guides readers through the philosophical and theological significance of the work, while clarifying the complicated ideas that Kierkegaard develops. Some of the essays focus closely on particular themes, others attempt to elucidate the text as a whole, and yet others examine it in relation to other philosophical views. Bringing together these diverse approaches, the volume offers a comprehensive understanding of this pivotal work. It will be of interest to those studying Kierkegaard as well as existentialism, religious philosophy, and moral psychology.

This Element introduces the reader to Kant's theory of peace and to its place in the broader context of the critical philosophy. It also delves into one aspect of the model that has generated much debate among interpreters, given Kant's changing thoughts on the matter. This aspect relates to the nature and powers of the international federation. Defending the idea that national sovereignty is indissolubly linked to states' full autonomy regarding the use of military power, this Element offers an interpretation and defense of the Kantian federation that, in many regards, departs from the mainstream reading. Special emphasis is placed on the problematic coexistence of two conflicting theoretical desiderata: on the one hand, the necessity of establishing an international institution with coercive powers for securing peace; on the other hand, the necessity of avoiding the risk of an excessive erosion of states' sovereignty.

Nietzsche regarded Thus Spoke Zarathustra as his most important philosophical contribution because it proposes solutions to the problems and questions he poses in his later books - for example, his cure for the human disposition to vengefulness and his creation of new values as the antidote to nihilism. It is also the only place where he elaborates his concepts of the superhuman and the eternal recurrence of the same. In this Critical Guide, an international group of distinguished scholars analyze the philosophical ideas in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, discussing a range of topics that include literary parody as philosophical critique, philosophy as a way of life, the meaning of human life, philosophical naturalism, fatalism, radical flux, human passions and virtues, great politics, transhumanism, and ecological conscience. The volume will be invaluable for philosophers, scholars and students interested in Nietzsche's thought.