In this book, Rupert Read offers the first outline of a resolute reading, following the highly influential New Wittgenstein 'school', of the Philosophical Investigations. He argues that the key to understanding Wittgenstein's later philosophy is to understand its liberatory purport. Read contends that a resolute reading coincides in its fundaments with what, building on ideas in the later Gordon Baker, he calls a liberatory reading. Liberatory philosophy is philosophy that can liberate the user from compulsive (and destructive) patterns of thought, freeing one for possibilities that were previously obscured. Such liberation is our prime goal in philosophy. This book consists in a sequential reading, along these lines, of what Read considers the most important and controversial passages in the Philosophical Investigations: 1, 16, 43, 95 & 116 & 122, 130-3, 149-151, 186, 198-201, 217, and 284-6. Read claims that this liberatory conception is simultaneously an ethical conception. The PI should be considered a work of ethics in that its central concern becomes our relation with others. Wittgensteinian liberations challenge widespread assumptions about how we allegedly are independent of and separate from others. Wittgenstein's Liberatory Philosophy will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working on Wittgenstein, and to scholars of the political philosophy of liberation and the ethics of relation.

Diagrams are an essential part of the most diverse processes of communication and cognition. Indeed, today the production of all kinds of text (including this one) is mediated by diagrammatic tools to be found on computer desktops. Not surprisingly, then, diagrams have become the object of much historical and theoretical work. This book--volume 2 of the Proceedings of the 33rd International Wittgenstein Symposium--is dedicated to this quickly growing field of interdisciplinary research. It includes contributions from philosophy, sociology (space syntax), art history, and history of science. Historically, there is a focus on Otto Neurath and his famous visual language (ISOTYPE), while the new attempts at theorizing diagrams presented here are mainly inspired by Charles Sanders Peirce and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Offering a careful and incisive examination of Gilles Deleuze's engagement with his contemporaries in the continental and analytic traditions, this analysis focuses on the recasting of the Western philosophical tradition. Each chapter considers the relationship between Deleuze and other great philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jean-Francois Lyotard, on a range of topics the include science, ethics, and metaphysics.

Moving beyond Wittgenstein's much heralded responsibility for the "death of man" debate begun in the course of the previous century, Subjectivity after Wittgenstein constructs a positive Wittgensteinian account of subjectivity and human nature. Drawing on his later writings, the book ranges across Wittgenstein's writings on philosophy of psychology and religion to articulate his notion of the post-Cartesian subject. In addition, the book answers the oft-repeated arguments that the anti-Cartesian turn in continental thought on the subject has lead to a loss of a centre for both ethics and politics. By further exploring the implications of the Wittgensteinian account, Subjectivity after Wittgenstein makes clear that a non-Cartesian view on human being is not necessarily ethically and politically inert. It moreover argues that ethical and political arguments should not automatically take precedence in a debate about the nature of man.

This book offers a conceptual map of Habermas' philosophy and a systematic introduction to his work. It does so by systematically examining six defining themes-modernity, discourse ethics, truth and justice, public law and constitutional democracy, cosmopolitanism, and toleration-of Habermas' philosophy as well as their inner logic. The text distinguishes itself in content and perspective by offering a very clear conceptual map and by providing a new interpretation of Habermas' views in light of his overarching system. In terms of scope, the book touches upon Habermas' broad range of works. As for method, the text illustrates key concepts in his philosophy making it a useful reference aid. It appeals to students and scholars in the field looking for a current introductory text or supplementary reading on Habermas.

Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations is arguably one of the most influential books of the 20th century. It threw a new light on the workings of language and mind, contributing significantly to the understanding of human knowledge. Featuring essays by internationally renowned scholars, this book explores the development of Wittgenstein's ideas in the direction of the Investigations. It offers a comprehensive view of some of the most disputable issues in the study of Wittgenstein's masterpiece and reassesses its relevance within contemporary philosophical debate. Contributors: Alberto Arruda (New University of Lisbon), Joao Vergilio Gallerani Cuter (University of S. Paulo), P. M. S. Hacker (University of Oxford), Nathan Hauthaler (University of London), Emiliano La Licata (University of Palermo), Constantine Sandis (Oxford Brookes University), Nikolay Milkov (University of Paderborn), Maria Filomena Molder (New University of Lisbon), Jesus Padilla Galvez (University of Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo) and Rui Sampaio da Silva (University of the Azores).

This is a Reader's Guide to the most important and influential essays of Heidegger's later work, crucial to an understanding of his philosophy as a whole.Martin Heidegger is one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. His later writings are profoundly original and innovative, giving rise to much of postmodernist thinking, yet they are infamously difficult to approach. "Heidegger's Later Writings: A Reader's Guide" offers a concise and accessible introduction to eight of Heidegger's most important essays. These essays cover many of the central topics of his later thought and are conveniently gathered in "Basic Writings", making this guide a perfect companion.Written specifically to help students coming to these texts for the first time, each chapter illuminates a particular essay's structure to enable readers to start finding their own way through the text. The book offers guidance on: Philosophical and historical context; Key themes; Reading the text; Reception and influence; And, further reading."Continuum Reader's Guides" are clear, concise and accessible introductions to key texts in literature and philosophy. Each book explores the themes, context, criticism and influence of key works, providing a practical introduction to close reading, guiding students towards a thorough understanding of the text. They provide an essential, up-to-date resource, ideal for undergraduate students.

Cheryl Misak offers a strikingly new view of the development of philosophy in the twentieth century. Pragmatism, the home-grown philosophy of America, thinks of truth not as a static relation between a sentence and the believer-independent world, but rather, a belief that works. The founders of pragmatism, Peirce and James, developed this idea in more (Peirce) and less (James) objective ways. The standard story of the reception of American pragmatism in England is that Russell and Moore savaged James's theory, and that pragmatism has never fully recovered. An alternative, and underappreciated, story is told here. The brilliant Cambridge mathematician, philosopher and economist, Frank Ramsey, was in the mid-1920s heavily influenced by the almost-unheard-of Peirce and was developing a pragmatist position of great promise. He then transmitted that pragmatism to his friend Wittgenstein, although had Ramsey lived past the age of 26 to see what Wittgenstein did with that position, Ramsey would not have liked what he saw.

An engaging and accessible book of interviews with leading thinkers on the ideas of Jurgen Habermas and threats to democracy and the public sphere Covers urgent and importnat topics such as fake news, experts and expertise, populism, authoritarianism, human rights and the legacy of slavery Includes a Foreword by Habermas

In this book leading cultural commentators including Slavoj Zizek, J. Hillis Miller, Gayatri Spivak and Alain Badiou pay homage to the legacy of Jacques Derrida, revealing his influence and inspiration to their own work.

A new century, new threats to love . . . Love without risks is like war without deaths - but, today, love is threatened by an alliance of liberalism and hedonism. Caught between consumerism and casual sexual encounters devoid of passion, love - without the key ingredient of chance - is in danger of withering on the vine. In In Praise of Love, Alain Badiou takes on contemporary 'dating agency' conceptions of love that come complete with zero-risk insurance - like US zero-casualty bombs. He develops a new take on love that sees it as an adventure, and an opportunity for re-invention, in a constant exploration of otherness and difference that leads the individual out of an obsession with identity and self. Liberal, libertine and libertarian reductions of love to instant pleasure and non-commitment bite the dust as Badiou invokes a supporting cast of thinkers from Plato to Lacan via Karl Marx to form a new narrative of romance, relationships and sex - a narrative that does not fear love.

Papers from more than three decades reflect the development of thinkingover the dialogical framework that shapes verbal expression of comprehending experience and that has to be exhibited in responsible argumentations. With dialogical reconstructions of experience owing to the methodical constructivism of the a oeErlangen Schoola it is possible to uncover the origin of many conceptual oppositions in traditional philosophical talk, like natural vs. artificial/cultural, subjective vs. objective, etc., and to solve philosophical riddles connected with them.

Although he is not always recognised as such, Soren Kierkegaard has been an important ally for Catholic theologians in the early twentieth century. Moreover, understanding this relationship and its origins offers valuable resources and insights to contemporary Catholic theology. Of course, there are some negative preconceptions to overcome. Historically, some Catholic readers have been suspicious of Kierkegaard, viewing him as an irrational Protestant irreconcilably at odds with Catholic thought. Nevertheless, the favourable mention of Kierkegaard in John Paul II's Fides et Ratio is an indication that Kierkegaard's writings are not so easily dismissed. Catholic Theology after Kierkegaard investigates the writings of emblematic Catholic thinkers in the twentieth century to assess their substantial engagement with Kierkegaard's writings. Joshua Furnal argues that Kierkegaard's writings have stimulated reform and renewal in twentieth-century Catholic theology, and should continue to do so today. To demonstrate Kierkegaard's relevance in pre-conciliar Catholic theology, Furnal examines the wider evidence of a Catholic reception of Kierkegaard in the early twentieth century-looking specifically at influential figures like Theodor Haecker, Romano Guardini, Erich Przywara, and other Roman Catholic thinkers that are typically associated with the ressourcement movement. In particular, Furnal focuses upon the writings of Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and the Italian Thomist, Cornelio Fabro as representative entry points.

Tackling the intellectual histories of the first twenty women to earn a PhD in philosophy in the United States, this book traces their career development and influence on American intellectual life. The case studies include Eliza Ritchie, Marietta Kies, Julia Gulliver, Anna Alice Cutler, Eliza Sunderland, and many more. Editor Dorothy Rogers looks at the factors that led these women to pursue careers in academic philosophy, examines the ideas they developed, and evaluates the impact they had on the academic and social worlds they inhabited. Many of these women were active in professional academic circles, published in academic journals, and contributed to important philosophical discussions of the day: the question of free will, the nature of God in relation to self, and how to establish a just society. The most successful women earned their degrees at women-friendly institutions, yet a handful of them achieved professional distinction at institutions that refused to recognize their achievements at the time; John Hopkins and Harvard are notable examples. The women who did not develop careers in academic philosophy often moved to careers in social welfare or education. Thus, whilst looking at the academic success of some, this book also examines the policies and practices that made it difficult or impossible for others to succeed.

This book uniquely recovers and assesses Stoic political thought by tracking its uptake into Western modernity and exploring the extent of its impact. Classical Stoicism has lately seen a popular resurgence inspiring self-help books and therapeutic treatments for anxiety and depression. As a scholarly source for the Western political tradition, it is even more important. Yet, as A.A. Long once observed: "[o]f all the ancient philosophies, Stoicism has probably had the most diffused" yet least "adequately acknowledged influence on Western thought." This close textual study not only provides the first systematic study of the political content of Stoic thought but also establishes the hitherto under-appreciated influence of classical Stoicism on the political thought of the long eighteenth century and beyond in Europe and particularly Britain. The Stoic ideas upon which we focus include their cosmopolitanism, their contribution to sociability and self-interest debates, their influence on modern feminism and utilitarianism, and their prefiguration of modern conceptions of personal rights.

When Nietzsche announced the advent of nihilism in 1887/88, he argued that he was sketching the history of the next two centuries. For some time now, he wrote, our whole European culture has been moving as toward catastrophe : restlessly, violently, headlong, like a river that want to reach the end, that no longer reflects, that is afraid to reflect. Can we gain a ground for reflection upon our own condition? Can we heed Nietzsche's warning? Can we respond to the challenge? In this book, eleven newly commissioned essays from leading scholars offer an attempt to grasp Nietzsche's prescience through Heidegger's critique of it; attempting to think through the philosophical consequences of the last century in reading the signs of our own condition. The book also provides and fascinating and unique discussion of some of the lesser-known texts of the later Heidegger.

Pablo Oyarzun is one of the foremost Benjamin scholars in Latin America. His writings have shaped the reception of Benjamin's work in Latin America and have been central to the effort to identify the tasks and responsibilities of the kind of critical theory that would interrupt social violence. In this book Oyarzun examines some of the key concepts in Benjamin's work - including his concepts of translation, experience, history and storytelling - and relates them to his own systematic reflection on the nature and implications of 'doing justice'. What is meant by the words 'justice was done'? The passive voice is important here. On the one hand, justice does nothing: it is not an agent, it can only prevail or fail, and if it fails, it does so without limit. On the other hand, the passive voice alludes to the agents of an action while covering them up; the allusion is the masking of the identity and traces of the person who accomplishes the action. And this cover-up can be dangerous: it can cover-up the executioners, who are subjects that everyone can confirm anonymously, without their being recognized and without their wanting to be recognized. Justice, argues Oyarzun, can only be done in the active effort to do justice - or, as Benjamin would say, in the striving to turn the world into the highest good. This book by one of Chile's most distinguished philosophers will be of value to anyone interested in Benjamin's work and in the development of critical theory in Latin America.

In 1911, Bertrand Russell began a historically formative interchange about the nature of logic and cognition with his student, Ludwig Wittgenstein. In 1913, Russell set to work on a manuscript, the "Theory of Knowledge", designed to move from the analysis of perception to judgement and on to knowledge of the world. After Wittgenstein interrupted Russell's daily writing with a series of objections to his doctrine of judgement and conception of logic, Russell abandoned his project in despair, leaving it unfinished. His subsequent work can be understood largely as an attempt to assimilate and respond to Wittgenstein's challenge in 1913. "Russell and Wittgenstein on the Nature of Judgement" is the first book-length treatment of Russell's decisive 1913 exchanges with Wittgenstein. Rosalind Carey incorporates little-known notes and diagrams into a new analysis of the problems Russell was facing. She also evaluates the numerous interpretations of Russell's positions and Wittgenstein's objections to them. The result is a new perspective on both these great thinkers, at a crucial point in the development of twentieth-century philosophy.

Henrik Ibsen's plays have long beguiled philosophically-oriented readers. From Nietzsche to Adorno to Cavell, philosophers have drawn inspiration from Ibsen. But what of Ibsen's own philosophical orientation? As part of larger European movements to reinvent drama, Ibsen and fellow playwrights grappled with contemporary philosophy. Philosophy of drama found a central place with figures such as Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Johann Gottfried Herder, but reached its mature form, in Ibsen's time, in the works of G.W.F. Hegel and Friedrich Nietzsche. Kristin Gjesdal reveals the centrality of philosophy of theater in nineteenth-century philosophy and shows how drama, as an art form, offers insight into human historicity and the conditions of modern life. The Drama of History deepens and actualizes the relationship between philosophy and drama-not by suggesting that either philosophy or drama should have the upper hand, but rather by indicating how a sustained dialogue between them brings out the meaning and intellectual power of each. Her study reveals underappreciated aspects of Hegel's and Nietzsche's works through their reception in European art and investigates the philosophical dimensions of Ibsen's drama. At the heart of this interrelation between philosophy and drama is a shared interest in exploring the existential condition of human life as lived and experienced in history.

This book is mainly concerned with elaborating an account of the unique theoretical essence and activities of philosophy. What manner of civilization should modern humans forge? On what developmental path should a nation embark? What lifestyle should each individual choose? These are the most fundamental issues of our time. Profoundly implicit in the choices outlined above is a deeper question: What are the criteria of choice? An examination of these criteria is a reflection on the premises constituting thought, or a critique of the premises underlying thought. Using a "critique of the premises underlying thought" as the basic idea and hermeneutic principle in philosophy will open a wider theoretical space for contemporary philosophy so as to avoid the predicament of being "pseudo-scientific" or "pseudo-artistic." It will also present contemporary philosophy with a realistic path of development for the task of reflecting on the criteria of choice. This book seeks to formulate concrete philosophical arguments for a critique of the basic beliefs, logic, modes, concepts, and philosophical ideas which constitute thought, with the aim of demonstrating the vigorous self-critique and inexhaustible theoretical space found in philosophical development. This book provides a new principle of interpretation for understanding philosophy and, in turn, uses this principle to develop a critique of the premises underlying thought, thereby furthering the contemporary development of philosophy. This book encompasses a critique of the premises underlying thought, which mainly includes the basic beliefs, logic, modes, concepts, and philosophical ideas constituting thought. Such a critique should comprise five aspects: First, the basic beliefs constituting thought propose a critique of the identity of thought and being; second, the basic logic constituting thought refers to a critique of the formal, intensional, and practical logic of thought; third, the basic modes constituting thought denote a critique of the basic modes by which humans comprehend the world, including commonsense, religion, art, and science; fourth, the basic concepts constituting thought entail a critique centering on being, the world, history, truth, value, and other basic concepts; and finally, the philosophical ideas constituting thought indicate a critique of philosophy itself. A critique aligned on these five aspects will provide a general philosophical overview of the premise critique of thought.

Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, first published in 1921, has had a profound influence on modern philosophic thought. Prototractatus is a facsimile reproduction of an early version of Tractatus, only discovered in 1965. The original text has a parallel English translation and the text is edited to indicate all relevant deviations from the final version.

'Modern European thought' describes a wide range of philosophies, cultural programmes, and political arguments developed in Europe in the period following the French Revolution. Throughout this period, many of the wide range of 'modernisms' (and anti-modernisms) had a distinctly religious and even theological character-not least when religion was subjected to the harshest criticism. Yet for all the breadth and complexity of modern European thought and, in particular, its relations to theology, a distinct body of themes and approaches recurred in each generation. Moreover, many of the issues that took intellectual shape in Europe are now global, rather than narrowly European, and, for good or ill, they form part of Europe's bequest to the world-from colonialism and the economic theories behind globalisation through to democracy to terrorism. This volume attempts to identify and comment on some of the most important of these. The thirty chapters are grouped into six thematic parts, moving from questions of identity and the self, through discussions of the human condition, the age of revolution, the world (both natural and technological), and knowledge methodologies, concluding with a section looking explicitly at how major theological themes have developed in modern European thought. The chapters engage with major thinkers including Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Schleiermacher, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Barth, Rahner, Tillich, Bonhoeffer, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Wittgenstein, and Derrida, amongst many others. Taken together, these new essays provide a rich and reflective overview of the interchange between theology, philosophy and critical thought in Europe, over the past two hundred years.

Is it impossible to assess dignity, which is the faculty or agency of autonomy and equality of rights under the current rule of law, when we are met by global challenges like climate change, financial crisis, food crisis, natural disasters, inequality, violent conflicts and trade disputes? Drawing on European philosophical enlightenment to rethink dominant theories of contemporary Western Human Rights, Stephan P. Leher explores the philosophical foundation of the concept of "dignity" and Human Rights. Using specific examples from Africa and Latin America to explain these concepts as social realizations in the world, Leher demonstrates the link between justice and peace and contends that dignity, freedom and Human Rights law rule are social realizations and claims by all people. With the help of language philosophy, he argues that sentences and propositions about social choices and realizations of real life expressed in ordinary language constitute the basic elements of the foundation and protection of human dignity and Human Rights. The social choice to claim one's freedom and rights can be considered the dignity agency of the individual. Dignity and Human Rights sheds new light on the academic assessment of dignity, the agency of autonomy and the equality of rights under the rule of law, in a time of changes and challenges to Human Rights policies and politics.

The Place of the Mosque: Genealogies of Space, Knowledge, and Power extends Foucault's analysis Of Other Spaces and the "ideological conflicts which underlie the controversies of our day [that] take place between pious descendants of time and tenacious inhabitants of space." The book uses this framework to illuminate how mosques have been threatened in the past, from the Cordoba Mosque in the eighth century to the development of Moorish aesthetics in nineteenth-century United States to the clashes surrounding the building of mosques in the West in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Foucault's genealogy allows us to elaborate and study the subjects that are caught in the emergence of a battle-the social and political will to power, the networks of power and the rituals of power-in the interstitial space which define the subjects and clears a space ruling both the body and space. In going beyond individual buildings to broader geographical and genealogical dimensions of the power struggles, The Place of the Mosque reconciles the public space experience, governmentality, and micro powers, paving the way for a new philosophical language. Expanding architectural and urban regional approaches, Kahera shows the biopolitical significance of the problem of space.