This volume presents the first English translation of the Confucian classics, Four Books for Women, with extensive commentary by the compiler, Wang Xiang, and introductions and annotations by translator Ann A. Pang-White. Written by women for women's education, the Confucian Four Books for Women spanned the 1st to the 16th centuries, and encompass Ban Zhao's Lessons for Women, Song Ruoxin's and Song Ruozhao's Analects for Women, Empress Renxiaowen's Teachings for the Inner Court, and Madame Liu's (Chaste Widow Wang's) Short Records of Models for Women. A female counterpart to the famous Sishu (Four Books) compiled by Zhu Xi, Wang Xiang's Nu sishu provides an invaluable look at the long-standing history and evolution of Chinese women's writing, education, identity, and philosophical discourse, along with their struggles and triumphs, across the millennia and numerous Chinese dynasties. Pang-Whites new translation brings the authors of the Four Books for Women to life as real, living people, and illustrates why they wrote and how their work empowered women.

This volume offers a comprehensive philosophical study of Confucian ethics-its basic insights and its relevance to contemporary Western moral philosophy. Distinguished writer and philosopher A. S. Cua presents fourteen essays which deal with various problems arising in the philosophical explication of the nature of Chinese ethical thought. Offering a unique analytical approach, Cua focuses on the conceptual and dialectical aspects of Confucian ethics. Among the topics discussed are: the nature and significance of the Chinese Confucian moral vision of tao; the complementary insights of Classical Taoism, namely of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu; and the logical and rhetorical aspects of Confucian ethics. Perhaps more relevant to contemporary East-West ethical discourse, several essays present an introduction to a systematic Confucian moral philosophy. Cua explains the idea of a living, Confucian, ethical tradition and highlights the problem of interpreting the cardinal concepts of Confucian ethics as an ethics of virtue. Much of the effort is spent in shaping concepts such as jen (humanity), I (rightness), and li (ritual propriety) in the light of the Confucian ideal or vision of tao. Cua concludes with a discussion of the possibility of reasoned discourse, aiming at a resolution of intercultural, ethical conflict. This book will appeal to a broad spectrum of scholars interested in ethics, Chinese philosophy, comparative Chinese and Western ethical thought, and Confucianism.

Nature conservation planning tends to be driven by models based on Western norms and science, but these may not represent the cultural, philosophical and religious contexts of much of Asia. This book provides a new perspective on the topic of sacred natural sites and cultural heritage by linking Asian cultures, religions and worldviews with contemporary conservation practices and approaches. The chapters focus on the modern significance of sacred natural sites in Asian protected areas with reference, where appropriate, to an Asian philosophy of protected areas. Drawn from over 20 different countries, the book covers examples of sacred natural sites from all of IUCN's protected area categories and governance types. The authors demonstrate the challenges faced to maintain culture and support spiritual and religious governance and management structures in the face of strong modernisation across Asia. The book shows how sacred natural sites contribute to defining new, more sustainable and more equitable forms of protected areas and conservation that reflect the worldviews and beliefs of their respective cultures and religions. The book contributes to a paradigm-shift in conservation and protected areas as it advocates for greater recognition of culture and spirituality through the adoption of biocultural conservation approaches.

Apocalypse-cinema is not only the end of time that has so often been staged as spectacle in films like 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, and The Terminator. By looking at blockbusters that play with general annihilation while also paying close attention to films like Melancholia, Cloverfield, Blade Runner, and Twelve Monkeys, this book suggests that in the apocalyptic genre, film gnaws at its own limit. Apocalypse-cinema is, at the same time and with the same double blow, the end of the world and the end of the film. It is the consummation and the (self-)consumption of cinema, in the form of an acinema that Lyotard evoked as the nihilistic horizon of filmic economy. The innumerable countdowns, dazzling radiations, freeze-overs, and seismic cracks and crevices are but other names and pretexts for staging film itself, with its economy of time and its rewinds, its overexposed images and fades to white, its freeze-frames and digital touch-ups. The apocalyptic genre is not just one genre among others: It plays with the very conditions of possibility of cinema. And it bears witness to the fact that, every time, in each and every film, what Jean-Luc Nancy called the cine-world is exposed on the verge of disappearing. In a Postface specially written for the English edition, Szendy extends his argument into a debate with speculative materialism. Apocalypse-cinema, he argues, announces itself as cinders that question the “ultratestimonial” structure of the filmic gaze. The cine-eye, he argues, eludes the correlationism and anthropomorphic structure that speculative materialists have placed under critique, allowing only the ashes it bears to be heard.

The polemic excited by Batouala's controversial Preface has conditioned an enduring, near-universal acceptance of a disjunction of Preface and novel. This is the first book to challenge that premise. The fallacious underpinnings of the origin persistence of this view are shown to lie in Western, dichotomously structured thinking. Through offshoots of the civilised-versus-savage dichotomy, namely oral-versus-written, form-versus-content and music-versus-narrative, Batouala's Signifyin(g) discourse spills beyond the novel's borders to reveal the sterility of dichotomy as a conceptualising structure. Dichotomy's anachronism is thrust upon it through the work's faithful representation of African ontology, whose water-inspired philosophy precludes it. Batouala's structural basis is compared with that of jazz, which similarly bridges European and African civilisations, and whose African philosophical stance also acts as a provocation to the dichotomous thinking model. As Batouala "Fixed" transmutes to Batouala "Free", the pejorative implications of its widely touted ambiguity evaporate to expose a novel that is both lucid and coherent when viewed as jazz-text and jazz performance.

This collection of essays assumes the main thesis of Constructive Realism: reality is created. In this volume, it is constructed by authors from various scientific disciplines and very different cultures. The Festschrift is dedicated to the founder of this philosophical approach, Professor Dr. Friedrich Wallner (University of Vienna), in celebration of his 70th birthday. Dieser Sammelband geht von der Hauptthese des Konstruktiven Realismus aus - wir konstruieren Realitat. Hier wird sie von Autoren aus verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen und sehr unterschiedlichen Kulturen aufgebaut. Dem Grunder des philosophischen Ansatzes Professor Dr. Friedrich Wallner (Universitat Wien) ist diese Festschrift anlasslich seines 70. Geburtstags gewidmet.

The story of African philosophy is surrounded by controversy. Decades after the "great debate" over its mere existence, many vital questions have been left unanswered. From examining the origins of African philosophy to addressing fundamental issues in ontology, epistemology, ethics, and political thought, this collection of essays brings fresh insight to questions both old and new. First time readers and seasoned scholars alike will find this book to be an essential resource in African thought. Atuolu Omalu gives shape and direction to a hitherto formless discipline and heralds an exciting future for African philosophy.

Germany and Japan are two of the worldwide leading countries in robotics research. Robotics as a key technology introduces technical as well as philosophical and cultural challenges. How can we use robots that have a human-like appearance in everyday life? Are there limits to technology? What are the cultural similarities and differences between Germany and Japan? These are some of the questions which are discussed in the book. Five chapters comprehend an intercultural and interdisciplinary framework including current research fields like Roboethics, Hermeneutics of Technologies, Technology Assessment, Robotics in Japanese Popular Culture and Music Robots. Contributions on cultural interrelations, technical visions and essays round out the content of this book.

Beginning African Philosophy explores the nature and central features of African philosophy from the perspective of African philosophers, analyzing and assessing the importance of African philosophy, its subject matter, its major themes and concerns, and how those themes and concerns compare to those of Western philosophy. Beginning African Philosophy surveys the best-known responses to the questions: What is African philosophy? What are its central themes and concerns? What does it have in common with Western philosophy? This book is ideal for philosophy students and those who care about the social, moral, religious, and philosophical implications of African wisdom traditions, particularly those of the sub-Saharan region.

Discover the East through its religions and philosophies

"Understand Eastern Philosophy" examines key ideas that developed within the ancient civilizations of India and China. It presents a range of philosophies that both inform discussion of personal, moral and social issues and address the fundamental questions about the nature of reality and the place and purpose of human life within it.
From the erotic images of Tantra to the simple precision of Zen, and from the social order in traditional Confucian teaching to the rich variety of Hindu ideas and lifestyles, "Understand Eastern Philosophy" provides you with a feast of ideas of universal relevance.

With this book, you will Understand the ethical and social implications of Eastern philosophy Learn key terms in their original language through their full explanations See the parallels with Western thought Appreciate the religions of India and the Far East

This engaging and informative book reveals unknown but true facts about the prophetical books of the Bible. Rabbis have avoided many questions raised by the seemingly improbable events in these volumes. This book addresses these questions and takes an open and rational look at the episodes. The book addresses provocative questions such as: What is the proper way to interpret the Torah? How does Maimonides understand the episodes of the Prophets? Did miracles such as the splitting of the Red Sea, the falling of the walls at Jericho, and the sun standing still for Joshua really occur? What assumptions cause us to misunderstand the Bible? Is there a biblical mandate prohibiting suicide? Does the Bible forbid ceding parts of the land of Israel for peace? Can children be punished for their parents misdeeds, and, if not, why does the Torah say that they are punished? Why does Shabbat begin at different times for men and women? Why did significant biblical leaders violate rabbinical laws? What really caused the adding of a day to holidays shortly after the time of Moses? Why does the Bible not always mean what it appears to say? Is it true that Judaism does not know what happens after death?

"Creating True Peace" is both a profound work of spiritual guidance and a practical blueprint for peaceful inner change and global change. It is the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh's answer to our deep-rooted crisis of violence and our feelings of helplessness, victimization, and fear. As a world-renowned writer, scholar, spiritual leader, and Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most visible, revered activists for peace and Engaged Buddhism -- the practice he created that combines mindful living and social action. Having lived through two wars in his native Vietnam, he works to prevent conflict of all kinds -- from the internal violence of individual thoughts to interpersonal and international aggression.

Now, in this new book, perhaps his most important work to date, Thich Nhat Hanh uses a beautiful blend of visionary insight, inspiring stories of peacemaking, and a combination of meditation practices and instruction to show us how to take Right Action. A book for people of all faiths, it is a magnum opus -- a compendium of peace practices that can help anyone practice nonviolent thought and behavior, even in the midst of world upheaval.

More than any of his previous books, "Creating True Peace" tells stories of Thich Nhat Hanh and his students practicing peace during wartime. These demonstrate that violence is an outmoded response we can no longer afford. The simple, but powerful daily actions and everyday interactions that Thich Nhat Hanh recommends can root out violence where it lives in our hearts and minds and help us discover the power to create peace at every level of life -- personal, family, neighborhood, community, state, nation, and world.

Whether dealing with extreme emotions and challenging situations or managing interpersonal and international conflicts, Thich Nhat Hanh relies on the 2,600-year-old traditional wisdom and scholarship of the Buddha, as well as other great scriptures. He teaches us to look more deeply into our thoughts and lives so that we can know what to do and what not to do to transform them into something better. With a combination of courage, sweetness, and candor, he tells us that we can make a difference; we are not helpless; we can create peace here and now. "Creating True Peace" shows us how.

African Philosophy is a collection of previously unpublished essays that address epistemological and metaphysical concerns that have emerged from the sub-Saharan regions of Africa. The primary focus of the book is on traditional African conceptions of mind, person, personal identity, truth, knowledge, understanding, objectivity, and reality. The collection also discusses traditional African conceptions of causation, destiny, and free will.

At the heart of Spinoza's Heresy is a mystery: why was Baruch Spinoza so harshly excommunicated from the Amsterdam Jewish community at the age of twenty-four? In this philosophical sequel to his acclaimed, award-winning biography of the seventeenth-century thinker, Steven Nadler argues that Spinoza's main offence was a denial of the immortality of the soul. But this only deepens the mystery. For there is no specific Jewish dogma regarding immortality: there is nothing that a Jew is required to believe about the soul and the afterlife. It was, however, for various religious, historical and political reasons, simply the wrong issue to pick on in Amsterdam in the 1650s. After considering the nature of the ban, or cherem, as a disciplinary tool in the Sephardic community, and a number of possible explanations for Spinoza's ban, Nadler turns to the variety of traditions in Jewish religious thought on the postmortem fate of a person's soul. This is followed by an examination of Spinoza's own views on the eternity of the mind and the role that that the denial of personal immortality plays in his overall philosophical project. Nadler argues that Spinoza's beliefs were not only an outgrowth of his own metaphysical principles, but also a culmination of an intellectualist trend in Jewish rationalism.

Feng Youlan (1895-1990) was twentieth-century China's leading original philosopher as well as its foremost historian of Chinese philosophy. In his preface to The Hall of Three Pines, Feng likens his autobiography to accounts written by "authors of ancient times, who] on completing their major works, often wrote a separate piece to recount their origins and experiences, giving the overall plan of their work, and declaring their aims".

The story of John Chang, the first man to be documented performing pyrokinesis, telekinesis, levitation, telepathy, and other paranormal abilities.
- The author, a mechanical engineer, provides scientific explanations of how these powers work.
- For the first time, the discipline of Mo-Pai is introduced to the West.
In 1988 the documentary "Ring of Fire" was released to great acclaim. The most startling sequence in the film is that of a Chinese-Javanese acupuncturist who demonstrates his full mastery of the phenomenon of chi, or bio-energy, by generating an electrical current within his body, which he uses first to heal the filmmaker of an eye infection and then to set a newspaper on fire with his hand. "Ring of Fire" caused thousands to seek out this individual, John Chang, in pursuit of instruction. Of the many Westerners who have approached him, John Chang has accepted five as apprentices. Kosta Danaos is the second of those five.
In his years of study with John Chang, Danaos has witnessed and experienced pyrokinesis, telekinesis, levitation, telepathy, and much more exotic phenomena. He has spoken with spirits and learned the secrets of reincarnation. Most important, he has learned John Chang's story. John Chang is the direct heir to the lineage of the sixth-century b.c. sage Mo-Tzu, who was Confucius's greatest rival. His discipline, called the Mo-Pai, is little-known in the West and has never before been the subject of a book. Now, John Chang has decided to bridge the gap between East and West by allowing a book to be published revealing the story of his life, his teachings, and his powers. It will surely expedite what may well become the greatest revolution of the twenty-first century--the verification and study of bio-energy.

The dominant issues in African political thought from the 1960s onward have been development and socialism. In the present decade new issues have arisen such as democracy, civil society, the nation-state, and the relevance of traditional political institutions. Typically, however, these new issues have been discussed in models of thought which already served in the 1960s or even before. Boele van Hensbroek aims to provide the necessary insight into the history of African political thought as well as an analytical framework to clarify contemporary African discourses on democracy.

He proceeds in three steps. First, the most important discussions in the last 150 years are presented. A fascinating history emerges, from the great 19th century theorists such as Edward Blyden and Africanus Horton to prominent nationalists such as Kwame Nkrumah and Amilcar Cabral, and to contemporary African intellectuals. Second, the African history of ideas shows that particular models of thought recur which can be reconstructed as three consistent models of thought. Finally, the relevance of the history of ideas and philosophical analysis of models of thought can be shown by providing a new perspective on contemporary debates on democracy in Africa.

Since the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the validity of Marxism and Marxist theory has undergone intense scrutiny both within and outside the academy. In Lukacs After Communism, Eva L. Corredor conducts ten lively and engaging interviews with a diverse group of international scholars to address the continued relevance of Gyoergy Lukacs's theories to the post-communist era. Corredor challenges these theoreticians, who each have been influenced by the man once considered the foremost theoretician of Marxist aesthetics, to reconsider the Lukacsean legacy and to speculate on Marxist theory's prospects in the coming decades. The scholars featured in this collection-Etienne Balibar, Peter Burger, Terry Eagleton, Fredric Jameson, Jacques Leenhardt, Michael Loewy, Roberto Schwarz, George Steiner, Susan Suleiman, and Cornel West-discuss a broad array of literary and political topics and present provocative views on gender, race, and economic relations. Corredor's introduction provides a biographical synopsis of Lukacs and discusses a number of his most important theoretical concepts. Maintaining the ongoing vitality of Lukacs's work, these interviews yield insights into Lukacs as a philosopher and theorist, while offering anecdotes that capture him in his role as a teacher-mentor.

Kwame Gyekye offers a philosophical interpretation and critical analysis of the African cultural experience in modern times. Critically employing Western political and philosophical concepts to clear, comparative advantage, Gyekye addresses a wide range of concrete problems afflicting postcolonial African states, such as ethnicity and nation-building, the relationship of tradition to modernity, the nature of political authority and political legitimation, political corruption, and the threat to traditional moral and social values, practices, and institutions in the wake of rapid social change.

Kwame Gyekye offers a philosophical interpretation and critical analysis of the African cultural experience in modern times. Critically employing Western political and philosophical concepts to clear, comparative advantage, Gyekye addresses a wide range of concrete problems afflicting postcolonial African states, such as ethnicity and nation-building, the relationship of tradition to modernity, the nature of political authority and political legitimation, political corruption, and the threat to traditional moral and social values, practices, and institutions in the wake of rapid social change.

This book examines the notion of an African philosophy, beginning with a critique of the assumptions behind this phrase and of the existing debate about African philosophy. This leads to enquiry about the rise, establishment and maintenance of philosophy. Relations between consent to a theory of truth presupposed to philosophy and Western truth-claims in science, religion and human rights are studied. The relation of this to successful technology as vital for African development, but calling for the corresponding mental approach, is insisted upon. The book ends with stress on the central role of analogy in philosophical science and as a point of contact with African mythical tradition.

This book articulates an African conception of dignity in light of the salient axiological category of personhood in African cultures. The idea of personhood embodies a moral system for evaluating human lives exuding with virtue or ones that are morally excellent. This book argues that this idea of personhood embodies an under-explored conception of dignity, which accounts for it in terms of our capacity for the virtue of sympathy. It then proceeds to apply this personhood-based conception of dignity to bioethical questions, specifically, those of abortion and euthanasia. Regarding abortion, it concludes that it is impermissible since foetuses possess partial moral status. Regarding euthanasia, it argues that it is permissible for reasons revolving around avoiding the reversing of personhood. It also, though, minimally, touches on the questions regarding the mentally disabled and animals, to which it assigns lower moral status.

Nation and Aesthetics is a unique attempt to examine the ambiguous nature of nationalism and nation by examining them through aesthetics. In this translation by Jonathan E. Abel, Darwin H. Tsen, and Hiroki Yoshikuni, Karatani grasps the modern social formation as a nexus of three different "modes of exchange", namely capital-nation-state. Nation here plays the role of complementing capitalism and the state. Benedict Anderson defined nation as an "imagined community". Through rethinking Kant, Karatani suggests that "imagination" here is not a mere fancy, but very real, in the sense that it mediates state and capital. Usually imagination is regarded as fancying what is not present here. Kant grasped imagination as a faculty to imagine what we can understand but cannot sense; that is, to say, a faculty to mediate reason and sensibility. This observation provided the foundation to Modern aesthetics, which in the course of time became an important source of nationalism. In Italy, Germany, and Japan, nationalism appeared as fascism. They found in aesthetics a moment to go beyond capitalism and the state. The key to go beyond nation, Karatani argues, lies also in the thoughts of Kant, a cosmopolitan and an advocate of a world republic. It is well-known that the League of Nations was formed after First World War under the influence of his "Perpetual Peace". Karatani draws attention to the overlooked fact that around the same time Freud made a radical revision of his notion of the "superego". Karatani introduces article nine of Japan's postwar constitution, which renounces the right to wage war, as a crystallization of Kant's ideal of peace and Freud's superego. By providing a unique explanation of, and ways to counter, current nationalistic and imperialistic tendencies, Nation and Aesthetics argues that theories of Kant and Freud, which are usually understood to contrast, are deeply linked and suggest ways to go beyond capital-nation-state.

Das Buch geht von dem heute angenommenen Stand der Wissenschaft aus: die Peripatetiker brachten eine Terminuslogik zustande, wdhrend die stoische Logik eine Aussagenlogik war. Sie standen feindlich einandern gegen]ber.
Der Verfasser, mit Hilfe eines Textes Avicennas, wo er die Lehre der hypothetischen Syllogismen behandelt, versucht zu beweisen, dass auch die Peripatetiker eine, von der Terminuslogik nicht in jedem Hinblick losgelvste Aussagenlogik hatten, und diese peripatetische Aussenlogik wurde under dem Namen "hypothetische Syllogismen" in den griechischen Quellen erwdhnt. Die zerstreuten Bermerkungen der Griechen ]ber die hypothetischen Syllogismen lassen sich im Lichte des Textes Avicennas in einem neuen Sinn deuten.
Die klassischen/griechischen und lateinischen/ Quellen, wenn wir sie richtig deuten, und wenn wir die versammelten Bruchst]cke der Lehre richtig zusammenstellen, zeigten uns das ganze, von dem stoischen abweichende System der peripatetischen Aussagenlogik.
Man kann aber nicht nur die ganze Theorie rekonstruieren, sondern auch die Geschichte der peripatetischen Aussagenlogik, von Theophrast bis zu unserem Jahrhundert.

John Anderson was Australia's most important philosopher in the first half of this century. The young Scotsman held the chair of philosophy at the University of Sydney for thirty years until retirement in 1958. He developed his own distinctive system of realism and fathered a vigorous local school characterised by inquiry, independence and a deep commitment to philosophy as a way of life. He was a formidable public figure and fierce controversialist who outraged many of Sydney's conventionally minded. From an early Marxist phase, he opposed all forms of censorship and mind control. This first biography of Anderson is no hagiography, containing much new material about Anderson's Scottish past and his conflicted public and private life. His relations with students were complex; with women, they were decidedly problematic. In the aftermath of a pragmatic revolution that has swept our universities and colleges, Anderson;s uncompromising calls to unfettered inquiry, and the Socratic way of life are timely.