Though Foucault is now widely taught in universities, his writings are notoriously difficult. Reassessing Foucault critically examines the implications of his work for students and researchers in a wide range of areas in the social and human sciences.
Focusing on the social history of medicine, successive chapters deal with his historiographical, methodological and philosophical writings, his ideas about prisons, hospitals, madness and disease, and his thinking about the body.
The book also suggests ways in which Foucault's influence will continue to dominate cultural history and the social sciences.

Not available since the 1980s, this up-dated edition by the leading political philosopher, John Gray, outlines his new position on Hayek. In a substantial new chapter, Gray assesses how far the historical development of the last ten years can be deployed in a critique of Hayek's thought. His reassessment is not only a provoking study of a classical philosopher. It is also a timely contribution to the debate over the future of conservatism, as Gray argues that Hayekian liberalism - 'the most well-articulated political theory of the new right' - is flawed.

The concept of biopolitics has been one of the most important and widely used in recent years in disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. In Biopolitics, Mills provides a wide-ranging and insightful introduction to the field of biopolitical studies. The first part of the book provides a much-needed philosophical introduction to key theoretical approaches to the concept in contemporary usage. This includes discussions of the work of Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Hannah Arendt, Roberto Esposito, and Antonio Negri. In the second part of the book, Mills discusses various topics across the categories of politics, life and subjectivity. These include questions of sovereignty and governmentality, violence, rights, technology, reproduction, race, and sexual difference. This book will be an indispensable guide for those wishing to gain an understanding of the central theories and issues in biopolitical studies. For those already working with the concept of biopolitics, it provides challenging and provocative insights and argues for a ground-breaking reorientation of the field.

Dieter Henrich is one of the most respected and frequently cited philosophers in Germany today. His extensive and highly innovative studies of German Idealism and his systematic analyses of subjectivity have significantly impacted on advanced German philosophical and theological debates. Dieter Henrich and Contemporary Philosophy presents a comprehensive analysis of Henrich's work on subjectivity, evaluating it in the context of contemporary debates in both continental and analytic traditions. Familiarising the non-German reader with an important development in contemporary German philosophy, this book explains the significance of subjectivity for any philosophy that attempts to offer existential orientation and contrasts competing conceptions in analytic philosophy and in the social philosophy of Juergen Habermas. Presenting Henrich's philosophy of subjectivity as a credible alternative to analytic philosophy of mind and a radical challenge to Heideggerian, Habermasian, neo-pragmatist, and postmodern positions, Freundlieb argues that a philosophy of the kind developed by Henrich can regain the cultural significance philosophical thinking once possessed. Dieter Freundlieb is Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities, Griffith University, Australia

Slavoj Zizek is one of the most provocative and important thinkers writing in contemporary philosophy. This book is an engaged debate with Zizek. It contains a series of specially commissioned critical essays from an impressive collection of contributors covering the full extent of his oeuvre. Essays examine Zizek on cultural theory, film studies, ethics, political theory, social theory, Kant and Lacanian psychoanalysis. In the spirit of Zizek's own interventions, these essays critically interrogate his ideas, challenging him to respond directly which he does in an extended polemical reply that concludes the collection. This volume represents an exciting and important contribution to contemporary theoretical debate and adds significantly to the growing literature on Zizek.

This collection of essays, written on four continents by scientists, philosophers and humanists, was initially presented to Karl R. Popper on his sixtieth birthday as a token of critical admiration and in recognition of his work. But the volume also stands on its own as a remarkable series of statements utilizing Popper's critical vision in the study of philosophy proper, logic, mathematics, science as method and theory, and finally to the study of society and history. What is remarkable is that Popper worked in all of these areas, not in a cursory or discursive way, but with the utmost clarity and rigor.

. The core position of this volume and its contributors is that the progress of knowledge is not a linear accumulation of definitive acquisitions but a zigzagging process in which counterexamples and unfavorable evidence ruin generalizations and prompt the invention of more comprehensive and sometimes deeper generalizations, to be criticized in their turn. A critical approach to problems, procedures, and results in every field of inquiry is therefore a necessary condition for the continuance of progress.

The title of this volume then is, in a sense, an homage to Popper's critical rationalism and critical empiricism. The essays are a tribute to his unceasing and uncompromising quest, not for final certainty, but for closer truth and increased clarity. Among the contributors are outstanding figures in philosophy and the exact sciences in their own right, including Herbert Feigl, R. M. Hare, J.O. Wisdom, Nicholas Rescher, David Bohm, Paul K. Feyerabend, F. A. Hayek, and Adolf Grunbaum. Social science contributions include Hans Albert on social science and moral philosophy, W. B. Gallie, on the critical philosophy of history, Pieter Geyl on "The Open Society and its Enemies, "and George H. Nadel on the philosophy of History.

This text is a practical application of Foucault's archaeological and genealogical methods to the study of illness and modernity. It unravels the complex relationships that exist between the various types of discourses which have been engaged in the vast field of "psychosomatic" research since the early decades of the 20th century. From medicine and psychiatry to psychology and the social sciences, Monica Greco explores what the history of these different disciplines contributes to what we understand by the term "psychosomatic". She analyses how the study of psychosomatic illness can transform the way we think of illness, subjectivity and the ethics and politics of health, thus revealing the complex phenomenon of psychosomatics in all its ethical and political ramifications.

Contents:
Contents.
1. Preludes, introductions and meanings John Carter
Part 1 Postmodern frameworks and social policy
2. Studying social policy after modernity John Carter
3. Postmodernism, poststructuralism ans social policy John R. Gibbs
4. Oppositional postmodern theory and welfare analysis: anti-oppressive practice in a postmodern frame Martin O'Brien and Sue Penna
5. Quality assurance and evaluation in social work in a postmodern era Barbara Fawcett and Brid Featherstone
Part 2 Critical social policy and postmodernity
6. 'One step beyond': critical social policy in a 'postmodern' Britain? Kirk Mann
7. Postmodernity and the future of welfare: whose critiques, whose social policy? Suzy Croft and Peter Beresford
Part 3 Social divisions and social exclusion
8. New horizons? New insights?: Postmodernising social policy and the case of sexuality Jean Carabine
9. Reopening the gift: race and the critique of normative social policy Chris Smaje
10. Individualisation processes and social policy: insecurity, reflexivity and risk in the restructuring of contemporary British health and housing policies Sarah Nettleton and Roger Burrows
Part 4 Governance and new technologies of control in the new social policy
11. Thriving on chaos? Managerialisation and social welfare John Clarke
12. Performativity and fragmentation in 'postmodern schooling' Stephen J. Ball
13. Post-Betty Fordism and neo-liberal drug policies Robin Bunton
14. Welfare direct: informatics and the emergence of self-service welfare? Brian D. Loader
Part 5 Citizenship amid the fragmented nation state
15. The delivery of welfare: the associationist vision Paul Hoggett and Simon Thompson
16. Globalisation, fragmentation and local welfare citizenship Allan Cochrane
17. Postmodernity and social Europe Norman Ginsburg
References.
Name Index.
Subject index.

Contents:
Includes entries on: Hannah Arendt, Henri-Louis Bergson, Noam Chomsky, Jacques Derrida, Feng Youlan, Michel Foucault, Antonio Gramsci, Jurgen Habermas, Martin Heidegger, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Emmanuel Levinas, Mao Zedong, Herbert Marcuse, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean Piaget, Karl Popper, John Rawls, Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein

Contents:
Introduction; 1. Historical sociology of Realism Part I: Realism from containment to detente 2. Classical Realism: Carr, Morgenthau and the Crisis of Collective Security 3. The evolutionof Realist core concepts during the 'Second Debate' 4. Realism and the US policy of Containment 5. The turning point of the Cuban Missile crisis 6. Epilogue: Soviet Theories of International Relations Interlude: The Crisis of Realism: 7. The Policy of Detente: Kissinger and the limits of Concept diplomacy 8. International Relations in a dissaray: The Inter-paradigm debate Part II: Realist responses to the crisis of Realism: 9. Systemic Neorealism: Kenneth Waltz The Theory of International Politics 10. IPE as an attempt to update Realism: the end of the GBreton Woods and Hegemonic Stability Theory 11. IPE at the convergence of Realism and Structuralism Conclusion: The Fragmentation of Realism: 13. Realism gets lost 14. Realism at crossroads Bibliography

Foucault and Social Dialogue; Beyond Fragmentation is a compelling yet extremely clear investigation of these options and offers a new way forward. Christopher Falzon argues that the proper alternative to foundationalism is not fragmentation but dialogue and that such a dialogical picture can be found in the work of Michel Foucault. Such a reading of Foucault allows us to see, for the first time, the ethical and political position implicit in Foucault's work and how his work contributes to the larger debate concerning the death of man.

Foucault and Social Dialogue; Beyond Fragmentation is a compelling yet extremely clear investigation of these options and offers a new way forward. Christopher Falzon argues that the proper alternative to foundationalism is not fragmentation but dialogue and that such a dialogical picture can be found in the work of Michel Foucault. Such a reading of Foucault allows us to see, for the first time, the ethical and political position implicit in Foucault's work and how his work contributes to the larger debate concerning the death of man.

Although universally recognised as one of the greatest of modern philosophers, Wittgenstein's work in aesthetics has been unjustly neglected. This is the first book exclusively devoted to Wittgenstein's aesthetics, exploring the themes developed by Wittgenstein in his own writing on aesthetics as well as the implications of Wittgenstein's wider philosophical views for understanding central issues in aesthetics. Drawing together original contributions from leading international scholars, this book will be an important addition to studies of Wittgenstein's thought, but its discussion of issues in literature, music and performing art, and criticism will also be of interest to many students of literary and cultural studies. Exploring three key themes - the capacity of the arts to illuminate our lives; the nature of the particular responses involved in understanding and appreciating works of art; the role of theory and principle in artistic and critical practice - the contributors address issues raised by contemporary philosophers of art, and seek to make connections between Wittgenstein's work and that of other significant philosophies of art in the Western tradition. Displaying the best practice of modern philosophical writing - clarity, cogency, respect for but not blind obedience to common sense, argument illustrated with detailed examples, rejection of speculation and pretension - this book demonstrates how philosophy can make a valuable contribution to understanding the arts.

Title first published in 2003. 'Weber is probably the only person in his generation who is equally at home in and directly informed about contemporary literary theory and its antecedents in Germany, France, and the US. His theoretical interest in psychoanalysis serves as a viewpoint from which a powerful combination of philosophical, linguistic, and political concerns are brought together in an uncommonly productive dialectical interplay' Paul de Man This book presents the first introductory text examining the work of the contemporary thinker, Samuel Weber. Accessible, compelling and challenging, Weber's writing offers a rewarding investigation into the connections between literary and cultural studies, media and technology, and philosophy and aesthetics, in the context of significant intellectual debates and developments linking Europe and North America. The critical practice of Weber's various texts is explored in detail, along with his studies in philosophy, aesthetics, deconstruction, media, technology, psychoanalysis and theatre.

Postmodern ideas have been influential in the social sciences and beyond. However, their impact on the study of social policy has been minimal. This work analyzes the potential for a modern or cultural turn in welfare as it treats postmodernity as an evolving canon - from the seminal works of Baudrillard, Foucault and Lyotard, through to recent theories of the "risk society". Already disorientated by globalization, new technologies and the years of new right ascendancy, welfare faces a significant challenge in the postmodern. It suggests that, rather than universality and state provision, the new social policy will be consumerized and fragmented - a welfare state of ambivalence. With contributions from authors coming from a variety of fields offering very different perspectives on postmodernity and welfare the book also keeps social policy's intellectual inheritance in view. By exploring ways in which theorizations of postmodernity might improve understanding of welfare issues in the 1990s and assessing the relevance of theories of diversity and difference to mainstream and critical social policy traditions, this book is aimed at students of social policy, social administration, so

The work of the French literary review, intellectual grouping and publishing team Tel Quel had a profound impact on the formation of literary and cultural debate in the 1960s and 70s. Its legacy has had enormous influence on the parameters of such debate today. From its beginning in 1960 to its closure in 1982, it published some of the earliest work of Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes. It was also associated with some of the key ideas of the French avant-garde, publishing key articles by Georges Bataille and Antonin Artaud.
The Tel Quel Reader presents for the first time in English the key essays written by the Tel Quel group. Essays by Julia Kristeva, one of the review's editor's Michel Foucault, and a fascinating interview with Roland Barthes are here made available for the first time in English. It provides a unique insight into the post-structuralist movement and presents some of the pioneering essays on literature and culture, film, semiotics and psychoanalysis.
Assembling key essays from over a twenty-year period, The Tel Quel Reader is an indispensible resource for students of literature, cultural and visual studies, philosophy and French studies.

Lakatos: An Introduction provides a thorough overview of both Lakatos's thought and his place in twentieth century philosophy. It is an essential and insightful read for students and anyone interested in the philosophy of science.

"Virtual Futures" explores the ideas that the future lies in its ability to articulate the consequences of an increasingly synthetic and virtual world. New technologies like cyberspace, the internet, and Chaos theory are often discussed in the context of technology and its potential to liberate or in terms of technophobia. This collection examines both these ideas while also charting a new and controversial route through contemporary discourses on technology; a path that discusses the material evolution and the erotic relation between humans and machines. Including essays by Sadie Plant, Stelarc and Manuel de Landa, the collection heralds the death of humanism and the rise of posthuman pragmatism. This collection provides analyses by both established theorists and the most innovative new voices working in conjunction between the arts and contemporary technology.

Virtual Futures explores the ideas that the future lies in its ability to articulate the consequences of an increasingly synthetic and virtual world. New technologies like cyberspace, the internet, and Chaos theory are often discussed in the context of technology and its potential to liberate or in terms of technophobia. This collection examines both these ideas while also charting a new and controversial route through contemporary discourses on technology; a path that discusses the material evolution and the erotic relation between humans and machines.
Virtual Futures brings together diverse fields such as cyberfeminism, materialist philosophy, postmodern fiction, computing culture and performance art, with essays by Sadie Plant, Stelarc and Manuel de Landa (to name a few). The collection heralds the death of humanism and the ride of posthuman pragmatism. The contested zone of debate throughout these essays is the notion of the posthuman, or the possibility of the cyborg as the free human. Viewed by some writers as a threat to human life and humanism itself, others in the collection describe the posthuman as a critical perspective that anticipates the next step in evolution: the integration or synthesis of humans and machines, organic life and technology.
This view of technology and information is heavily influenced by Anglo American literature, especially cyberpunk, Pynchon and Ballard, as well as the materialist philosophies of Freud, Deleuze, and Haraway, Virtual Futures provides analyses by both established theorists and the most innovative new voices working in conjunction between the arts and contemporary technology.

Where is philosophy going? Are we entering a post-philosophy millenium? The Future of Philosophy presents the notion of what the future of philosophy is as a crucial concept, since it allows us to speculate not only on the future, but also on the past. Eleven clear and concise essays consider a variety of issues, from ethics to mind, language to feminist thought, postmodernism to religion:
*the future of philosophy
*the history of ancient philosophy
*the history of modern philosophy
*ethics
* political philosophy
*philosophy of the postmodern
*applied philosophy
*feminist philosophy
* philosophy of religion
*philosophy of language
*philosophy of mind
For those curious to explore the intellectual themes of the future, The Future of Philosophy will be a fascinating and insightful read.

Where is philosophy going? Are we entering a post-philosophy millenium? The Future of Philosophy presents the notion of what the future of philosophy is as a crucial concept, since it allows us to speculate not only on the future, but also on the past. Eleven clear and concise essays consider a variety of issues, from ethics to mind, language to feminist thought, postmodernism to religion:
*the future of philosophy
*the history of ancient philosophy
*the history of modern philosophy
*ethics
* political philosophy
*philosophy of the postmodern
*applied philosophy
*feminist philosophy
* philosophy of religion
*philosophy of language
*philosophy of mind
For those curious to explore the intellectual themes of the future, The Future of Philosophy will be a fascinating and insightful read.

This work seeks to uncover one of the key questions in philosophy: how can we claim to have knowledge of minds other than our own? It shows how the problem of other minds is trapped in a fruitless debate between the sceptical belief that the minds of others cannot be known and those who wish to dispel that scepticism. Simon Glendinning's analysis of this problem argues that it has polarized debate to such an extent that we do not know how to meet Wittgenstein's famous challenge that to "see the behaviour of a living thing is to see its soul". The book sets out to discover whether Wittgenstein's remark can be justified by drawing on both the analytic and continental traditions. The author explores why early attempts by Austin and Heidegger to reframe scepticism failed before linking this to the philosophy of language. Glendinning draws on the debate between Searle and Derrida and the work of John McDowell to show how a similar, misleading split over meaning has also been created in language.;A key feature of the book is how to recast these debates to find out whether we can "see" behaviour. A challenging and controversial linking of contemporary controversies in the philosophy of mi

On Being With Others is an outstanding exploration of this key philosophical question. Simon Glendinning shows how traditional positions in the philosophy of mind can do little to rebuff the accusation that in fact we have little claim to have knowledge of minds other than our own.
On Being With Others sets out to refute this charge and disentangle many of the confusions in contemporary philosophy of mind and language that have led to such scepticism. Simon Glendinning explores why early attempts by J.L. Austin and Martin Heidegger to refute scepticism about other minds failed and argues that we must turn to Wittgenstein in order to build a solid theory of other minds. Drawing on the celebrated debate between John Searle and Jacques Derrida, Simon Glendinning establishes fascinating and important links between controversies in the philosophy of mind, language and epistemology.

This work explores the notion of complexity in the light of contemporary perspectives from philosophy and science. Paul Cilliers contributes to our general understanding of complex systems, and explores the implications of complexity theory for our understanding of biological and social systems. Postmodern theory is reinterpreted in order to argue that a postmodern perspective does not necessarily imply relativism, but that it could also be viewed as a manifestation of an inherent sensitivity to complexity. As Cilliers explains, the characterization of complexity revolves around analyses of the process of self-organization and a rejection of traditional notions of representation. The model of language developed by Saussure - and expanded by Derrida - is used to develop the notion of distributed representation, which in turn is linked with distributed modelling techniques. Connectionism (implemented in neural networks) serves as an example of these techniques. Cilliers points out that this approach to complexity leads to models of complex systems that avoid the oversimplification that results from rule-based models.; The book integrates insights from complexity and computational theo