|
Books > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present > General
This comprehensive Handbook offers a leading-edge yet accessible
guide to the most important facets of Arthur Schopenhauer's
philosophical system, the last true system of German philosophy.
Written by a diverse, international and interdisciplinary group of
eminent and up-and-coming scholars, each of the 28 chapters in this
Handbook includes an authoritative exposition of different
viewpoints as well as arguing for a particular thesis. Authors also
put Schopenhauer's ideas into historical context and connect them
when possible to contemporary philosophy. Key features: Structured
in six parts, addressing the development of Schopenhauer's system,
his epistemology and metaphysics, aesthetics and philosophy of art,
ethical and political thought, philosophy of religion and legacy in
Britain, France, and the US. Special coverage of Schopenhauer's
treatment of Judaism, Christianity, Vedic thought and Buddhism
Attention to the relevance of Schopenhauer for contemporary
metaphysics, metaethics and ethics in particular. The Palgrave
Schopenhauer Handbook is an essential resource for scholars as well
as advanced students of nineteenth-century philosophy. Researchers
and graduate students in musicology, comparative literature,
religious studies, English, French, history, and political science
will find this guide to be a rigorous and refreshing Handbook to
support their own explorations of Schopenhauer's thought.
Love, Reason, and Will: Kierkegaard After Frankfurt introduces and
investigates themes common to Harry G. Frankfurt and Soren
Kierkegaard, focusing particularly on their understanding of love.
Several distinguished contributors argue that Kierkegaard's
insights about love, volition, and identity can help us to evaluate
aspects of Frankfurt's well-known arguments about love and caring;
similarly, Frankfurt's analyses of the higher-order will, valuing,
and self-love help clarify themes in Kierkegaard's Works of Love
and other books. By bringing these two key thinkers into
conversation with each other, we may glean a new understanding of
the structure of love, reasons for love or deriving from loving,
and more broadly, the central ethical questions of "how to live"
and to develop an authentic identity and meaningful life. Love,
Reason, and Will will appeal to readers interested in the
philosophy of action and emotions, continental thought (especially
in the existential tradition), the study of character in
psychology, and theological work on neighbor-love and virtues.
Arthur Schopenhauer is a widely read, admired and intriguing
philosopher whose ideas have had a profound impact on some of the
greatest minds of the last two centuries. He is known for his
powerful but simple prose-style and a philosophy that tackles
everyday life. Yet even the most sympathetic and intelligent reader
of his works is likely to be perplexed by seeming inconsistencies
and unconventional tone of a number of his major claims.
"Schopenhauer: A Guide for the Perplexed" is a clear and thorough
account of Schopenhauer's philosophy, his major works and ideas,
providing an ideal guide to the important and complex thought of
this key philosopher. The book explores arguments that he offers
for his pessimistic worldview that have long been misunderstood.
Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to
reach a sound understanding of Schopenhauer contributions to
philosophy, this book also presents an in-depth analysis of his
western as well as his hitherto neglected eastern sources and
influences.
A rare academic study on what John Rawls, Peter Singer, and Derek
Parfit acknowledge as the finest book in ethics -- "The Methods of
Ethics." With a rather shocking conclusion that "none of us can
match Sidgwick," Mariko Nakano-Okuno lucidly analyzes Henry
Sidgwick's impacts on contemporary ethics.
Responding to growing interest in the Kantian tradition and in
issues concerning space and time, this volume offers an insightful
and original contribution to the literature by bringing together
analytical and phenomenological approaches in a productive exchange
on topical issues such as action, perception, the body, and
cognition and its limits.
In the famous Correspondence with Clarke, which took place during
the last year of Leibniz s life, Leibniz advanced several arguments
purporting to refute the absolute theory of space and time that was
held by Newton and his followers. The main aim of this book is to
reassess Leibniz s attack on the Newtonian theory in so far as he
relied on the principle of the identity of indiscernibles. The
theological side of the controversy is not ignored but isolated and
discussed in the last three chapters, which deal with problems
connected with the notions of omnipotence and omniscience."
Peg Rawes examines a "minor tradition" of aesthetic geometries in
ontological philosophy. Developed through Kant's aesthetic subject
she explores a trajectory of geometric thinking and geometric
figurations--reflective subjects, folds, passages, plenums,
envelopes and horizons--in ancient Greek, post-Cartesian and
twentieth-century Continental philosophies, through which
productive understandings of space and embodies subjectivities are
constructed.
Six chapters, explore the construction of these aesthetic geometric
methods and figures in a series of "geometric" texts by Kant,
Plato, Proclus, Spinoza, Leibniz, Bergson, Husserl and Deleuze. In
each text, geometry is expressed as a uniquely embodies "aesthetic"
activity because each respective geometric method and figure is
imbued with aesthetic "sensibility" and geometric "sense" (rather
than as disembodies scientific methods). An ontology of aesthetic
geometric methods and figures is therefore traced from Kant's
Critical writings, back to Plato and Proclus Greek philosophy,
Spinoza and Leibniz's post-Cartesian philosophies, and forwards to
Bergson's "duration" and Husserl's "horizons" towards Deleuze's
philosophy of sense.
This volume explores recent developments in the practice of
hospitality, as well as the curious, precarious relationship
between guests and their hosts. Drawing from personal interactions
with an aging innkeeper called Herr Klaus and modern Airbnb hostess
Gretchen, Amitai Touval offers a touching and illuminating account
of how the rise of Airbnb has forged new standards of generosity,
hostility, and accountability. An Anthropological Study of
Hospitality is a must-read for anyone who has wondered about the
intricate social cues involved in such a seemingly simple exchange.
First published in 2007. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor &
Francis, an informa company.
This book is a historically informed and textually grounded study
of the connections between Montaigne, the inventor of the essay,
and Nietzsche, who thought of himself as an "attempter." In
conversation with the Essais, Nietzsche developed key themes of his
oeuvre: experimental scepticism, gay science, the quest for drives
beneath consciousness, the free spirit, the affirmation of
sexuality and the body, and the meaning of greatness. Robert Miner
explores these connections in the context of Nietzsche's reverence
for Montaigne-a reverence he held for no other author-and asks what
Montaigne would make of Nietzsche. The question arises from
Nietzsche himself, who both celebrates Montaigne and includes him
among a small number of authors to whose judgment he is prepared to
submit.
This anthology is about the signal change in Leibniz's metaphysics
with his explicit adoption of substantial forms in 1678-79. This
change can either be seen as a moment of discontinuity with his
metaphysics of maturity or as a moment of continuity, such as a
passage to the metaphysics from his last years. Between the end of
his sejour at Paris (November 1676) and the first part of the
Hanover period, Leibniz reformed his dynamics and began to use the
theory of corporeal substance. This book explores a very important
part of the philosophical work of the young Leibniz. Expertise from
around the globe is collated here, including Daniel Garber's work
based on the recent publication of Leibniz's correspondence from
the late 1690s, examining how the theory of monads developed during
these crucial years. Richard Arthur argues that the introduction of
substantial forms, reinterpreted as enduring primitive forces of
action in each corporeal substance, allows Leibniz to found the
reality of the phenomena of motion in force and thus avoid reducing
motion to a mere appearance. Amongst other themes covered in this
book, Pauline Phemister's paper investigates Leibniz's views on
animals and plants, highlighting changes, modifications and
elaborations over time of Leibniz's views and supporting arguments
and paying particular attention to his claim that the future is
already contained in the seeds of living things. The editor, Adrian
Nita, contributes a paper on the continuity or discontinuity of
Leibniz's work on the question of the unity and identity of
substance from the perspective of the relation with soul (anima)
and mind (mens).
Terry Pinkard draws on Hegel's central works as well as his
lectures on aesthetics, the history of philosophy, and the
philosophy of history in this deeply informed and original
exploration of Hegel's naturalism. As Pinkard explains, Hegel's
version of naturalism was in fact drawn from Aristotelian
naturalism: Hegel fused Aristotle's conception of nature with his
insistence that the origin and development of philosophy has
empirical physics as its presupposition. As a result, Hegel found
that, although modern nature must be understood as a whole to be
non-purposive, there is nonetheless a place for Aristotelian
purposiveness within such nature. Such a naturalism provides the
framework for explaining how we are both natural organisms and also
practically minded (self-determining, rationally responsive,
reason-giving) beings. In arguing for this point, Hegel shows that
the kind of self-division which is characteristic of human agency
also provides human agents with an updated version of an
Aristotelian final end of life. Pinkard treats this conception of
the final end of "being at one with oneself" in two parts. The
first part focuses on Hegel's account of agency in naturalist terms
and how it is that agency requires such a self-division, while the
second part explores how Hegel thinks a historical narration is
essential for understanding what this kind of self-division has
come to require of itself. In making his case, Hegel argues that
both the antinomies of philosophical thought and the essential
fragmentation of modern life are all not to be understood as
overcome in a higher order unity in the "State." On the contrary,
Hegel demonstrates that modern institutions do not resolve such
tensions any more than a comprehensive philosophical account can
resolve them theoretically. The job of modern practices and
institutions (and at a reflective level the task of modern
philosophy) is to help us understand and live with precisely the
unresolvability of these oppositions. Therefore, Pinkard explains,
Hegel is not the totality theorist he has been taken to be, nor is
he an "identity thinker," a la Adorno. He is an anti-totality
thinker.
This title presents a new introduction to Mill, guiding the student
through the key concepts of his work by examining the overall
development of his ideas. John Stuart Mill was one of the most
important and influential British philosophers. When one considers
his overall intellectual contributions, Mill is arguably the most
important intellectual figure of the nineteenth century. Covering
all the key concepts of his work, "Starting with Mill" provides an
accessible introduction to the ideas of this hugely significant
thinker. Clearly structured according to Mill's key works, the book
leads the reader through a thorough overview of the development of
his thought, resulting in a more thorough understanding of the
roots of his philosophical concerns. Offering coverage of the full
range of Mill's ideas, the book explores his contributions to
metaphysics and epistemology, logic, psychology, political economy,
ethics, utilitarianism, and liberalism. Crucially the book
introduces the major thinkers whose work proved influential in the
development of Mill's thought, including Jeremy Bentham, James
Mill, Adam Smith, John Locke and the other British Empiricists.
This is the ideal introduction for anyone coming to the work of
this hugely important thinker for the first time. "Continuum's
Starting" with...series offers clear, concise and accessible
introductions to the key thinkers in philosophy. The books explore
and illuminate the roots of each philosopher's work and ideas,
leading readers to a thorough understanding of the key influences
and philosophical foundations from which his or her thought
developed. Ideal for first-year students starting out in
philosophy, the series will serve as the ideal companion to study
of this fascinating subject.
The traditional and lively interest in Meinong s philosophy and
related topics among Italian philosophers gives rise to this volume
of MEINONG STUDIES. As more than an introduction, Venanzio Raspa
presents an enlightening historical presentation of Meinong s
reception in Italy from his lifetime to the present day. Riccardo
Martinelli offers a reconstruction of the Meinongian theory of
musical objects of higher order. Francesca Modenato gives the
outlines of Meinong s object theory as a theory of the pure object,
separating it from ontology and associating it rather with
gnoseology. From a less historical than systematic-analytic
perspective, Andrea Bottani deals with incomplete objects, Mario
Alai investigates the problem of propositions concerning
non-existent objects, and Carola Barbero proposes a realistic
theory of the emotions aroused by reading literary texts. As themes
related to Meinongian ones, Alberto Voltolini discusses the concept
of existence as a property, Francesco Orilia validates an intuition
of Meinong by adopting an approach called 'fact infinitism', and
Guido Bonino deals with Gustav Bergmann s interpretation of Meinong
s ontology. Das traditionelle und lebhafte Interesse italienischer
Philosophen an Meinongs Philosophie und damit zusammenhangenden
Themen gibt Anlass fur diesen Band der MEINONG STUDIEN. Weit uber
die Anforderungen an ein Eineitung hinausgehend, prasentiert
Venanzio Raspa eine erhellende Studie der Rezeption Meinongs in
Italien von seinen Lebzeiten bis zum heutigen Tag. Riccardo
Martinelli rekonstruiert Meinongs Theorie musikalischer Objekte
hoherer Ordnung und Francesca Modenato umreisst Meinongs
Objekttheorie (als Theorie reiner Objekte), welche sie eher der
Gnoseologie denn der Ontologie zuordnet. Aus einer weniger
historischen als systematisch-analytischen Perspektive befassen
sich Andrea Bottani mit unvollstandigen Objekten, Mario Alai mit
der Frage nicht-existierende Objekte betreffender Aussagen, und
Carola Barbero prasentiert eine realistische Theorie von Emotionen,
die durch die Lekture literarischer Texte erweckt werden. Als
Meinong-bezogene Themen diskutiert Alberto Voltolini den Begriff
der Existenz als Eigenschaft, Francesco Orilia bestatigt in seinem
'Fakteninfinitismus' genannten Zugang eine Meinongsche Intuition,
und Guido Bonino befasst sich mit Gustav Bergmanns Interpretation
der Meinongschen Ontologie."
This book is the first systematic account of Pierre Charron s
influence among the major French philosophers in the period
(1601-1662). It shows that Charron s "Wisdom" was one of the main
sources of inspiration of Pierre Gassendi s first published book,
the "Exercitationes adversus aristoteleos." It sheds new light on
La Mothe Le Vayer, who is usually viewed as a major free thinker.
By showing that he was a follower of Charron, La Mothe emerges
neither as a skeptical apologist nor as a disguised libertine, as
combatting superstition but not as irreligious. The book shows the
close presence of Charron in the preambles of Descartes philosophy
and that the cogito is mainly based on the moral Academic
self-assurance of Charron s wise man. This interpretation reverses
the standard view of Descartes relation to skepticism. Once this
skepticism is recognized to be Charron s Academic one, it is seen
not as the target but as the source of the cogito. Pascal is the
last major philosopher for whom Charron s wisdom is crucially
relevant. Montaigne and Descartes influenced, respectively, Pascal
s view of the Pyrrhonian skeptic and of the skeptical main
arguments. The book shows that Charron s Academic skeptical wise
man is one of the main targets of his projected apology for
Christianity, since he considered him as a threat and
counter-example of the kind of Christian view of human beings he
believed. By restoring the historical philosophical relevance of
Charron in early modern philosophy and arguing for the relevance of
Academic skepticism in the period, this book opens a new research
program to early modern scholars and will be valuable for those
interested in the history of philosophy, French literature and
religion."
During the early modern era (c. 1600-1800), philosophers
formulated a number of new questions, methods of investigation, and
theories regarding the nature of the mind. The result of their
efforts has been described as the original cognitive revolution .
Topics in Early Modern Philosophy of Mind provides a comprehensive
snapshot of this exciting period in the history of thinking about
the mind, presenting studies of a wide array of philosophers and
topics. Written by some of today s foremost authorities on early
modern philosophy, the ten chapters address issues ranging from
those that have long captivated philosophers and psychologists as
well as those that have been underexplored. Likewise, the papers
engage figures from the history of ideas who are well-known today
(Descartes, Hume, Kant) as well as those who have been
comparatively neglected by contemporary scholarship (Desgabets,
Boyle, Collins).
This volume will become an essential reference work that
graduate students and professionals in the fields of philosophy of
mind, the history of philosophy, and the history of psychology will
want to own."
Kant denies that Reason is intuitive, but demands that we must - in
some way - 'make' Reason intuitive, and follow its guidance,
particularly in matters of morality. In this book, a group of
scholars attempt to analyze and explore this central paradox within
Kantian thought. Each essay explores the question from a different
perspective - from political philosophy, ethics and religion to
science and aesthetics. The essays thus also reformulate the core
question in different forms, for example, how are we to realize the
moral good in personal character, political arrangements, or
religious institutions?
The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is an enigmatic
thinker whose works call out for interpretation. One of the most
fascinating strands of this interpretation is in terms of Japanese
thought. Kierkegaard himself knew nothing of Japanese philosophy,
yet the links between his own ideas and Japanese philosophers are
remarkable.. This book examines Kierkegaard in terms of Shinto,
Pure Land Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, the Samurai, the famous Kyoto
school of Japanese philosophers, and in terms of pivotal Japanese
thinkers who were influenced by Kierkegaard.
"Hegel and Plato are towering figures in the history of philosophy,
but often readers puzzle over what they are saying. There are very
few books that deal with them clearly and intelligently. Hardly any
that do so jointly. This book is exceptional in offering a clear,
scholarly and intelligent guide to their work. It focuses upon how
Plato and Hegel deal with nature. While recognising the subtlety of
Plato and Hegel on nature, Vicky Roupa establishes a nuanced yet
clear exposition of their thought. The bonus is that the books is
written in a highly readable style. This is a great book!" - Gary
Browning, Professor of Political Thought, Oxford Brookes University
This book examines nature as a foundational concept for political
and constitutional theory, drawing on readings from Plato and Hegel
to counter the view that optimal political arrangements are
determined by nature. Focussing on the dialectical implications of
the word 'nature', i.e. how it encompasses a range of meanings
stretching up to the opposites of sensuousness and ideality, the
book explores the various junctures at which nature and politics
interlock in the philosophies of Plato and Hegel. Appearance and
essence, inner life and public realm, the psychical and the
political are all shown to be parts of a conflictual structure that
requires both infinite proximity and irreducible distance. The book
offers innovative interpretations of a number of key texts by Plato
and Hegel to highlight the metaphysical and political implications
of nature's dialectical structure, and re-appraises their thinking
of nature in a way that both respects and goes beyond their
intentions.
Hegelian philosophy is now enjoying an enormous renaissance in the
English-speaking world. At the very centre of his work is the
monumental "Science of Logic." Hegel's theory of subjectivity,
which comprises the final third of the "Science of Logic," has been
comparatively neglected. This volume collects 15 essays on various
aspects of Hegel's theory of subjectivity. For Hegel, "substance is
subject." Anyone aspiring to understand Hegel's philosophy cannot
afford to neglect this central topic.
This book examines the life and works of Jane Addams who was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1931). Addams led an international
women's peace movement and is noted for spearheading a
first-of-its-kind international conference of women at The Hague
during World War I. She helped to found the Women's International
League of Peace and Freedom. She was also a prophetic peace
theorist whose ideas were dismissed by her contemporaries. Her
critics conflated her activism and ideas with attempts to undermine
the war effort. Perhaps more important, her credibility was
challenged by sexist views characterizing her as a "silly" old
woman. Her omission as a pioneering, feminist, peace theorist is a
contemporary problem. This book recovers and reintegrates Addams
and her concept of "positive peace," which has relevancy for UN
peacekeeping operations and community policing. Addams began her
public life as a leader of the U.S. progressive era (1890 - 1920)
social reform movement. She combined theory and action through her
settlement work in the, often contentious, immigrant communities of
Chicago. These experiences were the springboard for her innovative
theories of democracy and peace, which she advanced through
extensive public speaking engagements, 11 books and hundreds of
articles. While this book focuses on Addams as peace theorist and
activist it also shows how her eclectic interests and feminine
standpoint led to pioneering efforts in American pragmatism,
sociology, public administration and social work. Each field, which
traces its origin to this period, is actively recovering Addams'
contributions.
Ex nihilo nihil fit. Philosophy, especially great philosophy, does
not appear out of the blue. In the current volume, a team of top
scholars-both up-and-coming and established-attempts to trace the
philosophical development of one of the greatest philosophers of
all time. Featuring twenty new essays and an introduction, it is
the first attempt of its kind in English and its appearance
coincides with the recent surge of interest in Spinoza in
Anglo-American philosophy. Spinoza's fame-or notoriety-is due
primarily to his posthumously published magnum opus, the Ethics,
and, to a lesser extent, to the 1670 Theological-Political
Treatise. Few readers take the time to study his early works
carefully. If they do, they are likely to encounter some surprising
claims, which often diverge from, or even utterly contradict, the
doctrines of the Ethics. Consider just a few of these assertions:
that God acts from absolute freedom of will, that God is a whole,
that there are no modes in God, that extension is divisible and
hence cannot be an attribute of God, and that the intellectual and
corporeal substances are modes in relation to God. Yet, though
these claims reveal some tension between the early works and the
Ethics, there is also a clear continuity between them. Spinoza
wrote the Ethics over a long period of time, which spanned most of
his philosophical career. The dates of the early drafts of the
Ethics seem to overlap with the assumed dates of the composition of
the Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect and the Short
Treatise on God, Man, and His Well Being and precede the
publication of Spinoza's 1663 book on Descartes' Principles of
Philosophy. For this reason, a study of Spinoza's early works (and
correspondence) can illuminate the nature of the problems Spinoza
addresses in the Ethics, insofar as the views expressed in the
early works help us reconstruct the development and genealogy of
the Ethics. Indeed, if we keep in mind the common dictum "nothing
comes from nothing "-which Spinoza frequently cites and appeals
to-it is clear that great works like the Ethics do not appear ex
nihilo. In light of the preeminence and majesty of the Ethics, it
is difficult to study the early works without having the Ethics in
sight. Still, we would venture to say that the value of Spinoza's
early works is not at all limited to their being stations on the
road leading to the Ethics. A teleological attitude of such a sort
would celebrate the works of the "mature Spinoza " at the expense
of the early works. However, we have no reason to assume that on
all issues the views of the Ethics are better argued, developed,
and motivated than those of the early works. In other words, we
should keep our minds open to the possibility that on some issues
the early works might contain better analysis and argumentation
than the Ethics.
|
|