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Books > Philosophy > Western philosophy > General
Heidegger´s construction of Being is paramount in Western
philosophy and arguably the most enduring effort to construct a
presupposition free ontology. Nevertheless, using the theory of
encryption of power, we can discover that the result of his effort
is a sophisticated perpetuation of a kind of knowing and of doing
that alienates the possibility of any kind of politics as a
commonality of differences. This book connects the theory of
encryption of power with an array of ground-breaking philosophical
and scientific traditions of the last hundred years in order to
perforate and depose Heidegger´s metaphysics, through his
construction of the ready-to-hand. Through a hypothetical language
game, based on Wittgenstein´s “language games” (The “X”
game of language) this book decrypts Heidegger´s construction of
Being while also decrypting and empowering the Wittgensteinian
philosophy of language along with it. The idea of decryption
demonstrates that, through particular forms of language use and
philosophy, the world as we know it is encrypted; forms of
resistance and life are covered over by a surface of control and
determination that leads to economic and political forms like
capitalism, fascism and liberalism. Decryption is a way of
unconcealing what has been concealed. By staging this encounter,
Sanin-Restrepo brings the insights of decolonial theory to bear on
the main body of Western philosophy and directly on Heidegger
himself.
This book explores critical pedagogy and issues relating to
entrepreneurialism, commodification, and marketization in
education, and their deleterious effects on student agency and
subjectivity. The central theme of the book is a cross-border
critical ethnographic study of the shadow education practices of an
overseas Japanese business community in Singapore which d ra w s
attention to the elaborate extent to which families are engaged in
shadow or cram tutoring practices as part of their children's
education, supported by the strong presence of overseas branches of
well-established corporate tutoring businesses headquartered in
Japan. The author ultimately critiques a banking approach to
education, particularly in terms of its oppressive and dehumanizing
outcomes, sustained by the inner workings of neoliberal forces and
mercantilist ideologies.
Paul Helm is a distinguished philosopher, with particular interests
in the philosophy of religion. His work covers some of the most
important aspects of the field as it has developed in the last
thirty years with particular contributions to metaphysics,
religious epistemology and philosophical theology. In celebration
of Helm's life's work, Reason in the Service of Faith brings
together a range of his essays which reflect these central concerns
of his thought. Over thirty of Helm's selected essays and four
unpublished articles are gathered into five parts:
Metaphilosophical issues, Action, Change and Personal Identity,
Epistemology, God and Creation, Providence and Prayer. The volume
is prefaced with a short editorial introduction and ends with an
extensive bibliography of Helm's published works. Demonstrating the
important connection between Helm's theological and philosophical
interests across his body of work, this collection is a remarkable
resource for scholars of religion, philosophy and theology.
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Leviathan
(Paperback)
Thomas Hobbes; Contributions by Mint Editions
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R509
Discovery Miles 5 090
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Written by one of the founders of modern political philosophy,
Thomas Hobbes, during the English civil war, Leviathan is an
influential work of nonfiction. Regarded as one of the earliest
examples of the social contract theory, Leviathan has both
historical and philosophical importance. Social contract theory
prioritizes the state over the individual, claiming that
individuals have consented to the surrender of some of their
freedoms by participating in society. These surrendered freedoms
help ensure that the government can be run easily. In exchange for
their sacrifice, the individual is protected and given a place in a
steady social order. Articulating this theory, Hobbes argues for a
strong, undivided government ruled by an absolute sovereign. To
support his argument, Hobbes includes topics of religion, human
nature and taxation. Separated into four sections, Hobbes claims
his theory to be the resolution of the civil war that raged on as
he wrote, creating chaos and taking causalities. The first section,
Of Man discusses the role human nature and instinct plays in the
formation of government. The second section, Of Commonwealth
explains the definition, implications, types, and rules of
succession in a commonwealth government. Of a Christian
Commonwealth imagines the religion's role government and societal
moral standards. Finally, Hobbes closes his argument with Of the
Kingdom of Darkness. Through the use of philosophical theory and
historical study, Thomas Hobbes attempts to convince citizens to
consider the cost and reward of being governed. Without an
understanding of the sociopolitical theories that keep government
bodies in power, subjects can easily become complicit or allow
society to slip into anarchy. Created during a brutal civil war,
Hobbes hoped to educate and persuade his peers. Though Leviathan
was a work of controversy in its time, Hobbes' theories and prose
has survived centuries, shaping the ideas of modern philosophy.
This edition of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes is now presented with a
stunning new cover design and is printed in an easy-to-read font.
With these accommodations, Leviathan is accessible and applicable
to contemporary readers.
For the past thirty years, Howard Caygill has been a distinctive
and radical voice in continental philosophy. For the first time,
this volume gathers together Caygill's most significant
philosophical essays, the majority of which are not freely
available and many of which are previously unpublished. Here, a
major philosopher is at work, offering rich, rigorous and
politically-engaged readings of canonical and lesser-known figures
and texts. From Kant and Frantz Fanon to Herman Kahn, founder of
the Hudson Institute, Caygill uncovers the untapped resources that
the history of philosophy provides for contemporary thought, whilst
critically pushing beyond the limits of the tradition. Divided into
two parts, the first part of the collection reveals the
philosophical backdrop to Caygill's acclaimed study of political
resistance, On Resistance: A Philosophy of Defiance (2015), whilst
the second part sees Caygill further develop his account of
resistance through wide-ranging analyses of contemporary culture.
Exploring numerous subjects, including Nietzsche, metaphysics,
radical politics, and digital resistance, to name but a few, Force
and Understanding introduces readers to the orienting themes of
Caygill's thought and provides the opportunity to engage with one
of the most astute, learned, and critical philosophical minds
around.
This book offers a new interpretation of William James's ethical
and religious thought. Michael Slater shows that James's conception
of morality, or what it means to lead a moral and flourishing life,
is intimately tied to his conception of religious faith, and argues
that James's views on these matters are worthy of our
consideration. He offers a reassessment of James's 'will to
believe' or 'right to believe' doctrine, his moral theory, and his
neglected moral arguments for religious faith. And he argues that
James's pragmatic account of religion is based on an ethical view
of the function of religion and a realist view of the objects of
religious belief and experience, and is compatible with his larger
conception of pragmatism. The book will appeal to readers
interested in the history of modern philosophy, especially
pragmatism, as well as those interested in moral philosophy,
religion, and the history of ideas.
This book employs perspectives from continental philosophy,
intellectual history, and literary and cultural studies to breach
the divide between early modernist and modernist thinkers. It turns
to early modern humanism in order to challenge late 20th-century
thought and present-day posthumanism. This book addresses
contemporary concerns such as the moral responsibility of the
artist, the place of religious beliefs in our secular societies,
legal rights extended to nonhuman species, the sense of 'normality'
applied to the human body, the politics of migration, individual
political freedom and international terrorism. It demonstrates how
early modern humanism can bring new perspectives to postmodern
antihumanism and even invite us to envision a humanism of the
future.
The past year has seen a resurgence of interest in the political
thinker Hannah Arendt, “the theorist of beginnings,” whose work
probes the logics underlying unexpected transformations—from
totalitarianism to revolution. A work of striking originality, The
Human Condition is in many respects more relevant now than when it
first appeared in 1958. In her study of the state of modern
humanity, Hannah Arendt considers humankind from the perspective of
the actions of which it is capable. The problems Arendt identified
then—diminishing human agency and political freedom, the paradox
that as human powers increase through technological and humanistic
inquiry, we are less equipped to control the consequences of our
actions—continue to confront us today. This new edition,
published to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of its original
publication, contains Margaret Canovan’s 1998 introduction and a
new foreword by Danielle Allen. A classic in political and social
theory, The Human Condition is a work that has proved both timeless
and perpetually timely.
Why has memory become such an important political tool in response
to the challenges of modernity? How can performance be used to
probe and recuperate aspects of the past, and what are the ethical
and political questions that arise when it does so? And how should
the discipline of theatre studies define and deploy the term
'memory' theoretically and in practice? Theory for Theatre Studies:
Memory provides a comprehensive introduction to the intersections
between contemporary theatre and performance, the field of memory
studies and the politics of memory across the globe. Beginning by
offering a fresh critical snapshot of the major theoretical
foundations for the study of memory today, the author presents
vivid theatrical examples drawn from a wide variety of cultural
contexts and compellingly illustrates the centrality of memory for
the theatre as well as the vital role of theatre in transmitting
individual and collective memories. Featuring in-depth case studies
of a range of performance works - including Lola Arias’s
Minefield, Yael Ronen’s Common Ground and Robert Lepage’s The
Seven Streams of the River Ota - it explores how theatre artists
have grappled with issues of memory and the tensions between memory
and history. A final section examines the problematics of memory in
a global context by exploring the subject of migration/immigration.
Memory is supported by further online resources including section
overviews and discussion questions. Online resources to accompany
this book are available at:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/theory-for-theatre-studies-memory-9781474246651/
This innovative book proposes that what we think of as "moral
conscience" is essentially the exercise of reflective judgment on
the goods and ends arising in interpersonal relations, and that
such judgment constitutes a form of taste. Through an historical
survey Mitchell shows that the constant pendant to taste was an
educational and cultural ideal, namely, that of the gentleman,
whether he was an ancient Greek citizen-soldier, Roman magistrate,
Confucian scholar-bureaucrat, Renaissance courtier, or Victorian
grandee. Mitchell argues that it was neither an ethical doctrine
nor methodology that provided the high cultures with moral and
political leadership, but rather an elite social order. While the
gentry in the traditional sense no longer exists, it nevertheless
made significant historical contributions, and insofar as we are
concerned to understand the present state of human affairs, we need
to grasp the nature and import of said contributions.
This book represents a study of Evelyn Underhill's premier work on
mysticism, using Hegel's dialectics and Kant's theory of the
sublime as interpretive tools. It especially focuses on two
prominent features of Underhill's text: the description of the
mystical life as one permeated by an intense love between the
mystic and infinite reality, and the detailed delineation of stages
of mystical development. Given these two features, the text lends
itself to a construction of a valuable discourse predicated on
dialecticism, sublimity, and mysticism. The book also articulates a
number of insights into the content and nature of the writings of
Christian mystics.
This volume comprises seventeen essays by Henry E. Allison, one of
the world's leading Kant scholars. They cover virtually the full
spectrum of Allison's work on Kant, ranging from his epistemology,
metaphysics, and moral theory to his views on teleology, political
philosophy, the philosophy of history, and the philosophy of
religion. But most of the essays revolve around three basic themes:
the nature of transcendental idealism and its relation to other
aspects of Kant's thought; freedom of the will; and the concept of
the purposiveness of nature. The first two themes have been
prominent in Allison's work on Kant since its inception. The essays
on the third theme constitute a major new contribution to the
understanding of Kant's 'critical' philosophy; their primary
concern is to demonstrate the central place of the third Critique
in Kant's thought. Among the notable features of Allison's essays
is the presence of a significant comparative dimension, which
places Kant's views in their historical context and explores their
contemporary relevance. To this end, these views are contrasted
with those of his major predecessors and immediate successors, as
well as philosophers of the present day.
This book examines the theoretical links between Edward W. Said and
Sigmund Freud as well the relationship between psychoanalysis,
postcolonialism and decoloniality more broadly. The author begins
by offering a comprehensive review of the literature on
psychoanalysis and postcolonialism, which is contextualized within
the apparatus of racialized capitalism. In the close analysis of
the interconnections between the Freud and Said that follows, there
is an attempt to decolonize the former and psychoanalyze the
latter. He argues that decolonizing Freud does not mean canceling
him; rather, he employs Freud's sharpest insights for our time, by
extending his critique of modernity to coloniality. It is also
advanced that psychoanalyzing Said does not mean psychologizing the
man; instead the book's aim is to demonstrate the influence of
psychoanalysis on Said's work. It is asserted that Said began with
Freud, repressed him, and then Freud returned. Reading Freud and
Said side by side allows for the theorization of what the author
calls contrapuntal psychoanalysis as liberation praxis, which is
discussed in-depth in the final chapters. This book, which builds
on the author's previous work, Decolonial Psychoanalysis, will be a
valuable text to scholars and students from across the psychology
discipline with an interest in Freud, Said and the broader
relationship between psychoanalysis and colonialism.
The code of conduct for a leading tech company famously says "Don't
Be Evil." But what exactly is evil? Is it just badness by another
name-the shadow side of good? Or is it something more substantive-a
malevolent force or power at work in the universe? These are some
of the ontological questions that philosophers have grappled with
for centuries. But evil also raises perplexing epistemic and
psychological questions. Can we really know evil? Does a victim
know evil differently than a perpetrator or witness? What motivates
evil-doers? Satan's rebellion, Iago's machinations, and Stalin's
genocides may be hard to understand in terms of ordinary reasons,
intentions, beliefs, and desires. But what about the more "banal"
evils performed by technocrats in a collective: how do we make
sense of Adolf Eichmann's self-conception as just an effective
bureaucrat deserving of a promotion? Evil: A History collects
thirteen essays that tell the story of evil in western thought,
starting with its origins in ancient Hebrew wisdom literature and
classical Greek drama all the way to Darwinism and Holocaust
theory. Thirteen interspersed reflections contextualize
philosophical developments by looking at evil through the eyes of
animals, poets, mystics, witches, librettists, film directors, and
even a tech product manager. Evil: A History will enlighten readers
about one of the most alluring and difficult topics in philosophy
and intellectual life, and will challenge their assumptions about
the very nature of evil.
The book identifies to what extent it is possible to speak of a
democratization of knowledge in Renaissance Italy. It establishes
the boundaries of the present investigation within the Aristotelian
tradition, and outlines democratization as a process capable of
assigning power to people. It deals with how the democratization of
knowledge historically is invested equally in ideas from religion
and philosophy, involving the same democratizers, moved by similar
intentions, employing identical techniques of vulgarization and
targeting equivalent communities of recipients.
This book critically explores the development of radical
criminological thought through the social, political and cultural
history of three periods in Ancient Greece: the Classical, the
Hellenistic and the Greco-Roman periods. It follows on from the
previous volume which examined concepts of law, legitimacy, crime,
justice and deviance through a range of Ancient Greek works
including epic and lyrical poetry, drama and philosophy, across
different chapters. This book examines the three centuries that
followed which were very important for the history of radical
thinking about crime and law. It explores the socio-political
struggles and how ruptures produced breaks in knowledge production
and developed the field of deviance and social control. It also
examines the key literature, religions and philosophers of each
period. The gap between social consensus and social conflict
deepened during this time and influenced the theoretical discourse
on crime. These elements continue to exist in the theoretical
quests of the modern age of criminology. This book examines the
links between the origins of radical criminology and its future. It
speaks to those interested in the (pre)history of criminology and
the historical production of criminological knowledge.
Providing a solid media-philosophical groundwork, the book
contributes to the theory of alterity in Performance Philosophy,
while stimulating and inspiring future inquiries where studies in
media, art, and literature intersect with philosophy. It collects a
selective as well as productive diversity of philosophical,
literary, and artistic figures of thought, attaining an exacting
framework as a result of a clearly elaborated ethics of alterity,
innovatively opened up by way of an aisthetics of existence:
Touching upon the Aristotelian concept of aisthesis, the material,
perceptual and sensory dimensions of everyday bodily existence are
highlighted to move beyond what aesthetics in Modern Philosophy
just specializes in, namely art and the beautiful. The notion of
existence is therefore borrowed from Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who
understands it as something concrete and richly interrelated, so as
to avoid the dualisms both of psychological processes of
consciousness and of physiological mechanisms. It is thus made
explicit such that the unity of body and soul is not any
arbitrarily arranged connection between “subject” and
“object” but, rather, that it is enacted at every instant in
the movement of existence. Imaginatively then, the book puts into
writing how alterity not only can be treated theoretically but can
be also made accessible through writing as well as rendered
relatable through reading. That is why it deals with exemplary
interpersonal encounters in the lifeworld, in the arts, and in the
media, which are initially thematized as intercorporeal
experiences, so as to enable an approach for an ethics of alterity
by way of, in particular, sites located within a phenomenology of
perception oriented towards the lived body.
Galen of Pergamum (AD 129 c.216) was the most influential doctor of
later antiquity, whose work was to influence medical theory and
practice for more than fifteen hundred years. He was a prolific
writer on anatomy, physiology, diagnosis and prognosis,
pulse-doctrine, pharmacology, therapeutics, and the theory of
medicine; but he also wrote extensively on philosophical topics,
making original contributions to logic and the philosophy of
science, and outlining a scientific epistemology which married a
deep respect for empirical adequacy with a commitment to rigorous
rational exposition and demonstration. He was also a vigorous
polemicist, deeply involved in the doctrinal disputes among the
medical schools of his day. This volume offers an introduction to
and overview of Galen's achievement in all these fields, while
seeking also to evaluate that achievement in the light of the
advances made in Galen scholarship over the past thirty years."
For decades Foucault was mostly known for his diagnosis of
modernity as a form of entrapment, both in our modes of thought and
our behaviors. This book argues that Foucault's reappraisal of
modernity occurs with the 1978 and 1979 lectures, in which he
sketches modern power as governmentality and neoliberalism. From
this perspective, Foucault's once surprising studies on the Greeks'
constitution of the 'self' can be seen as a continuation of his
diagnosis of late modernity, and as an attempt to retrieve a form
of autonomy for our modern selves. One finds in the late Foucault a
postmodern conception of reason and not a destruction of reason;
but this is possible only if postmodernity is seen as a critical
exercise of reason in the analysis of norms.
This book presents, for the first time in English, a comprehensive
anthology of essays on Christian Wolff's psychology written by
leading international scholars. Christian Wolff is one of the
towering figures in 18th-century Western thought. In the last
decades, the publication of Wolff's Gesammelte Werke by Jean Ecole
and collaborators has aroused new interest in his ideas, but the
meaning, scope, and impact of his psychological program have
remained open to close and comprehensive analysis and discussion.
That is what this volume aims to do. This is the first volume in
English completely devoted to Wolff's efforts to systematize
empirical and rational psychology, against the background of his
understanding of scientific method in metaphysics. Wolff thereby
paved the way to the very idea of a scientific psychology. The book
is divided into two parts. The first one covers the theoretical and
historical meaning and scope of Wolff's psychology, both in its
internal structure and in its relation to other parts of his
philosophical system, such as logic, cosmology, aesthetics, or
practical philosophy. The second part deals with the reception and
impact of Wolff's psychology, starting with early reactions from
his disciples and opponents, and moving on to Kant, Hegel, and
Wundt. The Force of an Idea: New Essays on Christian Wolff's
Psychology shows not only that Wolff's psychological ideas have
been misinterpreted, but also that they are historically more
significant than traditional wisdom has it. The book, therefore,
will be of interest to historians and philosophers of science,
historians of philosophy and psychology, as well as to philosophers
and psychologists interested in understanding the roots of
scientific psychology in 18th and 19th century German philosophy.
Newton's philosophical views are unique and uniquely difficult to
categorise. In the course of a long career from the early 1670s
until his death in 1727, he articulated profound responses to
Cartesian natural philosophy and to the prevailing mechanical
philosophy of his day. Newton as Philosopher presents Newton as an
original and sophisticated contributor to natural philosophy, one
who engaged with the principal ideas of his most important
predecessor, Rene Descartes, and of his most influential critic, G.
W. Leibniz. Unlike Descartes and Leibniz, Newton was systematic and
philosophical without presenting a philosophical system, but over
the course of his life, he developed a novel picture of nature, our
place within it, and its relation to the creator. This rich
treatment of his philosophical ideas, the first in English for
thirty years, will be of wide interest to historians of philosophy,
science, and ideas.
Grant ackowledges that Christian theology owes much to the
philosophy of the classical world, but he believes the remarkable
tenacity of Christian inspiration resulted from the revelation of
the Trinity. From the philosophical background of Christian
doctrine, especially Middle Platonism and the writings of Numenius
of Apamea, Grant traces the development of God the Father, Creator,
and Preserver of the universe.
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