In the winter of 1965, Leo Strauss taught a seminar on Hegel at the University of Chicago. While Strauss did not consider himself a Hegelian nor write about Hegel at any length, his writings contain intriguing references to the philosopher, particularly in connection with his studies of Hobbes, in his debate in On Tyranny with Alexandre Koje ve; and in his account of the "three waves" of modern political philosophy. Leo Strauss on Hegel reconstructs Strauss's seminar on Hegel, supplemented by passages from an earlier version of the seminar from which only fragments of a transcript remain. Strauss focused in his seminar on the lectures collected in The Philosophy of History, which he considered more accessible than Hegel's written works. In his own lectures on Hegel, Strauss continues his project of demonstrating how modern philosophers related to ancient thought and explores the development and weaknesses of modern political theory. Strauss is especially concerned with the relationship in Hegel between empirical history and his philosophy of history, and he argues for the primacy of religion in Hegel's understanding of history and society. In addition to a relatively complete transcript, Leo Strauss on Hegel also includes annotations, which bring context and clarity to the text.

THIS IS PHILOSOPHY "The second edition of This is Philosophy improves upon an excellent first edition. This clear, succinct book is quite possibly the best introduction to Western philosophy on the market." --Gregory Morgan, Stevens Institute of Technology "This is a terrific book. The writing is not only extremely clear, it is downright gripping--with relevant and detailed examples at every turn. Steven Hales has produced not just a great little introduction to philosophy--he has produced a great little book in philosophy, period." --Michael Lynch, University of Connecticut "Hales clearly explains important philosophical ideas with a minimum of jargon and without sacrificing depth of content and he consistently gives a fair and accurate presentation of both sides of central philosophical disputes." --Matthew Van Cleave, Teaching Philosophy As the oldest discipline in the academy, philosophy began by asking questions of the world and of human nature. Philosophers are responsible for the Enlightenment and laid the foundations for constitutional governments. Yet, while it may have given birth to the natural sciences, philosophy has earned a contemporary reputation as an esoteric and impractical field out of touch with everyday life--but it doesn't have to be that way. This is Philosophy: An Introduction expertly guides students through the fundamentals of philosophy by illuminating difficult, abstract ideas with straightforward language. Assuming no prior background in the subject, this volume brings philosophical concepts into sharp focus through relatable examples and clear explanations of philosophy's big questions and arguments. The second edition of this accessible textbook is organized around seven central philosophical problems, including ethics, the existence of God, free will, personal identity, philosophy of mind, and epistemology. New to this edition is a chapter on political philosophy that explores the state of nature, anarchy, contractarianism, libertarianism, and the liberal state. These self-contained chapters have been reordered and recalibrated to best suit the needs of introductory philosophy courses, and can be taught independently or in sequence. Enhanced by updated examples, new hyperlinks and references, and detailed bibliographies, the book is complemented by extensively-revised online resources available to instructors, including a 200-question test bank and over 450 PowerPoint slides designed to strengthen student comprehension of key concepts. Strengthening the popular first edition which launched the series, This is Philosophy: An Introduction, Second Edition is the perfect primary textbook for beginning philosophy students as well as general readers with an interest in philosophy.

Bringing together scholars from literature and the history of ideas, Passions and Subjectivity in Early Modern Culture explores new ways of negotiating the boundaries between cognitive and bodily models of emotion, and between different versions of the will as active or passive. In the process, it juxtaposes the historical formation of such ideas with contemporary philosophical debates. It frames a dialogue between rhetoric and medicine, politics and religion, in order to examine the relationship between mind and body and between experience and the senses. Some chapters discuss literature, in studies of Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton; other essays concentrate on philosophical arguments, both Aristotelian and Galenic models from antiquity, and new mechanistic formations in Descartes, Hobbes and Spinoza. A powerful sense of paradox emerges in treatments of the passions in the early modern period, also reflected in new literary and philosophical forms in which inwardness was displayed, analysed and studied-the autobiography, the essay, the soliloquy-genres which rewrite the formation of subjectivity. At the same time, the frame of reference moves outwards, from the world of interior states to encounter the passions on a public stage, thus reconnecting literary study with the history of political thought. In between the abstract theory of political ideas and the inward selves of literary history, lies a field of intersections waiting to be explored. The passions, like human nature itself, are infinitely variable, and provoke both literary experimentation and philosophical imagination. Passions and Subjectivity in Early Modern Culture thus makes new connections between embodiment, selfhood and the emotions in order to suggest both new models of the self and new models for interdisciplinary history.

This book proposes a conceptual-empirical framework for exploring forms of continuity and change along psychosocial pathways in South African universities. It illustrates how the psychosocial pathways are grounded in the symbolic narratives and knowledges of young scientists, engineers and architects - all interlocutors in the research from which this book is based. Alala, Mamoratwa, Welile, Odirile, Kaiya, Amirah, Takalani, Nosakhele, Naila, Ambani, Khanyisile, Itumeleng, Ethwasa and Kgnaya provide collective standpoints in the multiplicities within and between the lived lives and told stories of young Black South African women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. In doing so, this compelling work advances possibilities for demythologising scientific endeavour as a white male achievement and shifting knowledge communities across gendered, racialised, class and national divides. This book presents an innovative narrative methodology, utilising the myth of the Minotaur to examine the state of the university at the heart of the hierarchical labyrinth in "post"-apartheid South Africa. Throughout the work the author wrestles with and self-reflexively highlights her own positionality as a white, middle-class South African woman to examine how this affects the production of this research in ways which serve to preserve the colonial knowledge system. With the rise of the Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall student movement in South Africa, demanding for the fall of institutionalised racial hierarchies, the author uses the cover image of narrative formations in the spirit of exploration to think with and through undulating networked forms that could possibly forge new psychosocial pathways towards decolonising and reinventing South African universities. This work offers a unique conceptual and methodological resource for students and scholars of psychosocial and narrative theory, as well as those who are concerned about the politics of higher education, both in South Africa and in other contexts around the world.

This major study of Kierkegaard and love explores Kierkegaard's description of love's treachery, difficulty, and hope. It reads his Works of Love as a text that both deciphers and complicates the central books in his pseudonymous canon: Fear and Trembling, Repetition, Either/Or and Stages on Life's Way. Amy Laura Hall argues that a spiritual void brings each text into being, and her interpretation is as much about faith as about love. Her scholarly and lyrical style makes this study a poetic contribution to ethics and the philosophy of religion.

This book mediates between postcolonial positions that criticize Marxist approaches (and Marx's writings) for their Eurocentrism and defenders of Marx, who claim that this accusation is a myth. In different contributions to this volume, Kolja Lindner pleads for a differentiated assessment of the whole of Marx's work, including less known manuscripts, and a theoretical reconstruction of various elements that have come into the focus of postcolonial critique: ethnocentrism, Orientalism, false universalism and the oblivion of modernity's global entanglement. Against this background, two opportunities simultaneously arise: Marx's Eurocentrism can be deconstructed and his growing awareness of global developments and cosmopolitan struggles established.

This book explores Wittgenstein's long engagement with the work of the pragmatist William James. In contrast to previous discussions, Russell Goodman argues that James exerted a distinctive and pervasive positive influence on Wittgenstein's thought. He shows that both share commitments to anti-foundationalism, to the description of the concrete details of human experience, and to the priority of practice over intellect. Considering in detail what Wittgenstein learnt from his reading of William James, Goodman provides considerable evidence for Wittgenstein's claim that he is saying "something that sounds like pragmatism."

The philosophy of Henry Bugbee defies traditional academic categorization. Though inspired by Heidegger and American Transcendentalism, he was also admired by the famous analytic philosopher Willard van Orman Quine, who described him as the ultimate exemplar of the examined life. Bugbee’s writings are remarkably different in form and register from anything written in twentieth-century American Philosophy. The beautifully written essays collected here show Bugbee’s continuing commitment that “anyone who throws his entire personality into his work must to some extent adopt an aesthetic attitude and medium.” Together, the book reintroduces a major thinker of nature, an environmental philosopher avant la lettre who has much to contribute to American and continental thought.

The present book contextualizes Du Chatelet's contribution to the philosophy of her time. The editor offers this tribute to an Epoque Emiliennee as a collection of innovative papers on Emilie Du Chatelet's powerful philosophy and legacy. Du Chatelet was an outstanding figure in the era she lived in. Her work and achievements were unique, though not an exception in the 18th century, which did not lack outstanding women. Her personal intellectual education, her scholarly network and her mental acumen were celebrated in her time, perceiving her to have "multiplied nine figures by nine figures in her head". She was able to gain access to institutions which were normally denied to women. To call an epoch an Epoque Emilienne may be seen as daring and audacious, but it will not be the last time if we continue to bring women philosophers back into the memory of the history of philosophy. The contributors paid attention to the philosophical state of the art, which forms the background to Du Chatelet's philosophy. They follow the transformation of philosophical concepts under her pen and retrace the impact of her ideas. The book is of interest to scholars working in the history of philosophy as well as in gender studies. It is of special interest for scholars working on the 18th century, Kant, Leibniz, Wolff, Newton and the European Enlightenment.

Christos Yannaras pioneering critique of the concept of the right of the individual is presented in English for the first time. This central aspect of political theory (since Hegels Philosophy of Right) summarizes the philosophical and cultural identity of the paradigm of modernity, but the philosophical assumptions underlying the concept of right have not hitherto been subject to scrutiny. Yannaras shows that the starting-point of the concept of right is a phenomenalistic naturalism, which presupposes an abstract concept of the human subject as a fundamentally undifferentiated natural individual. The question is also explored of how the priority accorded to this concept of right is related to the contemporary crisis of the modern politico-social paradigm, while a new preface from the translator underlines the continued significance of Yannaras proposal for Anglophone readers. Against the modern concept of right with its illusion of objectivity, The Inhumanity of Right sketches out the basic lines of a political theory that prioritizes new social needs that reflect the relational character of the human person.

A landmark work. Mandatory reading for anyone who wants to learn to be a good skeptic.
In this widely acclaimed and highly controversial book, Paul Kurtz examines the reasons why people accept supernatural and paranormal belief systems in spite of substantial evidence to the contrary. According to the author, it is because there is within the human species a deeply rooted tendency toward magical thinking - the "transcendental temptation" - which undermines critical judgment and paves the way for willful beliefs. He explores in detail the three major monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - finding striking psychological and sociological parallels between these religions, the spiritualism of the 19th century, and the paranormal belief systems of today. There are sections on mysticism, belief in the afterlife, the existence of God, reincarnation, astrology, and ufology. Kurtz also explains the nature of skepticism as an antidote to belief in the transcendental.

The intellectual relationship between Henry James and his father proved to be an influential resource for the novelist. Andrew Taylor examines the nature of both men's engagement with autobiographical strategies, issues of gender reform, and the language of religion. He argues for a reading of Henry James that is informed by an awareness of paternal inheritance. Through the study of a wide range of novels and texts, he demonstrates how James Senior's dialogue with his contemporaries, such as Emerson and Whitman, anticipates James's own theories of fiction and selfhood.

This is by far the most exhaustive biography on Niels Stensen, anatomist, geologist and bishop, better known as "Nicolaus Steno". We learn about the scientist's family and background in Lutheran Denmark, of his teachers at home and abroad, of his studies and travels in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Germany, of his many pioneering achievements in anatomy and geology, of his encounters with Swammerdam, Malpighi and with members of the newly established Royal Society of London and the Accademia del Cimento in Florence, and with the philosopher Spinoza. It further treats Stensen's religious conversion. The book includes the full set of Steno's anatomical and geological scientific papers in original language. The editors thoroughly translated the original Latin text to English, and included numerous footnotes on the background of this bibliographic and scientific treasure from the 17th century.

Ramon Llull (1232-1316), born on Majorca, was one of the most remarkable lay intellectuals of the thirteenth century. He devoted much of his life to promoting missions among unbelievers, the reform of Western Christian society, and personal spiritual perfection. He wrote over 200 philosophical and theological works in Catalan, Latin, and Arabic. Many of these expound on his "Great Universal Art of Finding Truth," an idiosyncratic dialectical system that he thought capable of proving Catholic beliefs to non-believers.
This study offers the first full-length analysis of his theories about rhetoric and preaching, which were central to his evangelizing activities. It explains how Llull attempted to synthesize commonplace advice about courtly speech and techniques of popular sermons into a single program for secular and sacred eloquence that would necessarily promote love of God and neighbor. Llull's work is a remarkable testimony to the diffusion of clerical culture among educated lay-people of his era, and to their enthusiasm for applying that knowledge in pursuit of learning and piety. This book should find a place on the shelf of every scholar of medieval history, religion, and rhetoric.

Presenting the history of an unexplored yet significant institution in East Germany, this book analyses the development of the Parteihochschule Karl Marx (PHS), a training institute for Communist party officials and members of the functional elite. By chronicling the PHS from its establishment in 1946, the author demonstrates how it sought to implement Stalin's rule, and sheds light on the activities of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the German Democratic Republic. The book focuses on the leadership of Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker as First Secretary and General Secretary of the SED respectively, and examines key personalities within the PHS. The activities of party functionaries under the rule of Hanna Wolf and Kurt Tiedke are scrutinised, revealing the dogmatic nature of the East German regime. An essential read for anyone interested in German history and East European Communism, this book brings to light one of the key institutions in implementing Stalinism and Marxism-Leninism in the German Democratic Republic.

Distinguished scholars--Jurgen Habermas, Claus Offe, Douglas Kellner, and Martin Jay, among others--draw upon historical, theoretical, and biographical information to assess Marcuse's philosophy, from its grounding in classical German idealism, through the break with Heidegger, to his role in the American counterculture of the sixties and seventies. Indispensable for anyone interested in an in-depth understanding of one of the most burning issues of our time: the relation of critical theory to social action.

Ward's book focuses on the work of the Hungarian philosopher Agnes Heller; prominent member of the Budapest School, a group of students who studied under the Marxist social theorist Gyoergy Lukacs. For both Marx and Heller (albeit in different ways) dissatisfaction emerges as the inevitable result of the expansion of need(s) within modernity and as a catalyst for the development of anthropological wealth (what Marx refers to as the 'human being rich in need'). Ward argues that dissatisfaction and the corresponding category of human wealth-as both motif and method-is central to grasping Heller's seemingly disparate writings. While Marx postulates a radical overcoming of dissatisfaction, Heller argues dissatisfaction is integral not only to the on-going survival of modernity but also to the dynamics of both freedom and individual life. In this way Heller's work remains committed to a position that both continually returns and departs, is both with and against, the philosophy of Marx. This book will be of interest to scholars of political philosophy, social theory, critical theory, and sociology.

If the Enlightenment turned to reason to reoccupy the place left vacant by the death of God, the history of the last two centuries has undermined the confidence that reason will bind freedom and keep it responsible. We cannot escape this history, which has issued in a pervasive nihilism and has rendered all appeals to the ethical questionable. Nor could Kierkegaard. The specter of nihilism haunts all of his writings, as it haunts already German romanticism, to which he is so indebted. To exorcize it is his most fundamental concern. And it is the same fundamentally religious concern that makes Kierkegaard so relevant to our situation: What today is to make life meaningful? If not reason, does the turn to the aesthetic promise an answer? To really choose is to bind freedom. Either-Or calls us to make such a choice, i.e. to be authentic. But what does it mean to be authentic? How are we today to think of such an authentic choice? As autonomous action? As a blind leap? As a leap of faith? Either/Or circles around these questions.

This is the first comprehensive study of the ethics of G. E. Moore, the most important English-speaking ethicist of the 20th century. Moore's ethical project, set out in his seminal text the Principia Ethica is to preserve common moral insight from skepticism and, in effect, persuade his readers to accept the objective character of goodness. Brian Hutchinson explores Moore's arguments in detail, showing Moore's ethical work to be much richer and more sophisticated than his critics have acknowledged.

Rousseau, the great political theorist and philosopher of education, was an important forerunner of the French Revolution, though his thought was too nuanced and subtle ever to serve as mere ideology. This is the only volume that systematically surveys the full range of Rousseau's activities in politics and education, psychology, anthropology, religion, music, and theater. New readers will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to Rousseau currently available, while advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Rousseau.

This important new book argues that Henry James' fiction reveals a sophisticated theory of moral understanding and moral motivation. The claim is that James is engaged in a distinctive kind of original thinking and reflecting on modern moral life in his novels and short stories. The book offers important new interpretations of many novels as well as several short stories. It is written by one of the pre-eminent interpreters of the modern European philosophical tradition and will interest philosophers as well as literary critics. Moreover, the style is completely non-technical, with no reliance on contemporary literary or philosophical theory, and will therefore be accessible to students and general readers.

The field of Indian studies and the wide-ranging fascination with India in Wilhelmine Germany emerged during a time of extraordinary cultural and political tensions, which explicitly informed the analyses, understanding, and interpretation of Indian traditions. That is, German Indologen - eminent professors in Indian Studies - and other intellectuals transacted concerns with religious traditions, scientific imperatives, and sociopolitical transformations. Specifically, these German intellectuals drew on non-Western traditions to assemble an archive of knowledge through which they could negotiate a number of issues, including: denominational agendas - both Catholic and Protestant - as the established Churches sought to solidify their roles in a more secular world dominated by Bismarckian power politics and eventually imperial designs; the perceived faltering of religious signifiers, sparked in part by the scientific challenges to Biblical exegesis as the primary source for establishing human knowledge and spiritual identity; a new paradigm for the nation as Germany sought to identify itself during the age of Empire, with its inherent colonial competition among the European powers; and new, innovative paths for re-shaping intellectual identity and re-building community consensus in response to these perceived stresses. The image of India became a powerful sounding board during the Kaiserreich for many intellectuals to re-negotiate modern definitions of science, culture, and religion - to re-formulate their destabilized sense of history and progress. Just as Chamberlain projects in 1905, German Indologists had already long sought to navigate the unstable religious, social and political waters of Wilhelmine Germany through their constructed India. This study shows that these religious (denominational and spiritual) dilemmas, political agendas, and shifting social consensus became inextricably entangled in the wider German encounter with India.

Wittgenstein is one of the most important and influential twentieth-century philosophers in the western tradition. In his Philosophical Investigations he undertakes a radical critique of analytical philosophy's approach to both the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mind. The Routledge Guidebook to Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations introduces and assesses: Wittgenstein's life The principal ideas of the Philosophical Investigations Some of the principal disputes concerning the interpretation of his work Wittgenstein's philosophical method and its connection with the form of the text. With further reading included throughout, this guidebook is essential reading for all students of philosophy, and all those wishing to get to grips with this masterpiece.

The Reformed Theological Tradition makes the beginning point of its theology the knowledge of God, and the goal and meaning of life, the glory of God. John Calvin begins his Institutes of the Christian Religion with chapters about the knowledge of God. The Westminster Confession of Faith dedicates its first chapter to how God is known. However, in 21st century America the words 'knowing God' have come to mean relying on an inner feeling or having a personal preference. Yet it was not that long ago that Charles Hodge, now largely forgotten outside of specialized academic circles, was a national figure known for his theological work on the knowledge of God. This book focuses on the specifics of his intellectual lineage and his own arguments to show how God can be known. There are tensions that arise and must be addressed between claims about the authority of inner feelings on the one hand, and the ability for actual knowledge of God on the other. We today have inherited the residue from those tensions and a better understanding of them will help us in our thinking about knowing God.

The book aims to provide a process-philosophical perspective philosophizing itself. It employs the perspectives of process philosophy for elucidating the historical development of philosophical ideas. The doctrine of historicism in the history of ideas has it that each era and perhaps even each thinker employs philosophical ideas in such a user-idiosyncratic way that there is no continuity and indeed no connectivity of public access across the divides of space, time, and culture. In opposition to such a view, the present processist deliberations see the development of ideas as a matter of generic processes that have ample room for connectivity and recurrence, permitting the very self-same conception to be shared by philosophers of different settings. Beyond arguing this histico-processism on general principles, the book presents a series of case studies of significant philosophical topics that illustrate and elaborate upon the developmental connectivities at issue.