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Books > Philosophy > General
Toleration is one of the most studied concepts in contemporary
political theory and philosophy, yet the range of contemporary
normative prescriptions concerning how to do toleration or how to
be tolerant is remarkably narrow and limited. The literature is
largely dominated by a neo-Kantian moral-juridical frame, in which
toleration is a matter to be decided in terms of constitutional
rights. According to this framework, cooperation equates to public
reasonableness and willingness to engage in certain types of civil
moral dialogue. Crucially, this vision of politics makes no claims
about how to cultivate and secure the conditions required to make
cooperation possible in the first place. It also has little to say
about how to motivate one to become a tolerant person. Instead it
offers highly abstract ideas that do not by themselves suggest what
political activity is required to negotiate overlapping values and
interests in which cooperation is not already assured. Contemporary
thinking about toleration indicates, paradoxically, an intolerance
of politics. Montaigne and the Tolerance of Politics argues for
toleration as a practice of negotiation, looking to a philosopher
not usually considered political: Michel de Montaigne. For
Montaigne, toleration is an expansive, active practice of political
endurance in negotiating public goods across lines of value
difference. In other words, to be tolerant means to possess a
particular set of political capacities for negotiation. What
matters most is not how we talk to our political opponents, but
that we talk to each other across lines of disagreement. Douglas I.
Thompson draws on Montaigne's Essais to recover the idea that
political negotiation grows out of genuine care for public goods
and the establishment of political trust. He argues that we need a
Montaignian conception of toleration today if we are to negotiate
effectively the circumstances of increasing political polarization
and ongoing value conflict, and he applies this notion to current
debates in political theory as well as contemporary issues,
including the problem of migration and refugee asylum.
Additionally, for Montaigne scholars, he reads the Essais
principally as a work of public political education, and resituates
the work as an extension of Montaigne's political activity as a
high-level negotiator between Catholic and Huguenot parties during
the French Wars of Religion. Ultimately, this book argues that
Montaigne's view of tolerance is worth recovering and reconsidering
in contemporary democratic societies where political leaders and
ordinary citizens are becoming less able to talk to each other to
resolve political conflicts and work for shared public goods.
In book two of this four-volume work, Alexander explains in detail
the kinds of process that are capable of generating living
structure. The unfolding of living structure in natural systems is
compared to the unfolding of buildings and town plans in
traditional society, and then contrasted with present-day building
processes. The comparison reveals deep and shocking problems which
pervade the present day planning and construction of buildings.
Pervasive changes are needed to create a world in which living
process - and hence living structure - are possible; these are
changes which are ultimately attainable only through a
transformation of society. It is the use of sequences which makes
it possible for each building to become unique, exactly fitted to
its context, and harmonious. And it is also this use of sequences
which makes it possible for people to participate effectively in
the layout of their own buildings and communities
Eckhart Tolle's writings on the power of living in the moment fast
became the most sought-after modern classic on spiritual
enlightenment.
Now, in this new life-transforming book, we are
shown how to become our true selves by embracing silence and
stillness.
When we are no longer limited by our thinking mind,
suffering and pain disappears and we are able to move towards a new
understanding of our relationships, of nature, and of the profound
wisdom that is to be found in stillness.
Most livestock in the United States currently live in cramped and
unhealthy confinement, have few stable social relationships with
humans or others of their species, and finish their lives by being
transported and killed under stressful conditions. In Livestock,
Erin McKenna allows us to see this situation and presents
alternatives. She interweaves stories from visits to farms,
interviews with producers and activists, and other rich material
about the current condition of livestock. In addition, she mixes
her account with pragmatist and ecofeminist theorizing about
animals, drawing in particular on John Dewey's account of
evolutionary history, and provides substantial historical
background about individual species and about human-animal
relations. This deeply informative text reveals that the animals we
commonly see as livestock have rich evolutionary histories,
species-specific behaviors, breed tendencies, and individual
variation, just as those we respect in companion animals such as
dogs, cats, and horses. To restore a similar level of respect for
livestock, McKenna examines ways we can balance the needs of our
livestock animals with the environmental and social impacts of
raising them, and she investigates new possibilities for humans to
be in relationships with other animals. This book thus offers us a
picture of healthier, more respectful relationships with livestock.
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Meld
(Hardcover)
Tim Ramick
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R1,019
Discovery Miles 10 190
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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In the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, news spread
about Project 2025, a nearly 1,000-page document published by the
conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. The debates—and
anxiety—surrounding this initiative have only increased as authors of
the Project assume positions of power in the second Trump
administration.
So, what is Project 2025, exactly? Who wrote it, what does it actually
say, and what does it mean for everyday people around the world, across
the political spectrum, in the years to come?
In The Project, award-winning journalist David A. Graham offers
much-needed context and distills the essential elements of this
sprawling document. Breaking down the Project’s strategy for
transforming—and radically empowering—the executive branch, Graham then
explains what the architects behind Project 2025 would do with that
power: restoring traditional gender norms and the supremacy of the
nuclear family, decimating the civil service, performing mass
deportations, reducing corporate regulation and worker protections, and
more.
Project 2025 is the intellectual blueprint for the new administration,
Graham argues, and its tenets should not be legible only to policy
wonks. Authoritative yet highly accessible, The Project demystifies it
for those whose lives it will impact most.
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