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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > History of ideas, intellectual history
This publication offers a critical survey of religious change and its causes in 18th-century Europe. It is intended to constitute a radical challenge to the accepted views in traditional Enlightenment studies. Focusing on Enlightenment Italy, France and England, the text illustrates how the canonical view of 18th-century religious change has in reality been constructed upon scant evidence and assumption, in particular the idea that the thought of the enlightened led to modernity. For despite a lack of evidence, one of the fundamental assumptions of Enlightenment studies has been the assertion that there was a vibrant deist movement that formed the intellectual solvent of hte 18th century. traditional birth-of-modernity myth has meant that the actual lack of deists has been glossed over and a quite misleading historical view has become entrenched. As a consequence more traditional forces for religious change have been given little or no attention. The book also riases hitherto neglected fundamental methodological issues relating to the study of the 18th century and the ability of interested contemporaries to mislead posterity. academia, this book advances an important discussion and should be valuable reading for all students studying the period.
The period from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment constitutes a
vital phase in the history of European medicine. Elements of
continuity with the classical and medieval past are evident in the
ongoing importance of a humor-based view of medicine and the
treatment of illness. At the same time, new theories of the body
emerged in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to challenge
established ideas in medical circles. In recent years, scholars
have explored this terrain with increasingly fascinating results,
often revising our previous understanding of the ways in which
early modern Europeans discussed the body, health and disease. In
order to understand these and related processes, historians are
increasingly aware of the way in which every aspect of medical care
and provision in early modern Europe was shaped by the social,
religious, political and cultural concerns of the age.
In this original and highly readable book, Peter S. Field explains how Ralph Waldo Emerson became the first democratic intellectual in American history. By focusing on his public career, Field contends that Emerson was a democrat in two senses: he single-handedly sought to create a vocation equal to his conviction that America represented the democratic promise of the western world; and as importantly, he acted the part of the democrat by attempting to bring culture to all Americans. Utterly disaffected with the self-satisfied Boston Brahmin establishment into which he had been born, he set forth through the nation in order to assume the role of conscience, critic, and gentle exhorter to the people. More poet than philosopher, Emerson demands to be understood as a public intellectual. Peter Field deftly portrays Emerson as he attempted to create himself-as a unique, irenic prophet to the American people.
This exciting new text presents the first overview of Jean Jacques Rousseau's work from a political science perspective. Was Rousseau--the great theorist of the French Revolution--really a conservative? This original study argues that the he was a constitutionalist much closer to Madison, Montesquieu, and Locke than to revolutionaries. Outlining his profound opposition to Godless materialism and revolutionary change, this book finds parallels between Rousseau and Burke, as well as showing how Rousseau developed the first modern theory of nationalism. The book presents an integrated political analysis of Rousseau's educational, ethical, religious and political writings, and will be essential reading for students of politics, philosophy and the history of ideas. -- .
Wittgenstein: Connections and Controversies consists of thirteen thematically linked essays on different aspects of the philosophy of Wittgenstein. After an introductory overview of Wittgenstein's philosophy the following essays fall into two classes. Some investigate connections between the philosophy of Wittgenstein and other philosophers or philosophical trends. Others enter into some of the controversies that, over the last two decades, have raged over the interpretation of one aspect or another of Wittgenstein's writings. These far-ranging essays, several of them previously unpublished or difficult to find, shed much light upon different aspects of Wittgenstein's thought, and upon the controversies which it has stimulated.
Volume XVIII/2 of History of Universities contains the customary mix of learned articles, book reviews, conference reports and bibliographical information, which makes this publication such an indispensable tool for the historian of higher education. Its contributions range widely geographically, chronogically, and in subject-matter. The volume is, as always, a lively combination of original research and invaluable reference material.
The Heirs of Plato is the first full study of the various directions in philosophy taken by Plato's followers in the first seventy years after his death in 347 BC - the period generally known as 'The Old Academy', unjustly neglected by historians of philosophy. Lucid and accessible, John Dillon's book provides an introductory chapter on the school itself, and a summary of Plato's philosophical heritage, before looking at each of the school heads and other chief characters, exploring both what holds them together and what sets them apart.
Intellectuals and the American Presidency examines the complex relationships between Presidents and America's intellectuals since 1960. From Arthur Schlesinger's work in John Kennedy's campaign and administration to Daniel Patrick Moynihan's role as the Democrat in the Nixon White House, through Sidney Blumenthal's efforts to secure intellectual support for a scandal-plagued Bill Clinton, every president since 1960 has had to address the question of intellectual support. Using both popular sources and some never before used archived material, Intellectuals and the American Presidency looks at the advisers who served as liaisons to the academic community, the presidents' views of those intellectuals and how they fit in with the presidents' plans. In this bipartisan study, political insider Tevi Troy analyzes how American presidents have used intellectuals to shape their images and advance their agendas.
In Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche gives an impassioned analysis of Western religion, specifically Christianity, that confronts its authoritative view of humans and nature. Nietzsche introduces a counterargument that dismisses groupthink or herd mentality and emphasizes a person's "will to power." He demystifies past ideas, encouraging a bold alternative. An honest study of different ideologies and their influence on positive and negative behaviors. With nearly 300 aphorisms, the author criticizes the state of philosophy and its link to conventional wisdom. He also rejects a universal code of ethics as it doesn't account for the distinct characteristics of each individual. Nietzsche suggests every person has a lived experience that affects their outlook on what's right and wrong. Nietzsche is one of the most famous and controversial thinkers of all-time. His works are staples within the intellectual community and are used to discuss identity, nobility and personal growth. He is often a point of reference for other scholars, including psychologists, scientists and political leaders. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Beyond Good and Evil is both modern and readable.
Although Lester Frank Ward's accomplishments are not as well known today, he is considered the father of American Sociology and his work profoundly influenced such important thinkers as Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, Edward Ross, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In Apostle of Human Progress, Edward C. Rafferty presents the first full scale intellectual portrait of this important public thinker. Rafferty shows how Ward's thought laid the foundations for the modern administrative state and explores his contributions to twentieth century American liberalism. Ideal for anyone interested in the history of American intellectuals and ideas.
Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Thought provides essential information on, and a critical interpretation of, nineteenth-century thought and nineteenth-century thinkers. The project takes as its temporal boundary the period 1789 to 1914. Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Thought primarily covers social and political thinking, but key entries also survey science, religion, law, art, concepts of modernity, the body and health, and so on, and thereby take into account all of the key developments in the intellectual history of the period. The encyclopedia is alphabetically organized, and consists of: * principal entries, divided into ideas (4000 words) and persons (2500 words) * subsidiary entries of 1000 words, which are entirely biographical * informational entries of 500 words, which are also biographical.
Rudolf Rocker's classic survey of anarcho-syndicalism was written during the Spanish Civil War to explain to the wider reading public the ideology which inspired the social revolution in Spain. It remains unsurpassed as a general introduction to anarchist thought and an authoritative account of the early history of international anarchism by one of the movement's leading figures. The present edition is unique in giving a complete facsimile reproduction of the 1938 edition as well as the corrected transcript of the epilogue to the Indian edition of 1947. It has the addition of a new biographical introduction by Nicolas Walter, in which he quotes from previously unpublished manuscript sources.
Whether intellectuals are counter-cultural escapists corrupting the young or secular prophets leading us to prosperity, they are a fixture of modern political life. In The Public Intellectual: Between Philosophy and Politics, Arthur M. Melzer, Jerry Weinberger, and M. Richard Zinman bring together a wide variety of noted scholars to discuss the characteristics, nature, and role of public thinkers. By looking at scholarly life in the West, this work explores the relationship between thought and action, ideas and events, reason and history.
Early modern European thought held that men and women were essentially the same, with social forces creating their differences. Such a view made the existence of hermaphrodites easy to accept. During the seventeenth century, medical and legal arguments began to turn against this 'one-sex' model, with hermaphroditism seen as a medieval superstition. This book traces this change in Iberia in comparison to the earlier shift in thought in northern Europe, and with concurrent ideas in Latin America.
The way in which people change and represent their spiritual evolution is often determined by recurrent language structures. Through the analysis of ancient and modern stories and their words and images, this book describes the nature of conversion through explorations of the encounter with the religious message, the discomfort of spiritual uncertainty, the loss of personal and social identity, the anxiety of destabilization, the reconstitution of the self and the discovery of a new language of the soul.
This book is a detailed account of the evolution and theory of multinational trading companies. The book features contributions from an international selection of US, European and Asian economists and business historians which demonstrate the importance of trading companies in trade and investment flows in the world economy from the nineteenth century to the present. The authors adopt evolutionary and comparative perspectives to examine diversification strategies and organizational structures. This innovative study provides a major new dimension to our knowledge of the history and theory of international business.
Almost three hundred years after his birth in 1694, this is the first comprehensive study of Voltaire's contes philosophiques - the philosophical tales for which he is now best remembered and which include the masterpiece Candide. The Fables of Reason situates each of the twenty-six stories in its historical and intellectual context and offers new readings and approaches in the light of modern critical thinking. It rejects the traditional view that Voltaire's contes were the private expression of his philosophical perplexity, written merely in the margins of his historiography and his campaigns against the Establishment. Arguing that narrative is Voltaire's essential mode of thought, the book stresses the role of the reader and shows how the contes are designed less to communicate a set of truths than to encourage independence of mind. Roger Pearson has written a witty, lucid and scholarly guide to the `fables of reason' with which Voltaire undermined - and continues to undermine - the religious, philosophical, and economic `fables', by which other thinkers have tried to explain and direct human experience.
In this sweeping and richly illustrated history, S. Frederick Starr tells the fascinating but largely unknown story of Central Asia's medieval enlightenment through the eventful lives and astonishing accomplishments of its greatest minds--remarkable figures who built a bridge to the modern world. Because nearly all of these figures wrote in Arabic, they were long assumed to have been Arabs. In fact, they were from Central Asia--drawn from the Persianate and Turkic peoples of a region that today extends from Kazakhstan southward through Afghanistan, and from the easternmost province of Iran through Xinjiang, China. Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects. They gave algebra its name, calculated the earth's diameter with unprecedented precision, wrote the books that later defined European medicine, and penned some of the world's greatest poetry. One scholar, working in Afghanistan, even predicted the existence of North and South America--five centuries before Columbus. Rarely in history has a more impressive group of polymaths appeared at one place and time. No wonder that their writings influenced European culture from the time of St. Thomas Aquinas down to the scientific revolution, and had a similarly deep impact in India and much of Asia. Lost Enlightenment chronicles this forgotten age of achievement, seeks to explain its rise, and explores the competing theories about the cause of its eventual demise. Informed by the latest scholarship yet written in a lively and accessible style, this is a book that will surprise general readers and specialists alike.
In this volume, K.S. Brown and Yannis Hamilakis bring together scholars of history, archaeology, and anthropology to explore the located and contextual nature of historical narratives. The contributors analyze contested historic rituals, building styles, and traditions-looking through the unique lens of twentieth-century Greek identity-paying particular attention to the ways these social phenomena and cultural artifacts manifest tension between 'official' and 'unofficial' narratives of the past. Though focused on the changing historical basis of Greek culture and identity, this work further serves as an important theoretical contemplation of how our view of the past is shaped by our relationship with the present.
Is there a sharp dividing line separating Europe into East and West? This volume brings together prominent scholars from the United States, France, Poland, and Russia to examine the evolution of the conception of Europe over the two centuries since the French Revolution. Inspired by the ideas of Martin Malia, Evtuhov and Kotkin take a flexible view of the cultural gradient of ideas throughout Europe, examining the emergence, interaction, and reception of ideas in different places. The essays address three dimensions of the cultural gradient: the history of ideas, regimes and political practices, and the contemporary political and intellectual scene. In exploring the movement of ideas across Europe, The Cultural Gradient brings a new historical perspective to the field of European studies.
This interesting and provocative work develops a new theological approach to language in the light of contemporary critical theory.
An analytical record of all plays, extinct or lost, chronologically arranged and indexed by authors, titles and dramatic companies.
Contrary to popular thought, New Age spirituality did not suddenly appear in American life in the 1970s and '80s. In American Feminism and the Birth of New Age Spirituality, Catherine Tumber demonstrates that the New Age movement first flourished more than a century ago during the Gilded Age under the mantle of 'New Thought.' Based largely on research in popular journals, self-help manuals, newspaper accounts, and archival collections, American Feminism and the Birth of New Age Spirituality explores the contours of the New Thought movement. Through the lives of well-known figures such as Mary Baker Eddy, Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, and Edward Bellamy as well as through more obscure, but more representative 'New Thoughters' such as Abby Morton Diaz, Emma Curtis Hopkins, Ursula Gestefeld, Lilian Whiting, Sarah Farmer, and Elizabeth Towne, Tumber examines the historical conditions that gave rise to New Thought. She pays close attention to the ways in which feminism became grafted, with varying degrees of success, to emergent forms of liberal culture in the late nineteenth century--progressive politics, the Social Gospel, humanist psychotherapy, bohemian subculture, and mass market journalism. American Feminism and the Birth of New Age Spirituality questions the value of the new age movement--then and now--to the pursuit of women's rights and democratic renewal.
In this book, a distinguished historian of medicine surveys the basic elements that have constituted psychological healing over the centuries. Dr. Stanley W. Jackson shows that healing practices, whether they come from the worlds of medicine, religion, or philosophy, share certain elements that transcend space and time. Drawing on medical writings from classical Greece and Rome to the present, as well as on philosophical and religious writings, Dr. Jackson shows that the basic ingredients of psychological healing—which have survived changes of name, the fall of their theoretical contexts, and the waning of social support in different historical eras—are essential factors in our modern psychotherapies and in healing contexts in general.
However divergent their analyses may be in other ways, some prominent anti-capitalist critics have remained critical of contemporary debates over reparative justice for groups historically oppressed and marginalized on the basis of race, gender, sexual identity, sexual preference, and/or ability, arguing that the most these struggles can hope to produce is a more diversity-friendly capital. Meanwhile, scholars of gender and sexuality as well as race and ethnic studies maintain that, by elevating the socioeconomic above other logics of domination, anti-capitalist thought fails to acknowledge specific forms and experiences of subjugation. The thinkers and activists who appear in Totality Inside Out reject this divisive logic altogether. Instead, they aim for a more expansive analysis of our contemporary moment to uncover connected sites of political struggle over racial and economic justice, materialist feminist and queer critique, climate change, and aesthetic value. The re-imagined account of capitalist totality that appears in this volume illuminates the material interlinkages between discrepant social phenomena, forms of oppression, and group histories, offering multiple entry points for readers who are interested in exploring how capitalism shapes integral relations within the social whole. Contributors: Brent Ryan Bellamy, Sarah Brouillette, Sarika Chandra, Chris Chen, Joshua Clover, Tim Kreiner, Arthur Scarritt, Zoe Sutherland, Marina Vishmidt |
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