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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > History of ideas, intellectual history

Arts and Minds - How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation (Paperback): Anton Howes Arts and Minds - How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation (Paperback)
Anton Howes
R664 Discovery Miles 6 640 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A history of the extraordinary society that has touched all aspects of British life From its beginnings in a coffee house in the mid-eighteenth century, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce has tried to improve British life in every way imaginable. It has sought to influence how Britons work, how they are educated, the music they listen to, the food they eat, the items in their homes, and even how they remember their own history. Arts and Minds is the remarkable story of an institution unlike any other-a society for the improvement of everything and anything. Drawing on exclusive access to a wealth of rare papers and artefacts from the Society's own archives, Anton Howes shows how this vibrant and singularly ambitious organisation has evolved and adapted, constantly having to reinvent itself to keep in step with changing times. The Society has served as a platform for Victorian utilitarian reformers, purchased and restored an entire village, encouraged the planting of more than sixty million trees, and sought technological alternatives to child labour. But this is more than just a story about unusual public initiatives. It is an engaging and authoritative history of almost three centuries of social reform and competing visions of a better world-the Society's members have been drawn from across the political spectrum, including Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Karl Marx. Informative and entertaining, Arts and Minds reveals how a society of public-spirited individuals tried to make their country a better place, and draws vital lessons from their triumphs and failures for all would-be reformers today.

Historians, State and Politics in Twentieth Century Egypt - Contesting the Nation (Paperback): Anthony Gorman Historians, State and Politics in Twentieth Century Egypt - Contesting the Nation (Paperback)
Anthony Gorman
R1,364 Discovery Miles 13 640 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This book deals with the relationship between historical scholarship and politics in twentieth century Egypt. It examines the changing roles of the academic historian, the university system, the state and non-academic scholarship and the tension between them in contesting the modern history of Egypt. In a detailed discussion of the literature, the study analyzes the political nature of competing interpretations and uses the examples of Copts and resident foreigners to demonstrate the dissonant challenges to the national discourse that testify to its limitations, deficiencies and silences.

A History of Irish Economic Thought (Hardcover): Thomas Boylan, Renee Prendergast, John Turner A History of Irish Economic Thought (Hardcover)
Thomas Boylan, Renee Prendergast, John Turner
R4,228 Discovery Miles 42 280 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

For a country that can boast a distinguished tradition of political economy from Sir William Petty through Swift, Berkeley, Hutcheson, Burke and Cantillon through to that of Longfield, Cairnes, Bastable, Edgeworth, Geary and Gorman, it is surprising that no systematic study of Irish political economy has been undertaken.

In this book the contributors redress this glaring omission in the history of political economy, for the first time providing an overview of developments in Irish political economy from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Logistically this is achieved through the provision of individual contributions from a group of recognized experts, both Irish and international, who address the contribution of major historical figures in Irish political economy along the analysis of major thematic issues, schools of thought and major policy debates within the Irish context over this extended period.

Educating China - Knowledge, Society and Textbooks in a Modernizing World, 1902-1937 (Paperback): Peter Zarrow Educating China - Knowledge, Society and Textbooks in a Modernizing World, 1902-1937 (Paperback)
Peter Zarrow
R896 Discovery Miles 8 960 Ships in 9 - 15 working days

In this major study, Peter Zarrow examines how textbooks published for the Chinese school system played a major role in shaping new social, cultural, and political trends, the ways in which schools conveyed traditional and 'new style' knowledge and how they sought to socialize students in a rapidly changing society in the first decades of the twentieth century. Focusing on language, morality and civics, history, and geography, Zarrow shows that textbooks were quick to reflect the changing views of Chinese elites during this period. Officials and educators wanted children to understand the physical and human worlds, including the evolution of society, the institutions of the economy, and the foundations of the nation-state. Through textbooks, Chinese elites sought ways to link these abstractions to the concrete lives of children, conveying a variety of interpretations of enlightenment, citizenship, and nationalism that would shape a generation as modern citizens of a new China.

Debating the Political Philosophy of Hegel (Paperback): Walter Kaufmann Debating the Political Philosophy of Hegel (Paperback)
Walter Kaufmann
R1,407 Discovery Miles 14 070 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Few philosophers have had as much influence as Hegel. When he died in 1831, he not only dominated German philosophy, but also left his mark on the study of religion and art, on historical studies, and on political thought. Much later, Lenin insisted that no one could completely comprehend Karl Marx unless he had first made a thorough study of Hegel. Later, it became fashionable to link Hegel with Nazism and communism. There is today broad agreement that knowledge of Hegel's thought adds a critical dimension to our understanding of recent cultural and political history.

This volume, first published in 1970, focuses on Hegel's political philosophy. It brings together ten essays by six authors who present sharply conflicting interpretations. Here are point-by-point discussions, from differing perspectives, on Hegel's philosophy of the state and his ideas about history and war, nationalism and liberty. Never before have these issues been joined in comparable fashion in a single volume.

Sidney Hook sees Hegel as "the very model of a small - minded, timid Continental conservative" and accuses him of "the most specious reasoning that ever disgraced a philosopher," and E. F. Carritt argues for a "totalitarian" reading of Hegel, while T. M. Knox and Shlomo Avineri defend Hegel against these and other charges. The book also contains a short contribution by Z. A. Pelczynski and Walter Kaufmann's "The Hegel Myth and Its Method." Walter Kaufmann, an outstanding historian of European ideas in philosophy, furnished an introduction as well as footnotes that help to clarify perplexing issues and in some cases seek to put an end to long-lived errors. His analysis is itself a major contribution to Hegel's political theories.

American Thought - A Critical Sketch (Paperback): Morris Cohen American Thought - A Critical Sketch (Paperback)
Morris Cohen
R1,445 Discovery Miles 14 450 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

What constitutes American thought is obviously too elusive to be encompassed by any one writer or group of writers. The best that any attempt at intellectual history can achieve is to indicate some of its traces in written records. This volume represents the eff orts of one of America's leading philosophers to do just that. He is uniquely qualified to do so, as his contemporary Sidney Hook well understood.

As Cohen noted, most of what people say and write is dominated by linguistic forms or habits. Thus the dominance of the traditions and habits that make up the English language has been the strongest single infl uence in fashioning American thought as very largely a province of British thought--despite the Declaration of Independence and two wars. Cohen describes how American thought developed from its British roots. It deals with reflective thought, i.e. with thought that is conscious of its problems, of its methods and of the widest general bearings of the results obtained so far. The diverse subjects discussed range from religious thinking to the scientific, and from the legal tradition to literary criticism.

Among the important figures Cohen assesses are Dewey, Santayana, Holmes, Brandeis, Whitehead, James, and Royce as well as those of men less well-known but sometimes equally influential. In its scope and insight, this book takes its own unique and important place in American thought.

Social Anarchism (Paperback): Margaret C. Simms Social Anarchism (Paperback)
Margaret C. Simms
R1,410 Discovery Miles 14 100 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This volume, originally published in 1972, remains a major contribution to anarchist literature. It is one man's vision of an anarchist society based on ethical values-without laws, without political authority, and without concentrations of power. An active anarchist since youth and a contributor to anarchist journals for many years, Giovanni Baldelli lived anarchism from within the anarchist movement and the ethical community that the movement aspires to be. In this book he clearly sets forth the anarchist's alternatives to government- viable principles of organization for an ethical society.

The revival of anarchist movements is here viewed as stemming from extreme centralization of governmental authority and stringent political collectivism-communist or democratic-that is incompatible with personal freedom, economic justice, ethical society, and possibly with continued human existence. Baldelli also shows how anarchist movements, aimed at the abolition of government and the initiation of a reign of freedom and voluntary cooperation, have seriously threatened institutions of government, violence, oppression, and exploitation throughout the world.

"Social Anarchism" is one anarchist's outlook. While offering solutions to difficulties in traditional anarchist thought, Baldelli differs from many other anarchists on certain issues-especially with regard to economic theory. For him, the exploitation of ethical capital is far more relevant to anarchism than the exploitation of labor. He also advances a new theory of value, reexamines the concept of authority and contrasts it with that of power, and provides answers to the question of how to oppose power effectively without perpetuating it. Throughout the book, Baldelli underscores his contention that many paths can lead to an anarchist society and that the respect of those who choose one way versus those who choose another is already anarchism put into practice.

What Are Jews For? - History, Peoplehood, and Purpose (Hardcover): Adam Sutcliffe What Are Jews For? - History, Peoplehood, and Purpose (Hardcover)
Adam Sutcliffe
R890 Discovery Miles 8 900 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A wide-ranging look at the history of Western thinking since the seventeenth century on the purpose of the Jewish people in the past, present, and future What is the purpose of Jews in the world? The Bible singles out the Jews as God's "chosen people," but the significance of this special status has been understood in many different ways over the centuries. What Are Jews For? traces the history of the idea of Jewish purpose from its ancient and medieval foundations to the modern era, showing how it has been central to Western thinking on the meanings of peoplehood for everybody. Adam Sutcliffe delves into the links between Jewish and Christian messianism and the association of Jews with universalist and transformative ideals in modern philosophy, politics, literature, and social thought. The Jews have been accorded a crucial role in both Jewish and Christian conceptions of the end of history, when they will usher the world into a new epoch of unity and harmony. Since the seventeenth century this messianic underlay to the idea of Jewish purpose has been repeatedly reconfigured in new forms. From the political theology of the early modern era to almost all domains of modern thought-religious, social, economic, nationalist, radical, assimilationist, satirical, and psychoanalytical-Jews have retained a close association with positive transformation for all. Sutcliffe reveals the persistent importance of the "Jewish Purpose Question" in the attempts of Jews and non-Jews alike to connect the collective purpose of particular communities to the broader betterment of humanity. Shedding light on questions of exceptionalism, pluralism, and universalism, What Are Jews For? explores an intricate question that remains widely resonant in contemporary culture and political debate.

Being and Time (Paperback): Martin Heidegger Being and Time (Paperback)
Martin Heidegger
R638 R506 Discovery Miles 5 060 Save R132 (21%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

"What is the meaning of being?" This is the central question of Martin Heidegger's profoundly important work, in which the great philosopher seeks to explain the basic problems of existence. A central influence on later philosophy, literature, art, and criticism--as well as existentialism and much of postmodern thought--"Being and Time" forever changed the intellectual map of the modern world. As Richard Rorty wrote in the "New York Times Book Review," "You cannot read most of the important thinkers of recent times without taking Heidegger's thought into account."

This first paperback edition of John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson's definitive translation also features a new foreword by Heidegger scholar Taylor Carman.

Francois Quesnay (1694-1774) (Hardcover): Mark Blaug Francois Quesnay (1694-1774) (Hardcover)
Mark Blaug
R8,852 Discovery Miles 88 520 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Francois Quesnay is best known for the Tableau Economique, the proposition that only agriculture generates a positive 'net product' and that industry is 'sterile'. He recommended a 'single tax' on ground rent and invented the slogan 'laissez faire, laissez passe'. He was the first to found a school of economists called the 'physiocrats' which enjoyed an immense vogue in France for about a decade in the 1750s. The practical programme of the physiocrats was to eliminate the vestiges of medieval tolls and restrictions in the countryside, to rationalize the fiscal system, to amalgamate small-holdings into large-scale agricultural estates, to free the corn trade from all mercantilist restrictions - in short to emulate England. Placed in its historical context these were eminently reasonable views but the attempt to provide these reforms with a watertight theoretical argument produced some forced reasoning and slightly absurd conclusions.

The French Revolution in Russian Intellectual Life - 1865-1905 (Paperback): James O'Connor The French Revolution in Russian Intellectual Life - 1865-1905 (Paperback)
James O'Connor
R1,407 Discovery Miles 14 070 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Sandwiched between the East and West, Russian intellectuals have for centuries been divided geographically, politically, and culturally into two distinct groups: the Slavophiles, who rejected Western-style democracy, preferring a more holistic and abstract vision, and the more rational and scientific-minded Westernizers. These two ideologies cut across the political spectrum of late nineteenth-century Russia and competed for dominance in the country's intellectual life. The tension created between these two opposing groups caused the feeling that violent upheaval was Russia's future. In turn, many began to think that Russia was possibly following the path of France and that a French-style revolution might be possible on Russian soil. In The French Revolution in Russian Intellectual Life, Dmitry Shlapentokh describes the role that the French democratic revolution played in Russia's intellectual development by the end of the nineteenth century.

The revolutionary upheaval in Russia at the beginning of twentieth century and the continuous expansion of the West convinced most Russian intellectuals that the French Revolution in its democratic reading was indeed the pathway of history. Yet the rise of totalitarian regimes and their expansion proved the validity of the sober vision of nineteenth-century Russian intellectuals. Some conservative Russian intellectuals believed that not only would Russia preserve its authoritarian regime but it would spread this regime all over the world. In this context, Shlapentokh argues the French Revolution with its democratic tradition was only a phenomenon of Western civilization and hence transitory.

The flirtation with Western ideology, with its democratic polity and market economy that followed in the wake of the collapse of the communist regime, culminated in an increasing push for corporate authoritarianism and nationalism. This work helps explain why Russia turned away from democratic to autocratic stylesi1/2economic pulls to capitalism notwithstanding. It has insight which helps to explain why Russia moved towards an authoritarian regime instead of democracy.

Dmitry Shlapentokh is associate professor of history at the University of Indiana, South Bend. Among his books are The French Revolution and the Russian Anti-Democratic Tradition, The Proto-Totalitarian State, Soviet Cinematography, 1918-1991 (with Vladimir Shlapentokh), and East Against West, The First Encounter: The Life of Themistocles.

Ideology - Comparative and Cultural Status (Paperback): Mostafa Rejai Ideology - Comparative and Cultural Status (Paperback)
Mostafa Rejai
R1,272 Discovery Miles 12 720 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Since the early 1950s, the "decline of ideology" hypothesis has commanded a great deal of attention in the intellectual community at large. Th e controversy has taken both empirical and polemical turns. Th is book concentrates on the empirical literature, off ering both original contributions and previously published papers of outstanding importance. Selections were made to give full play to freshness of view and diversity of sources.

The book presents the hypothesis of ideological decline as set forth by two of its major spokesmen, brings together essays that subject this hypothesis to empirical tests in both Western and non-Western contexts, and then presents both positive and negative evaluations of the hypothesis. Avoiding an "ex cathedra" definition of ideology, the editor and contributors scrutinize the nature of ideology and its workings and suggest approaches to the comparative treatment of ideologies.

This book offers the first clear and wide-ranging overview of the putative decline of ideology, a concept burdened by a history of emotional argumentation. Changes in the function of ideology in the Soviet Union, the United States, Western Europe, and Japan are examined, and the ideological dimension of student movements of the 1960s is taken into account. "Ideology: Comparative and Cultural Status" is an expertly edited presentation of contrasting views of a vital topic. It is ideally suited for use in a variety of courses in the area of political thought and political sociology.

"Mostafa Rejai" is distinguished professor emeritus of political science at Miami University, Ohio. Some of his most recent books include "Concepts of Leadership in Western Political Thought, Leaders and Leadership: An Appraisal of Theory and Thought," and "World Military Leaders: A Collective and Comparative Analysis" (all with Kay Phillips). His articles have appeared in several scholarly journals.

The Ideal Reader - Proust, Freud, and the Reconstruction of European Culture (Paperback): Jacques Riviere The Ideal Reader - Proust, Freud, and the Reconstruction of European Culture (Paperback)
Jacques Riviere
R1,362 Discovery Miles 13 620 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Jacques Riviere knew how to accept art emotionally. No French critic was ever less a traditional pedagogue. Rivire was an intelligent French writer, who knew that the summit of the intellect is to admit aff ective knowledge, instinct, and intuition. The "heart," or taste, is always superior to raw intelligence.

Reviere's supple metaphors are not easily rendered into English. Th e density of his thought, the complexity of his views, the moral and spiritual fervor that vibrates in these pages, further enhances the difficulties the skilled translator must overcome. Literary criticism is often ephemeral; it has served its purpose if it stimulates discussion about the work of art under scrutiny. Not so with essays like these. Th ey demand an active reading, as do the original works themselves. Th ey do not easily yield their signifi cance.

Among the critics who came into the French literary scene in the years immediately preceding and following the First World War, Jacques Riviere has been least affected by the attrition of time. His studies of Proust and Rimbaud still rank among the two or three essential works to be read on these authors. Few other critics have gone further in a sensuous perception of these authors' work and the intellectual lucidity in analyzing it. Reviere had few pretensions to profundity and a great purity of style. In an age of slogans and judgments, this volume reminds the reader of the extraordinary role of European critical thought in the twentieth century.

"Jacques Riviere" (1886-1925) was a long time editor at NRF ("Nouvelle Revue Francaise")-- from 1912-1914; and after the war was ended, from 1919-1925. He wrote steadily during this period, many of his essays appearing in this volume. He caught typhoid fever and died in February 1925.

"Henri Peyre" (1901-1988) was Sterling Professor and chair of the French Department at Yale University. He was the author of numerous books including "Literature and Sincerity, Baudelaire: A Collection of Critical Essays," and "The Contemporary French Novel."

The Fathers and Beyond - Church Fathers between Ancient and Medieval Thought (Paperback): Marcia L Colish The Fathers and Beyond - Church Fathers between Ancient and Medieval Thought (Paperback)
Marcia L Colish
R1,372 Discovery Miles 13 720 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The papers in this second selection of articles by Professor Colish focus on thinkers of the patristic age, and relate to her three monographic studies in this area published over the last two decades. At the same time these papers look beyond the patristic period, both backward to these authors' appropriation of the classical and Christian traditions, and forward to their function as authorities in later medieval intellectual history, from the Carolingian Renaissance to Anselm of Canterbury, the scholastics, and Dante. Themes which these papers address include the transmission and use of Platonism and Stoicism, logic and linguistic theory, and the ethics of lying, moral indifference, and the salvation of the virtuous pagan.

Romantic Science and the Experience of Self - Transatlantic Crosscurrents from William James to Oliver Sacks (Hardcover):... Romantic Science and the Experience of Self - Transatlantic Crosscurrents from William James to Oliver Sacks (Hardcover)
Martin Halliwell
R3,047 Discovery Miles 30 470 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

First published in 1999, this volume follows the work of five influential figures in twentieth-century transatlantic intellectual history. The work forms the basis for this engaging interdisciplinary study of romantic science. In this book, Martin Halliwell constructs a tradition of romantic science by indicating points of theoretical intersection in the thought of William James (American philosopher); Otto Rank (Austrian psychoanalyst); Erik Erikson (Danish/German psychologist); and Oliver Sacks (British neurologist). Beginning with the ferment of intellectual activity in late eighteenth-century German Romanticism, Halliwell argues that only with William James' theory of pragmatism early in the twentieth century did romantic science become a viable counter-tradition to strictly empirical science. Stimulated by recent debates over rival models of consciousness and renewed interest in theories of the self, Halliwell reveals that in their challenge to Freud's adoption of ideas from nineteenth-century natural science, these thinkers have enlarged the possibilities of romantic science for bridging the perceived gulf between the arts and sciences.

Conspiracy - A History of Boll*cks Theories, and How Not to Fall for Them (Hardcover): Tom Phillips, Jonn Elledge Conspiracy - A History of Boll*cks Theories, and How Not to Fall for Them (Hardcover)
Tom Phillips, Jonn Elledge
R529 R433 Discovery Miles 4 330 Save R96 (18%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

'Uproarious . . . [Phillips and Elledge] pair the abundant good humour of this book with a warning about the corrosive effects of conspiracy theories' The Times From the Satanic Panic to the anti-vaxx movement, the moon landing to Pizzagate, it's always been human nature to believe we're being lied to by the powers that be (and sometimes, to be fair, we absolutely are). But while it can be fun to indulge in a bit of Deep State banter on the group chat, recent times have shown us that some of these theories have taken on a life of their own - and in our dogged quest for the truth, it appears we might actually be doing it some damage. In Conspiracy, Tom Phillips and Jonn Elledge take us on a fascinating, insightful and often hilarious journey through conspiracy theories old and new, to try and answer a vital question for our times: how can we learn to log off the QAnon message boards, and start trusting hard evidence again? Praise for the Brief History series: 'Witty, entertaining and slightly distressing... You should probably read it' Sarah Knight, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck 'Brilliant. Utterly, utterly brilliant' Jeremy Clarkson 'Very funny' Mark Watson 'Both readable and entertaining' Telegraph

The Honourable Roger North, 1651-1734 - On Life, Morality, Law and Tradition (Hardcover): Jamie C. Kassler The Honourable Roger North, 1651-1734 - On Life, Morality, Law and Tradition (Hardcover)
Jamie C. Kassler
R4,248 Discovery Miles 42 480 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Roger North is known today as a biographer and writer on music, architecture and estate management. Yet his writings, including thousands of pages still in manuscript, also contain critical reflections about intellectual and social changes taking place in England. This feature is little recognised, because North's reputation as an author was formed between 1740 and 1890, when seven of his manuscripts were published in editions that drastically altered his original texts, and when the reception of these works was influenced by 'Whig' criticism. Although some of North's writings were later edited according to more rigorous standards, many critics still utilise the discredited editions and continue to repeat 'Whig' stereotypes of North. Eschewing such stereotypes, Jamie C. Kassler provides the first interpretation of North's philosophy by retrieving what is consistent in his pattern of thought and by analysing some of his practices and purposes as a writer. By these methods, she shows that North, a common lawyer by profession, combined the moral scepticism of Montaigne with the legal philosophy of Coke, Selden and Hale. The result was a sceptical philosophy that accounts for North's critical reflections on the dogmatism of natural-law doctrine, both in its medieval intellectualist version and in its voluntarist reformulation that began with Grotius and was developed by Hobbes, Pufendorf and Locke. Kassler bases her interpretation on a wide range of North's writings, even those in which one might least expect to find a philosophy. In addition, one of his manuscripts, which is edited here for the first time, includes an exposition of his jurisprudence, as well as his attempt to bring England's past into the legal tradition. These features form part of North's broader argument that language, including the language of law, is the invention of humans and a representation of their changing history and habits, an argument that he later extended to musical 'language' in his more finished essay, 'The Musicall Grammarian' (1728).

In the Beginning Was the State - Divine Violence in the Hebrew Bible (Paperback): Adi M. Ophir In the Beginning Was the State - Divine Violence in the Hebrew Bible (Paperback)
Adi M. Ophir
R844 Discovery Miles 8 440 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This book explores God's use of violence as depicted in the Hebrew Bible. Focusing on the Pentateuch, it reads biblical narratives and codes of law as documenting formations of theopolitical imagination. Ophir deciphers the logic of divine rule that these documents betray, with a special attention to the place of violence within it. The book draws from contemporary biblical scholarship, while also engaging critically with contemporary political theory and political theology, including the work of Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben, Jan Assmann, Regina Schwartz, and Michael Walzer. Ophir focuses on three distinct theocratic formations: the rule of disaster, where catastrophes are used as means of governance; the biopolitical rule of the holy, where divine violence is spatially demarcated and personally targeted; and the rule of law where divine violence is vividly remembered and its return is projected, anticipated, and yet postponed, creating a prolonged lull for the text's present. Different as these formations are, Ophir shows how they share an urform that anticipates the main outlines of the modern European state, which has monopolized the entire globe. A critique of the modern state, the book argues, must begin in revisiting the deification of the state, unpacking its mostly repressed theological dimension.

Laughing Gods, Weeping Virgins - Laughter in the History of Religion (Paperback): Ingvild Saelid Gilhus Laughing Gods, Weeping Virgins - Laughter in the History of Religion (Paperback)
Ingvild Saelid Gilhus
R1,612 Discovery Miles 16 120 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Morality and the Literary Imagination - Volume 36, Religion and Public Life (Paperback, New): Gabriel R. Ricci Morality and the Literary Imagination - Volume 36, Religion and Public Life (Paperback, New)
Gabriel R. Ricci
R1,351 Discovery Miles 13 510 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In a letter to Boccaccio, Petrarch extolled the virtue of poetry and letters for promoting an understanding of both human nature and morals. The letter was designed to console him after hearing a prediction that he was soon to die and that he ought to renounce poetry. The prophecy came from an elder renowned for his piety, but Petrarch admonished that too often dishonesty and fraud are couched in religious sentiments. Nothing, not even death, according to Petrarch, ought to divert us from literature. For Petrarch, Virgil was the source for understanding how literary studies not only promote eloquence, but enhance morals. If anything, literature dispels the fear of death. The claims of this volume is that it may be the case that the virtuous life can be achieved by those ignorant of letters but a more direct and certain route is guaranteed by a devotion to literature.

The collected works in this new volume of the Transaction series "Religion and Public Life" heeds Petrarch's advice that literature not only orients us to life's developmental stages, it can provide us with a more complete understanding of the human character while artfully advancing morals. To this end, Michelle Darnell's opening chapter entitled "A New Age of Reason" explains how existentialism is an argument for how literature can take on philosophical form, not as formal argument, but as persuasive narrative. Over the objections of even those who study Sartre, Darnell uses Sartre's "The Age of Reason" as a model and shows how his literary output was a legitimate philosophical inquiry.

In addition to the Darnell piece, the volume boasts a series of outstanding and innovative works by scholars in the field. Taken together as a whole, these authors not only illustrate the moral consequences of an original choice, but oblige the reader to explore the ramifications of such a choice in one's own life.

"Gabriel R. Ricci" is professor of humanities and the chair of the Department of History at Elizabethtown College. He is the author of "Time Consciousness: The Philosophical Uses of History" and the editor of Transaction's much-admired "Religion and Public Life" series.

A Cultural History of the Modern Age - Volume 2, Baroque, Rococo and Enlightenment (Paperback): Egon Friedell A Cultural History of the Modern Age - Volume 2, Baroque, Rococo and Enlightenment (Paperback)
Egon Friedell
R1,702 Discovery Miles 17 020 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This is the second volume of Friedell's monumental "A Cultural History of the Modern Age." A key figure in the flowering of Viennese culture between the two world wars, this three volume work is considered his masterpiece. The centuries covered in this second volume mark the victory of the scientifi c mind: in nature-research, language-research, politics, economics, war, even morality, poetry, and religion. All systems of thought produced in this century, either begin with the scientifi c outlook as their foundation or regard it as their highest and fi nal goal.

Friedell claims three main streams pervade the eighteenth century: Enlightenment, Revolution, and Classicism. In ordinary use, by "Enlightenment" we mean an extreme rationalistic tendency of which preliminary stages were noted in the seventeenth century. Th e term "Classicism," is well understood.

Under the term "Revolution" Friedell includes all movements directed against what has been dominant and traditional. Th e aims of such movements were remodeling the state and society, banning all esthetic canons, and dethronement of reason by sentiment, all in the name of the "Return to Nature." Th e Enlightenment tendency might be seen as laying the ground for an age of revolution. Th is second volume continues Friedell's dramatic history of the driving forces of the twentieth century.

Gothic Things - Dark Enchantment and Anthropocene Anxiety (Paperback): Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock Gothic Things - Dark Enchantment and Anthropocene Anxiety (Paperback)
Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock
R733 Discovery Miles 7 330 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Offering an innovative approach to the Gothic, Gothic Things: Dark Enchantment and Anthropocene Anxiety breaks ground with a new materialist analysis of the genre, highlighting the ways that, since its origins in the eighteenth century, the Gothic has been intensely focused on "ominous matter" and "thing power." In chapters attending to gothic bodies, spaces, books, and other objects, Gothic Things argues that the Gothic has always been about what happens when objects assume mysterious animacy or potency and when human beings are reduced to the status of just one thing among many - more powerful - others. In exploring how the Gothic insistently decenters the human, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock reveals human beings to be enmeshed in networks of human and nonhuman forces mostly outside of their control. Gothic Things thus resituates the Gothic as the uncanny doppelganger of twenty-first century critical and cultural theory, lurking just beneath the surface (and sometimes explicitly surfacing) as it haunts considerations of how human beings interact with objects and their environment. In these pages the Gothic offers a dark reflection of the contemporary "nonhuman turn," expressing a twenty-first-century structure of feeling undergirded by anxiety over the fate of the human: spectrality, monstrosity, and apocalypse. Substituting horror for hope, the Gothic, Weinstock explains, has been a philosophical meditation on human relations to the nonhuman since its inception, raising significant questions about how we can counter anthropocentric thought in our quest to live more harmoniously with the world around us.

David Hume (1711-1776) and James Steuart (1712-1780) (Hardcover): Mark Blaug David Hume (1711-1776) and James Steuart (1712-1780) (Hardcover)
Mark Blaug
R5,165 Discovery Miles 51 650 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

David Hume is best known for his work on political philosophy. However, he wrote a series of essays on money, population and international trade which must rank among the major economic writings of the 18th century. Certainly they influenced Adam Smith and have a sparkling quality that still makes them worth reading today. His statement of the so-called 'specie-flow mechanism' constituted his answer to the mercantilist concern with the maintenance of a chronic surplus in the balance of payments. He also put forward what is now known as the 'theory of creeping inflation' and advocated the notion that political freedom flows from economic freedom. James Steuart was a British mercantilist, the last in a long line stretching back to the 16th century. He advocated the entire armoury of mercantilist policies: the regulation of foreign trade to induce an inflow of gold, the promotion of industry by inducing cheap raw material imports, protective duties on imported manufactured goods, encouragement of exports, particularly finished goods because they are labour-intensive, control of the size of population by emigration and immigration to keep wages low, all capped by a denial of Hume's argument that an inflow of gold will only raise prices and thus drive gold abroad.

The Deconstruction of Sex (Paperback): Jean-Luc Nancy, Irving Goh The Deconstruction of Sex (Paperback)
Jean-Luc Nancy, Irving Goh
R586 Discovery Miles 5 860 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In The Deconstruction of Sex, Jean-Luc Nancy and Irving Goh discuss how a deconstructive approach to sex helps us negotiate discourses about sex and foster a better understanding of how sex complicates our everyday existence in the age of #MeToo. Throughout their conversation, Nancy and Goh engage with topics ranging from relation, penetration, and subjection to touch, erotics, and jouissance. They show how despite its entrenchment in social norms and centrality to our being-in-the-world, sex lacks a clearly defined essence. At the same time, they point to the potentiality of literature to inscribe the senses of sex. In so doing, Nancy and Goh prompt us to reconsider our relations with ourselves and others through sex in more sensitive, respectful, and humble ways without bracketing the troubling aspects of sex.

The Nobel Memorial Laureates in Economics - An Introduction to Their Careers and Main Published Works (Paperback, New edition):... The Nobel Memorial Laureates in Economics - An Introduction to Their Careers and Main Published Works (Paperback, New edition)
Howard R Vane, Chris Mulhearn
R1,541 Discovery Miles 15 410 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Erudite, accessible and lucidly written, this book provides a stimulating introduction to the careers and main published works of the Nobel Memorial Laureates in Economics. It will prove to be an invaluable reference book on key figures in economics and their path-breaking insights. The vignettes should also encourage the reader to sample some of the Laureates' original works and gain a better understanding of the context in which new ideas were first put forward. Original features of the book include: * a foreword by Professor Mark Blaug * a review of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, including a biographical guide to potential future winners * a table summarising the Laureates': year and country of birth; university and year of their first and higher degrees; their affiliation at the time of the award; broad field of study; and Prize citation * comprehensive individual entries on each of the Laureates (including their photographs), covering their careers and main published works * a glossary of selected associations, awards, institutions and societies. Written primarily for undergraduate and postgraduate students, this is also a book that many teachers and lecturers will want on their shelves. It will prove to be an invaluable reference tool for anyone wanting to understand how past events and individuals have helped mould contemporary economi

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