Simon Blackburn puts forward a compelling original philosophy of human motivation and morality. He maintains that we cannot get clear about ethics until we get clear about human nature. So these are the sorts of questions he addresses: Why do we behave as we do? Can we improve? Is our ethics at war with our passions, or is it an upshot of those passions? Blackburn seeks the answers in an exploration of guilt, shame, disgust, and other moral emotions; he draws also on game theory and cognitive science in his account of the structures of human motivation. Ruling Passions sets ethics in the context of human nature: it offers a solution to the puzzle of how ethics can maintain its authority even though it is rooted in the very emotions and motivations that it exists to control.

Acclaim for Are We Unique?
""In his masterful book, Trefil shares with readers some of the most recent research in neurology, evolution, primate research, computer science, and philosophy. Trefil's prose is lively and engaging."" --Boston Globe
""Trefil's race through the science that could explain the brain is highly readable."" --Sunday Times of London
""In a provocative essay, Trefil argues that the science of artificial intelligence is progressing rapidly. Machines, he theorizes, will one day develop a new kind of intelligence and self-awareness. So, maybe the real question is: Are we ready?"" --San Diego Union-Tribune
""A highly readable and engaging treatment of a fascinating question. Trefil makes a case for human uniqueness while at the same time celebrating the achievements of creations ranging from lobsters to neural nets. A provocative and enjoyable book."" --Daniel L. Schacter Professor and Chair of Psychology, Harvard University author of Searching for Memory

A complete guide to key intelligence and achievement tests and their effective use

The tools used in the assessment process have changed dramatically in recent years. School and clinical psychologists need a comprehensive yet focused resource to which they can turn to learn the basics of key intelligence and achievement tests and how to use them in their assessments of children and adults. With its practical and straightforward presentation, "Practitioner's Guide to Assessing Intelligence and Achievement" provides that resource.

Coedited by two well-known and respected scholars and researchers, Jack Naglieri and Sam Goldstein, the content in this timely book combines traditional and new conceptualizations of intelligence as well as ways to measure achievement. Truly readable and user-friendly, this book provides professionals with a single source from which to examine ability and achievement tests along the same general criteria.

Each chapter is written by a leading scholar and test developer and is consistently structured for easy comparison of each test that is examined. Coverage includes:

The theory underlying each test

Description of each test

Tips for administering and scoring each test

Standardization, norms, and reliability of each scale

Practical guidance for the use of each test

Correspondence of each test to IDEA

A practical tool designed to aid clinical psychologists in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the various tests presented, "Practitioner's Guide to Assessing Intelligence and Achievement" provides students and practitioners with the information they need for their practice and testing efforts to be consistent with recent updates in the field and how those assessment instruments relate to changes in the laws that influence test use.

The past few decades have seen an explosion of research on causal reasoning in philosophy, computer science, and statistics, as well as descriptive work in psychology. In Causation with a Human Face, James Woodward integrates these lines of research and argues for an understanding of how each can inform the other: normative ideas can suggest interesting experiments, while descriptive results can suggest important normative concepts. Woodward's overall framework builds on the interventionist treatment of causation that he developed in Making Things Happen. Normative ideas discussed include proposals about the role of invariant or stable relationships in successful causal reasoning and the notion of proportionality. He argues that these normative ideas are reflected in the causal judgments that people actually make as a descriptive matter. Woodward also discusses the common philosophical practice-particularly salient in philosophical accounts of causation-of appealing to "intuitions" or "judgments about cases" in support of philosophical theses. He explores how, properly understood, such appeals are not different in principle from appeals to results from empirical research, and demonstrates how they may serve as a useful source of information about causal cognition.

Puzzle fans have bought more than 650,000 copies of the Mensa Genius Quiz series--the only books that let readers "match wits with Mensa," comparing how well they do against members of the famous high-IQ society. Here, in a giant omnibus edition, are four best-selling titles: "The Mensa Genius Quiz Books 1 & 2," "The Mensa Genius Quiz-A-Day Book," and" The Mensa Genius ABC Book." Here are more than 800 fun mindbenders to exercise every part of your brain--word games, trivia, logic riddles, number challenges, visual puzzles--plus tips on how to improve your thinking skills. All the puzzles have been tested by members of American Mensa, Ltd., and include the percentage of Mensa testers who could solve each one, so that you can score yourself against some of the nation's fittest mental athletes.

Learning Clinical Reasoning uses a case-based approach to teach students the basics of clinical reasoning. The first section explains the chief components of the clinical reasoning process, such as generating and refining diagnostic hypotheses, using and interpreting diagnostic tests, assembling a working diagnosis, therapeutic decision making, and examining and applying evidence, and also includes a discussion of cognitive errors. The second section contains 69 cases in which clinicians "think out loud" about diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas, and the authors critique these clinicians' reasoning. This edition has thirty new cases from the New England Journal of Medicine and other sources and expanded discussions of evidence-based medicine, clinical practice guidelines, and cognitive errors. A companion Website includes fully searchable text, references, and a "Pattern Recognition" section similar to Images in Clinical Medicine in NEJM.

What is intelligence? The concept crosses and blurs the boundaries between natural and artificial, bridging the human brain and the cybernetic world of AI. In this book, the acclaimed philosopher Catherine Malabou ventures a new approach that emphasizes the intertwined, networked relationships among the biological, the technological, and the symbolic. Malabou traces the modern metamorphoses of intelligence, seeking to understand how neurobiological and neurotechnological advances have transformed our view. She considers three crucial developments: the notion of intelligence as an empirical, genetically based quality measurable by standardized tests; the shift to the epigenetic paradigm, with its emphasis on neural plasticity; and the dawn of artificial intelligence, with its potential to simulate, replicate, and ultimately surpass the workings of the brain. Malabou concludes that a dialogue between human and cybernetic intelligence offers the best if not the only means to build a democratic future. A strikingly original exploration of our changing notions of intelligence and the human and their far-reaching philosophical and political implications, Morphing Intelligence is an essential analysis of the porous border between symbolic and biological life at a time when once-clear distinctions between mind and machine have become uncertain.

The Importance of Being Rational systematically defends a novel reasons-based account of rationality. The book's central thesis is that what it is for one to be rational is to correctly respond to the normative reasons one possesses. Errol Lord defends novel views about what it is to possess reasons and what it is to correctly respond to reasons. He shows that these views not only help to support the book's main thesis, they also help to resolve several important problems that are independent of rationality. The account of possession provides novel contributions to debates about what determines what we ought to do, and the account of correctly responding to reasons provides novel contributions to debates about causal theories of reacting for reasons. After defending views about possession and correctly responding, Lord shows that the account of rationality can solve two difficult problems about rationality. The first is the New Evil Demon problem. The book argues that the account has the resources to show that internal duplicates necessarily have the same rational status. The second problem concerns the deontic significance of rationality. Recently it has been doubted whether we ought to be rational. The ultimate conclusion of the book is that the requirements of rationality are the requirements that we ultimately ought to comply with. If this is right, then rationality is of fundamental importance to our deliberative lives.

The new field of experimental philosophy has emerged as the methods of psychological science have been brought to bear on traditional philosophical issues. Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy is the place to go to see outstanding new work in the field. It features papers by philosophers, papers by psychologists, and papers co-authored by people in both disciplines. The series heralds the emergence of a truly interdisciplinary field in which people from different disciplines are working together to address a shared set of questions. This second volume in the series is divided into three sections that explore epistemology, moral and political philosophy, and metaphysics and mind.

David Hume (1711-1776), philosopher, historian, and essayist, is widely considered to be Britain's greatest philosopher. One of the leading intellectual figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, his major works and central ideas, especially his radical empiricism and his critique of the pretensions of philosophical rationalism, remain hugely influential on contemporary philosophers. This comprehensive and accessible guide to Hume's life and work includes 21 specially commissioned essays, written by a team of leading experts, covering every aspect of Hume's thought. The Companion presents details of Hume's life, historical and philosophical context, providing students with a comprehensive overview of all the key themes and topics apparent in his work, including his accounts of causal reasoning, scepticism, the soul and the self, action, reason, free will, miracles, natural religion, politics, human nature, women, economics and history, and an account of his reception and enduring influence. This textbook is indispensable to anyone studying in the areas of Hume Studies, British, and eighteenth-century philosophy.

TLC: Approach to Good Reasoning teaches critical thinking skills that students can then apply to potential solutions to societal problems. While many books on critical thinking, argumentation, and reasoning are text dense and focus on theory, TLC: Approach to Good Reasoning makes use of extensive real-world examples to teach students about various forms of reasoning and argumentation. Students will learn to recognize what constitutes an argument and will become familiar with the TLC (truth, logic, clarity) method of evaluating arguments. They will explore deductive, inductive, and syllogistic reasoning as well as enthymemes and fallacies. Each of the nine chapters features high-interest and challenging activities that allow for immediate application of the target skills. Contemporary in approach, accessible, and filled with engaging exercises, TLC: Approach to Good Reasoning is ideal for courses in introductory philosophy and logic. The widely applicable nature of the material also makes the book appropriate for courses in the law or English composition.

John D. Mayer, the renowned psychologist who co-developed the groundbreaking theory of emotional intelligence, now draws on decades of research to introduce another paradigm-shifting idea: that in order to become our best selves, we use an even broader intelligence--which he calls personal intelligence--to understand our own personality and the personalities of the people around us.
In "Personal Intelligence," Mayer explains that we are naturally curious about the motivations and inner worlds of the people we interact with every day. Some of us are talented at perceiving what makes our friends, family, and coworkers tick. Some of us are less so. Mayer reveals why, and shows how the most gifted "readers" among us have developed "high personal intelligence." Mayer's theory of personal intelligence brings together a diverse set of findings--previously regarded as unrelated--that show how much variety there is in our ability to read other people's faces; to accurately weigh the choices we are presented with in relationships, work, and family life; and to judge whether our personal life goals conflict or go together well. He persuasively argues that our capacity to problem-solve in these varied areas forms a unitary skill.
Illustrating his points with examples drawn from the lives of successful college athletes, police detectives, and musicians, Mayer shows how people who are high in personal intelligence (open to their inner experiences, inquisitive about people, and willing to change themselves) are able to anticipate their own desires and actions, predict the behavior of others, and--using such knowledge--motivate themselves over the long term and make better life decisions. And in outlining the many ways we can benefit from nurturing these skills, Mayer puts forward an essential message about selfhood, sociability, and contentment. "Personal Intelligence "is an indispensable book for anyone who wants to better comprehend how we make sense of our world.

A Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink and Adam Grant NEXT BIG IDEA book club read about how to avoid the pitfalls of too little, and too much, complexity. 'Essential insights into the character of human choice and decision-making.' ROBERT CIALDINI, bestselling author of Influence ________ In this groundbreaking exploration of how our brains work, psychologist Professor Kevin Dutton explains that by understanding the nature of our hardwired black and white thinking we are better equipped to negotiate life's grey zones and make subtler and smarter decisions. Our brains are hardwired to sort, categorize and draw lines. It's how we navigate the kaleidoscope of everyday information. Yet imagine failing an exam by a mere 1 per cent. Or being caught speeding at just 1 mph over the speed limit. We have to draw the line somewhere, we say. But lines can be unhelpful or even dangerous when drawn where they aren't wanted, or in too thick a hand. By thinking in terms of ' 'them' or 'us' and 'this' or 'that' we isolate ourselves from ideas we don't agree with and people who are not the same as us. We fail to listen to the other side of the argument and beliefs become polarized. Intolerance and extremism flourish. The human race has survived by making binary decisions, but such thinking might also destroy us. We may be programmed to think in black and white but rainbow thinking is the key to our cognitive future. __________ 'Fascinating, important and entirely convincing.' SIR PHILIP PULLMAN

It is easy for us to believe that as a society we are getting smarter, at least as measured by IQ tests. This supposed improvement, the Flynn Effect, suggests that each generation is brighter than the last. If this improvement in intelligence is real we should all be much, much brighter than the Victorians. However, the researchers of this ground-breaking study find the reverse to be true- the Victorians were cleverer than us! IQ tests may be effective at picking out the brightest, but they are not reliable benchmarks of performance over more than a century. Historical Variance records the exploration of the Flyyn effect hypothesis, which included the use of high-quality instruments to measure simple reaction times (a recognised predictor of intelligence) in a meta-analytic study. The conclusions are very sobering: far from speeding up, we are slowing down. A decline in general intelligence (a loss equivalent to about 14 IQ points) since Victorian times may have resulted from the presence of dysgenic fertility. These findings, as detailed in Historical Variance, strongly indicate that the Victorians were substantially cleverer than we are today...

This book compiles a series of chapters on theoretical, methodological, and practical advances in problem solving research that aim at identifying how participants build problem representations and search problem spaces. Each chapter has been carefully selected to represent the state-of-the-art in problem solving research, with a focus on applications through the analysis of verbal and graphical protocols of naive and expert solvers working on well- and ill-defined problems. The work presented in this book suggests that building and searching the problem space are highly interactive activities that cannot be decoupled and studied in isolation. As a result, a highly interdisciplinary approach was adopted, including research from fields as diverse as linguistics, psychology, ethology, design, and cognitive science. Hence, this book should be of interest to the problem solving community in general.