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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Metaphysics & ontology
Available in English for the first time, this first draft of
Heidegger's opus, "Being and Time", provides a unique insight into
Heidegger's Phenomenology. "The Concept of Time" presents
Heidegger's so-called Dilthey review, widely considered the first
draft of his celebrated masterpiece, "Being and Time". Here
Heidegger reveals his deep commitment to Wilhelm Dilthey and Count
Yorck von Wartenburg. He agrees with them that historicity must be
at the centre of the new philosophy to come. However, he also
argues for an ontological approach to history. From this
ontological turn he develops the so-called categories of Dasein.
This work demonstrates Heidegger's indebtedness to Yorck and
Dilthey and gives further evidence to the view that thought about
history is the germ cell of "Being and Time". However, it also
shows that Heidegger's commitment to Dilthey was not without
reservations and that his analysis of Dasein actually employs
Husserl's phenomenology. The work reopens the question of history
in a broader sense, as Heidegger struggles to thematize history
without aligning it with world-historical events. The text also
provides a concise and readable summary of the main themes of
"Being and Time" and as such is an ideal companion to that text.
Film Phenomenology and Adaptation: Sensuous Elaboration argues that
in order to make sense of film adaptation, we must first apprehend
their sensual form. Across its chapters, this book brings the
philosophy and research methodology of phenomenology into contact
with adaptation studies, examining how vision, hearing, touch, and
the structures of the embodied imagination and memory thicken and
make tangible an adaptation's source. In doing so, this book not
only conceives adaptation as an intertextual layering of source
material and adaptation, but also an intersubjective and textural
experience that includes the materiality of the body.
Maine de Biran's work has had an enormous influence on the
development of French Philosophy - Henri Bergson called him the
greatest French metaphysician since Descartes and Malebranche,
Jules Lachelier referred to him as the French Kant, and
Royer-Collard called him simply 'the master of us all' - and yet
the philosopher and his work remain unknown to many English
speaking readers. From Ravaisson and Bergson, through to the
phenomenology of major figures such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty,
Michel Henry, and Paul Ricoeur, Biran's influence is evident and
acknowledged as a major contribution. The notion of corps propre,
so important to phenomenology in the twentieth century, originates
in his thought. His work also had a huge impact on the distinction
between the virtual and the actual as well as the concepts of
effort and puissance, enormously important to the development of
Deleuze's and Foucault's work. This volume, the first English
translation of Maine de Biran in nearly a century, introduces
Anglophone readers to the work of this seminal thinker. The
Relationship Between the Physical and the Moral in Man is an
expression of Biran's mature 'spiritualism' and philosophy of the
will as well as perhaps the clearest articulation of his
understanding of what would later come to be called the mind-body
problem. In this text Biran sets out forcefully his case for the
autonomy of mental or spiritual life against the reductive
explanatory power of the physicalist natural sciences. The
translation is accompanied by critical essays from experts in
France and the United Kingdom, situating Biran's work and its
reception in its proper historical and intellectual context.
This book provides novel reading of the relations between two
central philosophical disciplines - metaphysics and ethics.
"Pragmatist Metaphysics" proposes a pragmatist re-articulation of
the nature, aims and methods of metaphysics. Rather than regarding
metaphysics as a 'first philosophy', an inquiry into the world
independent of human perspectives, the pragmatist views metaphysics
as an inquiry into categorizations of reality laden with human
practices. Insofar as our categorizations of reality are
practice-laden, they are also, inevitably, value-laden.Sami
Pihlstrom argues that metaphysics does not, then, study the world's
'own' categorical structure, but a structure we, through our
conceptual and practical activities, impose on the reality we
experience and interact with. Engaging with the classical American
pragmatists, in particular William James, and neopragmatists,
including Hilary Putnam, the author seeks to correct long-held
misconceptions regarding the nature of the relationship between
metaphysics and pragmatism. He argues that a coherent metaphysical
alternative to the currently fashionable realist metaphysics
emerges from pragmatism and that pragmatism itself should be
reinterpreted in a metaphysically serious manner. Moreover, the
book argues that, from a pragmatist perspective, metaphysics must
be inextricably linked with ethics.
This volume of newly written chapters on the history and
interpretation of Wittgenstein's Tractatus represents a significant
step beyond the polemical debate between broad interpretive
approaches that has recently characterized the field. Some of the
contributors might count their approach as 'new' or 'resolute',
while others are more 'traditional', but all are here concerned
primarily with understanding in detail the structure of argument
that Wittgenstein presents within the Tractatus, rather than with
its final self-renunciation, or with the character of the
understanding that renunciation might leave behind. The volume
makes a strong case that close investigation, both biographical and
textual, into the composition of the Tractatus, and into the
various influences on it, still has much to yield in revealing the
complexity and fertility of Wittgenstein's early thought. Amongst
these influences Kant and Kierkegaard are considered alongside
Wittgenstein's immediate predecessors in the analytic tradition.
The themes explored range across the breadth of Wittgenstein's
book, and include his accounts of ethics and aesthetics, as well as
issues in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, and aspects of
the logical framework of his account of representation. The
contrast of saying and showing, and Wittgenstein's attitude to the
inexpressible, is of central importance to many of the
contributions. By approaching this concern through the various
first-level issues that give rise to it, rather than from
entrenched schematic positions, the contributors demonstrate the
possibility of a more inclusive, constructive and fruitful mode of
engagement with Wittgenstein's text and with each other.
One of the most significant philosophical texts by W.W. Atkinson,
Mastery of Being: A Study of the Ultimate Principle of Reality and
the Practical Application Thereof breaks into three parts the
principles of reality, including atoms, the spirit, and physical
manifestation. He uses theories and popularly accepted ideology to
prove that reality is true, and uses his ideology to describe how
we can apply reality to life, and become "masters of being."
American writer WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON (1862-1932) was editor of
the popular magazine New Thought from 1901 to 1905, and editor of
the journal Advanced Thought from 1916 to 1919. He authored dozens
of New Thought books under numerous pseudonyms, including "Yogi,"
some of which are likely still unknown today.
In recent decades, the analysis of causal relations has become a
topic of central importance in analytic philosophy. More recently,
dispositional properties have also become objects of intense study.
Both of these phenomena appear to be intimately related to
counterfactual conditionals and other modal phenomena such as
objective chance, but little work has been done to directly relate
them. Dispositions and Causes contains ten essays by scholars
working in both metaphysics and in philosophy of science, examining
the relation between dispositional and causal concepts.
Particular issues discussed include the possibility of reducing
dispositions to causes, and vice versa; the possibility of a
nominalist theory of causal powers; the attempt to reduce all
metaphysical necessity to dispositional properties; the
relationship between dispositions, causes, and laws of nature; the
role of causal capacities in explaining the success of scientific
inquiry; the grounding of dispositions and causes in objective
chances; and the type of causal power required for free agency.
The introductory chapter contains a detailed overview of recent
work in the area, providing a helpful entry to the literature for
non-specialists.
"The New Space: Genesis and Background, " author Bahman
Bazargani considers the idea that the quasi-aesthetic focus of
attraction of the polytheistic era was the brave hero. This
quasi-aesthetic focus of attraction overshadows all the other
parameters of that paradigm. Liberty in that paradigm meant the
liberty of moving in these dimensions. In contrast, during the
monotheistic paradigm, the meaning of liberty was drastically
changed and overshadowed by the quasi-aesthetic focus of attraction
of that paradigm that is by the eternity/other world.
Barzagani further strives to show that the era of reason was
somehow an autocratic era that had a great impression upon the
modern time while it was philosophically more tolerant to the two
centuries before. Throughout "The New Space: Genesis and
Background, " he examines the changes that the concept of liberty
experiences from the classic teachings to the present and the new
quasi-aesthetic focus of attraction, which as a metavalue and the
"true" meaning of life overshadows all the other social values. He
posits that although there is a consensus that liberty us the
meaning of life, but that there is no consensus on the meaning of
liberty.
Finally, Bazargani comes to the conclusion that horizontal
respect is a new principle that can be the new quasi-aesthetic
focus of attraction and a metavalue that would overshadow all the
social values even liberty itself-the beginning of the new space,
pluralist mega space.
Gauge theories have provided our most successful representations of
the fundamental forces of nature. How, though, do such
representations work? Interpretations of gauge theory aim to answer
this question. Through understanding how a gauge theory's
representations work, we are able to say what kind of world our
gauge theories reveal to us.
A gauge theory's representations are mathematical structures.
These may be transformed among themselves while certain features
remain the same. Do the representations related by such a gauge
transformation merely offer alternative ways of representing the
very same situation? If so, then gauge symmetry is a purely formal
property since it reflects no corresponding symmetry in
nature.
Gauging What's Real describes the representations provided by
gauge theories in both classical and quantum physics. Richard
Healey defends the thesis that gauge transformations are purely
formal symmetries of almost all the classes of representations
provided by each of our theories of fundamental forces. He argues
that evidence for classical gauge theories of forces (other than
gravity) gives us reason to believe that loops rather than points
are the locations of fundamental properties. In addition to
exploring the prospects of extending this conclusion to the quantum
gauge theories of the Standard Model of elementary particle
physics, Healey assesses the difficulties faced by attempts to base
such ontological conclusions on the success of these theories.
Simon Evnine examines various epistemic aspects of what it is to be
a person. Persons are defined as finite beings that have beliefs,
including second-order beliefs about their own and others' beliefs,
and are agents, capable of making long-term plans. It is argued
that for any being meeting these conditions, a number of epistemic
consequences obtain. First, all such beings must have certain
logical concepts and be able to use them in certain ways. Secondly,
there are at least two principles governing belief that it is
rational for persons to satisfy and are such that nothing can be a
person at all unless it satisfies them to a large extent. These
principles are that one believe the conjunction of one's beliefs
and that one treat one's future beliefs as, by and large, better
than one's current beliefs. Thirdly, persons both occupy epistemic
points of view on the world and show up within those views. This
makes it impossible for them to be completely objective about their
own beliefs. Ideals of rationality that require such objectivity,
while not necessarily wrong, are intrinsically problematic for
persons. This "aspectual dualism" is characteristic of treatments
of persons in the Kantian tradition. In sum, these epistemic
consequences support a traditional view of the nature of persons,
one in opposition to much recent theorizing.
Modal realism says that non-actual possible worlds and individuals
are as real as the actual world and individuals. Takashi Yagisawa
defends modal realism of a variety different from David Lewis's
theory. The notion of reality is left primitive and sharply
distinguished from that of existence, which is proposed as a
relation between a thing and a domain. Worlds are postulated as
modal indices for truth on a par with times, which are temporal
indices for truth. Ordinary individual objects are conceived as
being extended in spatial, temporal, and modal dimensions, and
their transworld identity is explicated by the closest-continuer
theory. Impossible worlds and individuals are postulated and used
to provide accounts of propositions, belief sentences, and
fictional discourse.
Antonia Lolordo presents an original interpretation of John Locke's
conception of moral agency-one that has implications both for his
metaphysics and for the foundations of his political theory. Locke
denies that species boundaries exist independently of human
convention, holds that the human mind may be either an immaterial
substance or a material one to which God has superadded the power
of thought, and insists that animals possess the ability to
perceive, will, and even reason-indeed, in some cases to reason
better than humans. Thus, he eliminates any sharp distinction
between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. However, in his
ethical and political work Locke assumes that there is a sharp
distinction between moral agents and other beings. He thus needs to
be able to delineate the set of moral agents precisely, without
relying on the sort of metaphysical and physical facts his
predecessors appealed to. Lolordo argues that for Locke, to be a
moral agent is simply to be free, rational, and a person.
Interpreting the Lockean metaphysics of moral agency in this way
helps us to understand both Locke's over-arching philosophical
project and the details of his accounts of liberty, personhood, and
rationality.
Genealogies of Speculation looks to break the impasse between the
innovations of speculative thought and the dominant strands of 20th
century anti-foundationalist philosophy. Challenging emerging
paradigms of philosophical history, this text re-evaluates
different theoretical and political traditions such as feminism,
literary theory, social geography and political theory after the
speculative turn in philosophy. With contributions from leading
writers in contemporary thought this book is a crucial resource for
studying cultural and art-theory and continental philosophy.
Weakness of will, the phenomenon of acting contrary to one's own
better judgment, has remained a prominent discussion topic of
philosophy. The history of this discussion in ancient, medieval,
and modern times has been outlined in many studies. Weakness of
Will in Renaissance and ReformationThought is, however, the first
book to cover the fascinating source materials on weakness of will
between 1350 and 1650. In addition to considering the work of a
broad range of Renaissance authors (including Petrarch, Donato
Acciaiuoli, John Mair, and Francesco Piccolomini), Risto Saarinen
explores the theologically coloured debates of the Reformation
period, such as those provided by Martin Luther, Philip
Melanchthon, John Calvin, and Lambert Daneau. He goes on to discuss
the impact of these authors on prominent figures of early
modernity, including Shakespeare, Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz.
While most of the historical research on weakness of will has
focused on the reception history of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics,
Saarinen pays attention to the Platonic and Stoic discussions and
their revival during the Renaissance and the Reformation. He also
shows the ways in which Augustine's discussion of the divided will
is intertwined with the Christian reception of ancient Greek
ethics, and argues that the theological underpinnings of early
modern authors do not rule out weakness of will, but transform the
philosophical discussion and lead it towards new solutions.
The Logic Manual is a clear and concise introduction to logic for
beginning philosophy students. It offers a complete introductory
course, guiding the reader carefully through the topics in logic
that are most important for the study of philosophy. It covers
propositional and predicate logic with and without identity. It
includes an account of the semantics of these languages including
definitions of truth and satisfaction. Natural deduction is used as
a proof system. Volker Halbach introduces the essential concepts
through examples and informal explanations as well as through
abstract definitions.
The Logic Manual provides the best entry to the general abstract
way of thinking about language, logic, and semantics which is
characteristic of contemporary philosophy. Exercises, examples, and
sample examination papers are provided on an accompanying website.
Alain Badiou has claimed that Quentin Meillassoux's book After
Finitude (Bloomsbury, 2008) "opened up a new path in the history of
philosophy." And so, whether you agree or disagree with the
speculative realism movement, it has to be addressed. Lacanian
Realism does just that. This book reconstructs Lacanian dogma from
the ground up: first, by unearthing a new reading of the Lacanian
category of the real; second, by demonstrating the political and
cultural ingenuity of Lacan's concept of the real, and by
positioning this against the more reductive analyses of the concept
by Slavoj Zizek, Alain Badiou, Saul Newman, Todd May, Joan Copjec,
Jacques Ranciere, and others, and; third, by arguing that the
subject exists intimately within the real. Lacanian Realism is an
imaginative and timely exploration of the relationship between
Lacanian psychoanalysis and contemporary continental philosophy.
Anthropomorphism - the projection of the human form onto the every
aspect of the world - closely relates to early modern notions of
analogy and microcosm. What had been construed in Antiquity as a
ready metaphor for the order of creation was reworked into a
complex system relating the human body to the body of the world.
Numerous books and images - cosmological diagrams, illustrated
treatises of botany and zoology, maps, alphabets, collections of
ornaments, architectural essays - are entirely constructed on the
anthropomorphic analogy. Exploring the complexities inherent in
such work, the interdisciplinary essays in this volume address how
the anthropomorphic model is fraught with contradictions and
tensions, between magical and rational, speculative and practical
thought. Contributors include Pamela Brekka, Anne-Laure van
Bruaene, Ralph Dekoninck, Agnes Guiderdoni, Christopher P. Heuer,
Sarah Kyle, Walter S. Melion, Christina Normore, Elizabeth Petcu,
Bertrand Prevost, Bret Rothstein, Paul Smith, Miya Tokumitsu,
Michel Weemans, and Elke Werner.
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