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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present
Until recently, Spinoza's standing in Anglophone studies of
philosophy has been relatively low and has only seemed to confirm
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi's assessment of him as "a dead dog."
However, an exuberant outburst of excellent scholarship on Spinoza
has of late come to dominate work on early modern philosophy. This
resurgence is due in no small part to the recent revival of
metaphysics in contemporary philosophy and to the increased
appreciation of Spinoza's role as an unorthodox, pivotal figure -
indeed, perhaps the pivotal figure - in the development of
Enlightenment thinking. Spinoza's penetrating articulation of his
extreme rationalism makes him a demanding philosopher who offers
deep and prescient challenges to all subsequent, inevitably less
radical approaches to philosophy. While the twenty-six essays in
this volume - by many of the world's leading Spinoza specialists -
grapple directly with Spinoza's most important arguments, these
essays also seek to identify and explain Spinoza's debts to
previous philosophy, his influence on later philosophers, and his
significance for contemporary philosophy and for us.
Nietzsche, Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics explores how
Nietzsche criticizes, adopts, and reformulates Kant's critique of
metaphysics and his transcendental idealism. Thing in itself and
phenomenon, space and time, intuition and thought, the I and
self-consciousness, concepts and judgments, categories and
schemata, teleological judgement: building on established and
recent literature on these topics in both thinkers, this volume
asks whether Nietzsche can - malgr lui - be considered a Kantian of
sorts. Nietzsche's intensive engagement with early Neo-Kantians
(Lange, Liebmann, Fischer, von Helmholtz) and other contemporaries
of his, largely ignored in the Anglophone literature, is also
addressed, raising the question whether Nietzsche's positions on
Kant's theoretical philosophy are best understood as historically
embedded in the often rather loose relation they had to the first
Critique. These and other questions are taken up in Nietzsche, Kant
and the Problem of Metaphysics, which in different ways tackles the
complexities of Nietzsche's relation to Kant's theoretical
philosophy and its reception in nineteenth Century philosophy.
Plato's "Phaedo", Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" and Heidegger's
"Being and Time" are three of the most profound meditations on
variations of the ideas that to practice philosophy is to practice
how to die. This study traces how these variations are connected
with each other and with the reflections of this idea to be found
in the works of other ancient and modern philosophers - including
Neitzsche, Husserl, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and levinas. The book
also shows how this philosophical thanatology motivates or is
motivated by experiences documented in psychoanalysis and in the
anthropology of Western and Oriental religions and myths.
In George Berkeley's two most important works, the Principles of
Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues Bewtween Hylas and Philonous,
he argued that there is no such thing as matter: only minds and
ideas exist, and physical things are nothing but collections of
ideas. In defense of this idealism, he advanced a battery of
challenging arguments purporting to show that the very notion of
matter is self-contradictory or meaningless, and that even if it
were possible for matter to exist, we could not know that it does;
and he then put forward an alternative world-view that purported to
refute both skepticism and atheism.
Using the tools of contemporary analytic philosophy, Georges Dicker
here examines both the destructive and the constructive sides of
Berkeley's thought, against the background of the mainstream views
that he rejected. Dicker's accessible and text-based analysis of
Berkeley's arguments shows that the Priniciples and the Dialogues
dovetail and complement each other in a seamless way, rather than
being self-contained. Dicker's book avoids the incompleteness that
results from studying just one of his two main works; instead, he
treats the whole as a visionary response to the issues of modern
philosophy- such as primary and secondary qualities, external-world
skepticism, the substance-property relation, the causal roles of
human agents and of God. In addition to relating Berkeley's work to
his contemporaries, Dicker discusses work by today's top Berkeley
scholars, and uses notions and distinctions forged by recent and
contemporary analytic philosophers of perception. Berkeley's
Idealism both advances Berkeley scholarship and serves as a useful
guide for teachers and students.
The English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903) was a
colossus of the Victorian age. His works ranked alongside those of
Darwin and Marx in the development of disciplines as wide ranging
as sociology, anthropology, political theory, philosophy and
psychology. In this acclaimed study of Spencer, the first for over
thirty years and now available in paperback, Mark Francis provides
an authoritative and meticulously researched intellectual biography
of this remarkable man that dispels the plethora of misinformation
surrounding Spencer and shines new light on the broader cultural
history of the nineteenth century. In this major study of Spencer,
the first for over thirty years, Mark Francis provides an
authoritative and meticulously researched intellectual biography of
this remarkable man. Using archival material and contemporary
printed sources, Francis creates a fascinating portrait of a human
being whose philosophical and scientific system was a unique
attempt to explain modern life in all its biological, psychological
and sociological forms. Herbert Spencer and the Invention of Modern
Life fills what is perhaps the last big biographical gap in
Victorian history. An exceptional work of scholarship it not only
dispels the plethora of misinformation surrounding Spencer but
shines new light on the broader cultural history of the nineteenth
century. Elegantly written, provocative and rich in insight it will
be required reading for all students of the period.
The "Nations" are the "seventy nations": a metaphor which, in the
Talmudic idiom, designates the whole of humanity surrounding
Israel. In this major collection of essays, Levinas considers
Judaism's uncertain relationship to European culture since the
Enlightenment, problems of distance and integration. It also
includes essays on Franz Rosenzweig and Moses Mendelssohn, and a
discussion of central importance to Jewish philosophy in the
context of general philosophy. This work brings to the fore the
vital encounter between philosophy and Judaism, a hallmark of
Levinas's thought.
Conversations with My Dog by Hannah Gold is a tale for those who
love to seek new adventures and the promise of following their
dreams, or nose, into the unknown. In a fast-paced world, driven by
material achievement and the fear of loss; clarity can seem hard to
find. Sometimes answers can come from the most surprising sources.
When the author found herself confronted with challenges, she
discovered, to her surprise, that wisdom came not from a
philosophical master or spiritual guide, but her puppy named Monty.
On the road with him, she learns to stop and ask him questions. He
answers her through demonstrating the values of simplicity, fun and
love of exploration. This description of the conversations that
developed between them is a tale about rediscovering direction in
life. It gives a light-hearted, gently thought-provoking account of
the bigger journey of working out how to live. The search for the
way ahead is the metaphor that illustrates the eternal bond of
loyalty between a dog and its humanand makes this tale transcend
normal conversation. 'Even when we are in small bodies, we have big
spirits.' Writes Hannah Gold, relaying the replies of her wise
four-legged friend, to her questions about life. 'The very young
always know why they are here. Because they haven't forgotten.
Sometimes life muddles things up with too many thoughts. But the
heart is ageless.' Hannah's illustrations were created from
sketches she made of Monty on their travels. These drawings provide
a visual tapestry, depicting their journey together to inspire
readers in finding their own path. Conversations with My Dog is an
ideal companion for people considering significant change or
embarking on a new direction, however uncertain, or even just
searching for a little extra companionship and inspiration.
The Essential Berkeley and Neo-Berkeley is an introduction to the
life and work of one of the most significant thinkers in the
history of philosophy and a penetrating philosophical assessment of
his lasting legacy. Written in clear and user-friendly style,
Berman provides: * A concise summary of George Berkeley
(1685-1753)'s life and writings * An accessible introduction to the
structure of Berkeley's most authoritative work, The Principles of
Human Knowledge * An overview of common misunderstandings of
Berkeley's philosophy, and how to avoid them Beyond solely an
introduction, Berman also gives us a broader and deeper
appreciation of Berkeley as a philosopher. He argues for Berkeley's
work as a philosophical system with coherence and important key
themes hitherto unexplored and provides an analysis of why he
thinks Berkeley's work has had such lasting significance. With a
particular focus on Berkeley's dualist thinking and theories of
'mental types', Berman provides students and scholars with a key to
unlocking the significance of this work. This introductory text
will provide an insight into Berkeley's full body of work, the
distinctiveness of his thinking and how deeply relevant this key
thinker is to contemporary philosophy.
Frank Jackson champions the cause of conceptual analysis as central
to philosophical inquiry. In recent years conceptual analysis has
been undervalued and, Jackson suggests, widely misunderstood; he
argues that there is nothing especially mysterious about it and a
whole range of important questions cannot be productively addressed
without it. He anchors his argument in discussion of specific
philosophical issues, starting with the metaphysical doctrine of
physicalism and moving on, via free will, meaning, personal
identity, motion and change, to the philosophy of colour and to
ethics. The significance of different kinds of supervenience
theses, Kripke and Putnam's work in the philosophy of modality and
language, and the role of intuitions about possible cases receive
detailed attention. Jackson concludes with a defence of a version
of analytical descriptivism in ethics. In this way the book not
only offers a methodological programme for philosophy, but also
throws fascinating new light on some much-debated problems and
their interrelations. puffs which may be quoted (please do not edit
without consulting OUP editor): 'This is an outstanding book. It
covers a vast amount of philosophy in a very short space, advances
a number of original and striking positions, and manages to be both
clear and concise in its expositions of other views and forceful in
its criticisms of them. The book offers something new for those
interested in the various individual problems it
discusses-conceptual analysis, the mind-body relation, secondary
qualities, modality, and ethical realism. But unifying these
individual discussions is an ambitious structure which amounts to
an outline of a complete metaphysical system, and an outline of an
epistemology for this metaphysics. It is hard to think of a central
area of analytic philosophy which will not be touched by Jackson's
conclusions.' Tim Crane, Reader in Philosophy, University College
London 'The writing is clear, straightforward, and down to
earth-the usual virtues one expects from Jackson . . . what he has
to say is innovative and valuable . . . the book deals with a large
number of apparently diverse philosophical issues, but it is also
an elegantly unified work. What gives it unity is the
metaphilosophical framework that Jackson works out with great care
and persuasiveness. This is the first serious and sustained work on
the methodology of metaphysics in recent memory. What he says about
the role of conceptual analysis in metaphysics is an important and
timely contribution. . . . It is refreshing and heartening to see a
first-class analytic philosopher doing some serious
metaphilosophical work . . . I think that the book will be greeted
as an important event in philosophical publishing.' Jaegwon Kim,
Professor of Philosophy, Brown University
Georg Lukcs stands as a towering figure in the areas of critical
theory, literary criticism, aesthetics, ethical theory and the
philosophy of Marxism and German Idealism. Yet, despite his
influence throughout the twentieth century, his contributions to
the humanities and theoretical social sciences are marked by
neglect. What has been lost is a crucial thinker in the tradition
of critical theory, but also, by extension, a crucial set of ideas
that can be used to shed new light on the major problems of
contemporary society. This book reconsiders Lukcs intellectual
contributions in the light of recent intellectual developments in
political theory, aesthetics, ethical theory, and social and
cultural theory. An international team of contributors contend that
Luk ideas and theoretical contributions have much to offer the
theoretical paucity of the present. Ultimately the book
reintegrates Lukcs as a central thinker, not only in the tradition
of critical theory, but also as a major theorist and critic of
modernity, of capitalism, and of new trends in political theory,
cultural criticism and legal theory.
Spinoza is among the most controversial and asymmetrical thinkers
in the tradition and history of modern European philosophy. Since
the 17th century, his work has aroused some of the fiercest and
most intense polemics in the discipline. From his expulsion from
the synagogue and onwards, Spinoza has never ceased to embody the
secular, heretical and self-loathing Jew. Ivan Segre, a philosopher
and celebrated scholar of the Talmud, discloses the conservative
underpinnings that have animated Spinoza's numerable critics and
antagonists. Through a close reading of Leo Strauss and several
contemporary Jewish thinkers, such as Jean-Claude Milner and Benny
Levy (Sartre's last secretary), Spinoza: the Ethics of an Outlaw
aptly delineates the common cause of Spinoza's contemporary
censors: an explicit hatred of reason and its emancipatory
potential. Spinoza's radical heresy lies in his rejection of any
and all blind adherence to Biblical Law, and in his plea for the
freedom and autonomy of thought. Segre reclaims Spinoza as a
faithful interpreter of the revolutionary potential contained
within the Old Testament.
This collection of essays aims to investigate the unique place of
Jacques Ranciere in the contemporary intellectual scene. This book
forms the first critical study of Jacques Ranciere's impact and
contribution to contemporary theoretical and interdisciplinary
studies. It showcases the work of leading scholars in fields such
as political theory, history, cinema studies and literary theory;
each of whom are uniquely situated to engage with the novelty of
Ranciere's thinking within their respective fields. Each of the
thirteen essays provides an investigation into the critical stance
Ranciere takes towards his contemporaries, concentrating on the
versatile application of his thought to diverse fields of study
(including, cinema studies, literary studies and the 'history as
fiction' and 'history from below' movements). The aim of this
collection is to use the critical interventions Ranciere's writing
makes on current topics and themes as a way of offering new
critical perspectives on his thought. Wielding their individual
expertise, each contributor assesses his perspectives and positions
on thinkers and topics of contemporary importance.
Meaning (significance) and nature are this book's principal topics.
They seem an odd couple, like raisins and numbers, though they
elide when meanings of a global sort-ideologies and religions, for
example-promote ontologies that subordinate nature. Setting one
against the other makes reality contentious. It signifies workmates
and a coal face to miners, gluons to physicists, prayer and
redemption to priests. Are there many realities, or many
perspectives on one? The answer I prefer is the comprehensive
naturalism anticipated by Aristotle and Spinoza: "natura naturans,
natura naturata." Nature naturing is an array of mutually
conditioning material processes in spacetime. Each structure or
event-storm clouds forming, nature natured-is self-differentiating,
self-stabilizing, and sometimes self-disassembling; each alters or
transforms a pre-existing state of affairs. This surmise
anticipated discoveries and analyses to which neither thinker had
access, though physics and biology confirm their hypothesis beyond
reasonable doubt. Hence the question this book considers: Is
reality divided:nature vrs. lived experience? Or is experience,
with all its meanings and values, the complex expression of natural
processes?
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