This book discusses socialism and democracy. It approaches socialism not as a label but as an ideology. Based on a careful examination of what socialism is, traced back to Karl Marx, this book explains the tense relationship between socialism and democracy and how it has influenced political thought and practice in both Europe and America. This book carefully avoids conventional wisdom, seeking instead to originate its definition and analysis of socialism in its political theory and practice. Building on the relationship between socialism and democracy, the book explores how this uneasy roommate agreement may affect America's future.

Rethinking Progress provides a challenging reevaluation of one of the crucial ideas of Western civilization; the notion of progress. Progress often seems to have become self-defeating, producing ecological deserts, overpopulated cities, exhausted resources, decaying cultures, and widespread feelings of alienation. The contributors, from all over the world, present their diversified perspectives on the fate of progress.

If, as Walter Benjamin believed, 'historical understanding is to be viewed primarily as an afterlife of that which is to be understood', what are the afterlives of the central concepts of modern European philosophy today? These essays reflect on the afterlives of three such concepts - 'the transcendental', 'the universal' and 'otherness' - as they continue to animate philosophical discussion at and beyond the limits of the discipline. Anthropology, law, mathematics and politics each provide occasions for testing the historical durability and transformative capacity of these concepts.

Marx, the Body, and Human Nature shows that the body and the broader material world played a far more significant role in Marx's theory than previously recognised. It provides a fresh 'take' on Marx's theory, revealing a much more open, dynamic and unstable conception of the body, the self, and human nature.

This book analyzes Walt Disney's impact on entertainment, new media, and consumer culture in terms of a materialist, psychoanalytic approach to fantasy. The study opens with a taxonomy of narrative fantasy along with a discussion of fantasy as a key concept within psychoanalytic discourse. Zornado reads Disney's full-length animated features of the "golden era" as symbolic responses to cultural and personal catastrophe, and presents Disneyland as a monument to Disney fantasy and one man's singular, perverse desire. What follows after is a discussion of the "second golden age" of Disney and the rise of Pixar Animation as neoliberal nostalgia in crisis. The study ends with a reading of George Lucas as latter-day Disney and Star Wars as Disney fantasy. This study should appeal to film and media studies college undergraduates, graduates students and scholars interested in Disney.

Mainstreaming Pacifism. Conflict, success, and ethics takes on the challenge of answering the widespread objection that pacifism is ineffective. The book proposes a classification of 11 effectual means to an end (fraud, violence, force, gain, legality, masses, ideology, dialogue, humanity, time, vulnerability), and shows how such means have been at work both in the pages of classical political authors (Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Marx and Gandhi) and throughout history. Such effectual means are not only theoretically described, but are related to up-to-date experimental research, are observed in action when conflicts arise, and the general laws that govern their functioning are described. The main goal of the book is to show that violence is only one of such potentially successful political means. In presence of the political decision to act peacefully in international relations, apt combinations of non-violent effectual means may succeed over violence. The challenge taken on in this book is staying faithful to the topic of political success, while offering arguments for a peaceful resolution of conflicts. The result is an original cross-investigation, which gives visibility to an intriguing notion, effectuality, that has been silently at work throughout political philosophy, without ever having been thematized.

The Conquest of Bread is Peter Kropotkin's famous critique of capitalism, wherein he excoriates that system in favor of anarcho-communism; a form of government he believed could ensure fairness for all. Kropotkin had an alternate vision of the way society, work, and population should be organized - in The Conquest of Bread, he interweaves his plans for a social revolution with critiques of the prevailing orthodoxy. We receive outlines of how his propositions will eliminate poverty and scarcity - conditions Kropotkin believed were artificially enforced in order to maintain control upon the working populace. As a philosopher and scientist, Peter Kropotkin abhorred the manner in which abject poverty characterized industrialized society. He also held a great resentment for centralized authority of government and the owners of capital, which he felt acted in concert to undermine the majority of humanity.

John Lockes Second Treatise of Government is one of the most influential texts in the history of political theory. It is a staple of undergraduate courses throughout the English-speaking world and continues to inspire and inform contemporary debates in political philosophy. As such, it is a hugely important and exciting, yet challenging, piece of philosophical writing. In Lockes Second Treatise of Government: A Readers Guide, Paul Kelly offers a clear and thorough account of this key philosophical work. The book offers a detailed review of the key themes and a lucid commentary that will enable readers to rapidly navigate the text. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of the text as a whole, the guide explores the complex and important ideas inherent in the text and provides a cogent survey of the reception and influence of Lockes seminal work. This is the ideal companion to study of this most influential and challenging of texts.

The Risk of Freedom presents an in-depth analysis of the philosophy of Jan Patocka, one of the most influential Central European thinkers of the twentieth century, examining both the phenomenological and ethical-political aspects of his work. In particular, Francesco Tava takes an original approach to the problem of freedom, which represents a recurring theme in Patocka's work, both in his early and later writings. Freedom is conceived of as a difficult and dangerous experience. In his deep analysis of this particular problem, Tava identifies the authentic ethical content of Patocka's work and clarifies its connections with phenomenology, history of philosophy, politics and dissidence. The Risk of Freedom retraces Patocka's philosophical journey and elucidates its more problematic and less evident traits, such as his original ethical conception, his political ideals and his direct commitment as a dissident.

This book examines the success of Frederick Schauer's efforts to reclaim force as a core element of a general concept of law by approaching the issue from different legal traditions and distinct perspectives. In discussing Schauer's main arguments, it contributes to answering the question whether force, sanctions and coercion should (or should not) be regarded as necessary elements of the concept of law, and whether legal philosophy should be concerned at all (or exclusively) with necessary or essential properties. While it was long assumed that legal norms are essentially defined by their force, it was H.L.A. Hart who raised doubts about whether law and coercion are necessarily connected, referring to the empowering, or more generally enabling, character exhibited by some legal norms. Prominent scholars following and refining Hart's argument built an influential case for excluding force as a necessary element of the concept of law. Most recently, however, Frederick Schauer has made a strong case to reaffirm the force of law, shedding new light on this essential question. This book collects important commentaries, never before published, by prominent legal philosophers evaluating Schauer's substantive arguments and his claims about jurisprudential methodology.

Considering the different traditions of cosmopolitan thinking and experimentation, this cutting edge volume examines the contemporary revival of cosmopolitanism as a response to the challenges of living in an interdependent world. Through a unique multidisciplinary approach, it takes the debate beyond the one-sided universalism of the Euro-American world and explores the multiverse of transformations which confront cosmopolitanism. The collection highlights central questions of cosmopolitan responsibility, global citizenship and justice as well as the importance of dialogue among civilizations, cultures, religions and traditions. Exploring the ethical and political dimensions of globalization, it outlines the pathways of going beyond cosmopolitanism by striving for a post-colonial cosmopolis characterized by global justice, trans-civilizational dialogues and dignity for all.

This volume features fourteen essays that examine the works of key figures within the phenomenological movement in a clear and accessible way. It presents the fertile, groundbreaking, and unique aspects of phenomenological theorizing against the background of contemporary debate about social ontology and collective intentionality. The expert contributors explore the insights of such thinkers as Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Adolf Reinach, and Max Scheler. Readers will also learn about other sources that, although almost wholly neglected by historians of philosophy, testify to the vitality of the phenomenological tradition. In addition, the contributions highlight the systematic relevance of phenomenological research by pinpointing its position on social ontology and collective intentionality within the history of philosophy. By presenting phenomenological contributions in a scholarly yet accessible way, this volume introduces an interesting and important perspective into contemporary debate insofar as it bridges the gap between the analytical and the continental traditions in social philosophy. The volume provides readers with a deep understanding into such questions as: What does it mean to share experiences with others? What does it mean to share emotions with friends or to share intentions with partners in a joint endeavor? What are groups? What are institutional facts like money, universities, and cocktail parties? What are values and what role do values play in social reality?

Who has access, and who is denied access, to food, and why? What are the consequences of food insecurity? What would it take for the food system to be just? Just Food: Philosophy, Justice and Food presents thirteen new philosophical essays that explore the causes and consequences of the inequities of our contemporary food system. It examines why 842 million people globally are unable to meet their dietary needs, and why food insecurity is not simply a matter of insufficient supply. The book looks at how food insecurity tracks other social injustices, covering topics such as race, gender and property, as well as food sovereignty, food deserts, and locavorism. The essays in this volume make an important and timely contribution to the wider philosophical debate around food distribution and justice.

On Obama examines some of the key philosophical questions that accompany the historic emergence of the 44th US president. The purpose of this book is to take seriously the once common thought that the Obama presidency had ushered in a post-historical age. Three questions organize the argument of the book: What's living and dead in the idea of post-racialism? Did Mr. Obama's preference for problem-solving over ideological warfare mark him not just as a post-partisan figure but as a philosophical pragmatist? Did the US become post-imperial when the descendants of slaves and of British imperial subjects inhabited the White House? In addition to taking up these questions, the book considers Mr. Obama's own relationship to the post-historical idea and explores the ethical implications of certain ways of entertaining that idea.

Holding men in wretched subservience, feudalism --- alongside religion --- was a powerful force in the eighteenth century. Self-serving monarchic social systems, which collectively reduced common people to servitude, were now attacked by Enlightenment philosophers, of whom Rousseau was a leading light. His masterpiece, The Social Contract, profoundly influenced the subsequent development of society and remains provocative in a modern age of continuing widespread vested interest.

This book argues that Michael Oakeshott's political philosophy contributes to current debates in normative international theory and international political theory on the historical, social, and moral dimension of international society. Davide Orsi contends that the theory of civil association may be the ground for an understanding of international society as a rule-based form of moral association constituted by customary international law. The book also considers the role of evolving practices of morality in debates on international justice. Orsi grounds this work on a study of Oakeshott's philosophical arguments and compares the Oakeshottian perspective to recent constructivist literature in International Relations.

This book assesses the concept of religious liberty in the United States according to the political theory of John Locke. Protecting the individual freedom of religion without infringing on the rights of others or on legitimate political authority requires delicate balance. The work analyzes Locke's concept of religious liberty and, from it, derives nine criteria for locating that balance. The most important of these criteria requires government neutrality and equality before the law. The United States has historically struggled with providing this balance, particularly through Supreme Court decisions, resulting in the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Application of Locke's criteria for balancing religious liberty and government authority to three recent cases-a government employee, an employer, and a small business owner-reveal that RFRA legislation threatens this balance by undermining neutral government action and treats citizens unequally before the law.

This book advances a comprehensive moral defense of freedom of expression-one with implications for law and policy, but also for the choices of individuals and non-governmental institutions. Gary Chartier seeks to ground expressive freedom in mutually supportive concerns related to themes including property, autonomy, flourishing, and discovery, while seeking to tightly cabin the range of potential injuries that might trigger legal liability for expressive activity. Chartier argues suggestively for an understanding of expressive freedom as rooted and realized in a complex set of social ecosystems that merit protection on multiple grounds and applies it provocatively to a range of contemporary issues.

The Intimate Resistance is a keen, deeply beautiful reflection on the human condition. The author explains how we ourselves can warm, protect and guide those around us. "The intimate resistance is the name for an experience belonging to a state of proximity; a state cannot be visited in one day, but rather habitually. Today, to remain in this state is by no means simple. Proximity cannot be measured in metres or centimetres. Its opposite is not distance, but rather the ubiquitous monotony of a world dominated by technology. What is clear is that day to day and home life are essential ways of experiencing proximity."

This book reflects recent scholarly and theoretical developments in media studies, or Medienwissenschaft. It focuses on linkages between North America and German-speaking Europe, and brings together and contextualizes contributions from a range of leading scholars. In addition to introducing English-language readers to some of the most prominent contemporary German media theorists and philosophers, including Claus Pias, Sybille Kramer and Rainer Leschke, the book shows how foundational North American contributions are themselves inspired and informed by continental sources. This book takes Harold Innis or Marshall McLuhan (and other members of the "Toronto School") as central points of reference, and traces prospective and retrospective lines of influence in a cultural geography that is increasingly global in its scope. In so doing, the book also represents a new episode in the international reception and reinterpretation of the work of Innis and McLuhan, the two founders of the theory and study of media.

This ground-breaking book provides a compelling account of the social sciences in post-war Central and Eastern Europe. The first English-language monograph to analyse the history of sociology in Poland up to the present day, it maps transformations in the discipline against political and social change. Related in an accessible and engaging manner, it offers a comprehensive examination of sociology as a part of Polish society and culture after 1945. It can also be used as an introduction to the subject and a guide to further reading. Part of the influential Sociology Transformed series, Sociology in Poland will interest social and political scientists, historians and policymakers.

A new approach to understanding the relationship between Aristotle's political philosophy and the natural law tradition. "Aristotle and Natural Law" offers an important new examination of Aristotle's political thought and its relationship to the natural law tradition. The book challenges recent alternative interpretations of Aristotle and argues that Aristotle's ethics is most usefully seen as a particular type of natural law theory. Tony Burns shows that the type of natural law theory to which Aristotle subscribes is an unusual one because it does not allow for the possibility that individuals might appeal to natural law in order to critically evaluate existing laws and institutions. Rather its function is to provide legitimacy for existing laws and conventions by providing them with a philosophical justification from the standpoint of Aristotle's metaphysics. Burns claims that this way of thinking about natural law can be traced in the writings of a number of thinkers in the history of philosophy, from Aquinas through to Hegel, but argues that because this tradition begins with Aristotle it is appropriate to describe it as 'the Aristotelian natural law tradition'. "Continuum Studies in Ancient Philosophy" presents cutting edge scholarship in the history of ancient philosophy. The wholly original arguments, perspectives and research findings in titles in this series make it an important and stimulating resource for students and academics from across the fields of Philosophy and Classical Studies.

A philosophical exploration of such subjects as terrorism, just war and pacifism, Andrew Fiala's book reflects on the moral demands that conflict makes on us. "Public War, Private Conscience" offers a philosophical reflection on the moral demands made upon us by war, providing a clear and accessible overview of the different ways of thinking about war. Engaging both with contemporary examples and historical ideas about war, the book offers unique analysis of issues relating to terrorism, conscience objection, just war theory and pacifism. Andrew Fiala examines the conflict between utilitarian and deontological points of view. On the one hand, wars are part of the project of public welfare, subject to utilitarian evaluation. On the other hand, war is also subject to deontological judgment that takes seriously the importance of private conscience and human rights. This book argues that the conflict between these divergent approaches is unavoidable. We are continually caught in the tragic conflict between these two values: public happiness and private morality. And it is in war that we find the conflict at its most obvious and most disturbing.