Throughout his long career as a political thinker and activist, Mahatma Gandhi encountered the dilemma of either remaining faithful to his nonviolent principles and risking the failure of the Indian nationalist movement, or focusing on the seizure of political power at the expense of his moral message. Putting forward his vision of a “nonviolent nationalism,” Gandhi argued that Indian self-rule could be achieved without sacrificing the universalist imperatives of his nonviolent philosophy. Conceived as a study in the history of political thought, this book examines the origins, meaning, and unfolding of Gandhi’s dilemma as it played itself out in both theory and political practice. This discussion is inextricably linked to significant and timely issues that are critical for the study of nationalism, for Gandhi’s vision raises the important question of whether it is indeed possible to construct a benign type of nationalism that is rooted in neither physical nor conceptual forms of violence.

This edited volume presents the social ontology of institutions. It questions what institutions are, what features and properties institutions have and what kinds of institution are present in the social world. The book answers these questions from both a speculative and an applied approach, it argues for a specific definition of institutions as a rule-based equilibria, as collective epistemic agent that is characterized by meaning, principles and power and as product of a We-mode and an imposition of a function. This book started from the interdisciplinary conference Playing by the Rules in Rijeka and contains contributions from Philosophy, Sociology and Economy. Institutions in Action is the first book to offer a comprehensive overview of the many different aspects and accounts about the social ontology of institutions. This much needed book presents researchers a very wide state of the art about the topic of institution by presenting the many differences that emerge in comparing the different positions.

Laurie Johnson investigates two Enlightenment-era reactions to honor in Locke and Rousseau. She provides an in-depth analysis of how political philosophers John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau react differently to the place and importance of honor in society. Locke continues the trend of rejecting honor as a means of achieving order and justice in society, preferring instead the modern motivation of rational self-interest. Johnson explores the possibility of an honor code that is compatible with Lockean liberalism, but also points out the problems inherent in such a project. She then turns to Rousseau, whose reaction to Enlightenment ideas reveals our own divided mood. Rousseau s worries and ambivalence about honor are our worries and ambivalence, and his failed attempt to revise honor in a way that works within the modern system highlights how difficult any project to resurrect the value of honor will be. This book will interest anyone who wonders what happened to honor in our world today, including students of communitarianism. Johnson warns us that we cannot simply look to the past, to the ideals of Locke or other Enlightenment thinkers such as the American founders, for answers to our current family, social, and economic problems, because our problems at least partly stem from Enlightenment liberal thought. Instead we must fully recognize this connection before we can start to formulate a definition of honor that can work for us today.

This work illuminates, identifies, and characterizes the influences and expressions of Bob Dylan's Political World throughout his life and career. An approach nearly as unique as the singer himself, the authors attempt to remove Dylan from the typical Left/Right paradigm and place him into a broader and deeper context.

This book presents argumentation for an evolutionary continuity between human persons and cyborg persons, based on the thought of Joseph Margolis. Relying on concepts of cultural realism and post-Darwinism, Aleksandra Lukaszewicz Alcaraz redefines the notion of the person, rather than a human, and discusses the various issues of human body enhancement and online implants transforming modes of perception, cognition, and communication. She argues that new kinds of embodiment should not make acquiring the status of the person impossible, and different kinds of embodiments may be accepted socially and culturally. She proposes we consider ethical problems of agency and responsibility, critically approaching vitalist posthuman ethics, and rethinking the metaphysical standing of normativity, to create space for possible cyborgean ethics that may be executed in an Extended Republic of Humanity.

Targeted killing of terrorists has become an established practice in the fight against terrorism. The disturbing consequences of the practice and its increasing political and societal acceptance raise questions as to its justifiability and its place in counter-terrorism. Anna Goppel explores whether targeted killing of terrorists can be justified, both from a moral and an international legal perspective. She discusses moral and international legal limits to state use of lethal force and argues that the moral principles and the international legal regulations allow for the practice only in very specific, very rare, and rather hypothetical cases. The analysis is based on a thorough discussion of the human right to life, the laws and ethics of war, and the relevant moral and legal arguments. This makes it of particular interest to philosophers and legal theorists interested in terrorism, counter-terrorism, human rights, and the legitimacy of defensive state measures.

This book provides a fresh overview on the debate about the remarkable regression of gender equality in the Balkans and South Caucasus caused by the fall of socialism and by the revitalization of religion in Turkey. Contrary to the prevailing opinion of researchers who state continuous male domination, the book presents strong arguments for an alternative outlook. By contrasting the realia of gender relations with the utopia of new femininities and new masculinities driven by digital visual communication, the book provokingly concludes with the arrival of two utopias: the Marlboro Man - still authoritative but lonely - conquering and refusing family obligations; and with the emergence of a new femininity type - strong and beautiful. As such this book provides a great resource to anthropologists, demographers, sociologists, gender and media researchers and all those interested in feminist issues.

This book debates the values and ideals of Confucian politics-harmony, virtue, freedom, justice, order-and what these ideals mean for Confucian political philosophy today. The authors deliberate these eminent topics in five debates centering on recent innovative and influential publications in the field. Challenging and building on those works, the dialogues consider the roles of benevolence, family determination, public reason, distributive justice, and social stability in Confucian political philosophy. In response, the authors defend their views and evaluate their critics in turn. Taking up a broad range of crucial issues-autonomy, liberty, democracy, political legitimacy, human welfare-these author-meets-critic debates will appeal to scholars interested in political, comparative, and East Asian philosophy. Their interlaced themes weave a portrait of what is at stake in discussing Confucian values and theory. Most importantly, they engage and develop the state of the field of Confucian political philosophy today.

The personal rule of Louis XIV, following on from a long period of royal minority and apprenticeship, lasted 54 years from 1661 to 1715. But the second half of this personal rule has, until recently, received significantly less scholarly attention than the 1660s and 1670s. This has obscured some of the very real changes and developments that occurred between the early 1680s and the mid-1690s, by which time a new generation of younger royals had come to prominence, France was engulfed in international war on a greater scale than ever before, and the king was visibly no longer as vigorous or healthy as he had once been. The essays in this volume take a close look at the way a new set of political, social, cultural and economic dispensations emerged from the mid-1680s to create a different France in the final decades of Louis XIV's reign, even though the basic ideological, social and economic underpinnings of the country remained very largely the same. The contributions examine such varied matters as the structure and practices of government, naval power, the financial operations of the state, trade and commerce, social pressures, overseas expansion, religious dissent, music, literature and the fine arts.

Critical theory is one of the most important and exciting areas within the study of international relations. Its purpose is not only to describe how the world operates but also to help us imagine how we might achieve a more equitable and sustainable way of life. Presenting key concepts and thinkers, notably Theodor Adorno and Michel Foucault, this book provides an evaluation of the field and suggests how critical thinking can contribute to confronting the challenges of the twenty-first century. It argues that current critiques of critical theory in international relations can only be overcome if we engage with ideas from outside of the western tradition. -- .

What's wrong with the world today and how might it become better (or worse)? These are the questions pursued in this book, which explores the hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares of the 21st century. Through architecture, fiction, theory, film and experiments with everyday life, Sargisson explores contemporary hopes and fears about the future.

This volume bases a clear and unbiased account of Communist philosophy on the Marxian Materialist Concept of History and Marxian Theory of Value. The spear-head of Marxism is its doctrine of class-struggle and from this Laski sets out on in his exposition of the Communist attitude. Although first published in 1927, the intervening years have in no way detracted from the intrinsic value of this enlightening study, regarded by many as the essential textbook for the understanding of this subject.

While many books have been written about human sexuality, few have seriously explored the philosophical and psychological meaning of erotic love. This reflects a bias and a problem in contemporary culture: the misunderstanding of eros out of a theory of physiological drive-reduction (ignoring the countervailing motivation toward intensification rather than reduction of conscious feeling) has led to an egocentric view of human nature, which in turn motivates a simplistic hedonism in value thinking and an atomistic-individualist conception of society. The ultra-competitive nature of this kind of culture leads to overconcern with masks of invulnerability - i.e., narcissism - which prevents the dropping of superficial defenses necessary for deep and authentic love relationships to mature. But the intense, direct experience of the intrinsic value of another being embodied in authentic love experiences is needed to combat the existential threats to the meaningfulness of life (alienation, powerlessness, relative insignificance in the ultimate scheme, and death). This experience is motivated by the need to be pulled out of oneself into a non-egocentric way of experiencing which cares as much about expressing value feelings, in order to deepen and intensify them, as it does about reducing egocentric drives. The misunderstanding, neglect, and dysfunction of this basic human need thus reflects a serious problem in the psychology of the self and the structure of the community, whose study requires a phenomenological rather than a merely empirical-scientific approach, since the latter approach alone leads almost inevitably to the very reductionism at issue.

Queens Consort, Cultural Transfer and European Politics examines the roles that queens consort played in dynastic politics and cultural transfer between their natal and marital courts during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. This collection of essays analyses the part that these queens played in European politics, showing how hard and soft power, high politics and cultural influences, cannot be strictly separated. It shows that the root of these consorts' power lay in their dynastic networks and the extent to which they cultivated them. The consorts studied in this book come from territories such as Austria, Braunschweig, Hanover, Poland, Portugal, Prussia and Saxony and travel to, among other places, Britain, Naples, Russia, Spain and Sweden. The various chapters address different types of cultural manifestation, among them collecting, portraiture, panegyric poetry, libraries, theatre and festivals, learning, genealogical literature and architecture. The volume significantly shifts the direction of scholarship by moving beyond a focus on individual historical women to consider 'queens consort' as a category, making it valuable reading for students and scholars of early modern gender and political history.

The writings of Greek philosopher ARISTOTLE (384Bi322Be-student of Plato, teacher of Alexander the Great-are among the most influential on Western thought, and indeed upon Western civilization itself. From theology and logic to ethics and even biology, there is no area of human knowledge that has not been touched by his thinking. In Politics-considered a companion piece to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics-the philosopher discusses the nature of the state, of citizenship, of public education and private wealth. In what is a response to the works of his teacher Plato, Aristotle explores the idea of the individual household as a microcosm and building block of the state; examines trade and the economy as functions of human affairs; discusses the battle between self-interest and nationalism; and much more. This edition features the classic introduction by H.W.C. Davis, the renowned English historian of the early 20th century. Students of philosophy, government, and human nature continue to find Aristotle's Politics a provocative work more than two millennia after it was written.

This collection establishes Nietzsche's importance as a political philosopher. It includes a substantial introduction and eighteen chapters by some of the most renowned Nietzsche scholars. The book examines Nietzsche's connections with political thought since Plato, major influences on him, his methodology, and his influence on subsequent thought. The book includes extensive coverage of the debate between radical aristocratic readings of Nietzsche, and more liberal or democratic readings. Close readings of Nietzsche's texts are combined with a contextualising approach to build up a complete picture of his place in political philosophy. Topics include the relevance of Bonapartism and classical liberalism, Nietzsche on Christianity, the cultural history of Germany, the UEbermensch, ethics and politics in Nietzsche, and the controversial question of his political preferences and affinities. Nietzsche's political thought is compared with that of Humboldt, Weber and Foucault. The book is essential reading for anyone concerned with Nietzsche's thought, political philosophy, and the history of political ideas.

Carl Schmitt's friend/enemy principle is exposed to in-depth philosophical analysis and historical examination with the aim of showing that the political follows hostility, violence and terror as form follows matter. The book argues that the partisan is an umbrella concept that includes the national and global terrorist.

Solidarity as a phenomenon lies like an erratic block in the midst of the moral landscape of our age. Until now, the geologists familiar with this landscape - ethicists and moral theorists - have taken it for granted, have circumnavigated it! in any case, they have been incapable of moving it. In the present volume, scientists from diverse disciplines discuss and examine the concept of solidarity, its history, its scope and its limits.

The author explores the thought of one of the most important contemporary philosophers, Axel Honneth, in his attempt to develop a critical theory of society and to develop a third way between liberalism and republicanism. At the heart of this attempt is the concept of recognition, which is explored in all its multiple dimensions in order to develop a new image of subject, society, and freedom.

Section 1 One of the big problems facing us is the need to plan for the betterment and improvement of society. In any status quo there are many unsatisfactory moments and experience shows that with changing conditions, even those elements of our communal structure that work well will often get out of step and become a problem. We need then to introduce devices both to alleviate present troubles and, if possible, to anticipate future ones. On the whole, it might appear to the untutored eye that the matter is relatively simple. For instance, if we keep increasing prices of commodities without increasing incomes, and especially if we allow inflation to proceed unfettered as well, the situation will certainly deteriorate. What we need to

This volume focuses on religion from a trans-cultural and international perspective. Its aim is to open up new perspectives on how religions might coexist peacefully within 21st century societies and simultaneously contribute to global pacification. Can a religion cope peacefully with the existence of other religions, without having to abandon its own claim to truth, and if so, what already inherent, specific characteristics would have to be emphasized? Or is secular culture the path to convince different religions of a shared ideal of peaceful co-existence? These questions are approached considering the socio-political implications of religions in Asian, African, Latin-American and European contexts. This collection of essays reflects on the entire spectrum of the highly topical and complex academic discussions pertaining to the interrelation of society, state and religion. One example in this collection features the analysis of a secular state engaging in dialog with Muslim communities through a state-moderated communication platform; another article concentrates on the political impact of Christian churches on Nigerian society by means of political advertisement. Moreover, the different concepts of religion in Western societies are considered: one essay argues that in democratic societies it is the state that must guarantee the freedom of religion and thereby provide the basis for a peaceful co-existence between all religions.

Why the tools of philosophy offer a powerful antidote to today's epidemic of irrationality There is an epidemic of bad thinking in the world today. An alarming number of people are embracing crazy, even dangerous ideas. They believe that vaccinations cause autism. They reject the scientific consensus on climate change as a "hoax." And they blame the spread of COVID-19 on the 5G network or a Chinese cabal. Worse, bad thinking drives bad acting-it even inspired a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol. In this book, Steven Nadler and Lawrence Shapiro argue that the best antidote for bad thinking is the wisdom, insights, and practical skills of philosophy. When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People provides an engaging tour through the basic principles of logic, argument, evidence, and probability that can make all of us more reasonable and responsible citizens. When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People shows how we can more readily spot and avoid flawed arguments and unreliable information; determine whether evidence supports or contradicts an idea; distinguish between merely believing something and knowing it; and much more. In doing so, the book reveals how epistemology, which addresses the nature of belief and knowledge, and ethics, the study of moral principles that should govern our behavior, can reduce bad thinking. Moreover, the book shows why philosophy's millennia-old advice about how to lead a good, rational, and examined life is essential for escaping our current predicament. In a world in which irrationality has exploded to deadly effect, When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People is a timely and essential guide for a return to reason.