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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy
This very important work offers penetrating dialogues between the
great spiritual leader and the renowned physicist that shed light
on the fundamental nature of existence. Krishnamurti and David Bohm
probe such questions as 'why has humanity made thought so important
in every aspect of life? How does one cleanse the mind of the
'accumulation of time' and break the 'pattern of ego -centered
activity'?The Ending of Time concludes by referring to the wrong
turn humanity has taken, but does not see this as something from
which there is no escape. There is an insistence that mankind can
change fundamentally; but this requires going from one's narrow and
particular interests toward the general, and ultimately moving
still deeper into that purity of compassion, love and intelligence
that originates beyond thought, time, or even emptiness.
How can we be sure the oppressed do not become oppressors in their
turn? How can we create a feminism that doesn't turn into yet
another tool for oppression? It has become commonplace to argue
that, in order to fight the subjugation of women, we have to unpack
the ways different forms of oppression intersect with one another:
class, race, gender, sexuality, disability, and ecology, to name
only a few. By arguing that there is no single factor, or arche,
explaining the oppression of women, Chiara Bottici proposes a
radical anarchafeminist philosophy inspired by two major claims:
that there is something specific to the oppression of women, and
that, in order to fight that, we need to untangle all other forms
of oppression and the anthropocentrism they inhabit. Anarchism
needs feminism to address the continued subordination of all
femina, but feminism needs anarchism if it does not want to become
the privilege of a few. Anarchafeminism calls for a decolonial and
deimperial position and for a renewed awareness of the somatic
communism connecting all different life forms on the planet. In
this new revolutionary vision, feminism does not mean the
liberation of the lucky few, but liberation for all living
creatures from both capitalist exploitation and an androcentric
politics of domination. Either all or none of us will be free.
Much of what is said about yoga is misleading. To take two
examples, it is neither five thousand years old, as is commonly
claimed, nor does it mean union, at least not exclusively. In
perhaps the most famous text-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali-the aim
is separation, isolating consciousness from everything else. And
the earliest evidence of practice dates back about twenty-five
hundred years. Yoga may well be older, but no one can prove it.
Scholars have learned a lot more about the history of yoga in
recent years, but their research can be hard to track down.
Although their work is insightful, it is aimed more at specialists
than at general readers. Daniel Simpson's The Truth of Yoga draws
on many of their findings, presented in a format designed for
practitioners. The aim is to highlight ideas on which readers can
draw to keep traditions alive in the twenty-first century. It
offers an overview of yoga's evolution from its earliest origins to
the present. It can either be read chronologically or be used as a
reference guide to history and philosophy. Each short section
addresses one element, quoting from traditional texts and putting
their teachings into context. The intention is to keep things clear
without oversimplifying.
When our smartphones distract us, much more is at stake than a
momentary lapse of attention. Our use of smartphones can interfere
with the building-blocks of meaningfulness and the actions that
shape our self-identity. By analyzing social interactions and
evolving experiences, Roholt reveals the mechanisms of
smartphone-distraction that impact our meaningful projects and
activities. Roholt's conception of meaning in life draws from a
disparate group of philosophers - Susan Wolf, John Dewey, Hubert
Dreyfus, Martin Heidegger, and Albert Borgmann. Central to Roholt's
argument are what Borgmann calls focal practices: dinners with
friends, running, a college seminar, attending sporting events. As
a recurring example, Roholt develops the classification of musical
instruments as focal things, contending that musical performance
can be fruitfully understood as a focal practice. Through this
exploration of what generates meaning in life, Roholt makes us
rethink the place we allow smartphones to occupy in the everyday.
But he remains cautiously optimistic. This thoughtful, needed
interrogation of smartphones shows how we can establish a positive
role for technologies within our lives.
This interdisciplinary volume revisits Adorno's lesser-known work,
Minima Moralia, and makes the case for its application to the most
urgent concerns of the 21st century. Contributing authors situate
Adorno at the heart of contemporary debates on the ecological
crisis, the changing nature of work, the idea of utopia, and the
rise of fascism. Exploring the role of critical pedagogy in shaping
responses to fascistic regimes, alongside discussions of extractive
economies and the need for leisure under increasingly precarious
working conditions, this volume makes new connections between
Minima Moralia and critical theory today. Another line of focus is
the aphoristic style of Minima Moralia and its connection to
Adorno's wider commitment to small and minor literary forms, which
enable capitalist critique to be both subversive and poetic. This
critique is further located in Adorno's discussion of a utopia that
is reliant on complete rejection of the totalising system of
capitalism. The distinctive feature of such a utopia for Adorno is
dependent upon individual suffering and subsequent survival, an
argument this book connects to the mutually constitutive
relationship between ecological destruction and right-wing
authoritarianism. These timely readings of Adorno's Minima Moralia
teach us to adapt through our survival, and to pursue a utopia
based on his central ideas. In the process, opening up theoretical
spaces and collapsing the physical borders between us in the spirit
of Adorno's lifelong project.
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