The Grundrisse is widely regarded as one of Marx's most important texts, with many commentators claiming it is the centrepiece of his entire oeuvre. It is also, however, a notoriously difficult text to understand and interpret. In this - the first guide and introduction to reading the Grundrisse - Simon Choat helps us to make sense of a text that is both a first draft of Capital and a major work in its own right. As well as offering a detailed commentary on the entire text, this guide explains the Grundrisse's central themes and arguments and highlights its impact and influence. The Grundrisse's discussions of money, labour, nature, freedom, the role of machinery, and the development and dynamics of capitalism have influenced generations of thinkers, from Anglo-American historians such as Eric Hobsbawm and Robert Brenner to Continental philosophers like Antonio Negri and Gilles Deleuze, as well as offering vital insights into Marx's methodology and the trajectory of his thought. Contemporary examples are used throughout this guide both to illuminate Marx's terminology and concepts and to illustrate the continuing relevance of the Grundrisse. Readers will be offered guidance on: -Philosophical and Historical Context -Key Themes -Reading the Text -Reception and Influence

Hegel's philosophy of religion contains an implicit political theology. When viewed in connection with his wider work on subjectivity, history and politics, this political theology is a resource for apocalyptic thinking. In a world of climate change, inequality, oppressive gender roles and racism, Hegel can be used to theorise the hope found in the end of that world. Histories of apocalyptic thinking draw a line connecting the medieval prophet Joachim of Fiore and Marx. This line passes through Hegel, who transforms the relationship between philosophy and theology by philosophically employing theological concepts to critique the world. Jacob Taubes provides an example of this Hegelian political theology, weaving Christianity, Judaism and philosophy to develop an apocalypticism that is not invested in the world. Taubes awaits the end of the world knowing that apocalyptic destruction is also a form of creation. Catherine Malabou discusses this relationship between destruction and creation in terms of plasticity. Using plasticity to reformulate apocalypticism allows for a form of apocalyptic thinking that is immanent and materialist. Together Hegel, Taubes and Malabou provide the resources for thinking about why the world should end. The resulting apocalyptic pessimism is not passive, but requires an active refusal of the world.

As a composer, Hector Berlioz embodied his century as the quintessential Romantic artist. Niccolo Paganini called him "Beethoven's only heir," and for a young Richard Wagner, he was dazzling as a composer, orchestra conductor, and critic. But Berlioz was known as much for his writings as for his music, and for decades Berlioz scholars have stressed the need for a good English-language anthology of his criticism. Featuring new translations and commentary by Katherine Kolb and Samuel N. Rosenberg, Berlioz on Music: Selected Criticism 1824-1837 is that volume. Berlioz's centrality as a critic results from his literary brilliance, his location in Paris - the music capital of the nineteenth century - and his 28-year tenure at the powerful Journal des debats. As one of its founding editors and principal writers, Berlioz contributed about 250 articles to the publication. Berlioz on Music comprises articles from the first 14 years of Berlioz's public writings, given in chronological order and, with few exceptions, in their entirety. Following chronology affords an overview of Berlioz's evolution as critic and of a key phase in the development of modern musical culture. The volume also presents explanatory data in engagingly composed introductions and footnotes, which elucidate Berlioz's references to persons, musical and literary works, historical events, and more. The reader is allowed to follow musical events during one of the richest periods in French cultural history, including the revolutionary decade surrounding 1830, a year marked by Victor Hugo's victory for the Romantics in the Classical bastion of the Theatre-Francais, by the premiere of Berlioz's Fantastic Symphony, and by the toppling of the Restoration monarchy. The result is an engaging collection of Berlioz's lively prose, presented with scholarly rigor and rendered in accessible English. Music historians, both professional and amateur, as well 19th century European history enthusiasts will find Berlioz on Music a compelling introduction to one of the richest periods of French culture.

When we talk about delusions we may refer to symptoms of mental health problems, such as clinical delusions in schizophrenia, or simply the beliefs that people cling to which are implausible and resistant to counterevidence; these can include anything from beliefs about the benefits of homeopathy to concerns about the threat of alien abduction. Why do people adopt delusional beliefs and why are they so reluctant to part with them? In Why Delusions Matter, Lisa Bortolotti explains what delusions really are and argues that, despite their negative reputation, they can also play a positive role in people's lives, imposing some meaning on adverse experiences and strengthening personal or social identities. In a clear and accessible style, Bortolotti contributes to the growing research on the philosophy of the cognitive sciences, offering a novel and nuanced view of delusions.

Caught between the history of exclusion and the reality of the world philosophies approach, this is an introduction to African philosophy unlike any other. With distinctive insight Pascah Mungwini brings together African philosophy and the emancipative mission, introducing African thought as a practice defined by its own history and priority questions while always in dialogue with the world. He charts the controversies and contestations around the contemporary practice of philosophy as an academic enterprise in Africa, examining some of philosophy's most serious mistakes, omissions, and failures. Covering the history of African philosophy's development and trajectory, Mungwini's introduction focuses on the struggle for intellectual liberation. His compelling portrayal reveals that true liberation begins by understanding one's own world, an essential point for anyone beginning to explore another philosophical tradition on its own terms.

This book offers an in-depth analysis as to how and why women have been widely associated with madness since ancient times. The first part of the book comprises a historical survey of various perceptions of madness across the centuries, while the second part of the book covers a wide selection of literary works by American and English writers who dealt with this subject in their works. In this part of the book, the authors examine selected works of literature from a feminist perspective by also drawing on the works of influential theorists of feminist criticism. The authors further show how these writers, who have been influenced by various philosophers and theoreticians, critically examine women's madness in their fiction.

The contributors ask the following questions: What are the different rhetorical strategies employed by writers, artists, filmmakers, and activists to react to the degradation of life and climate change? How are urban movements using environmental issues to resist corporate privatization of the commons? What is the shape of Spanish debates on reproductive rights and biotechnology? What is the symbolic significance of the bullfighting debate and other human/animal issues in today's political turmoil in Spain?

Bernard Bolzano (1781-1850) is increasingly recognized as one of the greatest nineteenth-century philosophers. A philosopher and mathematician of rare talent, he made ground-breaking contributions to logic, the foundations and philosophy of mathematics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion. Many of the larger features of later analytic philosophy (but also many of the details) first appear in his work: for example, the separation of logic from psychology, his sophisticated understanding of mathematical proof, his definition of logical consequence, his work on the semantics of natural kind terms, or his anticipations of Cantor's set theory, to name but a few. To his contemporaries, however, he was best known as an intelligent and determined advocate for reform of Church and State. Based in large part on a carefully argued utilitarian practical philosophy, he developed a program for the non-violent reform of the authoritarian institutions of the Hapsburg Empire, a program which he himself helped to set in motion through his teaching and other activities. Rarely has a philosopher had such a great impact on the political culture of his homeland. Persecuted in his lifetime by secular and ecclesiastical authorities, long ignored or misunderstood by philosophers, Bolzano's reputation has nevertheless steadily increased over the past century and a half. Much discussed and respected in Central Europe for over a century, he is finally beginning to receive the recognition he deserves in the English-speaking world. This book provides a comprehensive and detailed critical introduction to Bolzano, covering both his life and works.

Textbooks and other popular venues commonly present science as a progressive "brick-by-brick" accumulation of knowledge and facts. Despite its hallowed history and familiar ring, this depiction is nowadays rejected by most specialists. There currently are two competing models of the scientific enterprise: reductionism and antireductionism. Neither provides an accurate depiction of the productive interaction between knowledge and ignorance, supplanting the old metaphor of the "wall" of knowledge. This book explores an original conception of the nature and advancement of science. Marco J. Nathan's proposed shift brings attention to a prominent, albeit often neglected, construct-the black box-which underlies a well-oiled technique for incorporating a productive role of ignorance and failure into the acquisition of empirical knowledge. The black box is a metaphorical term used by scientists for the isolation of a complex phenomenon that they have deliberately set aside or may not yet fully understand. What is a black box? How does it work? How do we construct one? How do we determine what to include and what to leave out? What role do boxes play in contemporary scientific practice? Nathan's monograph develops an overarching framework for thinking about black boxes and discusses prominent historical cases that used it, including Darwin's view of inheritance in his theory of evolution and the "stimulus-response model" in psychology, among others. By detailing some fascinating episodes in the history of biology, psychology, and economics, Nathan revisits foundational questions about causation, explanation, emergence, and progress, showing how the insights of both reductionism and antireductionism can be reconciled into a fresh and exciting approach to science.

In Pride, Manners, and Morals: Bernard Mandeville's Anatomy of Honour Andrea Branchi offers a reading of the Anglo-Dutch physician and thinker's philosophical project from the hitherto neglected perspective of his lifelong interest in the theme of honour. Through an examination of Mandeville's anatomy of early eighteenth-century beliefs, practices and manners in terms of motivating passions, the book traces the development of his thought on human nature and the origin of sociability. By making honour and its roots in the desire for recognition the central thread of Mandeville's theory of society, Andrea Branchi offers a unified reading of his work and highlights his relevance as a thinker far beyond the moral problem of commercial societies, opening up new perspectives in Mandeville's studies.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Unapologetically optimistic and bracingly realistic, this is the most inspiring book on ‘ethical living’ I’ve ever read.' Oliver Burkeman, Guardian ‘A monumental event.' Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind ‘A book of great daring, clarity, insight and imagination. To be simultaneously so realistic and so optimistic, and always so damn readable… well that is a miracle for which he should be greatly applauded.’ Stephen Fry In What We Owe The Future, philosopher William MacAskill persuasively argues for longtermism, the idea that positively influencing the distant future is a moral priority of our time. It isn’t enough to mitigate climate change or avert the next pandemic. We must ensure that civilization would rebound if it collapsed; cultivate value pluralism; and prepare for a planet where the most sophisticated beings are digital and not human. The challenges we face are enormous. But so is the influence we have. 

This volume collects twelve new essays by leading moral philosophers on a vitally important topic: the ethics of eating meat. Some of the key questions examined include: Are animals harmed or benefited by our practice of raising and killing them for food? Do the realities of the marketplace entail that we have no power as individuals to improve the lives of any animals by becoming vegetarian, and if so, have we any reason to stop eating meat? Suppose it is morally wrong to eat meat-should we be blamed for doing so? If we should be vegetarians, what sort should we be?

Bare Architecture: a schizoanalysis, is a poststructural exploration of the interface between architecture and the body. Chris L. Smith skilfully introduces and explains numerous concepts drawn from poststructural philosophy to explore the manner by which the architecture/body relation may be rethought in the 21st century. Multiple well-known figures in the discourses of poststructuralism are invoked: Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Roland Barthes, Georges Bataille, Maurice Blanchot, Jorges Luis Borges and Michel Serres. These figures bring into view the philosophical frame in which the body is formulated. Alongside the philosophy, the architecture that Smith comes to refer to as 'bare architecture' is explored. Smith considers architecture as a complex construction and the book draws upon literature, art and music, to provide a critique of the limits, extents and opportunities for architecture itself. The book considers key works from the architects Douglas Darden, Georges Pingusson, Lacatan and Vassal, Carlo Scarpa, Peter Zumthor, Marco Casagrande and Sami Rintala and Raumlabor. Such works are engaged for their capacities to foster a rethinking of the relation between architecture and the body.