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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Western philosophy, c 500 to c 1600
The brilliant and provocative new book from one of the world’s foremost political writers.
In The War on the West, international bestselling author Douglas Murray asks: if the history of humankind is one of slavery, conquest, prejudice, genocide and exploitation, why are only Western nations taking the blame for it?
It’s become perfectly acceptable to celebrate the contributions of non-Western cultures, but discussing their flaws and crimes is called hate speech. What’s more it has become acceptable to discuss the flaws and crimes of Western culture, but celebrating their contributions is also called hate speech. Some of this is a much-needed reckoning; however, some is part of a larger international attack on reason, democracy, science, progress and the citizens of the West by dishonest scholars, hatemongers, hostile nations and human-rights abusers hoping to distract from their ongoing villainy.
In The War on the West, Douglas Murray shows the ways in which many well-meaning people have been lured into polarisation by lies, and shows how far the world’s most crucial political debates have been hijacked across Europe and America. Propelled by an incisive deconstruction of inconsistent arguments and hypocritical activism, The War on the West is an essential and urgent polemic that cements Murray’s status as one of the world’s foremost political writers.
About Aquinas: St Thomas Aquinas lived from 1224/5 to 1274, mostly
in his native Italy but for a time in France. He was the greatest
of the medieval philosopher/theologians, and one of the most
important of all Western thinkers. His most famous books are the
two summaries of his teachings, the Summa contra gentiles and the
Summa theologiae. About this book: Norman Kretzmann expounds and
criticizes Aquinas's natural theology of creation, which is
`natural' (or philosophical) in virtue of Aquinas's having
developed it without depending on the data of Scripture. The
Metaphysics of Creation is a continuation of the project Kretzmann
began in The Metaphysics of Theism, moving the focus from the first
to the second book of Aquinas's Summa contra gentiles. Here we find
Aquinas building upon his account of the existence and nature of
God, arguing that the existence of things other than God must be
explained by divine creation out of nothing. He develops arguments
to identify God's motivation for creating, to defend the
possibility of a beginningless created universe, and to explain the
origin of species. He then focuses exclusively on creatures with
intellects, with the result that more than half of his natural
theology of creation constitutes a philosophy of mind. Kretzmann
gives a masterful guide through all these arguments. As before, he
not only expounds Aquinas's natural theology, but advocates it as
the best historical instance available to us.
Frederick F. Schmitt offers a systematic interpretation of David
Hume's epistemology, as it is presented in the indispensable A
Treatise of Human Nature. Hume's text alternately manifests
scepticism, empiricism, and naturalism in epistemology.
Interpretations of his epistemology have tended to emphasise one of
these apparently conflicting positions over the others. But Schmitt
argues that the positions can be reconciled by tracing them to a
single underlying epistemology of knowledge and probability quietly
at work in the text, an epistemology according to which truth is
the chief cognitive merit of a belief, and knowledge and probable
belief are species of reliable belief. Hume adopts Locke's
dichotomy between knowledge and probability and reassigns causal
inference from its traditional place in knowledge to the domain of
probability-his most significant departure from earlier accounts of
cognition. This shift of causal inference to an associative and
imaginative operation raises doubts about the merit of causal
inference, suggesting the counterintuitive consequence that causal
inference is wholly inferior to knowledge-producing demonstration.
To defend his associationist psychology of causal inference from
this suggestion, Hume must favourably compare causal inference with
demonstration in a manner compatible with associationism. He does
this by finding an epistemic status shared by demonstrative
knowledge and causally inferred beliefs-the status of justified
belief. On the interpretation developed here, he identifies
knowledge with infallible belief and justified belief with reliable
belief, i.e., belief produced by truth-conducive belief-forming
operations. Since infallibility implies reliable belief, knowledge
implies justified belief. He then argues that causally inferred
beliefs are reliable, so share this status with knowledge. Indeed
Hume assumes that causally inferred beliefs enjoy this status in
his very argument for associationism. On the reliability
interpretation, Hume's accounts of knowledge and justified belief
are part of a broader veritistic epistemology making true belief
the chief epistemic value and goal of science. The veritistic
interpretation advanced here contrasts with interpretations on
which the chief epistemic value of belief is its empirical
adequacy, stability, or fulfilment of a natural function, as well
as with the suggestion that the chief value of belief is its
utility for common life. Veritistic interpretations are offered of
the natural function of belief, the rules of causal inference,
scepticism about body and matter, and the criteria of
justification. As Schmitt shows, there is much attention to Hume's
sources in Locke and to the complexities of his epistemic
vocabulary.
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Our way of life isn't working anymore. People are losing their
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harmonious, prosperous, and connected life. International
bestselling author Lynne McTaggart demonstrates with hard science
that we are living contrary to our true nature.
In fact, life doesn't have to be "I win, you lose; "we have been
designed to succeed and prosper when we work as part of a greater
whole. "The Bond "proves that we are weak when we compete, and
thrive only when we cooperate and connect deeply with each other.
In this seminal book for our age, McTaggart also offers a complete
program of practical tools and exercises to help you enjoy closer
relationships--across even the deepest divides--encourage a more
connected workplace, rebuild a united neighborhood, and become a
powerful, global agent of change.
Words have determinable sense only within a complex of unstated
assumptions, and all interpretation must therefore go beyond the
given material. This book addresses what is man's place in the
Aristotelian world. It also describes man's abilities and prospects
in managing his life, and considers how far Aristotle's treatment
of time and history licenses the sort of dynamic interpretation of
his doctrines that have been given. The ontological model that
explains much of Aristotle's conclusions and methods is one of
life-worlds, in which the material universe of scientific myth is
no more than an abstraction from lived reality, not its
transcendent ground.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
This monograph is a critical and historical account of Aristotelian
essentialism and modal logic. In Chapter One, ancient and
contemporary interpretations and claims of inconsistency in
Aristotle's modal syllogistic are examined. A more consistent model
is developed through attention to Aristotle's comments on negation.
In Chapter Two, proofs for each of the mixed apodictic syllogisms
are analyzed and diagrammed. Chapter Three explores how Aristotle's
modal metaphysics fits within the context of the Posterior
Analytics. Chapter Four contrasts Aristotelian modal logic to
contemporary modal metaphysics and argues for ways in which a
return to Aristotle may spark intriguing thought in contemporary
discussions of the philosophy of science and in debate over the
metaphysics of identity.
Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy showcases the best scholarly
research in this flourishing field. The series covers all aspects
of medieval philosophy, including the Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew
traditions, and runs from the end of antiquity into the
Renaissance. It publishes new work by leading scholars in the
field, and combines historical scholarship with philosophical
acuteness. The papers will address a wide range of topics, from
political philosophy to ethics, and logic to metaphysics. OSMP is
an essential resource for anyone working in the area.
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