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Books > Philosophy > Western philosophy
How ought you to evaluate your options if you're uncertain about
what's fundamentally valuable? A prominent response is Expected
Value Maximisation (EVM)-the view that under axiological
uncertainty, an option is better than another if and only if it has
the greater expected value across axiologies. But the expected
value of an option depends on quantitative probability and value
facts, and in particular on value comparisons across axiologies. We
need to explain what it is for such facts to hold. Also, EVM is by
no means self-evident. We need an argument to defend that it's
true. This book introduces an axiomatic approach to answer these
worries. It provides an explication of what EVM means by use of
representation theorems: intertheoretic comparisons can be
understood in terms of facts about which options are better than
which, and mutatis mutandis for intratheoretic comparisons and
axiological probabilities. And it provides a systematic argument to
the effect that EVM is true: the theory can be vindicated through
simple axioms. The result is a formally cogent and philosophically
compelling extension of standard decision theory, and original take
on the problem of axiological or normative uncertainty.
"The Descartes Dictionary" is an accessible guide to the world of
the seventeenth-century philosopher Rene Descartes. Meticulously
researched and extensively cross-referenced, this unique book
covers all his major works, ideas and influences, and provides a
firm grounding in the central themes of Descartes' thought.The
introduction provides a biographical sketch, a brief account of
Descartes' philosophical works, and a summary of the current state
of Cartesian studies, discussing trends in research over the past
four decades. The A-Z entries include clear definitions of the key
terms used in Descartes' writings and detailed synopses of his
works. Also included are entries noting philosophical influences,
of both figures that influenced Descartes and those that he in turn
influenced. For anyone reading or studying Descartes, rationalism,
or modern philosophy more generally, this original resource
provides a wealth of useful information, analysis, and criticism.
Including clear explanations of often complex terminology, "The
Descartes Dictionary" covers everything that is essential to a
sound understanding of Descartes' philosophy.
Edward Said and the Question of Subjectivity explores the notion of
subjectivity implicated in and articulated by Said in his writings.
Analyzing several of his major works, Pannian argues that there is
a shift in Said's intellectual trajectory that takes place after
the composition of Orientalism. In so doing, Said forthrightly
attempts to retrieve a theoretical and political humanism, as
Pannian identifies, despite the difficult and sanguinary aspects of
its past. He elaborates upon Said's understanding that only after
recognising the structures of violence and coming to discern
strategies of interpellation, may the individual subject
effectively resist them. Pannian also explores Said's ideas on
exilic subjectivity, the role of intellectuals, acts of memory,
critical secularism, affiliation and solidarity before dwelling on
his interface with Marxist thinkers such as Antonio Gramsci,
Theodor Adorno, and Raymond Williams. This engagement marks Said's
own subject formation, and shapes his self-reflexive mode of
knowledge production.
The philosophical and philological study of Aristotle fragments and
lost works has fallen somewhat into the background since the
1960's. This is regrettable considering the different and
innovative directions the study of Aristotle has taken in the last
decades. This collection of new peer-reviewed essays applies the
latest developments and trends of analysis, criticism, and
methodology to the study of Aristotle's fragments. The individual
essays use the fragments as tools of interpretation, shed new light
on different areas of Aristotle philosophy, and lay bridges between
Aristotle's lost and extant works. The first part shows how
Aristotle frames parts of his own understanding of Philosophy in
his published, 'popular' work. The second part deals with issues of
philosophical interpretation in Aristotle's extant works which can
be illuminated by fragments of his lost works. The philosophical
issues treated in this section range from Theology to Natural
Science, Psychology, Politics, and Poetics. As a whole, the book
articulates a new approach to Aristotle's lost works, by providing
a reassessment and new methodological explorations of the
fragments.
This book examines South Africa's post-apartheid culture through
the lens of affect theory in order to argue that the
socio-political project of the "new" South Africa, best exemplified
in their Truth and Reconciliation Commission Hearings, was
fundamentally an affective, emotional project. Through the TRC
hearings, which publicly broadcast the testimonies of both victims
and perpetrators of gross human rights violations, the African
National Congress government of South Africa, represented by Nelson
Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, endeavoured to generate
powerful emotions of contrition and sympathy in order to build an
empathetic bond between white and black citizens, a bond referred
to frequently by Tutu in terms of the African philosophy of
interconnection: ubuntu. This book explores the representations of
affect, and the challenges of generating ubuntu, through close
readings of a variety of cultural products: novels, poetry, memoir,
drama, documentary film and audio anthology.
This book develops an argument for a historicist and
non-foundationalist notion of rationality based on an
interpretation of Wittgenstein of the Philosophical Investigations
and On Certainty. The book examines two notions of rationality-a
universal versus a constitutive conception - and their significance
for educational theory. The former advanced by analytic philosophy
of education as a form of conceptual analysis is based on a
mistaken reading of Wittgenstein. Analytic philosophy of education
used a reading of Wittgenstein's philosophy of language to set up
and justify an absolute, universal and ahistorical notion of
rationality. By contrast, the book examines the underlying
influence of the later Wittgenstein on the historicist turn in
philosophy of science as a basis for a non-foundationalist and
constitutive notion of rationality which is both historical and
cultural, and remains consistent with wider developments in
philosophy, hermeneutics and social theory. This book aims to
understand the philosophical motivation behind this view, to
examine its intellectual underpinnings and to substitute this
universal conception of rationality by reference to a Hegelian
interpretation of the later Wittgenstein that emphasizes his status
as an anti-foundational thinker.
From the early 1790s until after the turn of the century, a very
productive but also controversial exchange took place between
Reinhold and Fichte. Though many key aspects of post-Kantian
philosophy were discussed, the philosophical confrontation between
Reinhold and Fichte is most instructive for the understanding of
post-Kantian philosophy. The exchange started when Fichte published
his verdict on Reinhold's Elementarphilosophie and disapproved of
its fundamental principle. In 1794 Fichte challenged Reinhold by
presenting his Wissenschaftslehre. Reinhold was not convinced of
Fichte's foundation of philosophy at first, but announced that he
accepted the Wissenschaftslehre in 1797. While Reinhold and Fichte
officially collaborated in the following three years, tensions
concerning fundamental questions were still present. When Reinhold
adopted Rational Realism, his relation to Fichte deteriorated and
the exchange between the two finally ended. The contributions in
the present collection focus on the central systematic issues at
the different stages of the confrontation between Fichte and
Reinhold, thereby illuminating questions that are essential to the
understanding of the evolution of post-Kantian German philosophy.
Fifty-one years after the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche died, My
Sister and I appeared on the American market as a book that was
reputedly written by him when he was an inmate in the Jena insane
asylum. Since the day it appeared, the book's authenticity has been
generally dismissed as a fraud.Walter Stewart takes a fresh look at
this book in what is the first detailed account of the myth,
legend, and scholarly criticism that has shrouded this work in
mystery for over half a century and for the first time unveils the
real truth about My Sister and I.
This book aims to explain the decline of the later Wittgensteinian
tradition in analytic philosophy during the second half of the
twentieth century. Throughout the 1950s, Oxford was the center of
analytic philosophy and Wittgenstein - the later Wittgenstein - the
most influential contemporary thinker within that philosophical
tradition. Wittgenstein's methods and ideas were widely accepted,
with everything seeming to point to the Wittgensteinian paradigm
having a similar impact on the philosophical scenes of all English
speaking countries. However, this was not to be the case. By the
1980s, albeit still important, Wittgenstein was considered as a
somewhat marginal thinker. What occurred within the history of
analytic philosophy to produce such a decline? This book expertly
traces the early reception of Wittgenstein in the United States,
the shift in the humanities to a tradition rooted in the natural
sciences, and the economic crisis of the mid-1970s, to reveal the
factors that contributed to the eventual hostility towards the
later Wittgensteinian tradition.
"Writing and Difference" is widely perceived to be an excellent
starting place for those new to Derrida and this "Reader's Guide"
is the perfect accompaniment to the study of one of the most
important philosophical works of the 20th Century."Writing and
Difference" is one of Jacques Derrida's most widely read and
studied books. In a collection of essays that engage with
literature, history, poetry, dramaturgy, psychoanalysis, ethnology
and structuralism, Derrida demonstrates how philosophy and
literature might be read, and revolutionises our understanding of
writing, difference and life itself.This introduction is the ideal
companion to an unprecedented and influential group of texts. Sarah
Wood reengages with the original French text and offers guidance
on: philosophical and historical context; key themes; reading the
text; reception and influence; and, further reading."Continuum
Reader's Guides" are clear, concise and accessible introductions to
key texts in literature and philosophy. Each book explores the
themes, context, criticism and influence of key works, providing a
practical introduction to close reading, guiding students towards a
thorough understanding of the text. They provide an essential,
up-to-date resource, ideal for undergraduate students.
Merleau-Ponty was one of the most important European philosophers
of the 20th century, whose work made enormous contributions to the
development of phenomenology and the concept of the lived-body.
Clearly and thematically structured, covering all Merleau-Ponty's
key works and focussing particularly on the hugely important The
Phenomenology of Perception, Starting with Merleau-Ponty leads the
reader through a thorough overview of the development of his
thought, resulting in a more thorough understanding of the roots of
his philosophical concerns. Offering coverage of the full range of
Merleau-Ponty's ideas, the book firmly sets his work in the context
of the 20th century intellectual landscape and explores his
contributions to phenomenology, existentialism, empiricism,
objective thought and his vision of human reality. Crucially the
book introduces the major thinkers and events that proved
influential in the development of Merleau-Ponty's work, including
Husserl, Sartre, Heidegger and those philosophers and psychologists
whom he labelled 'intellectualists' and 'empiricists'. This is the
ideal introduction for anyone coming to the work of this hugely
important thinker for the first time.
Excursions with Thoreau is a major new exploration of Thoreau's
writing and thought that is philosophical yet sensitive to the
literary and religious. Edward F. Mooney's excursions through
passages from Walden, Cape Cod, and his late essay "Walking" reveal
Thoreau as a miraculous writer, artist, and religious adept. Of
course Thoreau remains the familiar political activist and
environmental philosopher, but in these fifteen excursions we
discover new terrain. Among the notable themes that emerge are
Thoreau's grappling with underlying affliction; his pursuit of
wonder as ameliorating affliction; his use of the enigmatic image
of "a child of the mist"; his exalting "sympathy with intelligence"
over plain knowledge; and his preferring "befitting reverie"-not
argument-as the way to be carried to better, cleaner perceptions of
reality. Mooney's aim is bring alive Thoreau's moments of reverie
and insight, and to frame his philosophy as poetic and episodic
rather than discursive and systematic.
The book is the first detailed and full exegesis of the role of
death in Heidegger's philosophy and provides a decisive answer to
the question of being. It is well-known that Heidegger asked the
"question of being". It is equally commonplace to assume that
Heidegger failed to provide a proper answer to the question. In
this provocative new study Niederhauser argues that Heidegger gives
a distinct response to the question of being and that the
phenomenon of death is key to finding and understanding it. The
book offers challenging interpretations of crucial moments of
Heidegger's philosophy such as aletheia, the history of being,
time, technology, the fourfold, mortality, the meaning of
existence, the event, and language. Niederhauser makes the case
that any reading of Heidegger that ignores death cannot fully
understand those concepts. The book argues that death is central to
Heidegger's "thinking path" from the early 1920s until his late
post-war philosophy. The book thus attempts to show that there is a
unity of the early and late Heidegger often ignored by other
commentators. Niederhauser argues that death is the fulcrum of
Heidegger's ontology and the turning point of the history of being.
Death resurfaces at the most crucial moments of the "thinking path"
- from beginning to end. The book is of interest to those invested
in current debates on the ethics of dying and the transhumanist
project of digital human immortality. The text also shows that for
Heidegger philosophy means first and foremost to learn how to die.
This volume speaks to continental and analytical philosophers and
students alike as it draws on a number of diverse Heidegger
interpretations and appreciates intercultural differences in
reading Heidegger.
The work of the later Schelling (in and after 1809) seems
antithetical to that of Nietzsche: one a Romantic, idealist and
Christian, the other Dionysian, anti-idealist and anti-Christian.
Still, there is a very meaningful and educative dialogue to be
found between Schelling and Nietzsche on the topics of reason,
freedom and religion. Both of them start their philosophy with a
similar critique of the Western tradition, which to them is overly
dualist, rationalist and anti-organic (metaphysically, ethically,
religiously, politically). In response, they hope to inculcate a
more lively view of reality in which a new understanding of freedom
takes center stage. This freedom can be revealed and strengthened
through a proper approach to religion, one that neither disconnects
from nor subordinates religion to reason. Religion is the
dialogical other to reason, one that refreshes and animates our
attempts to navigate the world autonomously. In doing so, Schelling
and Nietzsche open up new avenues of thinking about (the
relationship between) freedom, reason and religion.
This book joins the contemporary recovery of Kant's empirical works
to highlight the relevance of his concept of culture for
understanding the sources of various characteristic modern
dilemmas, such as the tension between culture and happiness, the
morally ambivalent nature of cultural progress, or the existing
conflicts between a factual plurality of cultures and the
historical forces pressing toward a universal civilization. The
book will be of special interest for Kantian scholars, moral and
political philosophers, as well as philosophers of culture.
This is an important new study of a central figure in Modern
Philosophy focusing on the vital issues of human freedom and moral
responsibility. Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) was one of the most
notorious and pious of Rene Descartes' philosophical followers. A
member of The Oratory, a Roman Catholic order founded in 1611 to
increase devotion to the Church and St. Augustine, Malebranche
brought together his Cartesianism and his Augustinianism in a
rigorous theological-philosophical system. Malebranche's
occasionalist metaphysics asserts that God alone possesses true
causal power. He asserts that human understanding is totally
passive and relies on God for both sensory and intellectual
perceptions. Critics have wondered what exactly his system leaves
for humans to do. Yet leaving a space for true human intellectual
and moral freedom is something Malebranche clearly intended. This
book offers a detailed evaluation of Malebranche's efforts to
provide a plausible account of human intellectual and moral agency
in the context of his commitment to an infinitely perfect being
possessing all causal power. Peppers-Bates suggests that
Malebranche might offer a model of agent-willing useful for
contemporary theorists. "Continuum Studies in Philosophy" presents
cutting-edge scholarship in all the major areas of research and
study. 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 a range of
disciplines across the humanities and social sciences.
For Kierkegaard the most important thing in life is to become a
single individual or a true self. We are all born as human beings,
but this makes us only members of a crowd, not true selves. To
become a true self, we must transcend what we are at any given time
and orient ourselves to the possible and to the actuality of the
possible, to which all that is possible owes itself. True selves
exist only in becoming, they are fragile, and that is their
strength. They are not grounded by their own activities, but in a
reality extra se, the flip side of which is a deep passivity that
underlies all their activity and allows them to continually leave
themselves and move beyond their respective actualities toward the
new and the possible. Therefore, without the passion of
possibility, there is no truly single individual. This study of
Kierkegaard's post-metaphysical theology outlines his existential
phenomenology of the self by exploring in three parts what
Kierkegaard has to say about the sense of self (finitude,
uniqueness, self-interpretation, and alienation), about selfless
passion (anxiety, trust, hope, and true love), and about how to
become a true self (a Christian in Christendom and a neighbor of
God's neighbors).
This volume aims to contextualize the development and reception of
Husserl's transcendental-phenomenological idealism by placing him
in dialogue with his most important interlocutors - his mentors,
peers, and students. Husserl's "turn" to idealism and the ensuing
reaction to Ideas I resulted in a schism between the early members
of the phenomenological movement. The division between the realist
and the transcendental phenomenologists is often portrayed as a
sharp one, with the realists naively and dogmatically rejecting all
of Husserl's written work after the Logical Investigations.
However, this understanding of the trajectory of the
phenomenological movement ignores the extensive and intricate
contours of the idealism-realism debate. In addition to helping us
better interpret Husserl's attempts to defend his idealism,
reconsidering the idealism-realism debate elucidates the
relationship and differences between Husserl's phenomenology and
the broader landscape of early 20th century German philosophy,
particularly the Munich phenomenologists and the Neo-Kantians. The
contributions to this volume reconsider many of the early
interpretations and critiques of Husserl, inviting readers to
assess the merits of the arguments put forward by his critics while
also shedding new light on their so-called "misunderstandings" of
his idealism. This text should be of interest to researchers
working in the history of phenomenology and Husserlian studies.
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