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Books > Philosophy > Western philosophy
This book outlines and circumvents two serious problems that appear
to attach to Kant's moral philosophy, or more precisely to the
model of rational agency that underlies that moral philosophy: the
problem of experiential incongruence and the problem of misdirected
moral attention. The book's central contention is that both these
problems can be sidestepped. In order to demonstrate this, it
argues for an entirely novel reading of Kant's views on action and
moral motivation. In addressing the two main problems in Kant's
moral philosophy, the book explains how the first problem arises
because the central elements of Kant's theory of action seem not to
square with our lived experience of agency, and moral agency in
particular. For example, the idea that moral deliberation
invariably takes the form of testing personal policies against the
Categorical Imperative seems at odds with the phenomenology of such
reasoning, as does the claim that all our actions proceed from
explicitly adopted general policies, or maxims. It then goes on to
discuss the second problem showing how it is a result of Kant's
apparent claim that when an agent acts from duty, her reason for
doing so is that her maxim is lawlike. This seems to put the moral
agent's attention in the wrong place: on the nature of her own
maxims, rather than on the world of other people and morally
salient situations. The book shows how its proposed novel reading
of Kant's views ultimately paints an unfamiliar but appealing
picture of the Kantian good-willed agent as much more embedded in
and engaged with the world than has traditionally been supposed.
Helene Cixous: live theory provides a clear and informative
introduction to one of the most important and influential European
writers working today. The book opens with an overview of the key
features of Cixous' theory of "ecriture feminine" (feminine
writing). The various manifestations of "ecriture feminine" are
then explored in chapters on Cixous' fictional and theatrical
writing, her philosophical essays, and her intensely personal
approach to literary criticism. The book concludes with a new,
lively and wide-ranging interview with Helene Cixous in which she
discusses her influences and inspirations, and her thoughts on the
nature of writing and the need for an ethical relationship with the
world. Also offering a survey of the many English translations of
Cixous' work, this book is an indispensable introduction to Cixous'
work for students of literature, philosophy, cultural and gender
studies.
This volume explains how Star Trek allows viewers to comprehend
significant aspects of Georg Hegel's concept the absolute, the
driving force behind history. Gonzalez, with wit and wisdom,
explains how Star Trek exhibits central elements of the absolute.
He describes how themes and ethos central to the show display the
concept beautifully. For instance, the show posits that people must
possess the correct attitudes in order to bring about an ideal
society: a commitment to social justice; an unyielding commitment
to the truth; and a similar commitment to scientific, intellectual
discovery. These characteristics serve as perfect embodiments of
Hegel's conceptualization, and Gonzalez's analysis is sharp and
exacting.
It was not so long ago that the dominant picture of Kant's
practical philosophy was forma listic, focusing almost exclusively
on his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and Critique of
Practical Reason. However, the overall picture of Kant's
wide-ranging philosophy has since been broadened and deepened. We
now have a much more complete understanding of the range of Kant's
practical interests and of his contributions to areas as diverse as
anthropology, peda gogy, and legal theory. What remains somewhat
obscure, however, is how these different contributions hang
together in the way that Kant suggests that they must. This book
explores these different conceptions of humanity, morality, and
legality in Kant as main 'manifestations' or 'dimensions' of
practical normativity. These interrelated terms play a cru cial
role in highlighting different rational obligations, their
source(s), and their appli cability in the face of changing
circumstances.
Gottlob Frege's brief article "Uber Sinn und Bedeutung" ("On Sense
and Reference") has come to be seen, in the century since its
publication in 1892, as one of the seminal texts of analytic
philosophy. It, along with the rest of Frege's writings on logic
and mathematics, came to mark out a whole new domain of inquiry and
to set the agenda for it. This volume bears witness to the
continuing importance and influence of that agenda. It contains
original papers written by leading Frege scholars for the
conference held in 1992 in Karlovy Vary to celebrate the centenary
of the publication of Frege's essay. The 14 essays show how the
questions Frege discusses in that essay connect intimately with
issues much debated in current philosophy of language and
philosophy of mind.
Early Greek Thought calls into question a longstanding mythology -
operative in both the Analytic and Continental traditions - that
the 'Pre-Socratics had the grandiose audacity to break with all
traditional forms of knowledge' (Badiou). Each of the variants of
this mythology is dismantled in an attempt to not only retrieve an
'indigenous' interpretation of early Greek thought, but also to
expose the mythological character of our own contemporary
meta-narratives regarding the 'origins' of 'Western', 'Occidental'
philosophy. Using an original hermeneutical approach, James Luchte
excavates the context ofemergence of early Greek thought through an
exploration of the mytho-poetic horizons of the archaic world, in
relation to which, as Plato testifies, the Greeks were merely
'children'. Luchte discloses 'philosophy in the tragic age' as a
creative response to a 'contestation' of mytho-poetic narratives
and 'ways of being'. The tragic character of early Greek thought is
unfolded through a cultivation of a conversation between its basic
thinkers, one which would remain incomprehensible, with Bataille,
in the 'absence of myth' and the exile of poetry.
This monograph presents new material on Francisco Suarez's
comprehensive theory of sense perception. The core theme is
perceptual intentionality in Suarez's theory of the senses,
external and internal, as presented in his Commentaria una cum
quaestionibus in libros Aristotelis De anima published in 1621. The
author targets the question of the multistage genesis of perceptual
acts by considering the ontological "items" involved in the
procession of sensory information. However, the structural issue is
not left aside, and the nature of the relationship due to which our
perceptions are mental representations of this or that object is
also considered. The heuristic historiographical background
includes not only the theories of classical authors, such as
Aristotle and Aquinas, but also those of late medieval authors of
the fourteenth century. These are headed by John Duns Scotus, John
of Jandun, Peter Auriol and Peter John Olivi. Readers will discover
the differences between Suarez's and Aquinas's views, as well as
other sources that may have served as positive inspiration for the
Jesuit's theory. By considering the late medieval philosophy of the
fourteenth century, this book helps, to a certain extent, to fill a
gap in the historiography of philosophy regarding the link between
late medieval and early modern scholasticism. In the first part of
the book, the metaphysics of the soul and powers is considered.
Chapters on the external senses follow, covering topics such as the
sensible species, the causes of sensation, self-awareness, and the
ordering of the external senses. A further chapter is devoted to
the internal senses and the author argues that by reducing the
number and functional scope of the interior senses Suarez deepens
the gap between the external senses and the intellect, but he
reduces it through emphasizing the unifying efficacy of the
soul.This book brings a synthetic and unifying perspective to
contemporary research and will particularly appeal to graduate
students and researchers in theology and philosophy, especially
philosophy of mind.
The Philosophies of America Reader brings together an unparalleled
selection of original and translated readings spanning several eras
and American traditions. Addressing perennial questions of
philosophy and new questions arising in a variety of cultural
contexts, texts from Classical American, Native American, Latin
American, African American, Asian American, Mexican, Caribbean, and
South American philosophers reveal the interweaving tapestry of
ideas characteristic of America. With its distinctively pluralistic
approach, this reader promotes intercultural dialogue and
understanding, highlighting points of convergence and divergence
across American philosophical traditions. It features: * Writings
by traditionally underrepresented groups * Primary texts
thematically arranged around major areas of philosophical enquiry
including selfhood, knowledge, learning, and ethics * Introductory
essays outlining the trajectories of each section * Suggestions for
further primary and secondary readings, guiding readers in further
study As the only available reader in American philosophy of such
wide ranging content, this is an essential resource for those
interested in intellectual history, thought and culture, and
philosophical theories of America.
Reinhold's Elementary Philosophy is the first system of
transcendental philosophy after Kant. The scholarship of the last
years has understood it in different ways: as a model of
Grundsatzphilosophie, as a defense of the concept of freedom, as a
transformation of philosophy into history of philosophy. The
present investigation intends to underline another 'golden thread'
that runs through the writings of Reinhold from 1784 to 1794: that
which sees in the Elementary Philosophy a system of transcendental
psychology.
Dathorne's approach is basically literary and historical, but he
has also developed his argument around politics, popular culture,
language, and even landscape architecture. He looks at Europe as a
mental construct of philosophies and politics that both the English
and European Americans identified with Greece and Rome. Dathorne
shows how much of what we think of as European heritage is actually
of African and/or Islamic background. He shows the founders of the
U.S. to be idealistic Athenian-type elites, unlikely to allow
humanity to govern as a citizenship. The book discusses the
literary history of the ex-colony of America with its own special
lens, showing how again and again the makers of the American myth
failed to come to terms with the multicultural realities.
Spinoza is among the most controversial and asymmetrical thinkers
in the tradition and history of modern European philosophy. Since
the 17th century, his work has aroused some of the fiercest and
most intense polemics in the discipline. From his expulsion from
the synagogue and onwards, Spinoza has never ceased to embody the
secular, heretical and self-loathing Jew. Ivan Segre, a philosopher
and celebrated scholar of the Talmud, discloses the conservative
underpinnings that have animated Spinoza's numerable critics and
antagonists. Through a close reading of Leo Strauss and several
contemporary Jewish thinkers, such as Jean-Claude Milner and Benny
Levy (Sartre's last secretary), Spinoza: the Ethics of an Outlaw
aptly delineates the common cause of Spinoza's contemporary
censors: an explicit hatred of reason and its emancipatory
potential. Spinoza's radical heresy lies in his rejection of any
and all blind adherence to Biblical Law, and in his plea for the
freedom and autonomy of thought. Segre reclaims Spinoza as a
faithful interpreter of the revolutionary potential contained
within the Old Testament.
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Living Currency
(Hardcover)
Pierre Klossowski; Edited by Daniel W. Smith, Nicolae Morar, Vernon W. Cisney
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R1,886
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'I should have written you after my first reading of The Living
Currency; it was already breath-taking and I should have responded.
After reading it a few more times, I know it is the best book of
our times.' Letter to Pierre Klossowski from Michel Foucault,
winter 1970. Living Currency is the first English translation of
Klossowski's La monnaie vivante. It offers an analysis of economic
production as a mechanism of psychic production of desires and is a
key work from this often overlooked but wonderfully creative French
thinker.
This is an original and refreshing look at one of the most
important and influential philosophers of the 20th Century. This
book offers a faithful and meticulous reading of Heidegger's magnum
opus, "Being and Time".Martin Heidegger was one of the most
influential philosophers of the 20th century. His analysis of human
existence proves an inexhaustible ground for thinkers of all
backgrounds who seek answers for their specific questions left open
or opened up by our times. This book explores the intrinsic
connection between two fundamentally human traits, language and
death. Heidegger addresses each of these traits in depth, without
ever explicitly outlining their relationship in a separate theory.
However, in a close examination of Heidegger's magnum opus, "Being
and Time", Joachim L. Oberst uncovers a connection in three basic
steps. Ultimately the author argues that the human invention of
language is motivated by the drive towards immortality - language
emerges from the experience of mortality as a response to it. This
is a refreshing look at one of the most challenging and influential
philosophers of our times.
This is a unique examination of the writing of Felix Guattari, one
of France's most important intellectuals of the twentieth
century.Felix Guattari was a French political militant, practicing
psychoanalyst and international public intellectual. He is best
known for his work with the philosopher Gilles Deleuze on the
two-volume "Capitalism and Schizophrenia", one of the most
influential works of post-structuralism. From the mid-1950s onward,
Guattari exerted a profound yet often behind-the-scenes influence
on institutional psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, radical politics
and philosophy. "Guattari's Diagrammtic Thought" examines the
writings that Guattari authored on his own, both before and during
his collaboration with Deleuze, providing a startlingly fresh
perspective on intellectual and political trends in France and
beyond during the second half of the twentieth century.Janell
Watson acknowledges the historical and biographical aspect of
Guattari's writing and explores the relevance of his theoretical
ideas to topics as diverse as the May 1968 student movement,
Lacanian psychoanalysis, neo-liberalism, ethnic identity,
microbiology, quantum mechanics, chaos theory, ecology, the mass
media, and the subjective dimensions of information technology. The
book demonstrates that Guattari's unique thought process yields a
markedly Guattarian version of many seemingly familiar Deleuzean
notions.
Charles S. Peirce, the founder of pragmatism, was also the
architect of a remarkable theory of signs that continues to puzzle
and inspire philosophers today. In this important new book, Mats
Bergman articulates a bold new approach to Peirce's semeiotic
through a reassessment of the role of rhetoric in his work. This
systematic approach, which is offered as an alternative to
formalistic accounts of Peirce's project, shows how general
sign-theoretical conceptions can plausibly be interpreted as
abstractions from everyday communicative experiences and practices.
Building on this fallible ground of rhetoric-in-use, Bergman
explicates Peirce's semeiotic in a way that is conducive to the
development of rhetorical inquiry and philosophical criticism.
Following this path, the underpinnings of a uniquely Peircean
philosophy of communication is unearthed - a pragmatic conception
encased in a normative rhetoric, motivated by the continual need to
transform and improve our habits of action.
The present book is the first to undertake a systematic study of
Peirce's conception of historical knowledge and of its value for
philosophy. It does so by both reconstructing in detail Peirce's
arguments and giving a detailed account of the many ways in which
history becomes an object of explicit reflection in his writings.
The book's leading idea may be stated as follows: Peirce manages to
put together an exceptionally compelling argument about history's
bearing on philosophy not so much because he derives it from a
well-articulated and polished conception of the relation between
the two disciplines; but on the contrary, because he holds on to
this relation while intuiting that it can easily turn into a
conflict. This potential conflict acts therefore as a spur to put
forth an unusually profound and multi-faceted analysis of what it
means for philosophy to rely on historical arguments. Peirce looks
at history as a way to render philosophical investigations more
detailed, more concrete and more sensitive to the infinite and
unforeseeable nuances that characterize human experience. In this
way, he provides us with an exceptionally valuable contribution to
a question that has remained gravely under-theorized in
contemporary debates.
Although Foucault departs from Marxism, his own approach
constitutes a form of consistent materialism which has theoretical
implications for the analysis of social and educational discursive
systems. In seeking to demonstrate a correct reading of Foucault,
linguistic readings of his work, such as those of Christopher
Norris (1993), which represent him as part of the linguistic turn
in French philosophy, where language (or representation) henceforth
defines the limits of thought, will be dispelled in the process of
being corrected. Rather, Foucault will be represented, as Habermas
(1987) has suggested, not merely as a historicist but at the same
time as a nominalist, materialist, and empiricist.
Because the distinctiveness of Foucault's approach can best be
seen in contrast to other major philosophical systems and thinkers,
considerable attention is given to examining Foucault's
relationship to Marxism, as well as his relations to Kant, Gramsci,
Habermas, and the Greeks. In relation to education, there is in
Foucault's approach a double emphasis which constitutes an ordering
principle for this work. On the one hand, attention is directed to
discursive practices which perform an educative role in the
constitution of subjects and of human forms of existence. On the
other hand, forms of education are constituted and utilized for the
purposes of collective ethical self-creation, a theme Foucault
emphasized in his later works. The book assesses some of the more
interesting recent utilizations of Foucault in educational
research.
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