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Books > Philosophy > Western philosophy
In Posthumanism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Peter Mahon goes beyond
recent theoretical approaches to 'the posthuman' to argue for a
concrete posthumanism, which arises as humans, animals and
technology become entangled, in science, society and culture.
Concrete posthumanism is rooted in cutting-edge advances in
techno-science, and this book offers readers an exciting, fresh and
innovative exploration of this undulating, and often unstable,
terrain. With wide-ranging coverage, of cybernetics, information
theory, medicine, genetics, machine learning, politics, science
fiction, philosophy and futurology, Mahon examines how posthumanism
played-and continues to play-a crucial role in shaping how we
understand our world. This analysis of posthumanism centers on
human interactions with tools and technology, the centrality of
science, as well as an understanding of techno-science as a
pharmakon-an ancient Greek word for a substance that is both poison
and cure. Mahon argues that posthumanism must be approached with an
interdisciplinary attitude: a concrete posthumanism is only
graspable through knowledge derived from science and the
humanities. He concludes by sketching a 'post-humanities' to help
us meet the challenges of posthumanism, challenges to which we all
must rise. Posthumanism: A Guide for the Perplexed provides a
concise, detailed and coherent exploration of posthumanism,
introducing key approaches, concepts and themes. It is ideal for
readers of all stripes who are interested in a concrete
posthumanism and require more than just a simple introduction.
Overcoming Uncertainty in Ancient Greek Political Philosophy makes
an historical and theoretical contribution by explaining the role
of opinion in ancient Greek political philosophy, showing its
importance for Aristotle's theory of deliberation, and indicating a
new model for a deliberative republic. Currently, there are no
studies of opinion in ancient Greek political theory and so the
book breaks new historical ground. The book establishes that
opinion is key for the political theories of Plato, Aristotle, and
the Stoics because each sees uncertainty as a problem that needs to
be overcome if one is to establish a virtuous polity. Since they
have different notions of the nature of the uncertainty of opinion,
they develop very different political strategies to overcome it.
The book explains that Plato's and the Stoics' analyses of
uncertainty support oligarchy and monarchy, respectively, and that
theoretical support for deliberate politics requires a more nuanced
understanding of uncertainty that only Aristotle provides.
Most human action has a technical dimension. This book examines
four components of this technical dimension. First, in all actions,
various individual, organizational or institutional agents combine
actional capabilities with tools, institutions, infrastructure and
other elements by means of which they act. Second, the deployment
of capabilities and means is permeated by ethical aspirations and
hesitancies. Third, all domains of action are affected by these
ethical dilemmas. Fourth, the dimensions of the technicity of
action are typical of human life in general, and not just a
regional or culturally specific phenomenon. In this study, an
interdisciplinary approach is adopted to encompass the broad
anthropological scope of this study and combine this bigger picture
with detailed attention to the socio-historical particularities of
action as it plays out in different contexts. Hermeneutics (the
philosophical inquiry into the human phenomena of meaning,
understanding and interpretation) and social science (as the study
of all human affairs) are the two main disciplinary orientations of
this book. This study clarifies the technical dimension of the
entire spectrum of human action ranging from daily routine to the
extreme of violent protest.
For centuries, philosophers have addressed the ontological question
of whether God exists. Most recently, philosophers have begun to
explore the axiological question of what value impact, if any,
God's existence has (or would have) on our world. This book brings
together four prestigious philosophers, Michael Almeida, Travis
Dumsday, Perry Hendricks and Graham Oppy, to present different
views on the axiological question about God. Each contributor
expresses a position on axiology, which is then met with responses
from the remaining contributors. This structure makes for genuine
discussion and developed exploration of the key issues at stake,
and shows that the axiological question is more complicated than it
first appears. Chapters explore a range of relevant issues,
including the relationship between Judeo-Christian theism and
non-naturalist alternatives such as pantheism, polytheism, and
animism/panpsychism. Further chapters consider the attitudes and
emotions of atheists within the theism conversation, and develop
and evaluate the best arguments for doxastic pro-theism and
doxastic anti-theism. Of interest to those working on philosophy of
religion, theism and ethics, this book presents lively accounts of
an important topic in an exciting and collaborative way, offered by
renowned experts in this area.
The early modern philosopher Anne Conway offers a remarkable
synthesis of ideas from differing philosophical traditions that
deserve our attention today. Exploring all of the major aspects of
Conway’s thought, this book presents a valuable guide to her
contribution to the history of philosophy. Through a close reading
of her central text, Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern
Philosophy (1690), it considers her intellectual context and
addresses some of the outstanding interpretive issues concerning
her philosophy. Contrasting her position with that of
contemporaries such as Henry More, Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont
and George Keith, it examines her critique of the prominent
philosophical schools of the time, including Cartesian dualism and
Hobbesian materialism. From her accounts of dualism, time and God
to the often overlooked elements of her work such as her theory of
freedom and salvation, The Philosophy of Anne Conway illuminates
the ideas and legacy of an important early-modern woman
philosopher.
This book offers a conceptual map of Habermas' philosophy and a
systematic introduction to his work. It does so by systematically
examining six defining themes-modernity, discourse ethics, truth
and justice, public law and constitutional democracy,
cosmopolitanism, and toleration-of Habermas' philosophy as well as
their inner logic. The text distinguishes itself in content and
perspective by offering a very clear conceptual map and by
providing a new interpretation of Habermas' views in light of his
overarching system. In terms of scope, the book touches upon
Habermas' broad range of works. As for method, the text illustrates
key concepts in his philosophy making it a useful reference aid. It
appeals to students and scholars in the field looking for a current
introductory text or supplementary reading on Habermas.
The literary and scientific renaissance that struck Germany around
1800 is usually taken to be the cradle of contemporary humanism.
Posthumanism in the Age of Humanism shows how figures like Immanuel
Kant and Johann Wolfgang Goethe as well as scientists specializing
in the emerging modern life and cognitive sciences not only
established but also transgressed the boundaries of the "human."
This period so broadly painted as humanist by proponents and
detractors alike also grappled with ways of challenging some of
humanism's most cherished assumptions: the dualisms, for example,
between freedom and nature, science and art, matter and spirit,
mind and body, and thereby also between the human and the nonhuman.
Posthumanism is older than we think, and the so-called "humanists"
of the late Enlightenment have much to offer our contemporary
re-thinking of the human.
This volume is based to a large extent on the understanding of
biosemiotic literary criticism as a semiotic-model-making
enterprise. For Jurij Lotman and Thomas A. Sebeok, "nature writing
is essentially a model of the relationship between humans and
nature" (Timo Maran); biosemiotic literary criticism, itself a form
of nature writing and thus itself an ecological-niche-making
enterprise, will be considered to be a model of modeling, a model
of nature naturing. Modes and models of analysis drawn from Thomas
A. Sebeok and Marcel Danesi's Forms of Meaning: Modeling Systems
Theory and Semiotic Analysis as well as from Timo Maran's work on
"modeling the environment in literature," Edwina Taborsky's writing
on Peircean semiosis, and, of course, Jesper Hoffmeyer's formative
work in biosemiotics are among the most important organizing
elements for this volume.
Experimental philosophy has blossomed into a variety of
philosophical fields including ethics, epistemology, metaphysics
and philosophy of language. But there has been very little
experimental philosophical research in the domain of philosophy of
religion. Advances in Religion, Cognitive Science, and Experimental
Philosophy demonstrates how cognitive science of religion has the
methodological and conceptual resources to become a form of
experimental philosophy of religion. Addressing a wide variety of
empirical claims that are of interest to philosophers and
psychologists of religion, a team of psychologists and philosophers
apply data from the psychology of religion to important problems in
the philosophy of religion including the psychology of religious
diversity; the psychology of substance dualism; the problem of evil
and the relation between religious belief and empathy; and the
cognitive science explaining the formation of intuitions that
unwittingly guide philosophers of religion when formulating
arguments. Bringing together authors and researchers who have made
important contributions to interdisciplinary research on religion
in the last decade, Advances in Religion, Cognitive Science, and
Experimental Philosophy provides new ways of approaching core
philosophical and psychological problems.
With the publication of Parerga and Paralipomena in 1851, there
finally came some measure of the fame that Schopenhauer thought was
his due. Described by Schopenhauer himself as 'incomparably more
popular than everything up till now', Parerga is a miscellany of
essays addressing themes that complement his work The World as Will
and Representation, along with more divergent, speculative pieces.
It includes essays on method, logic, the intellect, Kant,
pantheism, natural science, religion, education, and language. The
present volume offers a new translation, a substantial introduction
explaining the context of the essays, and extensive editorial notes
on the different published versions of the work. This readable and
scholarly edition will be an essential reference for those studying
Schopenhauer, the history of philosophy, and nineteenth-century
German philosophy.
Designed as a textbook for use in courses on natural theology and
used by Immanuel Kant as the basis for his Lectures on The
Philosophical Doctrine of Religion, Johan August Eberhard's
Preparation for Natural Theology (1781) is now available in English
for the first time. With a strong focus on the various intellectual
debates and historically significant texts in late renaissance and
early modern theology, Preparation for Natural Theology influenced
the way Kant thought about practical cognition as well as moral and
religious concepts. Access to Eberhard's complete text makes it
possible to distinguish where in the lectures Kant is making
changes to what Eberhard has written and where he is articulating
his own ideas. Identifying new unexplored lines of research, this
translation provides a deeper understanding of Kant's explicitly
religious doctrines and his central moral writings, such as the
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and the Critique of
Practical Reason. Accompanied by Kant's previously untranslated
handwritten notes on Eberhard's text as well as the Danzig
transcripts of Kant's course on rational theology, Preparation for
Natural Theology features a dual English-German / German-English
glossary, a concordance and an introduction situating the book in
relation to 18th-century theology and philosophy. This is a
significant contribution to twenty-first century Kantian studies.
Sleep is quite a popular activity, indeed most humans spend around
a third of their lives asleep. However, cultural, political, or
aesthetic thought tends to remain concerned with the interpretation
and actions of those who are awake. How to Sleep argues instead
that sleep is a complex vital phenomena with a dynamic aesthetic
and biological consistency. Arguing through examples drawn from
contemporary, modern and renaissance art; from literature; film and
computational media, and bringing these into relation with the
history and findings of sleep science, this book argues for a new
interplay between biology and culture. Meditations on sex,
exhaustion, drugs, hormones and scientific instruments all play
their part in this wide-ranging exposition of sleep as an ecology
of interacting processes. How to Sleep builds on the interlocking
of theory, experience and experiment so that the text itself is a
lively articulation of bodies, organs and the aesthetic systems
that interact with them. This book won't enhance your sleeping
skills, but will give you something surprising to think about
whilst being ostensibly awake.
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