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The Republic (Paperback)
Plato; Foreword by Simon Blackburn; Translated by Benjamin Jowett
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R222
R204
Discovery Miles 2 040
Save R18 (8%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Packaged in handsome, affordable trade editions, Clydesdale
Classics is a new series of essential works. From the musings of
intellectuals such as Thomas Paine in Common Sense to the striking
personal narrative of Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a
Slave Girl, this new series is a comprehensive collection of our
intellectual history through the words of the exceptional few.
Originating in approximately 380 BC, Republic is a Socratic
dialogue written by famed Greek philosopher Plato. Often referred
to as Plato's masterwork, Republic's central goal is to define the
ideal state. By conceptualizing this model state, Greeks believed
it would lead states formed with its principles in mind to function
the most efficiently and fairly, striving toward justice and the
greater good of society. This edition includes a foreword by
British American philosopher and Plato expert Simon Blackburn.
Widely read around the world by philosophy students and academics
alike, Plato's Republic is sure to pass on its invaluable lessons
and enlighten the next generation of thinkers.
A wide-ranging and important collection of Broad's unpublished
writings, shedding new light on his work Includes writings on
topics that are not found in any of Broad's published work Broad is
increasingly recognized as having made important contributions to
philosophy of science, philosophy of mind and metaphysics that were
overlooked in his own time Helpful introductions to each section
set Broad's thought in context and includes a new foreword by Simon
Blackburn
A wide-ranging and important collection of Broad's unpublished
writings, shedding new light on his work Includes writings on
topics that are not found in any of Broad's published work Broad is
increasingly recognized as having made important contributions to
philosophy of science, philosophy of mind and metaphysics that were
overlooked in his own time Helpful introductions to each section
set Broad's thought in context and includes a new foreword by Simon
Blackburn
While its tone is playful and frivolous, this book poses tough
questions over the nature of religion and belief.
Religion provides comfortable responses to the questions that
have always beset humankind - why are we here, what is the point of
being alive, how ought we to behave? Russell snatches that comfort
away, leaving us instead with other, more troublesome alternatives:
responsibility, autonomy, self-awareness. He tells us that the time
to live is now, the place to live is here, and the way to be happy
is to ensure others are happy.
While its tone is playful and frivolous, this book poses tough
questions over the nature of religion and belief. Religion provides
comfortable responses to the questions that have always beset
humankind - why are we here, what is the point of being alive, how
ought we to behave? Russell snatches that comfort away, leaving us
instead with other, more troublesome alternatives: responsibility,
autonomy, self-awareness. He tells us that the time to live is now,
the place to live is here, and the way to be happy is to ensure
others are happy.
Here at last is a coherent, unintimidating introduction to the
challenging and fascinating landscape of Western philosophy.
Written expressly for "anyone who believes there are big questions
out there, but does not know how to
approach them," Think provides a sound framework for exploring the
most basic themes of philosophy, and for understanding how major
philosophers have tackled the questions that have pressed
themselves most forcefully on human consciousness.
Simon Blackburn, author of the best-selling Oxford Dictionary of
Philosophy, begins by making a convincing case for the relevance of
philosophy and goes on to give the reader a sense of how the great
historical figures such as Plato, Hume, Kant, Descartes, and others
have approached its central themes. In a lively and accessible
style, Blackburn
approaches the nature of human reflection and how we think, or can
think, about knowledge, fate, ethics, identity, God, reason, and
truth. Each chapter explains a major issue, and gives the reader a
self-contained guide through the problems that the philosophers
have studied. Because the text approaches these issues from the
gound up, the untrained reader will emerge from its pages able to
explore other philosophies with greater pleasure and understanding
and be able to think--philosophically--for him or herself.
Philosophy is often dismissed as a purely academic discipline with
no relation to the "real" world non-philosophers are compelled to
inhabit. Think dispels this myth and offers a springboard for all
those who want to learn how the basic techniques of thinking shape
our virtually every aspect of our existence.
Pragmatists have traditionally been enemies of representationalism
but friends of naturalism, when naturalism is understood to pertain
to human subjects, in the sense of Hume and Nietzsche. In this
volume Huw Price presents his distinctive version of this
traditional combination, as delivered in his Rene Descartes
Lectures at Tilburg University in 2008. Price contrasts his view
with other contemporary forms of philosophical naturalism,
comparing it with other pragmatist and neo-pragmatist views such as
those of Robert Brandom and Simon Blackburn. Linking their
different 'expressivist' programmes, Price argues for a radical
global expressivism that combines key elements from both. With Paul
Horwich and Michael Williams, Brandom and Blackburn respond to
Price in new essays. Price replies in the closing essay,
emphasising links between his views and those of Wilfrid Sellars.
The volume will be of great interest to advanced students of
philosophy of language and metaphysics.
Truth has always been a thorny topic. How does it work? Who decides
what it is? And why is it seen as so important? In this lucid
introduction to the topic, leading scholar Simon Blackburn
describes the main approaches to the notion of truth and considers
how these relate to different perspectives on belief,
interpretation, facts, knowledge and action. He then looks at how
these ideas can be applied to: - aesthetics, taste and the
judgement of art; - ethics and how people decide how they should
(or should not) live; - reason and rational truth and whether these
may be found or learnt in conversation, agreement and disagreement;
- religious belief and the ultimate cause of the cosmos.
Understanding what constitutes truth has practical value in every
aspect of life, and whether you are voting in an election or
finding an excuse for being late, Professor Blackburn's clear and
incisive account will illuminate your choice, and stimulate, inform
and entertain you along the way.
A volume of studies in philosophical logic by a group of younger
philosophers in the UK. There is a core of problems in the theory
of meaning which have been accorded a central importance by
philosophers, logicians and theoretical linguists, and which have
stimulated some of the most powerful and original work in these
subjects. The contributors to the volume have a common interest in
these topics, insist on their continuing and fundamental
importance, and offer here a distinctive and original contribution
to them.
Everyone deplores narcissism, especially in others. The vain are by
turns annoying or absurd, offending us whether they are blissfully
oblivious or proudly aware of their behavior. But are narcissism
and vanity really as bad as they seem? Can we avoid them even if we
try? In Mirror, Mirror, Simon Blackburn, the author of such
best-selling philosophy books as Think, Being Good, and Lust, says
that narcissism, vanity, pride, and self-esteem are more complex
than they first appear and have innumerable good and bad forms.
Drawing on philosophy, psychology, literature, history, and popular
culture, Blackburn offers an enlightening and entertaining
exploration of self-love, from the myth of Narcissus and the
Christian story of the Fall to today's self-esteem industry. A
sparkling mixture of learning, humor, and style, Mirror, Mirror
examines what great thinkers have said about self-love--from
Aristotle, Cicero, and Erasmus to Rousseau, Adam Smith, Kant, and
Iris Murdoch. It considers today's "me"-related obsessions, such as
the "selfie," plastic surgery, and cosmetic enhancements, and
reflects on connected phenomena such as the fatal commodification
of social life and the tragic overconfidence of George W. Bush and
Tony Blair. Ultimately, Mirror, Mirror shows why self-regard is a
necessary and healthy part of life. But it also suggests that we
have lost the ability to distinguish--let alone strike a
balance--between good and bad forms of self-concern.
This is a very short introduction to ethics. It divides into three parts: first, introducing and discussing reasons for skepticism about ethics; second introducing themes of birth, death, happiness, desire and freedom to show how deeply our lives are interwoven with ethics; third, introducing attempts to found ethics, due to Aristotle, Kant, and the contractarian tradition.
Plato is perhaps the most significant philosopher who ever lived
and "The Republic," composed in Athens in about 375 BC, is widely
regarded as his most famous dialogue. Its discussion of the perfect
city--and the perfect mind--laid the foundations for Western
culture and has been the cornerstone of Western philosophy. As the
distinguished Cambridge professor Simon Blackburn points out, it
has probably sustained more commentary, and been subject to more
radical and impassioned disagreement, than almost any other text in
the modern world. "A clear and accessible introduction to
philosophy's first superstar" ("Kirkus Reviews"), "Plato's
Republic" explores the judicial, moral, and political ideas in the
Republic with dazzling insight. Blackburn also examines "Republic's
"influence and staying power, and shows why, from St. Augustine to
twentieth-century philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Western
thought is still conditioned by this most important, and
contemporary, of books.
Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Our
self-image as moral, well-behaved creatures is dogged by
scepticism, relativism, hypocrisy, and nihilism, and by the fear
that in a Godless world science has unmasked us as creatures fated
by our genes to be selfish and tribalistic, or competitive and
aggressive. Here, Simon Blackburn tackles the major moral questions
surrounding birth, death, happiness, desire, and freedom, showing
us how we should think about the meaning of life, and why we should
mistrust the soundbite-sized absolutes that often dominate moral
debates. This second edition of the Very Short Introduction on
Ethics has revised and updated aspects of the original to reflect
changing times and mores. It highlights the importance of an
understanding of approaches to ethics and its foundations,
confronted as we are with a fluid and uncertain world of eroding
trust, swirling conspiracy theories, and a dismaying loss of
respect in public discourse. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short
Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds
of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books
are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our
expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and
enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly
readable.
An original study of the philosophical problems associated with
inductive reasoning. Like most of the main questions in
epistemology, the classical problem of induction arises from doubts
about a mode of inference used to justify some of our most familiar
and pervasive beliefs. The experience of each individual is limited
and fragmentary, yet the scope of our beliefs is much wider; and it
is the relation between belief and experience, in particular the
belief that the future will in some respects resemble the past and
the unobserved the observed, which forms the subject of this book.
Dr Blackburn's first aim is to state the problem of induction
properly, to show that there does exist a genuine problem immune to
the solutions in vogue at present, yet no tin principle insoluble.
He gives an extended and original account of the concept of a
reason and goes on to discuss prediction. In the end Dr Blackburn
produces a rationale for belief in certain short-term predictions
based on his reinterpretation of the classical principle of
indifference. He claims that a justification for induction can be
found along the lines he has suggested and must indeed be found
there if anywhere.
This bestselling dictionary is written by one of the leading
philosophers of our time, and it is widely recognized as the best
dictionary of its kind. Comprehensive and authoritative, it covers
every aspect of philosophy from Aristotle to Zen. With clear and
concise definitions, it provides lively and accessible coverage of
not only Western philosophical traditions, but also themes from
Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Jewish philosophy. Entries include
over 400 biographies of famous and influential philosophers,
in-depth analysis of philosophical terms and concepts, and a
chronology of philosophical events stretching from 10,000 BC to the
present day. New entries on philosophy of economics, social theory,
neuroscience, philosophy of the mind, and moral conceptions bring
the third edition of this dictionary fully up to date. Fully
cross-referenced and containing over 3,300 alphabetical entries, it
is the ideal introduction to philosophy for anyone with an interest
in the subject, and it is an indispensable work of reference for
students and teachers.
This important book is about truth, and the enemies of truth, and
the wars that are fought between them. As Simon Blackburn says in
his introduction, "the ground is complicated, strewn with abandoned
fortresses and trenches, fought over by shifting alliances". Truth
is an essential sure-footed guide through the territory, from
classical to modern times. It looks at relativism and absolutism,
toleration and belief, objectivity and knowledge, science and
pseudo-science, and the moral and political implications, as well
as the nuances, of all these.
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On Truth (Paperback)
Simon Blackburn
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R374
R309
Discovery Miles 3 090
Save R65 (17%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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"Die grossen Fragen"" "behandeln grundlegende Probleme und
Konzepte in Wissenschaft und Philosophie, die Forscher und Denker
seit jeher umtreiben. Anspruch der ambitionierten Reihe ist es, die
Antworten auf diese Fragen zu prasentieren und damit die
wichtigsten Gedanken der Menschheit in einzigartigen Ubersichten zu
bundeln. Im vorliegenden Band "Physik "beleuchtet Michael Brooks
die oft verwirrenden Fragen dieser Disziplin, sei es zu
Quantenphysik, Relativitat oder der Natur der Realitat. Die grossen
Fragen sind: Wozu ist Physik da?, Was ist Zeit?, Was geschah mit
Schrodingers Katze?, Warum fallt der Apfel nach unten?, Sind feste
Stoffe wirklich fest?, Warum gibt es nichts umsonst?, Ist letztlich
alles Zufall?, Was ist Gottes Teilchen?, Bin ich einmalig?, Konnen
wir durch die Zeit reisen?, Wird das Erdmagnetfeld verschwinden?,
Warum ist "E "gleich "mc"2?, Verandert ein Blick das Universum?,
Ist Chaos gleich Katastrophe?, Was ist Licht?, Geht es in der
Stringtheorie um Bindfaden?, Warum gibt es uberhaupt etwas?, Leben
wir in einer Simulation?, Welche ist die starkste Naturkraft?, Was
ist das wahre Wesen der Realitat?"
Pragmatists have traditionally been enemies of representationalism
but friends of naturalism, when naturalism is understood to pertain
to human subjects, in the sense of Hume and Nietzsche. In this
volume Huw Price presents his distinctive version of this
traditional combination, as delivered in his Rene Descartes
Lectures at Tilburg University in 2008. Price contrasts his view
with other contemporary forms of philosophical naturalism,
comparing it with other pragmatist and neo-pragmatist views such as
those of Robert Brandom and Simon Blackburn. Linking their
different 'expressivist' programmes, Price argues for a radical
global expressivism that combines key elements from both. With Paul
Horwich and Michael Williams, Brandom and Blackburn respond to
Price in new essays. Price replies in the closing essay,
emphasising links between his views and those of Wilfrid Sellars.
The volume will be of great interest to advanced students of
philosophy of language and metaphysics.
The author of the highly popular book Think, which Time magazine
hailed as "the one book every smart person should read to
understand, and even enjoy, the key questions of philosophy," Simon
Blackburn is that rara avis--an eminent thinker who is able to
explain philosophy to the general reader. Now Blackburn offers a
tour de force exploration of what he calls "the most exciting and
engaging issue in the whole of philosophy"--the age-old war over
truth.
The front lines of this war are well defined. On one side are
those who believe in plain, unvarnished facts, rock-solid truths
that can be found through reason and objectivity--that science
leads to truth, for instance. Their opponents mock this idea. They
see the dark forces of language, culture, power, gender, class,
ideology and desire--all subverting our perceptions of the world,
and clouding our judgement with false notions of absolute truth.
Beginning with an early skirmish in the war--when Socrates
confronted the sophists in ancient Athens--Blackburn offers a
penetrating look at the longstanding battle these two groups have
waged, examining the philosophical battles fought by Plato,
Protagoras, William James, David Hume, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jacques
Derrida, Michel Foucault, Richard Rorty, and many others, with a
particularly fascinating look at Nietzsche. Among the questions
Blackburn considers are: is science mere opinion, can historians
understand another historical period, and indeed can one culture
ever truly understand another.
Blackburn concludes that both sides have merit, and that neither
has exclusive ownership of truth. What is important is that,
whichever side we embrace, we should know where we stand and what
is to be said for our opponents.
This is a book about the big questions in life: knowledge, consciousness, fate, God, truth, goodness, justice. It is for anyone who thinks there are big questions lurking out there, but does not know how to approach them. Written by the author of the bestselling Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Think sets out to explain what they are and why they are important.
'Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a
man.' David Hume David Hume is generally recognized as the United
Kingdom's greatest philosopher, as well as a notable historian and
essayist and a central figure of the Enlightenment. Yet his work is
delicately poised between scepticism and naturalism, between
despair at the limited powers of the mind and optimism at the
progress we can make by understanding it. This difficult balancing
act has given rise to a multitude of different interpretations:
reading Hume has never been free of controversy. In this new
approach to his writings, Simon Blackburn describes how Hume can be
considered one of the earliest, and most successful, evolutionary
psychologists, weaving plausible natural accounts of the way we
should think of ourselves and of how we have come to be what we
are.
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