|
Showing 1 - 10 of
10 matches in All Departments
The first full, philosophical introduction to Descartes for many
years – competitors are either out of date or considerably higher
in level Descartes is the most important Western philosopher after
Plato and studied by virtually all philosophy students at some
point Explains and assesses Descartes’ most important ideas,
arguments and texts, particularly his Meditations Concerning First
Philosophy Ideal for anyone coming to Descartes for the first time
Additional features include a chronology, a glossary and annotated
further reading
The first full, philosophical introduction to Descartes for many
years – competitors are either out of date or considerably higher
in level Descartes is the most important Western philosopher after
Plato and studied by virtually all philosophy students at some
point Explains and assesses Descartes’ most important ideas,
arguments and texts, particularly his Meditations Concerning First
Philosophy Ideal for anyone coming to Descartes for the first time
Additional features include a chronology, a glossary and annotated
further reading
"Free will: mental energy that poofs into existence from
scratch?"In pairing key ideas from the history of philosophy with
examples from everyday life and culture, David Cunning produces a
clear, incisive and engaging introduction to philosophy. "Everyday
Examples" explores historical philosophy and the contemporary
theory scene and includes ideas from both the analytic and
continental traditions. This broad sweep of topics provides a
synoptic overview of philosophy as a discipline and philosophizing
as an activity.With examples drawn from everything from "The Matrix
"and "Sesame Street "to sleepwalking, driving, dancing, playing a
sport and observing animals, students are pointed to ways in which
they can be a philosopher outside the classroom in the everyday
world.As well as providing entertaining and relatable examples from
everyday life, this book will be especially useful in the
classroom, it is accessible and discussion-oriented, so that
students can get first-hand practice at actually 'doing'
philosophy. This accessibility does not come at the expense of
rigour but, rather, provides a 'way in' to thinking about the major
issues, figures and moments in the history of philosophy. The
chapters are divided into brief sustainable nuggets so that
students can get a definite handle on each issue and also be the
expert for the day on a given section.There are suggested study
questions at the end of each chapter that bring out the force of
each side of the many different issues.An indispensable tool for
those approaching philosophy for the first time.
Margaret Cavendish (1623 - 1673) was a philosopher, poet,
scientist, novelist, and playwright of the seventeenth century. Her
work is important for a number of reasons. It presents an early and
compelling version of the naturalism that is found in current-day
philosophy; it offers important insights that bear on recent
discussions of the nature and characteristics of intelligence and
the question of whether or not the bodies that surround us are
intelligent or have an intelligent cause; it anticipates some of
the central views and arguments that are more commonly associated
with figures like Thomas Hobbes and David Hume. This is the first
full account of Cavendish's philosophy and covers the whole span of
her work. David Cunning begins with an overview of Cavendish's life
and work before assessing her contribution to a wide range of
philosophical subjects, including her arguments concerning
materialism, experimentation, the existence of God, social and
political philosophy and free will and compatibilism. Setting
Cavendish in both historical and philosophical context, he argues
that like Spinoza she builds on central tenets of Descartes'
philosophy and develops them in a direction that Descartes himself
would avoid. She defends a plenum metaphysics according to which
all individuals are causally interdependent, and according to which
the physical universe is a larger individual that constitutes all
of reality. Cavendish is essential reading for students of
seventeenth-century philosophy, early modern philosophy and
seventeenth-century literature.
Margaret Cavendish (1623 - 1673) was a philosopher, poet,
scientist, novelist, and playwright of the seventeenth century. Her
work is important for a number of reasons. It presents an early and
compelling version of the naturalism that is found in current-day
philosophy; it offers important insights that bear on recent
discussions of the nature and characteristics of intelligence and
the question of whether or not the bodies that surround us are
intelligent or have an intelligent cause; it anticipates some of
the central views and arguments that are more commonly associated
with figures like Thomas Hobbes and David Hume. This is the first
full account of Cavendish's philosophy and covers the whole span of
her work. David Cunning begins with an overview of Cavendish's life
and work before assessing her contribution to a wide range of
philosophical subjects, including her arguments concerning
materialism, experimentation, the existence of God, social and
political philosophy and free will and compatibilism. Setting
Cavendish in both historical and philosophical context, he argues
that like Spinoza she builds on central tenets of Descartes'
philosophy and develops them in a direction that Descartes himself
would avoid. She defends a plenum metaphysics according to which
all individuals are causally interdependent, and according to which
the physical universe is a larger individual that constitutes all
of reality. Cavendish is essential reading for students of
seventeenth-century philosophy, early modern philosophy and
seventeenth-century literature.
"Free will: mental energy that poofs into existence from
scratch?"In pairing key ideas from the history of philosophy with
examples from everyday life and culture, David Cunning produces a
clear, incisive and engaging introduction to philosophy. "Everyday
Examples" explores historical philosophy and the contemporary
theory scene and includes ideas from both the analytic and
continental traditions. This broad sweep of topics provides a
synoptic overview of philosophy as a discipline and philosophizing
as an activity.With examples drawn from everything from "The Matrix
"and "Sesame Street "to sleepwalking, driving, dancing, playing a
sport and observing animals, students are pointed to ways in which
they can be a philosopher outside the classroom in the everyday
world.As well as providing entertaining and relatable examples from
everyday life, this book will be especially useful in the
classroom, it is accessible and discussion-oriented, so that
students can get first-hand practice at actually 'doing'
philosophy. This accessibility does not come at the expense of
rigour but, rather, provides a 'way in' to thinking about the major
issues, figures and moments in the history of philosophy. The
chapters are divided into brief sustainable nuggets so that
students can get a definite handle on each issue and also be the
expert for the day on a given section.There are suggested study
questions at the end of each chapter that bring out the force of
each side of the many different issues.An indispensable tool for
those approaching philosophy for the first time.
Descartes' enormously influential Meditations seeks to prove a
number of theses: that God is a necessary existent; that our minds
are equipped to track truth and avoid error; that the external
world exists and provides us with information to preserve our
embodiment; and that minds are immaterial substances. The work is a
treasure-trove of views and arguments, but there are controversies
about the details of the arguments and about how we are supposed to
unpack the views themselves. This Companion offers a rich
collection of new perspectives on the Meditations, showing how the
work is structured literally as a meditation and how it fits into
Descartes' larger philosophical system. Topics include Descartes'
views on philosophical method, knowledge, skepticism, God, the
nature of mind, free will, and the differences between reflective
and embodied life. The volume will be valuable to those studying
Descartes and early modern philosophy more generally.
Descartes' enormously influential Meditations seeks to prove a
number of theses: that God is a necessary existent; that our minds
are equipped to track truth and avoid error; that the external
world exists and provides us with information to preserve our
embodiment; and that minds are immaterial substances. The work is a
treasure-trove of views and arguments, but there are controversies
about the details of the arguments and about how we are supposed to
unpack the views themselves. This Companion offers a rich
collection of new perspectives on the Meditations, showing how the
work is structured literally as a meditation and how it fits into
Descartes' larger philosophical system. Topics include Descartes'
views on philosophical method, knowledge, skepticism, God, the
nature of mind, free will, and the differences between reflective
and embodied life. The volume will be valuable to those studying
Descartes and early modern philosophy more generally.
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy has proven to be not
only one of the canonical texts of Western philosophy, but also the
site of a great deal of interpretive activity in scholarship on the
history of early modern philosophy over the last two decades. David
Cunning's monograph proposes a new interpretation, which is that
from beginning to end the reasoning of the Meditations is the
first-person reasoning of a thinker who starts from a confused
non-Cartesian paradigm and moves slowly and awkwardly toward a
grasp of just a few of the central theses of Descartes' system. The
meditator of the Meditations is not a full-blown Cartesian at the
start or middle or even the end of inquiry, and accordingly the
Meditations is riddled with confusions throughout. Cunning argues
that Descartes is trying to capture the kind of reasoning that a
non-Cartesian would have to engage in to make the relevant
epistemic progress, and that the Meditations rhetorically models
that reasoning. He proposes that Descartes is reflecting on what
happens in philosophical inquiry: we are unclear about something,
we roam about using our existing concepts and intuitions, we
abandon or revise some of these, and then eventually we come to see
a result as clear that we did not see as clear before. Thus
Cunning's fundamental insight is that Descartes is a teacher, and
the reader a student. With that reading in mind, a significant
number of the interpretive problems that arise in the Descartes
literature dissolve when we make a distinction between the
Cartesian and non-Cartesian elements of the Meditations, and a
better understanding of surrounding texts is achieved as well. This
important volume will be of great interest to scholars of early
modern philosophy.
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy has proven to be not
only one of the canonical texts of Western philosophy, but also the
site of a great deal of interpretive activity in scholarship on the
history of early modern philosophy over the last two decades. David
Cunning's monograph proposes a new interpretation, which is that
from beginning to end the reasoning of the Meditations is the
first-person reasoning of a thinker who starts from a confused
non-Cartesian paradigm and moves slowly and awkwardly toward a
grasp of just a few of the central theses of Descartes' system. The
meditator of the Meditations is not a full-blown Cartesian at the
start or middle or even the end of inquiry, and accordingly the
Meditations is riddled with confusions throughout. Cunning argues
that Descartes is trying to capture the kind of reasoning that a
non-Cartesian would have to engage in to make the relevant
epistemic progress, and that the Meditations rhetorically models
that reasoning. He proposes that Descartes is reflecting on what
happens in philosophical inquiry: we are unclear about something,
we roam about using our existing concepts and intuitions, we
abandon or revise some of these, and then eventually we come to see
a result as clear that we did not see as clear before. Thus
Cunning's fundamental insight is that Descartes is a teacher, and
the reader a student. With that reading in mind, a significant
number of the interpretive problems that arise in the Descartes
literature dissolve when we make a distinction between the
Cartesian and non-Cartesian elements of the Meditations, and a
better understanding of surrounding texts is achieved as well. This
important volume will be of great interest to scholars of early
modern philosophy.
|
You may like...
Cold People
Tom Rob Smith
Paperback
R350
R280
Discovery Miles 2 800
Tenet
John David Washington, Robert Pattinson
Blu-ray disc
(1)
R54
Discovery Miles 540
|