Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

This book gives explanations for the growing gap in wealth and income and the rise of anti-democratic movements. The power of the elites today is supposedly founded on merit (education, intelligence etc.), but a closer look shows that a well-marked-out pool is just self-re-producing. The power these in-groups wield often leads to moral insensibility, made worse by a condescending attitude towards people further down the food chain. The pre-dominance of the model of the nation-state, with its centralism and top-down structure, is one of the roots of this problem, as is the lack of comparisons and value judgements; examples from transport and urbanism show that they are possible. The deplorable situation is made worse by the "anti-"social-media scuppering open and productive discussions.

Civilizations «narrate themselves in order to establish legitimacy, succeed against others, portray their own merits to their best advantage. The results express societal dynamics, yet also have a retroactive effect and decisively influence the self-conceptions of the «initiating societies. Political philosophies, interpretations of history and social perceptions of artistic achievements all contribute to these narratives. The dignified components, however, are by no means the sole or even the most important ones. Distinction in material culture (technological proficiency, popular art forms, etc.) or economic adroitness are even more consequential. The occidental narrative has been badly vacillating lately. Its severe crisis - due in part to a lack of collective self-confidence, but also to disagreements between its main strands - merits a meticulous analysis of a multitude of criteria. The resulting critique is embedded in reflections on a general theory of narrativity.

We forget all kinds of things, trivial and important ones; and not just things but also topics and techniques, and we forget in different ways. Inconvenient as it is to forget your to-do list, forgetting grave political factors can lead to repeating the same mistakes. Foolish as it is to let proven solutions fall by the wayside, repression, both on a personal as on a political level, will lead to catastrophe. This book enumerates many things already forgotten (or in the process of being forgotten) and maps the tortuous paths of relinquishing useful ways of doing things. By analyzing "forgetting" in the light of historical context and psychological necessity, this study offers counter-strategies to the loss of social memory and stresses the benefits of social recollection.

For well over a century cinema has exerted enormous influence, yet many questions regarding its fascination remain unanswered. Films work so well because the viewers tend to unconsciously identify with the actors/actresses. The desire to become another, substituting identity by identification, can be traced to the illusion that the filmic heroes/heroines are immortal - identifying with them raises the possibility of gaining "deathlessness." Viewers can, without real life risks, experiment with the existential drafts presented; the power of imagination is mobilized. Based on a multidisciplinary approach (semiotics, psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, plus a healthy dose of film history), this book presents prolegomena of a philosophy of cinema.

The first complete classification for the genus, this labor of love reflects the author's long fascination with hostas. All hostas known at the time of writing are detailed, including their 3500 names and synonyms in many languages (300 in Japanese kana). Practical information on growing hostas is just as complete and detailed.

Sorgfaltig bearbeiteter Nachdruck der Originalausgabe aus dem Jahr 1908.