The word "position" has long been used in the field of social psychology. Now social psychologists are creating new theories on group positioning by studying everyday language and discourse and the application of some of these ideas has revealed the necessity of paying close attention to the local moral order within which both public and private intentional acts are performed. The study of local moral orders as ever-shifting patterns of rights and obligations of speaking and acting has come to be called by a new name - positioning theory - of which Rom Harré is one of the leading exponents.

In this book, Rom Harré give a state of the art overview of positioning theory via contributions from some of the world's leading experts in the field.

This innovative survey explores the distinctive character of three traditions - Indian, Chinese and Western - that have dominated philosophical thought over the past thousand years. Uniquely comparative and sweeping in scope, "One Thousand Years of Philosophy" covers the history of Western thought alongside the Vedic philosophies of India, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, as well as Islamic and Jewish contributions to philosophy.

Engaging and accessible, "One Thousand Years of Philosophy" follows the transformation of the discipline over the course of the last millennium, from its religious origins to a largely secular enterprise. A wide range of philosophical fields and issues are covered, including metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, existentialism, philosophy of science, and social and political thought.

The essence and ingenuity of the arguments of the great philosophers are explained in the context of their historical developments, from the founding of the Sung Dynasty in 960 to the collapse of the Soviet Union. "One Thousand Years of Philosophy" offers readers a panoramic view of the ideas that have shaped the world, and prompts them to ponder their significance for the next thousand years.

Body care has never before been so much a focus of public interest, nor have the ways we classify people by reference to their kind of body excited such political passions. What bodies we have and how we use them is a central concern in the art of being human. In this book, now available in paperback, Rom Harre attempts to build a comprehensive account of the roles our bodies play in our lives. He argues that these roles are determined less by organic functioning than by cultural conventions and social meanings and that, rightly or wrongly, our type of body is fateful for the way our lives can be lived. From among the vast array of ways our bodies and their nature and condition enter our lives he explores three main questions. The first concerns the" metaphysical: how we use our bodies to determine and to express the kind of person we are. Next, the various forms of normative judgements and public and private" evaluations that bodily forms and functions are subjected to are examined. Finally, the body and its parts and functions are looked at in the light of their use both as signifiers, systems of signs, and as blank surfaces on which significance is inscribed'. Physical Being concludes Rom Harre's trilogy concerning the ways of being human, and is a fascinating study of the norms and principles of body uses.

The word "position" has long been used in the field of social psychology. Now social psychologists are creating new theories on group positioning by studying everyday language and discourse and the application of some of these ideas has revealed the necessity of paying close attention to the local moral order within which both public and private intentional acts are performed. The study of local moral orders as ever-shifting patterns of rights and obligations of speaking and acting has come to be called by a new name - positioning theory - of which Rom Harré is one of the leading exponents.

In this book, Rom Harré give a state of the art overview of positioning theory via contributions from some of the world's leading experts in the field.