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Will capitalism survive forever? Capitalism has always lived in and
with crisis. Wars, revolutions, economic depression and repeated
recessions, the threat of nuclear annihilation and ecological
disaster have all failed to break the dominance of this economic
and political system. Challenging the predominance of capitalism in
a world fraught with inequalities, this book returns to classical
Marxism to reaffirm its relevance. It explores the contradictions
within capitalism as well as explains why Marxism has been unable
to mount a sustained challenge to capitalism. In order to explore
concrete alternatives in a period of increasing capitalist
globalisation and crisis, it goes on to present perspectives by
which theory and practice might be reunited to building independent
political and organisational structures. A search for "something
better", this volume will be an engaging read for scholars and
researchers of politics, especially political theory and political
economy, economics, and sociology.
Will capitalism survive forever? Capitalism has always lived in and
with crisis. Wars, revolutions, economic depression and repeated
recessions, the threat of nuclear annihilation and ecological
disaster have all failed to break the dominance of this economic
and political system. Challenging the predominance of capitalism in
a world fraught with inequalities, this book returns to classical
Marxism to reaffirm its relevance. It explores the contradictions
within capitalism as well as explains why Marxism has been unable
to mount a sustained challenge to capitalism. In order to explore
concrete alternatives in a period of increasing capitalist
globalisation and crisis, it goes on to present perspectives by
which theory and practice might be reunited to building independent
political and organisational structures. A search for "something
better", this volume will be an engaging read for scholars and
researchers of politics, especially political theory and political
economy, economics, and sociology.
As the sun rises on China and sets on America, the world holds its
breath. China, the USA and Capitalism's Last Crusade looks at the
rise of China and the decline of the USA but from a different
angle. William Briggs argues that this struggle for economic
supremacy is being played out against a much bigger backdrop; the
decline of the economic structure of capitalism. In this sense, the
decline of the USA is portrayed as that larger economic decline in
microcosm. Briggs examines the relationship between state and
capital, of how capitalism came to dominate the world, and of the
historical, political and economic rise of both the USA and China.
He shows that the struggle between the two nations has little to do
with cultural, historical, demographic, political or ideological
differences, but with what they have in common. Despite the
portrayal of China as being 'socialist' it functions as a
capitalist economy in the globalised capitalist world. While its
journey to capitalism may have differed, the end point is the same
and this is why there is such animosity, such conflict, such
acrimony between the two states.
The veritable tsunami of anxieties that are affecting individual
lives, the increasingly dysfunctional nature of society and the
potential catastrophes of global conflict and of climate change,
have a common cause. The inability of capitalism or the state to
respond to existential crises and internal contradictions is the
cause of what William Briggs terms A Cauldron of Anxiety. Briggs
defends a Marxist perspective that would challenge this and
provides an optimistic vision for the future.
This book presents a philosophical approach to probability and
probabilistic thinking, considering the underpinnings of
probabilistic reasoning and modeling, which effectively underlie
everything in data science. The ultimate goal is to call into
question many standard tenets and lay the philosophical and
probabilistic groundwork and infrastructure for statistical
modeling. It is the first book devoted to the philosophy of data
aimed at working scientists and calls for a new consideration in
the practice of probability and statistics to eliminate what has
been referred to as the "Cult of Statistical Significance." The
book explains the philosophy of these ideas and not the
mathematics, though there are a handful of mathematical examples.
The topics are logically laid out, starting with basic philosophy
as related to probability, statistics, and science, and stepping
through the key probabilistic ideas and concepts, and ending with
statistical models. Its jargon-free approach asserts that standard
methods, such as out-of-the-box regression, cannot help in
discovering cause. This new way of looking at uncertainty ties
together disparate fields - probability, physics, biology, the
"soft" sciences, computer science - because each aims at
discovering cause (of effects). It broadens the understanding
beyond frequentist and Bayesian methods to propose a Third Way of
modeling.
Can Marxism emerge from the long shadow cast by Stalinism, and
challenge capitalism? There is undoubtedly a growing interest in
Marxism and socialism. Opinion polls show a majority that regard
socialism as a real option. It is against this reality, and as a
contribution to growing debates, that this book has been written.
Marxism, as an ideological force and instituted to lead the charge
against capitalism, has been poorly served in the past century.
Many of its core messages have been obscured. William Briggs gives
a rousing defence of Marxism, calling for a return of the working
class to the centre of potential struggle. Briggs seeks to heal the
damage done to Marxism, in the name of Marxism, over generations
past.
This book presents a philosophical approach to probability and
probabilistic thinking, considering the underpinnings of
probabilistic reasoning and modeling, which effectively underlie
everything in data science. The ultimate goal is to call into
question many standard tenets and lay the philosophical and
probabilistic groundwork and infrastructure for statistical
modeling. It is the first book devoted to the philosophy of data
aimed at working scientists and calls for a new consideration in
the practice of probability and statistics to eliminate what has
been referred to as the "Cult of Statistical Significance." The
book explains the philosophy of these ideas and not the
mathematics, though there are a handful of mathematical examples.
The topics are logically laid out, starting with basic philosophy
as related to probability, statistics, and science, and stepping
through the key probabilistic ideas and concepts, and ending with
statistical models. Its jargon-free approach asserts that standard
methods, such as out-of-the-box regression, cannot help in
discovering cause. This new way of looking at uncertainty ties
together disparate fields - probability, physics, biology, the
"soft" sciences, computer science - because each aims at
discovering cause (of effects). It broadens the understanding
beyond frequentist and Bayesian methods to propose a Third Way of
modeling.
In the United States more than thirty thousand deaths each year can
be attributed to firearms. This book on the history of guns in
America examines the Second Amendment and the laws and court cases
it has spawned. The author's thorough and objective account shows
the complexities of the issue, which are so often reduced to
bumper-sticker slogans, and suggests ways in which gun violence in
this country can be reduced. Briggs profiles not only protagonists
in the national gun debate but also ordinary people, showing the
ways guns have become part of the lives of many Americans. Among
them are gays and lesbians, women, competitive trapshooters, people
in the gun-rights and gun-control trenches, the NRA's first female
president, and the most successful gunsmith in American history.
Balanced and painstakingly unbiased, Briggs's account provides the
background needed to follow gun politics in America and to
understand the gun culture in which we are likely to live for the
foreseeable future.
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