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The Birth of Rhetoric: Gorgias, Plato and their Successors (Issues in Ancient Philosophy)
by Robert WardyWhat is rhetoric?Is it the capacity to persuade? Or is it 'mere' rhetoric: the ability to get others to do what the speaker wants, regardless of what they want? This is the rhetoric of ideological manipulation and political seduction. Rhetoric is for some a distinctive mode of communication; for others, whenever someone speaks, rhetoric is present.This book is devoted to helping readers understand these rival accounts, by showing how it has happened that there are so many conceptions of rhetoric. Any such approach must be rooted in classical antiquity, since our ideas of rhetoric are the product of a complicated historical process starting in ancient Greece. Greek rhetoric was born in bitter controversy. The figure of Gorgias is at the centre of that debate and of this book: he invites us to confront the terrifying, exhilarating possibility that persuasion is just power.
The Birth of Rhetoric: Gorgias, Plato and their Successors (Issues in Ancient Philosophy)
by Robert WardyWhat is rhetoric?Is it the capacity to persuade? Or is it 'mere' rhetoric: the ability to get others to do what the speaker wants, regardless of what they want? This is the rhetoric of ideological manipulation and political seduction. Rhetoric is for some a distinctive mode of communication; for others, whenever someone speaks, rhetoric is present.This book is devoted to helping readers understand these rival accounts, by showing how it has happened that there are so many conceptions of rhetoric. Any such approach must be rooted in classical antiquity, since our ideas of rhetoric are the product of a complicated historical process starting in ancient Greece. Greek rhetoric was born in bitter controversy. The figure of Gorgias is at the centre of that debate and of this book: he invites us to confront the terrifying, exhilarating possibility that persuasion is just power.
The Bounds of Agency: An Essay in Revisionary Metaphysics
by Carol RovaneThe subject of personal identity is one of the most central and most contested and exciting in philosophy. Ever since Locke, psychological and bodily criteria have vied with one another in conflicting accounts of personal identity. Carol Rovane argues that, as things stand, the debate is unresolvable since both sides hold coherent positions that our common sense will embrace. Our very common sense, she maintains, is conflicted; so any resolution to the debate is bound to be revisionary. She boldly offers such a revisionary theory of personal identity by first inquiring into the nature of persons.Rovane begins with a premise about the distinctive ethical nature of persons to which all substantive ethical doctrines, ranging from Kantian to egoist, can subscribe. From this starting point, she derives two startling metaphysical possibilities: there could be group persons composed of many human beings and multiple persons within a single human being. Her conclusion supports Locke's distinction between persons and human beings, but on altogether new grounds. These grounds lie in her radically normative analysis of the condition of personal identity, as the condition in which a certain normative commitment arises, namely, the commitment to achieve overall rational unity within a rational point of view. It is by virtue of this normative commitment that individual agents can engage one another specifically as persons, and possess the distinctive ethical status of persons.
The Brentano Puzzle (Western Philosophy Series)
by Roberto PoliEven if the width and the depth of Brentano’s intellectual legacy are now quite well known, those asked to list the principal philosophers of the 19th century, very rarely do mention his name. We may call this puzzle the problem of Brentano’s 'invisibility'. One component of the Brentano’s puzzle is that a number of Brentano’s outstanding pupils achieved their own success and founded their own schools. Suffice to mention Husserl’s phenomenology, Twardowski’s Lvov-Warsaw school and Meinong’s Graz school. The personal success and academic recognition attained by these exponents of Brentano’s school (in the broad sense) have come to obscure their common origins. The oblivion into which Franz Brentano’s thought fell was in part due also to the subsequent split between analytic philosophy and phenomenology. The book reconstructs elements of the 'map' of the Brentanists, revitalizing knowledge of the theoretical complexity of their debates, of their unitariness, and of their style. Last but not least, analyses of the relevance of those discussions for contemporary philosophical and scientific debate are also considered.
The Brentano Puzzle (Western Philosophy Series)
by Roberto PoliEven if the width and the depth of Brentano’s intellectual legacy are now quite well known, those asked to list the principal philosophers of the 19th century, very rarely do mention his name. We may call this puzzle the problem of Brentano’s 'invisibility'. One component of the Brentano’s puzzle is that a number of Brentano’s outstanding pupils achieved their own success and founded their own schools. Suffice to mention Husserl’s phenomenology, Twardowski’s Lvov-Warsaw school and Meinong’s Graz school. The personal success and academic recognition attained by these exponents of Brentano’s school (in the broad sense) have come to obscure their common origins. The oblivion into which Franz Brentano’s thought fell was in part due also to the subsequent split between analytic philosophy and phenomenology. The book reconstructs elements of the 'map' of the Brentanists, revitalizing knowledge of the theoretical complexity of their debates, of their unitariness, and of their style. Last but not least, analyses of the relevance of those discussions for contemporary philosophical and scientific debate are also considered.
Buddhism and Abortion
by Damien KeownAbortion is arguably the most controversial and divisive moral issue of modern times, but up until now the debate has taken place almost exclusively within a Western cultural, religious and philosophical context. For the past three decades in the West arguments both for and against abortion have been mounted by groups of all kinds, from religious fundamentalists to radical feminists and every shade of opinion in between. Rather than mutual understanding, however, the result has been the polarisation of opinion and the deepening of entrenched positions. In the face of this deadlock a new perspective is urgently required. Buddhism is an ancient tradition which over the centuries has refined its distinctive beliefs and values in the course of a long interaction with the major cultures of Asia. As Buddhism continues to engage the attention of the West, the time is now opportune for its views on abortion to be heard. This is the first book to explore the abortion question from a range of Buddhist cultural and ethical perspectives. The approach is interdisciplinary and will be of relevance to those working in fields such as law, ethics, medicine, philosophy, religion, the social sciences and women's studies.
Buddhist Writings on Meditation and Daily Practice: The Serene Reflection Tradition. Including the complete Scripture of Brahma's Net (Routledge Library Editions: Zen Buddhism)
by Hubert NearmanThis book, first published in 1994, is a compendium of new translations of certain works regarded as fundamental texts in the Serene Reflection Buddhist Tradition (Sōtō Zen). All the texts were in Chinese, either as original works or as translations from Sanskrit. Several of them are central to the ceremonial not only of the Sōtō Zen Tradition but also of other Mahayana Buddhist traditions as well.
Buddhist Writings on Meditation and Daily Practice: The Serene Reflection Tradition. Including the complete Scripture of Brahma's Net (Routledge Library Editions: Zen Buddhism)
by P. T. N. H. Jiyu-Kennett Daizui MacphillamyThis book, first published in 1994, is a compendium of new translations of certain works regarded as fundamental texts in the Serene Reflection Buddhist Tradition (Sōtō Zen). All the texts were in Chinese, either as original works or as translations from Sanskrit. Several of them are central to the ceremonial not only of the Sōtō Zen Tradition but also of other Mahayana Buddhist traditions as well.
The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French Twentieth Century
by Tony JudtUsing the lives of the three outstanding French intellectuals of the twentieth century, renowned historian Tony Judt offers a unique look at how intellectuals can ignore political pressures and demonstrate a heroic commitment to personal integrity and moral responsibility unfettered by the difficult political exigencies of their time. Through the prism of the lives of Leon Blum, Albert Camus, and Raymond Aron, Judt examines pivotal issues in the history of contemporary French society—antisemitism and the dilemma of Jewish identity, political and moral idealism in public life, the Marxist moment in French thought, the traumas of decolonization, the disaffection of the intelligentsia, and the insidious quarrels rending Right and Left. Judt focuses particularly on Blum's leadership of the Popular Front and his stern defiance of the Vichy governments, on Camus's part in the Resistance and Algerian War, and on Aron's cultural commentary and opposition to the facile acceptance by many French intellectuals of communism's utopian promise. Severely maligned by powerful critics and rivals, each of these exemplary figures stood fast in their principles and eventually won some measure of personal and public redemption. Judt constructs a compelling portrait of modern French intellectual life and politics. He challenges the conventional account of the role of intellectuals precisely because they mattered in France, because they could shape public opinion and influence policy. In Blum, Camus, and Aron, Judt finds three very different men who did not simply play the role, but evinced a courage and a responsibility in public life that far outshone their contemporaries. "An eloquent and instructive study of intellectual courage in the face of what the author persuasively describes as intellectual irresponsibility."—Richard Bernstein, New York Times
Business Ethics
by Norman BarryThis book is an examination of the contemporary ethical problems of business in a philosophical context. It analyses various types of capitalism, in particular, the Anglo-American type which is practised primarily in the English-speaking world, and is exemplified by the commercial and financial systems of Wall Street and the City of London. This analysis includes an examination of the corporation, the ethics of the stock market, the morality of take-overs and the problem of business and the environment.
The Cambridge Companion to Mill (PDF)
by John SkorupskiEach volume of this series of companions to major philosophers contains specially commissioned essays by an international team of scholars, together with a substantial bibliography, and will serve as a reference work for students and nonspecialists. One aim of the series is to dispel the intimidation such readers often feel when faced with the work of a difficult and challenging thinker. John Stuart Mill (1806-73) ranks among the very greatest thinkers of the nineteenth century. Through his books, journalism, correspondence, and political activity, his impact on modern culture and thought has been immense, and his continuing importance for contemporary philosophy and social thought is widely recognized. This companion furnishes the reader with a systematic and fully up-to-date account of the many facets of Mill's thought and influence. The volume also illuminates the many connections between Mill's philosophy and contemporary work in epistemology, ethics, social and political philosophy, and economics. It will be of special interest to all philosophers as well as a broad range of students and readers of political science, economics, and the history of ideas. New readers will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to Mill currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Mill.
The Case of the Speluncean Explorers: Nine New Opinions
by Peter SuberFirst published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The Case of the Speluncean Explorers: Nine New Opinions
by Peter SuberFirst published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Catastrophe and Imagination: English and American Writings from 1870 to 1950
by John McCormickSince World War II critics have been predicting the decline of the novel. This book argues that the novel is not dead. Looking at American and English fiction it claims that the novel can not only change the possibilities of art, but also contribute to awareness of life's possibilities.
Catastrophe and Imagination: English and American Writings from 1870 to 1950
by John McCormickSince World War II critics have been predicting the decline of the novel. This book argues that the novel is not dead. Looking at American and English fiction it claims that the novel can not only change the possibilities of art, but also contribute to awareness of life's possibilities.
Cellular Automata: ACRI’98 — Proceedings of the Third Conference on Cellular Automata for Research and Industry, Trieste, 7–9 October 1998
by Roberto Serra Furio Suggi LiveraniCellular Automata (CA), about to enter their fifties, are coming of age, seen by the breadth and quality of CA-related research carried out worldwide, as well as by the appearance of interesting applications to real world problems. The papers collected in this book, presented at ACRI 98 (Third Conference on Cellular Automata for Research and Industry -7-9 October 1998), further demonstrate the vitality of this line ofresearch. Until some years ago, a researcher interested in dynamical modelling of spatially of the partial extended systems had only one language at his disposal, namely that differential equations (PDE). These are wonderful tools to use when an analytical solution can be found or a perturbative approach can provide a good approximation of the observed phenomena. The use of digital computers has enormously expanded the explanatory and predictive power of partial differential equations by allowing one to treat cases which had been outside the scope of a "pen and pencil" approach. However, it has also opened up a way to new formalisms which are able to describe interesting phenomena and are, at the same time, well-suited for digital simulation.
Character, Liberty and Law: Kantian Essays in Theory and Practice (Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy #3)
by J.G. MurphyJeffrie G. Murphy's third collection of essays further pursues the topics of punishment and retribution that were explored in his two previous collections: Retribution, Justice and Therapy and Retribution Reconsidered. Murphy now explores these topics in the light of reflections on issues that are normally associated with religion: forgiveness, mercy, and repentance. He also explores the general issue of theory and practice and discusses a variety of topics in applied ethics - e.g., freedom of artistic expression, the morality of gambling, and the value of forgiveness in psychological counseling. As always, his perspective may be described as Kantian; and, indeed, this collection contains the first extended piece of Kant scholarship that he has done in years: a long essay on Kant on theory and practice.
The Circulation of Capital: Essays on Volume Two of Marx’s Capital
by Christopher J. Arthur Geert ReutenThe second volume of Marx's Capital is entitled The Circulation of Capital . Here a collection of original essays, by internationally known scholars, treat its themes, bringing to bear on all its parts the latest textual findings, methodological resources and accumulated knowledge of Marxian theory. The result repairs the unjustified neglect of this volume in the literature on Marx and will awaken new interest in it among economists, philosophers and social theorists.
Civil Society (PDF): Old Images, New Visions
by John KeaneOnly a decade ago, the eighteenth-century distinction between civil society -- a voluntary community of political actors -- and the state had fallen into disrepute among political thinkers. The author shows how and why, in a wholly unexpected reversal of fortunes, the seemingly antiquated term civil society now has wider currency and greater political importance -- among politicians, academics, journalists, business leaders, and citizens' organizations -- than at any previous point in history.
Clifford Algebras and Their Application in Mathematical Physics: Aachen 1996 (Fundamental Theories of Physics #94)
by Volker Dietrich Klaus Habetha Gerhard JankClifford Algebras continues to be a fast-growing discipline, with ever-increasing applications in many scientific fields. This volume contains the lectures given at the Fourth Conference on Clifford Algebras and their Applications in Mathematical Physics, held at RWTH Aachen in May 1996. The papers represent an excellent survey of the newest developments around Clifford Analysis and its applications to theoretical physics. Audience: This book should appeal to physicists and mathematicians working in areas involving functions of complex variables, associative rings and algebras, integral transforms, operational calculus, partial differential equations, and the mathematics of physics.
Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race (PDF)
by Kwame Anthony Appiah Amy Gutmann David B. WilkinsIn America today, the problem of achieving racial justice--whether through "color-blind" policies or through affirmative action--provokes more noisy name-calling than fruitful deliberation. In Color Conscious, K. Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann, two eminent moral and political philosophers, seek to clear the ground for a discussion of the place of race in politics and in our moral lives. Provocative and insightful, their essays tackle different aspects of the question of racial justice; together they provide a compelling response to our nation's most vexing problem. Appiah begins by establishing the problematic nature of the idea of race. He draws on the scholarly consensus that "race" has no legitimate biological basis, exploring the history of its invention as a social category and showing how the concept has been used to explain differences among groups of people by mistakenly attributing various "essences" to them. Appiah argues that, while people of color may still need to gather together, in the face of racism, under the banner of race, they need also to balance carefully the calls of race against the many other dimensions of individual identity; and he suggests, finally, what this might mean for our political life. Gutmann examines alternative political responses to racial injustice. She argues that American politics cannot be fair to all citizens by being color blind because American society is not color blind. Fairness, not color blindness, is a fundamental principle of justice. Whether policies should be color-conscious, class conscious, or both in particular situations, depends on an open-minded assessment of their fairness. Exploring timely issues of university admissions, corporate hiring, and political representation, Gutmann develops a moral perspective that supports a commitment to constitutional democracy. Appiah and Gutmann write candidly and carefully, presenting many-faceted interpretations of a host of controversial issues. Rather than supplying simple answers to complex questions, they offer to citizens of every color principled starting points for the ongoing national discussions about race.
Communication, Commerce and Power: The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite, 1960-2000 (International Political Economy Series)
by Edward A. ComorIn this history of US-based direct broadcast satellite developments, the United States and other nation-states are shown to be the ultimate arbiters of their ongoing histories. In making this now unfashionable argument, Edward A. Comor directly challenges recent academic work that tends to privilege global processes over national, and argues that the contemporary world order is being shaped primarily by transnational rather than nation-state-based forces. In testing this orientation with empirical research on US foreign communication policy since 1960, Communication, Commerce and Power compels academics and policy makers to rethink commonplace assumptions about the characteristics and potentials of the contemporary and future international political economy.
Communitarianism: A New Agenda for Politics and Citizenship
by Henry TamAlthough Communitarianism has a long history, it is only recently that it has emerged to pose a major challenge to the traditional left-right divide in politics and the competing principles of individualism and collectivism. Henry Tam's book provides a broad-ranging and accessible introduction to communitarian ideas and their implications for politics and citizenship drawing on a wide range of international examples and engaging with communitarianism's critics to demonstrate clearly its relevance beyond the United States base of many of its major protagonists.
Communitarianism and Citizenship (ALSP series in conjunction with The Association for Legal and Social Philosophy)
by Emilios A. ChristodoulidisThis book is volume three in the series and is the edited proceedings of the 1997 ALSP conference. The conference covered issues relating to Communitarianism and citizenship from socio-legal, philosophical and political perspectives. The papers are a collection drawn from international authors covering a wide variety of subjects such as tolerance, social citizenship and social rights in a global context.
Communitarianism and Citizenship (ALSP series in conjunction with The Association for Legal and Social Philosophy)
by Emilios A. ChristodoulidisThis book is volume three in the series and is the edited proceedings of the 1997 ALSP conference. The conference covered issues relating to Communitarianism and citizenship from socio-legal, philosophical and political perspectives. The papers are a collection drawn from international authors covering a wide variety of subjects such as tolerance, social citizenship and social rights in a global context.