Philosophy
An Introduction to Philosophy is perhaps the most well-known and enduring of all Maritain's many books. It offers a clear and highly readable introduction to the philosophies of both Aristotle and St Thomas Aquinas.
The book reconstructs the history of the philosophy of religion, clearly illustrating the most important attempts to address such crucial issues as the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the problem of evil, miracles, the moral argument, the design argument, religious experience and the idea of god. Thinkers covered include Anselm, Aquinas, Pascal, Hume, Kant, Paley and James. Crucially the book demonstrates why the ideas and arguments these key thinkers developed are still relevant in contemporary thought. Ideal for undergraduate students, the book lays the necessary foundations for a complete and thorough understanding of this fascinating subject.
Philosophical questions relating to language have been subjected to particularly intense scrutiny since the work of Gottlob Frege in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book concentrates on the development of philosophical views on language over the last 130 years, offering coverage of all the leading thinkers in the field including Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Austin, Quine, Chomsky, Grice, Davidson, Dummett and Kripke. Crucially the book demonstrates how the ideas and arguments of these key thinkers have contributed to our understanding of the theoretical account of language use and its central concepts. Ideal for undergraduate students, the book lays the necessary foundations for a complete and thorough understanding of this fascinating subject.
The extent and nature of rights; the sources of state power; the promises and pitfalls of democracy; how to achieve a just distribution of social goods; the claims of culture and gender on our identity: these are just some of the issues to have been addressed by political philosophers throughout history.
Politics: Key Concepts in Philosophy offers a thorough and stimulating account of political philosophy. The text is structured thematically in order to convey the vibrancy of debates within the discipline. Through these debates the text addresses the ideas of major thinkers -including Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Foucault, Rawls, Kymlicka, Okin and Butler - and it begins and ends with discussions about the nature of political philosophy itself.
This is an invaluable aid to study, one that goes beyond simple definitions and summaries; readers new to this discipline will encounter a lively text full of clear signposts for the journey into political philosophy.
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir were two of the most brilliant, influential, and scandalous intellectuals of the 20th century. They are remembered as much for the lives they led as for their influence on the way we think. Their committed but notoriously open union created huge controversy in their lifetime. And even before their deaths they had become one of history's legendary couples, renowned for the passion, daring, humor and intellectual intensity of their relationship.
This fascinating book presents a biography of Sartre and de Beauvoir's relationship and offers some highly original theories relating to the extent of de Beauvoir's contribution to their shared ideas. Through a thorough examination of Sartre and de Beauvoir's major works, the authors present a compelling story of their romantic and intellectual relationships.
Jeremy Kirby addresses a difficulty in Aristotle's metaphysics, namely the possibility that two organisms of the same species might share the same matter. If they share the same form, as Aristotle seems to suggest, then they seem to share that which they cannot, their identity. By taking into account Aristotle's views on the soul, its relation to living matter, and his rejection of the possibility of resurrection, Kirby reconstructs an answer to this problem and shows how Aristotle relies on some of the central themes in his system in order to resist this unwelcome result that his metaphysics might suggest.
This book explores this neglected existential side of Kant's work. It presents radical evil as vacillating between tragic and freedom, at the threshold of humanity. Through it's careful exegesis of the Kantian corpus, in gauging contemporary responses from both philosophical traditions, and by drawing from concrete examples of evil, the book offers a novel and accessible account of what is widely considered to be an intricate yet urgent problem of philosophy.
In this witty and engaging book, James Garvey offers an introductory account of the must-read books from the whole history of philosophical writing. From Plato to Popper, Descartes to Wittgenstein, the greatest books in philosophy have had a huge impact on the development of contemporary society, politics, economics and culture. This entertaining and intelligent guide introduces the philosophical questions central to these books that are of genuine interest to the general reader and opens up often complex and challenging ideas for wider debate.
This is the ideal book for those coming to philosophy for the first time. Garvey introduces the key themes and terms in philosophy before exploring each of the twenty great philosophy books with humour and clarity. The book presupposes no background in philosophy and encourages the reader to actively engage in philosophical thinking. The Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books is the essential guide for anyone with an interest in this fascinating subject.
The Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books are Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy , Hobbes's Leviathan, Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge, Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Rousseau's Social Contract, Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation, Marx's Communist Manifesto, Mill's Utilitarianism, Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra, James's Pragmatism, Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus , Ayer's Language, Truth and Logic, Sartre's Being and Nothingness, de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, Popper's The Logic of Scientific Discovery.
Explains the key terms for anyone studying in school, college or those working in the psychology sector. Each entry begins with a clear definition and is followed by explanation that contextualises the concept and applies it to the real world.
From 'aggression 'to 'perception Collins Key Concepts provides a clear definition, in-depth description and real world example for the essential terms in psychology, making the most complicated of concepts easy to understand.
This is an invaluable reference for students across all psychology courses, helping familiarise them with the language of the field. Perfect for new students as terms and concepts are clearly explained, helping students new to psychology gain a thorough understanding quickly. A great companion book throughout the course giving the more advanced student full explanations of important and challenging concepts, helping them tackle course assignments with confidence.
Now the major texts of American pragmatism, from William James and John Dewey to Richard Rorty and Cornel West, have been brought together and reprinted unabridged. From the first generation of pragmatists, including the Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and the founder of semiotics, Charles Sanders Peirce, to the leading figures in the contemporary pragmatist revival, including the philosopher Hilary Putnam, the jurist Richard Posner, and the literary critic Richard Poirier, all the contributors to this volume are remarkable for the wit and vigor of their prose and the mind-clearing force of their ideas. Edited and with an Introduction by Louis Menand, Pragmatism: A Reader will provide both the general reader and the student of American culture with excitement and pleasure.
Nietzsche is not difficult to read, but he is famously difficult to understand. This is because of the bewildering array of words, phrases or metaphors that he uses. The Nietzsche Dictionary aims to help, by giving readers a road map to Nietzsche's language, and how his terminology and images relate together, forming an overall philosophical picture. The Dictionary also includes synopses of Nietzsche's key works, and short articles on the main philosophical and cultural influences leading up to, and resulting from, Nietzsche.
Easy to use and navigate, the book treats all entries thematically and arranges them into seven types: Influences on, or the contemporary context of, Nietzsche; Major influences of Nietzsche; Key concepts; Key metaphors or images; Alternative translations; Other words or phrases found in Nietzsche that are cross-referenced to a main entry; Synopses of major works by Nietzsche.
Designed to be a resource that all readers of Nietzsche will find invaluable, this text is an essential tool for everyone, from beginners to the more advanced.
The Descartes Dictionary is an accessible guide to the world of the seventeenth-century philosopher René Descartes. Meticulously researched and extensively cross-referenced, this unique book covers all his major works, ideas and influences, and provides a firm grounding in the central themes of Descartes' thought.
The introduction provides a biographical sketch, a brief account of Descartes' philosophical works, and a summary of the current state of Cartesian studies, discussing trends in research over the past four decades. The A-Z entries include clear definitions of the key terms used in Descartes' writings and detailed synopses of his works. Also included are entries noting philosophical influences, of both figures that influenced Descartes and those that he in turn influenced.
For anyone reading or studying Descartes, rationalism, or modern philosophy more generally, this original resource provides a wealth of useful information, analysis, and criticism. Including clear explanations of often complex terminology, The Descartes Dictionary covers everything that is essential to a sound understanding of Descartes' philosophy.
A-Z entries include clear definitions of all the key terms used in Kant's writings and detailed synopses of his key works. The Dictionary also includes entries on Kant's major philosophical influences, such as Plato, Descartes, Berkeley and Leibniz, and those he influenced and engaged with, including Fichte, Hume and Rousseau. It covers everything that is essential to a sound understanding of Kant's philosophy, offering clear and accessible explanations of often complex terminology. Providing a wealth of useful information, analysis and criticism The Kant Dictionary is the ideal resource for anyone reading or studying Kant or Modern European Philosophy more generally.
Ethics: The Key Thinkers surveys the history of Western moral philosophy, guiding students through the work and ideas of the field's most important figures, from Plato to MacIntyre. With entries written by leading contemporary scholars, the book covers the following thinkers:PlatoAristotleThe StoicsThomas AquinasDavid HumeImmanuel KantG.W.F. HegelKarl MarxJ.S. Mill Friedrich NietzscheAlasdair MacIntyre The book explores the contribution of each thinker in turn, narrating how they have changed the shape of ethical theory as a whole. The book also includes guides to the latest reading on each thinker.
Oskari Kuusela is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, UK. His publications include The Struggle Against Dogmatism: Wittgenstein and the Concept of Philosophy (Harvard UP, 2008), Wittgenstein and his Interpreters (co-edited with Guy Kahane and Edward Kanterian, Blackwell, 2007) and The Oxford Handbook to Wittgenstein, (co-edited with Marie McGinn, Oxford UP, forthcoming).
Gordon Marino is professor of philosophy and director of the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. A recipient of the Richard J. Davis Ethics Award for excellence in writing on ethics and the law, he is the author of Kierkegaard in the Present Age, co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard, and editor of the Modern Library’s Basic Writings of Existentialism. His essays have appeared in The New York Times.
Olufemi Taiwo was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. He attended Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan for his secondary education and the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife, Nigeria where he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees. He later obtained graduate degrees from the University of Toronto, Canada.
He has authored two other books – “Legal Naturalism: A Marxist Theory of Law” and “How Colonialism Preempted Modernity in Africa”.
He taught at the Obafemi Awolowo University until 1990. Presently, he is a Director of the Global Africa Studies Program and Professor of Philosophy and Global African Studies at Seattle University, Seattle, United States.
Included also are seventy-five aphorisms, selections from Nietzsche’s correspondence, and variants from drafts for Ecce Homo.