Author: Robert B. Talisse
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826498582
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Get Book
Book Description
A student's guide to the historical context, key thinkers and central themes of pragmatism, a concept central to American philosophy.
Author: Robert B. Talisse
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826498574
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Get Book
Book Description
A student's guide to the historical context, key thinkers and central themes of pragmatism, a concept central to American philosophy.
Author: Cornelis de Waal
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847065163
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 201
Get Book
Book Description
A clear and thorough account of Peirce's life and thought, his major works and ideas, providing an ideal guide to this important and complex thinker.
Author: Simon Blackburn
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198037576
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Get Book
Book Description
The author of the highly popular book Think, which Time magazine hailed as "the one book every smart person should read to understand, and even enjoy, the key questions of philosophy," Simon Blackburn is that rara avis--an eminent thinker who is able to explain philosophy to the general reader. Now Blackburn offers a tour de force exploration of what he calls "the most exciting and engaging issue in the whole of philosophy"--the age-old war over truth. The front lines of this war are well defined. On one side are those who believe in plain, unvarnished facts, rock-solid truths that can be found through reason and objectivity--that science leads to truth, for instance. Their opponents mock this idea. They see the dark forces of language, culture, power, gender, class, ideology and desire--all subverting our perceptions of the world, and clouding our judgement with false notions of absolute truth. Beginning with an early skirmish in the war--when Socrates confronted the sophists in ancient Athens--Blackburn offers a penetrating look at the longstanding battle these two groups have waged, examining the philosophical battles fought by Plato, Protagoras, William James, David Hume, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Richard Rorty, and many others, with a particularly fascinating look at Nietzsche. Among the questions Blackburn considers are: is science mere opinion, can historians understand another historical period, and indeed can one culture ever truly understand another. Blackburn concludes that both sides have merit, and that neither has exclusive ownership of truth. What is important is that, whichever side we embrace, we should know where we stand and what is to be said for our opponents.
Author: Robert B. Talisse
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400838681
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 501
Get Book
Book Description
A wide-ranging anthology of key pragmatist writings The Pragmatism Reader is the essential anthology of this important philosophical movement. Each selection featured here is a key writing by a leading pragmatist thinker, and represents a distinctively pragmatist approach to a core philosophical problem. The collection includes work by pragmatism's founders, Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey, as well as seminal writings by mid-twentieth-century pragmatists such as Sidney Hook, C. I. Lewis, Nelson Goodman, Rudolf Carnap, Wilfrid Sellars, and W.V.O. Quine. This reader also includes the most important work in contemporary pragmatism by philosophers like Susan Haack, Cornel West, Hilary Putnam, Richard Rorty, Cheryl Misak, and Robert Brandom. Each selection is a stand-alone piece—not an excerpt or book chapter—and each is presented fully unabridged. The Pragmatism Reader challenges the notion that pragmatism fell into a midcentury decline and was dormant until the advent of "neopragmatism" in the 1980s. This comprehensive anthology reveals a rich and highly influential tradition running unbroken through twentieth-century philosophy and continuing today. It shows how American pragmatist philosophers have contributed to leading philosophical debates about truth, meaning, knowledge, experience, belief, existence, justification, and freedom. Covers pragmatist philosophy from its origins to today Features key writings by the leading pragmatist thinkers Demonstrates the continuity and enduring influence of pragmatism Challenges prevailing notions about pragmatism Includes only stand-alone pieces, completely unabridged Reflects the full range of pragmatist themes, arguments, concerns, and commitments
Author: Charles Jarrett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441120343
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Get Book
Book Description
Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to fathom, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material. Benedict de Spinoza is a major philosopher of enduring influence and importance, whose work is encountered by all serious students of Western philosophy; his Ethics is one of the seminal works of moral, religious and political thought. Nevertheless, Spinoza is a considerable challenge for the modern student; his language, rooted in the vocabulary of late Medieval scholasticism is frequently opaque, while the esoteric themes explored in his work often require elucidation. Spinoza: A Guide for the Perplexed provides that elucidation, offering a thorough account and analysis of Spinoza's key works and overall philosophical project. The text equips the reader with the necessary means to draw full and clear understanding from Spinoza's often inaccessible language and complex philosophical system and method. His Ethics and political treatises are covered in detail; Spinoza's 'geometrical' approach to his subject is opened up, and his obscure terminology fully explained. The book concludes with a valuable assessment of Spinoza's enduring influence and his relevance for contemporary philosophical debates and concerns. It is an excellent support resource for anyone trying to get to grips with this challenging and important philosopher.
Author: Cornelis de Waal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000428427
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Get Book
Book Description
This unique introduction fully engages and clearly explains pragmatism, an approach to knowledge and philosophy that rejects outmoded conceptions of objectivity while avoiding relativism and subjectivism. It follows pragmatism’s focus on the process of inquiry rather than on abstract justifications meant to appease the skeptic. According to pragmatists, getting to know the world is a creative human enterprise, wherein we fashion our concepts in terms of how they affect us practically, including in future inquiry. This book fully illuminates that enterprise and the resulting radical rethinking of basic philosophical conceptions like truth, reality, and reason. Author Cornelis de Waal helps the reader recognize, understand, and assess classical and current pragmatist contributions—from Charles S. Peirce to Cornel West—evaluate existing views from a pragmatist angle, formulate pragmatist critiques, and develop a pragmatist viewpoint on a specific issue. The book discusses: Classical pragmatists, including Peirce, James, Dewey, and Addams; Contemporary figures, including Rorty, Putnam, Haack, and West; Connections with other twentieth-century approaches, including phenomenology, critical theory, and logical positivism; Peirce’s pragmatic maxim and its relation to James’s Will to Believe; Applications to philosophy of law, feminism, and issues of race and racism.
Author: E. F. Schumacher
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060906111
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 164
Get Book
Book Description
The author of the world wide best-seller, Small Is Beautiful, now tackles the subject of Man, the World, and the Meaning of Living. Schumacher writes about man's relation to the world. man has obligations -- to other men, to the earth, to progress and technology, but most importantly himself. If man can fulfill these obligations, then and only then can he enjoy a real relationship with the world, then and only then can he know the meaning of living. Schumacher says we need maps: a "map of knowledge" and a "map of living." The concern of the mapmaker--in this instance, Schumacher--is to find for everything it's proper place. Things out of place tend to get lost; they become invisible and there proper places end to be filled by other things that ought not be there at all and therefore serve to mislead. A Guide for the Perplexed teaches us to be our own map makers. This constantly surprising, always stimulating book will be welcomed by a large audience, including the many new fans who believe strongly in what Schumacher has to say.
Author: Hilary Putnam
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780631193432
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Get Book
Book Description
Hilary Putnam has been at the center of contemporary debates about the nature of the mind and of its access to the world, about language and its relation to reality, and many other metaphysical and epistemological issues. In this book he turns to pragmatism - and confronts the teachings of James, Peirce, Dewey, and Wittgenstein - not solely out of an interest in theoretical questions, but above all to respond to the questions of whether it is possible to find an alternative to corrosive moral skepticism, on the one hand, and to moral authoritarianism on the other.
Author: Simon Blackburn
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Get Book
Book Description
"We all like to think we value and abide by it - but what is the truth? In a world with so many contradictory beliefs, habits and religions, does any such thing really exist? Simon Blackburn's new book is a sure-footed companion through this thorny territory, showing us the different ways in which we have interpreted and sought the truth from classical to modern times." "Getting to grips with the issues that touch all of us, Truth asks: are there really such things as moral absolutes or good and evil? Can we maintain any form of personal integrity in a society awash with cults, astrology, Feng shui, homeopathy and self-help? Or should every viewpoint be given respect, however absurd we may think it? This essential guide to truth, the enemies of truth and the wars that have been fought between them steers a clear path through ideas such as relativism and absolutism, toleration and belief, objectivity and knowledge and the new religions of 'Science' and 'the Market'. It introduces figures from Plato and Locke to Nietzsche and Foucault, and explores the moral and political implications, as well as the nuances, of the many conflicting concepts in the struggle to determine what we really mean by 'the truth'." "Whether you're an atheist or a true believer, a post-modernist or a pragmatist, a sceptic or a nihilist - or just perplexed by it all - this book offers positive guidance for anyone who believes that the truth is out there."--BOOK JACKET.
