Sisyphus's Boulder

Sisyphus's Boulder PDF Author: Eric Dietrich
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027251961
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Consciousness lies at the core of being human. Therefore, to understand ourselves, we need a theory of consciousness. In Sisyphus's Boulder, Eric Dietrich and Valerie Hardcastle argue that we will never get such a theory because consciousness has an essential property that prevents it from ever being explained. Consequently, philosophical debates over materialism and dualism are a waste of time. Scientific explanations of consciousness fare no better. Scientists do study consciousness, and such investigations will continue to grow and advance. However, none of them will ever reveal what consciousness is. In addition, given the centrality of consciousness in philosophy, Dietrich and Hardcastle claim that philosophy itself needs to change. That the central problems of philosophy persist is actually a profound epistemic fact about humans. Philosophy, then, is a limit to what humans can understand. (Series A)

Sisyphus No More

Sisyphus No More PDF Author: Roger C. Byrd
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538136619
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
Prisoners released from our bloated American correctional institutions return to a mostly unwelcoming society where they face onerous post-release challenges. No wonder recidivism is near fifty percent, adding tens of billions of dollars annually to the cost of American prisons. Sisyphus No More is a multifaceted argument for increasing prisoner education and training programs to promote the reintegration into society of returning prisoners and increase the likelihood of their securing living-wage jobs. By greatly reducing recidivism, the programs will pay for themselves several times over. Such programs also humanize the treatment of prisoners and help them escape the fate of Sisyphus, the mythological king condemned to a bitterly repetitive fate. The book has two parts. The first provides background on the American prison system and enumerates the tolls incarceration takes on prisoners, their families, and their communities and the costs released prisoners continue to pay that severely hinder their reintegration. In the second part, the authors set forth compelling psychological, sociological, ethical, and financial grounds for increasing education and training to support the reintegration of released prisoners. The final two chapters report on innovative prison education programs and identify steps toward making education and training a priority in our prisons.

The Myth of Sisyphus And Other Essays

The Myth of Sisyphus And Other Essays PDF Author: Albert Camus
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307827828
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a meditation on suicide; the question of living or not living in a universe devoid of order or meaning. With lyric eloquence, Albert Camus brilliantly posits a way out of despair, reaffirming the value of personal existence, and the possibility of life lived with dignity and authenticity.

The Children of Sisyphus

The Children of Sisyphus PDF Author: Orlando Patterson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Sisyphus Wins

Sisyphus Wins PDF Author: Jerry Fabyanic
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780996963602
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Jonathan Slovanco finds comfort and safety in his large family and in the Catholic Church. But as he matures, he realizes that a fundamental difference between him and other boys may alienate him from both his family and the Church. Coming to self-acceptance is difficult enough. Coupling that with the courage needed to reveal his genuine self to his family feels like a Sisyphean effort.

Sisyphus's Boulder

Sisyphus's Boulder PDF Author: Eric Dietrich
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027251961
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Consciousness lies at the core of being human. Therefore, to understand ourselves, we need a theory of consciousness. In Sisyphus's Boulder, Eric Dietrich and Valerie Hardcastle argue that we will never get such a theory because consciousness has an essential property that prevents it from ever being explained. Consequently, philosophical debates over materialism and dualism are a waste of time. Scientific explanations of consciousness fare no better. Scientists do study consciousness, and such investigations will continue to grow and advance. However, none of them will ever reveal what consciousness is. In addition, given the centrality of consciousness in philosophy, Dietrich and Hardcastle claim that philosophy itself needs to change. That the central problems of philosophy persist is actually a profound epistemic fact about humans. Philosophy, then, is a limit to what humans can understand. (Series A)

The Lost Pleiad

The Lost Pleiad PDF Author: Jane Dransfield
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Time and Cause

Time and Cause PDF Author: P. van Inwagen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940173528X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Richard Taylor was born in Charlotte, Michigan on 5 November 1919. He received his A. B. from the University of illinois in 1941, his M. A. from Oberlin College in 1947, and his Ph. D. from Brown University in 1951. He has been William H. P. Faunce Professor of Philosophy at Brown University, Professor of Philosophy (Graduate Faculties) at Columbia University, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rochester. He is the author of about fifty articles and of five philosophical books. This volume consists of essays presented to Richard Taylor on the occa sion of his sixtieth birthday. Some of the contributors have been Taylor'S students; some have been his colleagues; and all have been, and continue to be, his admirers. I have made several attempts to articulate what it is I (I would not presume to speak for anyone else) admire about Richard Taylor: (1) There is a particular 'flavor' to Taylor's philosophical writing and con versation that is wholly delightful. Like any other flavor, it can be tasted and enjoyed and remembered but never adequately described. (If there should be someone who has picked up this book who does not know what I mean, I recommend that he read the chapter on 'God' in Taylor's Metaphysics. ) (2) Taylor is a masterful dialectician.

Freedom and Fulfillment

Freedom and Fulfillment PDF Author: Joel Feinberg
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691218145
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Dealing with a diverse set of problems in practical and theoretical ethics, these fourteen essays, three of them previously unpublished, reconfirm Joel Feinberg's leading position in the field of legal philosophy. With a clarity and humor that will be familiar to readers of his other works, Feinberg writes on topics including "wrongful life" suits in the law of torts, or whether there is any sense in the remark that a person is so badly off that he would be better off not existing at all; the morality of abortion; educational options; free expression; civil disobedience; and the duty of easy rescue in criminal law. He continues with a three-part defense of moral rights in the abstract, a discussion of voluntary euthanasia, and an inquiry into arguments of various kinds for not granting legal rights in enforcement of a person's acknowledged moral rights. This collection concludes with two essays dealing with concepts used in appraising the whole of a person's life: absurdity and self-fulfillment, and their interplay.

Action Reconceptualized

Action Reconceptualized PDF Author: David K. Chan
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498519652
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
The concept of action that requires philosophical analysis is one that concerns behavior characteristically found in humans. In Action Reconceptualized: Human Agency and Its Sources, David K. Chan examines the sources of human agency that are proposed in causal theories of action—namely desire, intention, and trying—and distinguishes them from each other in terms of their roles in practical reasoning and motivation. He conceptualizes them in relation to each other in a way that is consistent and useful for answering a number of questions that are central to the philosophy of action. The action theory in this book addresses the need to understand human agency for its own sake, but it also serves another purpose. When the philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe stressed the need to do philosophy of action before doing ethical theory, what she meant was that moral philosophers should first work out a proper account of the relationship between the inner states of a person and the actions that she performs. This book provides such an account, and makes the case that it is desire, rather than intention, that is the basis for the ethical evaluation of an agent. Action Reconceptualized will be of particular interest to students and scholars doing research in action theory and ethics, as well as to those working outside of philosophy in psychology and cognitive science.

Blackwood's Magazine

Blackwood's Magazine PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : England
Languages : en
Pages : 830

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Book Description