The Barometer of Modern Reason

The Barometer of Modern Reason PDF Author: Vincent Descombes
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Philosophers are often asked for their views on the "meaning of the times." But how should philosophy deal with world events? And what makes a philosopher more qualified than anyone else to editorialize in the daily paper? In this book, Descombes's intention is not to offer his own reading of the signs of the times, but to interrogate modern philosophers about how they come up with the barometers they use to tell us about modern reason and the spirit of the times. For Descombes, a "philosophical discourse of modernity" should be rejected, for the true subject of modernity belongs not to philosophers, but to writers, moralists, and sociologists of individualism.

The Barometer of Modern Reason

The Barometer of Modern Reason PDF Author: Vincent Descombes
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Philosophers are often asked for their views on the "meaning of the times." But how should philosophy deal with world events? And what makes a philosopher more qualified than anyone else to editorialize in the daily paper? In this book, Descombes's intention is not to offer his own reading of the signs of the times, but to interrogate modern philosophers about how they come up with the barometers they use to tell us about modern reason and the spirit of the times. For Descombes, a "philosophical discourse of modernity" should be rejected, for the true subject of modernity belongs not to philosophers, but to writers, moralists, and sociologists of individualism.

The Mind's Provisions

The Mind's Provisions PDF Author: Vincent Descombes
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400832489
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Vincent Descombes brings together an astonishingly large body of philosophical and anthropological thought to present a thoroughgoing critique of contemporary cognitivism and to develop a powerful new philosophy of the mind. Beginning with a critical examination of American cognitivism and French structuralism, Descombes launches a more general critique of all philosophies that view the mind in strictly causal terms and suppose that the brain--and not the person--thinks. Providing a broad historical perspective, Descombes draws surprising links between cognitivism and earlier anthropological projects, such as Lévi-Strauss's work on the symbolic status of myths. He identifies as incoherent both the belief that mental states are detached from the world and the idea that states of mind are brain states; these assumptions beg the question of the relation between mind and brain. In place of cognitivism, Descombes offers an anthropologically based theory of mind that emphasizes the mind's collective nature. Drawing on Wittgenstein, he maintains that mental acts are properly attributed to the person, not the brain, and that states of mind, far from being detached from the world, require a historical and cultural context for their very intelligibility. Available in English for the first time, this is the most outstanding work of one of France's finest contemporary philosophers. It provides a much-needed link between the continental and Anglo-American traditions, and its impact will extend beyond philosophy to anthropology, psychology, critical theory, and French studies.

Reason After Its Eclipse

Reason After Its Eclipse PDF Author: Martin Jay
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Pres
ISBN: 029930650X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Tackles a question as old as Plato and still pressing today: What is reason, and what roles does and should it have in human endeavor? The eminent intellectual historian Martin Jay surveys Western ideas of reason, particularly in German philosophy from Kant to Habermas.

The Remains of Being

The Remains of Being PDF Author: Santiago Zabala
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231520042
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
In Basic Concepts, Heidegger claims that "Being is the most worn-out" and yet also that Being "remains constantly available." Santiago Zabala radicalizes the consequences of these little known but significant affirmations. Revisiting the work of Jacques Derrida, Reiner Schürmann, Jean-Luc Nancy, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Ernst Tugendhat, and Gianni Vattimo, he finds these remains of Being within which ontological thought can still operate. Being is an event, Zabala argues, a kind of generosity and gift that generates astonishment in those who experience it. This sense of wonder has fueled questions of meaning for centuries-from Plato to the present day. Postmetaphysical accounts of Being, as exemplified by the thinkers of Zabala's analysis, as well as by Nietzsche, Dewey, and others he encounters, don't abandon Being. Rather, they reject rigid, determined modes of essentialist thought in favor of more fluid, malleable, and adaptable conceptions, redefining the pursuit and meaning of philosophy itself.

The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad

The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad PDF Author: J. H. Stape
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139825178
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad offers a wide-ranging introduction to the fiction of Joseph Conrad, one of the most influential novelists of the twentieth century. Through a series of essays by leading Conrad scholars aimed at both students and the general reader, the volume stimulates an informed appreciation of Conrad's work based on an understanding of his cultural and historical situations and fictional techniques. A chronology and overview of Conrad's life precede chapters that explore significant issues in his major writings, and deal in depth with individual works. These are followed by discussions of the special nature of Conrad's narrative techniques, his complex relationships with late-Victorian imperialism and with literary Modernism, and his influence on other writers and artists. Each essay provides guidance to further reading, and a concluding chapter surveys the body of Conrad criticism.

The Politics of Time

The Politics of Time PDF Author: Peter Osborne
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1789600251
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
If Aristotle sought to understand time through change, might we not reverse the procedure and seek to understand change through time? Once we do this, argues Peter Osborne, it soon becomes clear that ideas such as avant-garde, modern, postmodern and tradition-which are usually only treated as markets for empirically discrete periods, movements or styles-are best understood as categories of historical totalization. More specifically, Osborne claims, such ideas involve distinct "temporalizations" of history, giving rise to conflicting politics of time. His book begins with a consideration of the main aspects of modernity and develops though a series of critical engagements with the major twentieth-century positions in the philosophy of history. He concludes with a fascinating history of the avant-garde intervention into the temporality of everyday life in surrealism, the situationists and the work of Henri Lefebvre.

Conceptualising Community

Conceptualising Community PDF Author: D. Studdert
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230505562
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Community is the dark shadow of sociology - an issue around which sociologists always duck and dive. This book examines the reasons for this reticence through an exegesis of contemporary debates. Additionally it utilizes the work of Hannah Arendt to propose an alternative anti-mechanistic and anti-essentialist approach to community and sociality; an approach that not only moves beyond Foucault and his oppositional work but also offers perhaps the basis for a different approach to politics.

Dictionary of Visual Discourse

Dictionary of Visual Discourse PDF Author: Barry Sandywell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317151062
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 723

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Book Description
This substantial and ambitious dictionary explores the languages and cultures of visual studies. It provides the basis for understanding the foundations and motivations of current theoretical and academic discourse, as well as the different forms of visual culture that have come to organize everyday life. The book is firmly placed in the context of the 'visual turn' in contemporary thought. It has been designed as an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary introduction to the vocabularies and grammars of visuality that inform thinking in the arts and humanities today. It also offers insight into the philosophical frameworks which underpin the field of visual culture. A central theme that runs throughout the entries is the task of moving away from a narrow understanding of visuality inherited from traditional philosophy toward a richer cultural and multi-sensorial philosophy of concrete experience. The dictionary incorporates intertextual links that encourage readers to explore connections between major themes, theories and key figures in the field. In addition the author's introduction provides a comprehensive and critical introduction which documents the significance of the visual turn in contemporary theory and culture. It is accompanied by an extensive bibliography and further reading list. As both a substantive academic contribution to this growing field and a useful reference tool, this book offers a theoretical introduction to the many languages of visual discourse. It will be essential reading for graduate students and scholars in visual studies, the sociology of visual culture, cultural and media studies, philosophy, art history and theory, design, film and communication studies.

The Capacity to Govern

The Capacity to Govern PDF Author: Yehezkel Dror
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136342397
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
The inadequacies of contemporary forms of governance are increasingly recognized: the brain drain from politics, distrust of governments, the danger of mass media and money-dominated elections, and the failure of governments to find good policy options on major issues. Industry, civil society and non-governmental organizations, however important, cannot compensate for government's incapacity to shape the future, which only it is democratically entitled to do. Radical improvements in governance are urgently needed, but salient proposals are scarce. This book diagnoses contemporary governments as obsolete and proposes changes in values, structures, staffing, public understanding and political culture to equip governance for the radically novel challenges of the 21st century. This is the first Report dealing with governance commissioned and approved by the Club of Rome, testifying to the significance of this book.

Philosophy in an Age of Pluralism

Philosophy in an Age of Pluralism PDF Author: Charles Taylor
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521437424
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This is the first comprehensive evaluation of Charles Taylor's work and a major contribution to leading questions in philosophy and the human sciences as they face an increasingly pluralistic age. Charles Taylor is one of the most influential contemporary moral and political philosophers: in an era of specialisation he is one of the few thinkers who has developed a comprehensive philosophy which speaks to the conditions of the modern world in a way that is compelling to specialists in various disciplines. This collection of specially commissioned essays brings together twelve distinguished scholars from a variety of fields to discuss critically Taylor's work. The topics range from the history of philosophy, to truth, modernity and postmodernity, theism, interpretation, the human sciences, liberalism, pluralism and difference. Taylor responds to all the contributions and re-articulates his own views.