The Value of the World and of Oneself

The Value of the World and of Oneself PDF Author: Mor Segev
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197634079
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
"This book examines the longstanding debate between philosophical optimism and pessimism in the history of philosophy, focusing on Aristotle, Maimonides, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Camus. Philosophical optimists maintain that the world is optimally arranged and is accordingly valuable, and that the existence of human beings is preferable over their nonexistence. Philosophical pessimists, by contrast, hold that the world is in a woeful condition and ultimately valueless, and that human nonexistence would have been preferable over our existence. Schopenhauer criticizes the optimism he locates in the Hebrew Bible and in Spinoza for being unable to square the presumed perfection of the world and its parts, including human life, with the suffering and misfortunes observable in them, and for leading to egoism and thereby to cruelty. Nietzsche, in turn, criticizes Schopenhauer's overtly pessimistic view, inter alia, for furtively positing a perfect state for one to aspire to, thus being latently optimistic. Similarly, Camus charges Nietzsche, who announces his rejection of both optimism and pessimism, with deifying the world and oneself, thereby reverting to optimism. Interestingly, Aristotle countenances an optimistic theory, later adopted and developed by Maimonides, that is arguably capable of facing Schopenhauer's challenge. Aristotelian optimism accounts for the perfection of the world in terms of a hierarchy of value between its parts, with human beings ranked relatively low, and recommends an attitude congruent with that ranking"--

The Value of the World and of Oneself

The Value of the World and of Oneself PDF Author: Mor Segev
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197634079
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
"This book examines the longstanding debate between philosophical optimism and pessimism in the history of philosophy, focusing on Aristotle, Maimonides, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Camus. Philosophical optimists maintain that the world is optimally arranged and is accordingly valuable, and that the existence of human beings is preferable over their nonexistence. Philosophical pessimists, by contrast, hold that the world is in a woeful condition and ultimately valueless, and that human nonexistence would have been preferable over our existence. Schopenhauer criticizes the optimism he locates in the Hebrew Bible and in Spinoza for being unable to square the presumed perfection of the world and its parts, including human life, with the suffering and misfortunes observable in them, and for leading to egoism and thereby to cruelty. Nietzsche, in turn, criticizes Schopenhauer's overtly pessimistic view, inter alia, for furtively positing a perfect state for one to aspire to, thus being latently optimistic. Similarly, Camus charges Nietzsche, who announces his rejection of both optimism and pessimism, with deifying the world and oneself, thereby reverting to optimism. Interestingly, Aristotle countenances an optimistic theory, later adopted and developed by Maimonides, that is arguably capable of facing Schopenhauer's challenge. Aristotelian optimism accounts for the perfection of the world in terms of a hierarchy of value between its parts, with human beings ranked relatively low, and recommends an attitude congruent with that ranking"--

Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World

Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World PDF Author: Iddo Landau
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190657677
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Does life have meaning? Is it possible for life to be meaningful when the world is filled with suffering and when so much depends merely upon chance? Even if there is meaning, is there enough to justify living? These questions are difficult to resolve. There are times in which we face the mundane, the illogically cruel, and the tragic, which leave us to question the value of our lives. However, Iddo Landau argues, our lives often are, or could be made, meaningfulwe've just been setting the bar too high for evaluating what meaning there is. When it comes to meaning in life, Landau explains, we have let perfect become the enemy of the good. We have failed to find life perfectly meaningful, and therefore have failed to see any meaning in our lives. We must attune ourselves to enhancing and appreciating the meaning in our lives, and Landau shows us how to do that. In this warmly written book, rich with examples from the author's life, film, literature, and history, Landau offers new theories and practical advice that awaken us to the meaning already present in our lives and demonstrates how we can enhance it. He confronts prevailing nihilist ideas that undermine our existence, and the questions that dog us no matter what we believe. While exposing the weaknesses of ideas that lead many to despair, he builds a strong case for maintaining more hope. Along the way, he faces provocative questions: Would we choose to live forever if we could? Does death render life meaningless? If we examine it in the context of the immensity of the whole universe, can we consider life meaningful? If we feel empty once we achieve our goals, and the pursuit of these goals is what gives us a sense of meaning, then what can we do? Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World is likely to alter the way you understand your life.

Our Own Worst Enemy as Protector of Ourselves

Our Own Worst Enemy as Protector of Ourselves PDF Author: Byron Ben Renz
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 0761847049
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
Much communication today argues a point. An argument, by definition, involves an attack and a counterattack not only using logic, but also incorporating non-logical feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and values. Much of the non-logical element in our argumenttaps the reservoir of unconscious understandings, feelings, expectations, and values that we have coded and stored in our unconscious minds in the form of stereotypes, schemas, and typifications. Our internal packets of stored values and beliefs may constitute our own worst enemy as they militate against creative thought and forward-looking cha.

Forms of Value and Valuation

Forms of Value and Valuation PDF Author: Rem B. Edwards
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725234270
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description
Robert S. Hartman died an untimely death in 1973. Since then, many of his friends, colleagues, and former students have worked diligently on his formal theory of value and have made important advances in developing both the theory itself and practical applications of it. Those familiar with his work are convinced that he made extraordinary advances in theoretical and applied axiology. Bob Hartman saw the Form of the Good. He laid the foundations for a science of values, still being developed. This book is written by members of the Robert S. Hartman Institute to acquaint others better with his achievements and to forge ahead where he left many problems unresolved. Robert Schirokauer escaped from Nazi Germany in 1933 on a false passport that read "Robert Hartman." He kept the name but later added the "S." He became a prominent and highly innovative philosopher who dedicated his life to resolving problems about human values, as expressed in his own words: "I thought to myself, if evil can be organized so efficiently [by the Nazis] why cannot good? Is there any reason for efficiency to be monopolized by the forces for evil in the world? Why have good people in history never seemed to have had as much power as bad people? I decided I would try to find out why and devote my life to doing something about it."

Who One Is

Who One Is PDF Author: J.G. Hart
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402091788
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 661

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Book Description
If I am asked in the framework of Book 1, “Who are you?” I, in answering, might say “I don’t know who in the world I am.” Nevertheless there is a sense in which I always know what “I” refers to and can never not know, even if I have become, e.g., amnesiac. Yet in Book 2, “Who are you?” has other senses of oneself in mind than the non-sortal “myself”. For example, it might be the pragmatic context, as in a bureaucratic setting; but “Who are you?” or “Who am I?” might be more anguished and be rendered by “What sort of person are you?” or “What sort am I?” Such a question often surfaces in the face of a “limit-situation”, such as one’s death or in the wake of a shameful deed where we are compelled to find our “centers”, what we also will call “Existenz”. “Existenz” here refers to the center of the person. In the face of the limit-situation one is called upon to act unconditionally in the determination of oneself and one’s being in the world. In this Book 2 we discuss chiefly one’s normative personal-moral identity which stands in contrast to the transcendental I where one’s non-sortal unique identity is given from the start. This moral identity requires a unique self-determination and normative self-constitution which may be thought of with the help of the metaphor of “vocation”. We will see that it has especial ties to one’s Existenz as well as to love. This Book 2 claims that the moral-personal ideal sense of who one is is linked to the transcendental who through a notion of entelechy. The person strives to embody the I-ness that one both ineluctably is and which, however, points to who one is not yet and who one ought to be. The final two chapters tell a philosophical-theological likely story of a basic theme of Plotinus: We must learn to honor ourselves because of our honorable kinship and lineage “Yonder”.

Persons in Love

Persons in Love PDF Author: A.R. Luther
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940102796X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
Max Scheler's WESEN UND FORMEN DER SYMPATHIE, which appeared in 1923, is an essentially altered and extended second edition of a book published in 1913 entitled ZUR PHANOMENOLOGIE UND THEoRIE DER SYMPATHIEGEFUHLE UND VON LIEBE UND HAss. WESEN UND FORMEN DER SYMPATHIE was the first volume of a proposed several volumes to be concerned with clarifying the nature and mode of specific emotional functions and acts. Other titles in the proposed collection, although not completed, included WESEN UND FORMEN DES SCHAMGEFUHLS, WESEN UND FORMEN DES ANGST UND FURCHT, WESEN UND FORMEN DES EHRGEFUHLS. Scheler's clarification was to indicate important deriva tives of the concerned emotional functions and acts along with the order of their development in individual and communal life. The entire collection was to show the truth and relevance of Pascal's thought re specting an "ordre du coeur", "logique du coeur", "raison du coeur", and to furnish strict proof for it. Pascal's thought was also the funda mental inspiration of Scheler's ethics found in his book entitled, DER FORMALISMUS IN DER ETHIK UND DIE MATERIALE WERTETHIK, as well as a shorter work published during this same period of writing, ORDO AMORIS. YOM EWIGEN 1M MENscHEN should also be mentioned as an important work of this period.

Jean-Luc Nancy among the Philosophers

Jean-Luc Nancy among the Philosophers PDF Author: Irving Goh
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 1531501974
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
This volume focuses on the relational aspect of Jean-Luc Nancy’s thinking. As Nancy himself showed, thinking might be a solitary activity but it is never singular in its dimension. Building on or breaking away from other thoughts, especially those by thinkers who had come before, thinking is always plural, relational. This “singular plural” dimension of thought in Nancy’s philosophical writings demands explication. In this book, some of today’s leading scholars in the theoretical humanities shed light on how Nancy’s thought both shares with and departs from Descartes, Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, Weil, Lacan, Merleau-Ponty, and Lyotard, elucidating “the sharing of voices,” in Nancy’s phrase, between Nancy and these thinkers. Contributors: Georges Van Den Abbeele, Emily Apter, Rodolphe Gasché, Werner Hamacher, Eleanor Kaufman, Marie-Eve Morin, Timothy Murray, Jean-Luc Nancy, and John H. Smith

Jean-Luc Nancy

Jean-Luc Nancy PDF Author: Benjamin Hutchens
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441128492
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Before now, Jean-Luc Nancy's contributions to legal and political theory have been largely overlooked and lacking the in-depth appraisal they deserve. In this unique collection, eighteen notable Nancy scholars contextualize Nancy's work in these areas within the broad corpus of his other concerns. By emphasizing the originality of his theories in a globalizing age, each distinctive chapter provides a new and valuable insight into Nancy's legal and political philosophy. Together with his work on sense, community and art, these cutting edge contributions examine Nancy's conceptions of justice, legality and world in conjunction with the interpretation and rationality of: · The ontology of the event. · The form of relationality. · The effects of globalization. · The importance of Christianity in contemporary legal and political theory. Including a brand new essay by Nancy himself, this collection marks an important and timely step in a rich area of study.

Value(s)

Value(s) PDF Author: Mark Carney
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 154176871X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 608

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Book Description
A bold, urgent argument on the misplacement of value in financial markets and how we can and need to maximize value for the many, not few. As an economist and former banker, Mark Carney has spent his life in various financial roles, in both the public and private sector. VALUE(S) is a meditation on his experiences that examines the short-comings and challenges of the market in the past decade which he argues has led to rampant, public distrust and the need for radical change. Focusing on four major crises-the Global Financial Crisis, the Global Health Crisis, Climate Change and the 4th Industrial Revolution-- Carney proposes responses to each. His solutions are tangible action plans for leaders, companies and countries to transform the value of the market back into the value of humanity.

The Fundamental Principle of Fichte's Philosophy

The Fundamental Principle of Fichte's Philosophy PDF Author: Ellen Bliss Talbot
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description