Download or read book The Doubter s Companion written by John Ralston Saul and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-11-06 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A long and distinguished tradition of writers have used the form of a satirical dictionary to undermine the received ideas of their day. Voltaire wrote a sharply humorous "Philosophical Dictionary," while Samuel Johnson's dictionary of the English language was derisive and opinionated. These early dictionaries and encyclopedias were really weapons in a struggle for the soul of civilization between forces of humanistic enlightenment and the forces of orthodoxy and dogmatism. Their authors attacked and exposed the half-truths of their day by showing that it was possible to think differently about the social and political arrangements that everyone took for granted. But as John Ralston Saul argues in this decidedly unorthodox book, modern dictionaries have once again been captured by the forces of orthodoxy—albeit this time a rationalist orthodoxy. Our language has become as predictable, fragmented, and rhetorical as it was in the 18th century, divided as it is by special interest groups into dialects of expertise that are hermetically sealed off and inaccessible to citizens. In The Doubter's Companion, a marvelous subversive contribution to the great 18th century tradition of the humanist dictionary, Saul skewers and discredits the accepted content of common terms like Advertising, Academics, and Air Conditioning (defined as "an efficient means for spreading disease in enclosed public spaces"); Cannibal, Conservative, and Croissant; Dandruff, Death, and Dictionary ("opinions presented as truth in alphabetical order"); and several hundred others, including Biography ("a respectable form of pornography"), Museum ("safe storage for stolen objects"), and Manners ("people are always splendid when they're dead"). There is much in this volume that will stimulate, offend, provoke, perplex, and entertain. But Saul deploys these tactics of guerilla lexicography to advance the more serious purpose of reclaiming public language from the stultifying dialects of modern expertise.
Download or read book The Modern Classics Doubters Companion written by John Ralston Saul and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2014-08-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How are citizens to enter into a public debate if the concepts which define our society and decide the manner in which we are governed are open neither to understanding nor to questioning?" According to bestselling novelist and essayist John Ralston Saul, the ramifications of asking this question are enormous. We live in an era of specialization, where decision makers, administrators, and process-minded experts have fortified their positions of authority by insulating themselves from public accountability. An important instrument in their ascension has been language; or more precisely, a language so technically specific and laden with jargon that it has isolated the individual citizen.
Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Environmental Ethics written by Benjamin Hale and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-07-29 with total page 850 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written for a wide range of readers in environmental science, philosophy, and policy-oriented programs The Routledge Companion to Environmental Ethics is a landmark, comprehensive reference work in this interdisciplinary field. Not merely a review of theoretical approaches to the ethics of the environment, the Companion focuses on specific environmental problems and other concrete issues. Its 65 chapters, all appearing in print here for the first time, have been organized into the following eleven parts: I. Animals II. Land III. Water IV. Climate V. Energy and Extraction VI. Cities VII. Agriculture VIII. Environmental Transformation IX. Policy Frameworks and Response Measures X. Regulatory Tools XI. Advocacy and Activism The volume not only explains the nuances of important core philosophical positions, but also cuts new pathways for the integration of important ethical and policy issues into environmental philosophy. It will be of immense help to undergraduate students and other readers coming up to the field for the first time, but also serve as a valuable resource for more advanced students as well as researchers who need a trusted resource that also offers fresh, policy-centered approaches.
Download or read book How to Deal with Doubts and Doubters written by Henry Clay Trumbull and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Doubters Club Good Faith Conversations with Skeptics Atheists and the Spiritually Wounded written by Preston Ulmer and published by NavPress. This book was released on 2021-09 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is it possible to grow in our Christian faith without engaging the doubter or the skeptic? And if growing in our faith means growing closer to the doubter, how do we do that without compromising what we believe to be true?
Download or read book Retribution written by Lawrence Clarke and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2011-07-27 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Love is never easy, especially as a closeted lesbian with a successful career. Its even more difficult when you are a closeted lesbian with a penchant for murder. Detective Sergeant Kira Lang meets Molly Treacher at a high-end lesbian club in downtown Cleveland, and the two women fall hard for each other. It seems like a match made in heavenuntil Kira is called to investigate a murder with possible personal connections. The victim was a father and husband; witnesses say he physically abused his wife and child during dinner, so Kira cant feel too bad for whats become of the guy. With the appearance of the FBI, however, her little restaurant murder turns into something much bigger. Worse, it may involve the newfound love of Kiras life. Agent Barry Truscott plants the seeds of doubt, but Kiras intellect waters the plant to full growth. Is it possible? Could Molly be a serial killer, hell-bent on getting revenge on her long-dead, abusive father? Kira has her doubts, but Truscott has been on Mollys trail for a long time; his extensive knowledge of Mollys life and crimes may sway Kiras opinions. Even so, if Molly is only murdering men who deserve it, does Kira want justice served? Or will her love for Molly put an end to Truscotts suspicions for good?
Download or read book Voltaire s Bastards written by John Ralston Saul and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-12-25 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a new Introduction by the author, this “erudite and brilliantly readable book” (The Observer, London) expertly dissects the political, economic, and social origins of Western civilization to reveal a culture cripplingly enslaved to crude notions of rationality and expertise. With a new introduction by the author, this “erudite and brilliantly readable book” (The Observer, London) astutely dissects the political, economic and social origins of Western civilization to reveal a culture cripplingly enslaved to crude notions of rationality and expertise. The Western world is full of paradoxes. We talk endlessly of individual freedom, yet we’ve never been under more pressure to conform. Our business leaders describe themselves as capitalists, yet most are corporate employees and financial speculators. We call our governments democracies, yet few of us participate in politics. We complain about invasive government, yet our legal, educational, financial, social, cultural and legislative systems are deteriorating. All these problems, John Ralston Saul argues, are largely the result of our blind faith in the value of reason. Over the past 400 years, our “rational elites” have turned the modern West into a vast, incomprehensible, directionless machine, run by process-minded experts—“Voltaire’s bastards”—whose cult of scientific management is empty of both sense and morality. Whether in politics, art, business, the military, entertainment, science, finance, academia or journalism, these experts share the same outlook and methods. The result, Saul maintains, is a civilization of immense technological power whose ordinary citizens are increasingly excluded from the decision-making process. In this wide-ranging anatomy of modern society and its origins—whose “pages explode with insight, style and intellectual rigor” (Camille Paglia, The Washington Post)—Saul presents a shattering critique of the political, economic and cultural establishments of the West.
Download or read book Reflections on Friends Comrades and Heroes written by Aremu, Issa and published by Malthouse Press. This book was released on 2015-06-20 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vice president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Issa Aremu, has been writing a column in the Daily Trust, Nigeria for several years and has been an occasional contributor to a number of other Nigerian publications. Covered in this volume Prof. Aremu recounts his personal experiences with individuals whose ideas, lives and brilliant minds have been applied to the critical examination of the human condition, the African condition: Fidel Castro; Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Wole Soyinka, Fela Kuti and others.
Download or read book Lutheran Companion written by and published by . This book was released on 1911 with total page 638 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Doubter s Guide to the Bible written by Terry Giles and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is the Bible still an authoritative guide? Television documentaries regularly explore the "mysteries of the Bible" and question whether its stories can be supported by historical facts. A multitude of people claim the Bible's authority for their own, often competing, agendas. And for many, the church has lost credibility in light of various scandals and failures. Is it any wonder, then, that a growing number of folks doubt whether the Bible is a legitimate source of religious authority, much less the word of God? In A Doubter's Guide to the Bible, Terry Giles asks the hard questions that skeptics have about the Bible. Affirming the legitimacy of doubt in light of such questions, Giles invites us to walk with him as he explores issues such as the Bible's origins, violence in the Bible and in the modern world, and the degree to which the Bible has been used as propaganda to justify particular ends. Never ignoring the doubts that may still remain, Giles suggests that the Bible's power arises from its ability to open up a space where we can meet God, who confronts us amidst all the messiness of our humanity. Whether we've never considered these questions before--and especially if we have--A Doubter's Guide to the Bible is an essential companion on our spiritual journey.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Post Colonial Literatures in English written by Eugene Benson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-11-30 with total page 2597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Post-Colonial Literatures in English, together with English Literature and American Literature, form one of the three major groupings of literature in English, and, as such, are widely studied around the world. Their significance derives from the richness and variety of experience which they reflect. In three volumes, this Encyclopedia documents the history and development of this body of work and includes original research relating to the literatures of some 50 countries and territories. In more than 1,600 entries written by more than 600 internationally recognized scholars, it explores the effect of the colonial and post-colonial experience on literatures in English worldwide.
Download or read book Reading Writers Reading written by Danielle Schaub and published by University of Alberta. This book was released on 2006 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I am a writer because I was a reader first." Alison Gordon. "Nobody has ever written who never read." Mavis Gallant. "Reading is a connection, at once a way and a goal, a liberating destiny." Robert Kroetsch. Over 160 Canadian writers, in English and French, write about their experiences of reading. With striking photographs of each writer, Reading Writers Reading offers a sublime voyage into the heart of literary creation.
Download or read book Reflections on War Diplomacy Human Rights and Liberalism written by Adam Hughes Henry and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For most people, the idea that extremist ideologies glorify themselves through warfare, and commit crimes against humanity and genocide, is the natural extension of their moral and philosophical failings. As this volume outlines, liberal democracies such as Australia, and others, also glorify in war and they may also, at various times, engage in, support, or turn a blind eye to crimes against humanity or genocide. However, liberal democracies such as Australia, the US, and the UK, among others, routinely present themselves as arbiters of liberal values, defenders of human rights, and guardians of virtue. This book explores the obvious contradiction between the ideals of liberalism and how liberal democracies ignore, and at times even justify, their failure to uphold the principles they espouse.
Download or read book B H Roberts Moral Geography and the Making of a Modern Racist written by Clyde R. Forsberg Jr. and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2022-03-22 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A transdisciplinary Mormon history, this book is a work of American religious history, theology, science history, and cultural and historical geography. It deconstructs the âraceâ creationism, White supremacy, and Christian imperialism of leading interwar Mormon theologian B.H. Roberts. Roberts hoped to introduce the front-rank post-Darwinian, scientific, and philosophical postulates of his timeâpolygeny, preadamitism, electromagnetism, idealism, the multiverse, infinity, and interstellar travelâto an increasingly fundamentalist Mormon establishment. Church authorities, however, including eventual âprophetâ Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., proscribed and rejected Robertsâ modernist manuscript, The Truth, The, Way, The Life: An Elementary Treatise on Theology, circa 1930. Paradoxically, however, Robertsâ thinking appeared uncited in Smithâs 1954 theology, Man, His Origin and Destiny. Here, Smith accelerated Robertsâ racism toward African Americans, while reviling science, philosophy, and free thought. This book contextualizes all such fundamentalist Mormon thinking within todayâs struggle for social and environmental justice, and especially the Black Lives Matter movement.
Download or read book The Canterbury Preacher s Companion 2015 written by Michael Counsell and published by Canterbury Press. This book was released on 2014-04-24 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An annual favourite, offering 150 complete sermons for the coming year, with hymn suggestions. For each Sunday of the year there are two sermons, plus material for festivals, saints days, baptisms, weddings and funerals.
Download or read book First Love written by Wendy Austin and published by Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers. This book was released on 2003 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the adolescent's experience of amorous love? In seeking an answer to this question, Wendy Austin gathered descriptions from individuals who were in love as teenagers, explored literary texts, movies, and songs, and reflected on personal experience. To understand the influences that shape her own pre-understandings of love and that of her society, Austin examined the psychological research, reviewed the explanatory theories of scholars on love and revisited the great love stories that have survived across time to reveal four major descriptive themes - awakening, falling, possessing, and becoming. Adolescence has been called a time of rebirth; in considering the sentimental education of adolescents, Wendy Austin considers ways in which adults may attend this rebirth in a helpful way.
Download or read book The Commemorative Edition of the Works of John Bunyan written by John Bunyan and published by . This book was released on 1859 with total page 1266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
