Download or read book Ordinary Oblivion and the Self Unmoored written by Jennifer R. Rapp and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2014-03-03 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rapp begins with a question posed by the poet Theodore Roethke: “Should we say that the self, once perceived, becomes a soul?” Through her examination of Plato’s Phaedrus and her insights about the place of forgetting in a life, Rapp answers Roethke’s query with a resounding Yes. In so doing, Rapp reimagines the Phaedrus, interprets anew Plato’s relevance to contemporary life, and offers an innovative account of forgetting as a fertile fragility constitutive of humanity. Drawing upon poetry and comparisons with other ancient Greek and Daoist texts, Rapp brings to light overlooked features of the Phaedrus, disrupts longstanding interpretations of Plato as the facile champion of memory, and offers new lines of sight onto (and from) his corpus. Her attention to the Phaedrus and her meditative apprehension of the permeable character of human life leave our understanding of both Plato and forgetting inescapably altered. Unsettle everything you think you know about Plato, suspend the twentieth-century entreaty to “Never forget,” and behold here a new mode of critical reflection in which textual study and humanistic inquiry commingle to expansive effect.

Download or read book Trance Mediums and New Media written by Heike Behrend and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Socrates and Self Knowledge written by Christopher Moore and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-10-09 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, the first systematic study of Socrates' reflections on self-knowledge, Christopher Moore examines the ancient precept 'Know yourself' and, drawing on Plato, Aristophanes, Xenophon, and others, reconstructs and reassesses the arguments about self-examination, personal ideals, and moral maturity at the heart of the Socratic project. What has been thought to be a purely epistemological or metaphysical inquiry turns out to be deeply ethical, intellectual, and social. Knowing yourself is more than attending to your beliefs, discerning the structure of your soul, or recognizing your ignorance - it is constituting yourself as a self who can be guided by knowledge toward the good life. This is neither a wholly introspective nor a completely isolated pursuit: we know and constitute ourselves best through dialogue with friends and critics. This rich and original study will be of interest to researchers in the philosophy of Socrates, selfhood, and ancient thought.

Download or read book Ecological Ethics and the Philosophy of Simone Weil written by Kathryn Lawson and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-05-13 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book places the philosophy of Simone Weil into conversation with contemporary environmental concerns in the Anthropocene. The book offers a systematic interpretation of Simone Weil, making her ethical philosophy more accessible to non-Weil scholars. Weil’s work has been influential in many fields, including politically and theologically-based critiques of social inequalities and suffering, but rarely linked to ecology. Kathryn Lawson argues that Weil’s work can be understood as offering a coherent approach with potentially widespread appeal applicable to our ethical relations to much more than just other human beings. She suggests that the process of "decreation" in Weil is an expansion of the self which might also come to include the surrounding earth and a vast assemblage of others. This allows readers to consider what it means to be human in this time and place, and to contemplate our ethical responsibilities both to other humans and also to the more-than-human world. Ultimately, the book uses Weil’s thought to decanter the human being by cultivating human actions towards an ecological ethics. This book will be useful for Simone Weil scholars and academics, as well as students and researchers interested in environmental ethics in departments of comparative literature, theory and criticism, philosophy, and environmental studies.

Download or read book The Origins of Music Theory in the Age of Plato written by Sean Alexander Gurd and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-12-12 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Listening is a social process. Even apparently trivial acts of listening are expert performances of acquired cognitive and bodily habits. Contemporary scholars acknowledge this fact with the notion that there are “auditory cultures.” In the fourth century BCE, Greek philosophers recognized a similar phenomenon in music, which they treated as a privileged site for the cultural manufacture of sensory capabilities, and proof that in a traditional culture perception could be ordered, regular, and reliable. This approachable and elegantly written book tells the story of how music became a vital topic for understanding the senses and their role in the creation of knowledge. Focussing in particular on discussions of music and sensation in Plato and Aristoxenus, Sean Gurd explores a crucial early chapter in the history of hearing and gently raises critical questions about how aesthetic traditionalism and sensory certainty can be joined together in a mutually reinforcing symbiosis.

Download or read book The Realm of Mimesis in Plato written by Mariangela Esposito and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-12-12 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Orality versus writing is a vexed issue in Plato, but is it necessarily an opposition? This book places Plato’s work in the realm of mimesis and argues that we do not necessarily have to see this issue as demonstrating a straightforward opposition.

Download or read book The Afterlife of Discarded Objects written by Andrei Guruianu and published by Parlor Press LLC. This book was released on 2018-12-18 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Afterlife of Discarded Objects: Memory and Forgetting in a Culture of Waste As one of its driving principles, The Afterlife of Discarded Objects: Memory and Forgetting in a Culture of Waste analyzes the double reconstitution of discarded items. In this afterlife, discarded objects might transform from a worthless object into a plaything or a work of art, and then to an artifact marking a specific historical time period. This transformation is represented through various forms of recollection—stories, photographs, collectibles, heirlooms, monuments, and more. Shaped by nostalgia and wishful thinking, discarded objects represent what is wasted, desired, and aestheticized, existing at the intersection of individual and collective consciousness. While The Afterlife of Discarded Objects constitutes a version of revisionist historiography through its engagement with alternative anthropological artifacts, its ambition stretches beyond that to consider how seemingly immaterial phenomena such as memory and identity are embedded in and shaped by material networks, including ephemera. Guruianu and Andrievskikh create a written, visual, and virtual playground where transnational narratives fuse into a discourse on the persistent materiality of ephemera, especially when magnified through narrative and digital embodiment. The Afterlife of Discarded Objects is printed in full color and includes references, an index, and over seventy hi-resolution color images. “The Afterlife of Discarded Objects: Memory and Forgetting in a Culture of Waste uses contemporary theory, literature, popular culture, and personal narratives to investigate how we assign political, socio-cultural, and aesthetic meaning to objects. The book is unique in applying personal narratives and testimonies of contributors from around the world to provide insights and critiques of Western attitudes toward these objects. The Afterlife of Discarded Objects provides transformative social commentary through scrutiny and stories of discarded/found objects in Eastern Europe and in the West encouraging us to reflect more critically on our relationships with things. The stories and theories interwoven in Guruianu and Andrievskikh’s book turn memory into matter and aspire to teach through their exploration. It’s a lofty goal, and the book succeeds.” —Sohui Lee

Download or read book Crown of Oblivion written by Julie Eshbaugh and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this mesmerizing YA fantasy mash-up of The Road meets The Amazing Race, one girl chooses to risk her life in a cutthroat competition in order to win her freedom. In Lanoria, Outsiders, who don’t have magic, are inferior to Enchanteds, who do. That’s just a fact for Astrid, an Outsider who is indentured to pay off her family’s debts. She serves as the surrogate for the princess—if Renya steps out of line, Astrid is the one who bears the punishment for it. But there is a way out: the life-or-death Race of Oblivion. First, racers are dosed with the drug Oblivion, which wipes their memories. Then, when they awake in the middle of nowhere, only cryptic clues—and a sheer will to live—will lead them through treacherous terrain full of opponents who wouldn’t think twice about killing each other to get ahead. But what throws Astrid the most is what she never expected to encounter in this race. A familiar face she can’t place. Secret powers she shouldn’t have. And a confusing memory of the past that, if real, could mean the undoing of the entire social structure that has kept her a slave her entire life. Competing could mean death…but it could also mean freedom.

Download or read book Reading Plato written by Thomas A. Szlezák and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-11-21 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading Plato offers a concise and illuminating insight into the complexities and difficulties of the Platonic dialogues, providing an invaluable text for any student of Plato's philosophy. Taking as a starting point the critique of writing in the Phaedrus -- where Socrates argues that a book cannot choose its reader nor can it defend itself against misinterpretation -- Reading Plato offers solutions to the problems of interpreting the dialogues. In this ground-breaking book, Thomas A. Szlezak persuasively argues that the dialogues are designed to stimulate philosophical enquiry and to elevate philosophy to the realm of oral dialectic.

Download or read book Meditation Secrets for Women written by Camille Maurine and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finally—an approach to meditation especially for women! The benefits of meditations are manifold—but so few practices are tailored to the special needs and interests of women. Now, with Meditation Secrets for Women, you can discover how to love your body and find a time and place to tune into yourself and restore inner balance. Get in touch with your body's natural rhythms. Honor your instincts, and tap into your feminine power so that you can emerge nourished, revitalized, and joyful. Meditation Secrets for Women offers all the tools and insights necessary for women to design their own custom meditation techniques, without all the restrictions of traditional practices. Learn How To: Make use of sensual, pleasurable meditation techniques Gain a refreshing, rejuvenating rest that is deeper than sleep Relieve stress and promote good health Relax and be yourself as you reap life-affirming benefits Live in harmony with your world Enhance your relationships and creativity

Download or read book Husserl s Missing Technologies written by Don Ihde and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Husserl’s Missing Technologies looks at the early-twentieth-century “classical” phenomenology of Edmund Husserl, both in the light of the philosophy of science of his time, and retrospectively at his philosophy from a contemporary “postphenomenology.” Of central interest are his infrequent comments upon technologies and especially scientific instruments such as the telescope and microscope. Together with his analysis of Husserl, Don Ihde ventures through the recent history of technologies of science, reading and writing, and science praxis, calling for modifications to phenomenology by converging it with pragmatism. This fruitful hybridization emphasizes human–technology interrelationships, the role of embodiment and bodily skills, and the inherent multistability of technologies. In a radical argument, Ihde contends that philosophies, in the same way that various technologies contain an ever-shortening obsolescence, ought to have contingent use-lives.

Download or read book Plato s Phaedrus written by Paul Ryan and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-09-05 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Composed in the fourth century b.c., the Phaedrus—a dialogue between Phaedrus and Socrates—deals ostensibly with love but develops into a wide-ranging discussion of such subjects as the pursuit of beauty, the nature of humanity, the immortality of the soul, and the attainment of truth, ending with an in-depth discussion of the principles of rhetoric. This erudite commentary, which also includes the original Greek text, is designed to help intermediate-level students of Greek read, understand, and enjoy Plato’s magnificent work. Drawing on his extensive classroom experience and linguistic expertise, Paul Ryan offers a commentary that is both rich in detail and—in contrast to earlier, more austere commentaries on the Phaedrus—fully engaging. Line by line, he explains subtle points of language, explicates difficulties of syntax, and brings out nuances of tone and meaning that students might not otherwise notice or understand. Ryan sections his commentary into units of convenient length for classroom use, with short summaries at the head of each section to orient the reader. Never straying far from the text itself, Ryan provides useful historical glosses and annotations for the student, introducing information ranging from the architecture of the Lyceum to Athenian politics. Further historical and philosophical context is provided in the introduction by Mary Louise Gill, who outlines the issues addressed in the Phaedrus and situates it in relation to Plato’s other dialogues.

Download or read book On the Darkness of Will written by Nicola Masciandaro and published by Mimesis. This book was released on 2019-02-01T00:00:00+01:00 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “For the will desires not to be dark, and this very desire causes the darkness” (Jacob Boehme). Moving through the fundamental question of this paradox, this book offers a constellation of theoretical and critical essays that shed light on the darkness of the will: its obscurity to itself. Through indepth analysis of medieval and modern sources — Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, Eriugena, Dante, Meister Eckhart, Chaucer, Nietzsche, Cioran, Meher Baba — this volume interrogates the nature and meaning of the will, along seven modes: spontaneity, potentiality, sorrow, matter, vision, eros, and sacrifice. These multiple lines of inquiry are finally presented to coalesce around one fundamental point of agreement: the will says yes, yet only a will that knows how to say no to itself, entering the silence of its own darkness, will ever be free.

Download or read book Again Again and Again written by Mathias B. Freese and published by Wheatmark, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having once been a psychotherapist who's never hesitated to turn the therapeutical gun barrel toward himself, Mathias B. Freese ramps up his radical reflexivity in this latest work, from confessional first-person narration to third-person "stories" starring "characters" named Matt. (This genre could be called meta-Matt.) "I write to know perhaps something about who I am," Freese writes. "I write to arrive at some awareness, however dim, about self or other, for when I have that fleeting moment of awareness, I feel at one -- true." Truly, Again. Again and Again. is a song of himself. Rocker Billy Idol proves to be an unlikely but apt echoer here: "When there's nothing to lose and there's nothing to prove, well, I'm dancing with myself." As a one-man show, Freese puts the "dance" in "abundance," stressing an author's singularity, the innerness of writing, the sharing -- rather than the proselytizing -- purpose of artistic expression. In other words, as Freese says, "a book is one person's awareness as he or she sees it." More than a few times, Freese had implied that Again. Again and Again. would probably be his swan song, his "final stirrings," his ultimate testament. How laughable, considering both his prolificacy and "urge and urge and urge" (as Whitman would gush). Sure enough, the author is no longer so sure that he's expressed enough, and it seems that yet another stirring idea spurs him to create again. Again and…

Download or read book The Emerging Good in Plato s Philebus written by John V. Garner and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-15 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plato’s Philebus presents a fascinating dialogue between the life of the mind and the life of pleasure. While Socrates decisively prioritizes the life of reason, he also shows that certain pleasures contribute to making the good life good. The Emerging Good in Plato’s "Philebus" argues that the Socratic pleasures of learning emphasize, above all, the importance of being open to change. John V. Garner convincingly refines previous interpretations and uncovers a profound thesis in the Philebus: genuine learners find value not only in stable being but also in the process of becoming. Further, since genuine learning arises in pluralistic communities where people form and inform one another, those who are truly open to learning are precisely those who actively shape the betterment of humanity. The Emerging Good in Plato’s "Philebus" thus connects the Philebus’s grand philosophical ideas about the order of values, on the one hand, to its intimate and personal account of the experience of learning, on the other. It shows that this dialogue, while agreeing broadly with themes in more widely studied works by Plato such as the Republic, Gorgias, and Phaedo, also develops a unique way of salvaging the whole of human life, including our ever-changing nature.

Download or read book Unbroken written by Laura Hillenbrand and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2014-07-29 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Appearing in paperback for the first time—with twenty arresting new photos and an extensive Q&A with the author—Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand. Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring.”—New York “Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand’s writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don’t dare take your eyes off the page.”—People “A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.”—The Washington Post “Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . incredible . . . [Hillenbrand] has crafted another masterful blend of sports, history and overcoming terrific odds; this is biography taken to the nth degree, a chronicle of a remarkable life lived through extraordinary times.”—The Dallas Morning News “An astonishing testament to the superhuman power of tenacity.”—Entertainment Weekly “A tale of triumph and redemption . . . astonishingly detailed.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “[A] masterfully told true story . . . nothing less than a marvel.”—Washingtonian “[Hillenbrand tells this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter’s pace.”—Time “Hillenbrand [is] one of our best writers of narrative history. You don’t have to be a sports fan or a war-history buff to devour this book—you just have to love great storytelling.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Download or read book Lost Stars written by Lisa Selin Davis and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eleanor & Park meets Perks of Being a Wallflower in this bittersweet 1980’s story about love, loss, and a comet that only comes around every ninety-seven years. When Carrie looks through her telescope, the world makes sense. It’s life here on Earth that’s hard to decipher. Since her older sister, Ginny, died, Carrie has been floating in the orbit of Ginny’s friends, the cool kids, who are far more interested in bands and partying than science. Carrie’s reckless behavior crosses a line, and her father enrolls her in a summer work camp at a local state park. There, Carrie pulls weeds and endures pep talks about the power of hard work. Despite her best efforts to hate the job, Carrie actually feels happy out in nature. And when she meets Dean—warm, thoughtful, and perceptive—she starts to discover that her life can be like her beloved night sky, with black holes of grief for Ginny and dazzling meteors of joy from first love.