Download or read book Philosophizing the Indefensible written by Shmuel Nili and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-25 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophizing the indefensible asks what distinctive contributions political philosophers might make when reflecting on blatant moral failures in public policy - the kinds of failures that philosophers usually dismiss as theoretically un-interesting, even if practically important. This book argues that political philosophers can and should craft “strategic” arguments for public policy reforms, showing how morally urgent reforms can be grounded, for the sake of discussion, even in problematic premises associated with their opponents. The book starts by developing the general contours of this approach - defending its general moral value in a democratic society, and examining how far one might go in strategically deploying dubious or even repugnant premises in debating public affairs. The book then applies strategic theorizing to a set of diverse policy issues. These range from the abortion debate and financial regulation in the United States, through controversies surrounding the participation of Arab parties in Israel's political process, to global issues, such as commercial ties with oil-rich dictatorships, and the bearing of such ties on global climate change.
Download or read book Platonism and Naturalism written by Lloyd P. Gerson and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his third and concluding volume, Lloyd P. Gerson presents an innovative account of Platonism, the central tradition in the history of philosophy, in conjunction with Naturalism, the "anti-Platonism" in antiquity and contemporary philosophy. Gerson contends that Platonism identifies philosophy with a distinct subject matter, namely, the intelligible world and seeks to show that the Naturalist rejection of Platonism entails the elimination of a distinct subject matter for philosophy. Thus, the possibility of philosophy depends on the truth of Platonism. From Aristotle to Plotinus to Proclus, Gerson clearly links the construction of the Platonic system well beyond simply Plato's dialogues, providing strong evidence of the vast impact of Platonism on philosophy throughout history. Platonism and Naturalism concludes that attempts to seek a rapprochement between Platonism and Naturalism are unstable and likely indefensible.
Download or read book Philosophical Faith and the Future of Humanity written by Helmut Wautischer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-01-02 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Karl Jaspers, who died in 1969, had a profound impact on 20th-century theology and philosophy. His central thesis called for, among other things, a de-centering of philosophy from its Eurocentric roots and a renewal of its dialogue with other traditions, especially Asian ones. This collection of essays includes unpublished work by Jaspers himself as well as testimonies to his life and career by colleagues, associates, and translators, some of who knew Jaspers personally. Readers will also find commentary and interpretation by researchers who have explored Jaspers’ work for decades, and a biographical account of Jaspers’ student Leonard Ehrlich, who handled much of Jaspers’ English translation. The book interrogates Jaspers’ conceptions of ‘philosophical faith’, his philosophy of communication, and the prospects for world philosophy in the future. Focusing on philosophical faith, it assesses Jaspers’ interpretations of key philosophers such as Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Rosenzweig, as well as examining his personal relationships with Bultmann and Heidegger. Contributors also look at Jaspers’ philosophies of religion and history, his hypothesis of the ‘axial age’ (Achsenzeit), and his contributions to metaphysics, periechontology, and economics. Finally, chapters cover Jaspers’ philosophy of communication and world history. The latter are informed by a burgeoning interest in Kantian ‘Freiheitphilosophie’ that influenced Jaspers, as well as concerns over the future of humanity. These concerns in part account for Jaspers’ growing popularity in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central/South America, and Asia. Also included are lucid clarifications of the difference between religious and philosophical faith, and the relevance of certainty, trust, and communication for a future of mankind. Trained as a psychiatrist, Jaspers practiced this profession before becoming a philosopher and thus had a keen insight into the workings of the human mind even as he challenged the philosophical establishment of his time. It is perhaps this depth to his background that adds to the contemporary relevance of his work.
Download or read book Problems of the Hegelian Dialectic written by M. Rosen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, I deal with some fundamental problems of the Hegelian dialectic. For this purpose, I take a middle course between total scepticism, which considers dialectic as a devastator sophistry with no respect even for the non-contradiction principle, and authoritarian dogmatism, which claims to solve any question with the magic wand of the Hegelian Aufhebung. That is, I decide to be critical, defining concepts anew, bringing out sources, determining conditions of possibility and fields of validity, accepting or rejecting when necessary. Following G. R. G. Mure's thinking, from an inner point of view I examine whether, in carrying out his work, Hegel remains faithful to the different principles he proclaims, and I find substantial deviations. And, following W. Becker's thinking, from an external point of view, that is, from a formal, empirical or existential contemporary angle, I try to determine the extent to which we may legitimately talk about the fruitfulness of Hegelian dialectic. In this way, I reconstruct Hegel's thought so that it may become acceptable to us-readers of the twentieth-century-as intelligible and coherent as possible. I conclude that dialectic, as a logic of human reality, has to be grasped and expressed from the viewpoint of the particular historical individual, in constant interaction with the cultural environment of his or her time. Using this approach, I investigate the questions at issue from Hegel's Logic point of view.
Download or read book Essays on Literature and Ethics written by Charles WHITE (D.D., President of Wabash College.) and published by . This book was released on 1853 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Ontology of Socratic Questioning in Plato s Early Dialogues written by Sean D. Kirkland and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative close reading revealing a radical, proto-phenomenological Socrates. Modern interpreters of Platos Socrates have generally taken the dialogues to be aimed at working out objective truth. Attending closely to the texts of the early dialogues and the question of virtue in particular, Sean D. Kirkland suggests that this approach is flawedthat such concern with discovering external facts rests on modern assumptions that would have been far from the minds of Socrates and his contemporaries. This isnt, however, to accuse Socrates of any kind of relativism. Through careful analysis of the original Greek and of a range of competing strands of Plato scholarship, Kirkland instead brings to light a radical, proto-phenomenological Socrates, for whom what virtue is is what has always already appeared as virtuous in everyday experience of the world, even if initial appearances are unsatisfactory or obscure and in need of greater scrutiny and clarification.
Download or read book Philosophizing the Indefensible written by Shmuel Nili and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-10-19 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophizing the indefensible asks what distinctive contributions political philosophers might make when reflecting on blatant moral failures in public policy - the kinds of failures that philosophers usually dismiss as theoretically un-interesting, even if practically important. This book argues that political philosophers can and should craft "strategic" arguments for public policy reforms, showing how morally urgent reforms can be grounded, for the sake of discussion, even in problematic premises associated with their opponents. The book starts by developing the general contours of this approach - defending its general moral value in a democratic society, and examining how far one might go in strategically deploying dubious or even repugnant premises in debating public affairs. The book then applies strategic theorizing to a set of diverse policy issues. These range from the abortion debate and financial regulation in the United States, through controversies surrounding the participation of Arab parties in Israel's political process, to global issues, such as commercial ties with oil-rich dictatorships, and the bearing of such ties on global climate change.
Download or read book Philosophizing About Sex written by Laurie J. Shrage and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2015-01-20 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient Greek philosophers, medieval theologians, Enlightenment thinkers, and contemporary humanists alike have debated all aspects of human sexuality, including its purpose, permissibility, normalcy, and risks. Philosophizing About Sex provides a philosophical guide to those longstanding and important debates. Each chapter takes a general issue (freedom, privacy, objectification, etc.) and shows how ongoing public discussions of sexuality can be illuminated by careful philosophical investigation. Debates over topics such as sexual assault, sexual orientation, sex education, prostitution, and “sexting” involve larger questions about morality, law, science, and politics and cannot be intelligently discussed in isolation from broader issues. By asking deceptively simple questions, this book shows how difficult but important it is to arrive at satisfying answers.
Download or read book Philosophizing Madness from Nietzsche to Derrida written by Angelos Evangelou and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-08-12 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing connections between madness, philosophy and autobiography, this book addresses the question of how Nietzsche's madness might have affected his later works. It also explores why continental philosophy after Nietzsche is so fascinated with madness, and how it (re)considers, (re)evaluates and (re)valorizes madness. To answer these questions, the book analyzes the work of three major figures in twentieth-century French philosophy who were significantly influenced by Nietzsche: Bataille, Foucault and Derrida, examining the ways in which their responses to Nietzsche’s madness determine how they understand philosophy as well as philosophy’s relation to madness. For these philosophers, posing the question about madness renders the philosophical subject vulnerable and implicates it in a state of responsibility towards that about which it asks. Out of this analysis of their engagement with the question of madness emerges a new conception of 'autobiographical philosophy', which entails the insertion of this vulnerable subject into the philosophical work, to which each of these philosophers adheres or resists in different ways.
Download or read book The Imbecile s Guide to Public Philosophy written by Murzban Jal and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2021-09-19 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies the role of serious philosophizing in everyday life and looks at how authoritarianism negates philosophical and public reason. It sheds light on how philosophy can go beyond its life as a discipline limited to an esoteric group of academia to manifest itself via radical discursive practices in public life which enable us to understand and resolve contemporary socio-political challenges. It studies philosophy as a discipline which deals with one's orientations based on experience, the logic of reasoning, critical thinking, and most of all radical and progressive beliefs. The book argues that the contemporary rise of capitalism in modern society, resonating Émile Durkheim’s cautions on "anomie", has favoured individualism, differentiation, marginalization, and exploitation, balanced on an eroding collective consciousness and a steady disintegration of humanity and reason. Taking this into consideration, it discusses how philosophy, both mainstream and marginal, can revive democracy in society which then is able to confront global authoritarianism led by the figure of the imbecile. Finally, it also provides a range of new perspectives on the questions of civic freedom, hegemony of language, social justice, identity, invisible paradigms, gender justice, democracy, multiculturalism, and decolonization. This book is an invigorating compilation of essays from diverse disciplines, engaging the need to create a humanistic public philosophy to transcend the state of imbecility. It will be of great interest to students, scholars and researchers of philosophy, contemporary politics, history, and sociology, as well as general readers.
Download or read book Michael Oakeshott the Ancient Greeks and the Philosophical Study of Politics written by Eric Steven Kos and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2016-07-20 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses a question fundamental for Oakeshott throughout his life, which is what we are doing when we read and discuss some memorable work in the history of political thought. The approach the book takes to Oakeshott's response to this question is of particular interest in that it explores in detail extensive notes he made on the beginnings of political philosophy in ancient Greece in an unpublished set of notebooks in which he recorded his thoughts on many different subjects throughout his life. In addition, the book gives contemporary significance to Oakeshott's interpretation of the history of political thought by using it to confront a series of contemporary challenges to the study of the history of political thought and to the study of the ‘great books.’ In particular, Oakeshott’s distinction between ‘various kinds or levels of political thought’ is carefully analyzed, as is also the extent of his agreement and disagreement with Quentin Skinner. In the concluding chapter, the author relates Oakeshott’s view of the nature of the history of political thought to his well-known description of philosophy as ‘conversation’, describing it as an introduction to that conversation.
Download or read book Melville s Philosophies written by Branka Arsic and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-05-18 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Melville's Philosophies departs from a long tradition of critical assessments of Melville that dismissed his philosophical capacities as ingenious but muddled. Its contributors do not apply philosophy to Melville in order to detect just how much of it he knew or understood. To the contrary, they try to hear the philosophical arguments themselves-often very strange and quite radical-that Melville never stopped articulating and reformulating. What emerges is a Melville who is materialistically oriented in a radical way, a Melville who thinks about life forms not just in the context of contemporary sciences but also ontologically. Melville's Philosophies recovers a Melville who is a thinker of great caliber, which means obliquely but dramatically reversing the way the critical tradition has characterized his ideas. Finally, as a result of the readings collected here, Melville emerges as a very relevant thinker for contemporary philosophical concerns, such as the materialist turn, climate change, and post-humanism.
Download or read book The Epistemology of Comparative Philosophy written by Joseph Kaipayil and published by Joseph Kaipayil. This book was released on 1995 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Piety Peace and the Freedom to Philosophize written by P.J. Bagley and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1999-11-30 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains 11 essays composed by members of the North American Spinoza Society, representing the first English language collection of works dedicated to questions raised by the teachings of Baruch Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus. Essays treat Spinoza's views of faith and philosophy, miracles, political power, religion, and philosophic communication, as well as his connections to Walter Benjamin, Blaise Pascal, David Hume, and his Jewish heritage. For students and scholars of Spinoza, history of philosophy, political philosophy, and those concerned with theologico-political questions. The editor is affiliated with Loyola College in Maryland. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book A Companion to Socrates written by Sara Ahbel-Rappe and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-05-11 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by an outstanding international team of scholars, this Companion explores the profound influence of Socrates on the history of Western philosophy. Discusses the life of Socrates and key philosophical doctrines associated with him Covers the whole range of Socratic studies from the ancient world to contemporary European philosophy Examines Socrates’ place in the larger philosophical traditions of the Hellenistic world, the Roman Empire, the Arabic world, the Renaissance, and contemporary Europe Addresses interdisciplinary subjects such as Socrates and Nietzsche, Socrates and psychoanalysis, and representations of Socrates in art Helps readers to understand the meaning and significance of Socrates across the ages
Download or read book Quine and His Place in History written by Gary Kemp and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-11-16 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Containing three previously unpublished papers by W.V. Quine as well as historical, exegetical, and critical papers by several leading Quine scholars including Hylton, Ebbs, and Ben-Menahem, this volume aims to remedy the comparative lack of historical investigation of Quine and his philosophical context.
Download or read book Beyond the Law s Reach written by Shmuel Nili and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-09-12 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beyond the Law's Reach? argues that fundamental assumptions in contemporary political philosophy need to be rethought in the face of pervasive political violence. At an applied level, Nili develops this claim by delving into a series of specific controversies, all revolving around affluent democracies' policy responses to the threat of pervasive violence abroad. Examples include the ethics of giving refuge to beleaguered autocrats to avert civil war in their country, the ethics of prosecuting foreign officials who have colluded with drug cartels, and the admission of oligarchs who acquired their riches by distorting their country's rule of law. At a more theoretical level, the book shows that the moral principles needed to adjudicate these particular controversies can illuminate broader issues in normative political theory. These range from the philosophy of criminal punishment, through the relationship between the law's letter and its spirit, to the general plausibility of certain moral theories (and meta-theories) as public policy guides. Ranging from influential theories of justice to some of the hardest moral dilemmas facing communities and leaders struggling with the shadow of violence, this book explores the difficult circumstances in which we must aside not just the assumption of a stable liberal democracy, but even the dream of a clear path towards such democracy.
