Download or read book The Relevance of Philosophy written by Edward MacKinnon and published by . This book was released on 2018-12 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the culmination of a long career in philosophy plus long excursions in physics, history, and theology, the author reflects on what must be done to make philosophy relevant to non-philosophers. Philosophers, the author argues, should go beyond specialized philosophical studies, acquire a knowledge of other disciplines, and then try to clarify the way things hang together on a deep conceptual level. A novel feature of this book is that it emphasis on public morality, understanding it in an evolutionary perspective, and guides efforts to raise accepted moral standards.
Download or read book The Importance of Philosophy in Teacher Education written by Andrew Colgan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-08-29 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Importance of Philosophy in Teacher Education maps the gradual decline of philosophy as a central, integrated part of educational studies. Chapters consider how this decline has impacted teacher education and practice, offering new directions for the reintegration of philosophical thinking in teacher preparation and development. Touching on key points in history, this valuable collection of chapters accurately appraises the global decline of philosophy of education in teacher education programs and seeks to understand the external and endemic causes of changed attitudes towards a discipline which was once assigned such a central place in teacher education. Chapters illustrate how a grounding in the theoretical and ethical dimensions of teaching, learning, and education systems contribute in meaningful ways to being a good teacher, and trace the consequences of a decline in philosophy on individuals’ professional development and on the evolution of the teaching profession more broadly. With this in mind, the text focusses on the future of teacher education and considers how we can ensure that philosophy of education feeds into the excellence of teaching today. This book will be of great interest to graduate, postgraduate students as well as research scholars in the field of educational philosophy and history of education. In addition, it will be useful for those involved in teacher education, and in particular, course, module and program development.
Download or read book The Relevance of Philosophy to Life written by John Lachs and published by Vanderbilt University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The primary purpose of philosophy is to help us better understand the critical issues in life. Sadly, in this modern world we often relegate philosophy to the ivory tower and to dusty tomes forgotten on the library shelf. With The Relevance of Philosophy to Life, eminent American philosopher John Lachs reminds us that philosophy is not merely a remote subject of academic research and discourse, but an ever-changing field which can help us navigate through some of the chaos of late twentieth-century living. Utilizing an American pragmatism grounded in the works of Dewey, James, and Santayana, Lachs insists on both the personal and the social significance of philosophy. Tackling controversial topics such as dogmatism, the relativity of values, resuscitation, euthanasia, the right to die, violence, education, technological advancement and dominance, and individual integrity in bureaucratic structures, Lachs argues that value is relative to human nature and that human nature is not one but many "human natures". He sheds light on complicated issues in a way that informs the most sophisticated reader while also making the issues, his reasoning, and his solutions accessible to the general public. This important new book challenges readers to apply ethical principles and philosophical understanding more consistently in their own lives. It will be a timely addition to the libraries and reading lists of many professionals, students, and individuals seeking a fuller appreciation of philosophy's relevance to our own times.
Download or read book The Value of Philosophy written by Bertrand Russell and published by . This book was released on 2017-10-05 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Value of Philosophy" is one of the most important chapters of Bertrand's Russell's magnum Opus, The Problems of Philosophy. As a whole, Russell focuses on problems he believes will provoke positive and constructive discussion, Russell concentrates on knowledge rather than metaphysics: If it is uncertain that external objects exist, how can we then have knowledge of them but by probability. There is no reason to doubt the existence of external objects simply because of sense data.
Download or read book Philosophy in Culture written by J. Tosam and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the symbiotic relationship between philosophy and culture. Every philosophy emerges as a reaction to, or as justification for a particular culture and it is for this reason that philosophy may differ from one culture to another. It argues that philosophy is an essential part of every culture. Philosophy is the means by which every culture provides itself with justification for its values, beliefs and worldview and also serves as a catalyst for progress. Philosophy critically questions and confronts established beliefs, customs, practices, and institutions of a society. As reflective critical thinking, philosophy is linked to a way of life; a form of enquiry intended to guide behaviour; a form of thinking that sharpens and broadens our intellectual horizon, scrutinizes our assumptions, and clarifies the beliefs and values by which we live. Philosophy helps to liberate the individual from the imprisonment of ignorance, prejudice, superstition, narrow-mindedness, and the despotism of custom. Culture constitutes the raw data, the laboratory from which philosophers do their analytic experimentation. Culture is considered as philosophy of the first order activity. The book maintains that any genuine global philosophy must include philosophical traditions from all cultures and regions of the world, as it is by seeking alternative philosophical answers to some of the thorniest problems facing humanity that we are most likely to find more lasting solutions to some global problems. In this commitment to a universal humanity, we cannot afford to depend on solutions from a single culture or from the most influential cultures.
Download or read book Philosophy in the Age of Science written by Julia Hermann and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current academic philosophy is being challenged from several angles. Subdisciplinary specialisations often make it challenging to articulate philosophy’s relevance for the societal questions of our day.Additionally, the success of the ‘scientific method’ puts pressure on philosophers to articulate their methods and specify how these can be successful. How does philosophical progress come about? What can philosophy contribute to our understanding of today’s world? Moreover, can it also contribute to resolving urgent societal challenges, such as anthropogenic climate change? This edited volume evaluates the place of philosophy in the age of science. It addresses three related sub-themes: philosophical progress, philosophical method and philosophy’s societal relevance. Fourteen authors engage with these sub-themes, focusing on the topics of their philosophical expertise, such as the philosophy of religion, evolutionary ethics and the nature of free will. In doing so, they explore their methods of enquiry, and look at how progress in their research comes about.
Download or read book The Moral Landscape written by Sam Harris and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sam Harris dismantles the most common justification for religious faith--that a moral system cannot be based on science.
Download or read book Achievement written by Gwen Bradford and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the magisterial to the mundane, achievements play a role in the best kind of human life, and many people think that they are of such importance that they are worth pursuing at the expense of serious sacrifices. Yet for all that, no philosophers have devoted more than a few short passages to discerning what makes achievements valuable, or even what makes something an achievement to begin with. Gwen Bradford presents the first systematic account of what achievements are, and what it is about them that makes them worth doing. It turns out that more things count as achievements than we might have thought, and that what makes them valuable isn't something we usually think of as good. It turns out that difficulty, perhaps surprisingly, plays a central part in characterizing achievements and their value: achievements are worth the effort. But just what does it mean for something to be difficult, and why is it valuable? A thorough analysis of the nature of difficulty is given, and ultimately, the best account of the value of achievements taps into perfectionist axiology. But not just any perfectionist theory of value will do, and in this book we see a new perfectionist theory developed that succeeds in capturing the value of achievement better than its predecessors.
Download or read book Philosophy and the Teacher written by D.I. Lloyd and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-08-04 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1976. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Science Teaching written by Michael R. Matthews and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science Teaching argues that science teaching and science teacher education can be improved if teachers know something of the history and philosophy of science and if these topics are included in the science curriculum. The history and philosophy of science have important roles in many of the theoretical issues that science educators need to address: what constitutes an appropriate science curriculum for all students; how science should be taught in traditional cultures; how scientific literacy can be promoted; and the conflict which can occur between science curriculum and deep-seated religious or cultural values and knowledge. Outlining the history of liberal approaches to the teaching of science, Michael Matthews elaborates contemporary curriculum developments that explicitly address questions about the nature and the history of science. He provides examples of classroom teaching and develops useful arguments on constructivism, multicultural science education and teacher education.
Download or read book Why Traditional Chinese Philosophy Still Matters written by Ming Dong Gu and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-15 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional Chinese philosophy, if engaged at all, is often regarded as an object of antiquated curiosity and dismissed as unimportant in the current age of globalization. Written by a team of internationally renowned scholars, this book, however, challenges this judgement and offers an in-depth study of pre-modern Chinese philosophy from an interdisciplinary perspective. Exploring the relevance of traditional Chinese philosophy for the global age, it takes a comparative approach, analysing ancient Chinese philosophy in its relation to Western ideas and contemporary postmodernist theories. The conversation extends over a broad spectrum of philosophical areas and themes, ranging from metaphysics, hermeneutics, political theory, religion and aesthetics to specific philosophical schools including Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. By engaging many time-honoured philosophical issues from a comparative perspective, this book bridges the gap between Eastern and Western thought and emphasises the need for a newly fortified global humanism and a deeper appreciation of different philosophical and religious values in an age gripped by large-scale crises. Arguing that traditional Chinese philosophy has immediate relevance to the many challenges of modern life, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Asian Philosophy and Asian Studies in general.
Download or read book Experimental Philosophy written by Joshua Alexander and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experimental philosophy uses experimental research methods from psychology and cognitive science in order to investigate both philosophical and metaphilosophical questions. It explores philosophical questions about the nature of the psychological world - the very structure or meaning of our concepts of things, and about the nature of the non-psychological world - the things themselves. It also explores metaphilosophical questions about the nature of philosophical inquiry and its proper methodology. This book provides a detailed and provocative introduction to this innovative field, focusing on the relationship between experimental philosophy and the aims and methods of more traditional analytic philosophy. Special attention is paid to carefully examining experimental philosophy's quite different philosophical programs, their individual strengths and weaknesses, and the different kinds of contributions that they can make to our philosophical understanding. Clear and accessible throughout, it situates experimental philosophy within both a contemporary and historical context, explains its aims and methods, examines and critically evaluates its most significant claims and arguments, and engages with its critics.
Download or read book Plato s Natural Philosophy written by Thomas Kjeller Johansen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-07-01 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plato's dialogue the Timaeus-Critias presents two connected accounts, that of the story of Atlantis and its defeat by ancient Athens and that of the creation of the cosmos by a divine craftsman. This book offers a unified reading of the dialogue. It tackles a wide range of interpretative and philosophical issues. Topics discussed include the function of the famous Atlantis story, the notion of cosmology as 'myth' and as 'likely', and the role of God in Platonic cosmology. Other areas commented upon are Plato's concepts of 'necessity' and 'teleology', the nature of the 'receptacle', the relationship between the soul and the body, the use of perception in cosmology, and the work's peculiar monologue form. The unifying theme is teleology: Plato's attempt to show the cosmos to be organised for the good. A central lesson which emerges is that the Timaeus is closer to Aristotle's physics than previously thought.
Download or read book Wittgenstein and the Philosophy of Mind written by Jonathan Ellis and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-10-18 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on a conference held in June 2007 at the University of California Santa Cruz.
Download or read book Philosophy at the Edge of Chaos written by Jeffrey A. Bell and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the early 1960s until his death, French philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) wrote many influential works on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. One of Deleuze's main philosophical projects was a systematic inversion of the traditional relationship between identity and difference. This Deleuzian philosophy of difference is the subject of Jeffrey A. Bell's Philosophy at the Edge of Chaos. Bell argues that Deleuze's efforts to develop a philosophy of difference are best understood by exploring both Deleuze's claim to be a Spinozist, and Nietzsche's claim to have found in Spinoza an important precursor. Beginning with an analysis of these claims, Bell shows how Deleuze extends and transforms concepts at work in Spinoza and Nietzsche to produce a philosophy of difference that promotes and, in fact, exemplifies the notions of dynamic systems and complexity theory. With these concepts at work, Deleuze constructs a philosophical approach that avoids many of the difficulties that linger in other attempts to think about difference. Bell uses close readings of Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida, and Whitehead to illustrate how Deleuze's philosophy is successful in this regard and to demonstrate the importance of the historical tradition for Deleuze. Far from being a philosopher who turns his back on what is taken to be a mistaken metaphysical tradition, Bell argues that Deleuze is best understood as a thinker who endeavoured to continue the work of traditional metaphysics and philosophy.
Download or read book French Philosophy Today written by Christopher Watkin and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alain Badiou, Quentin Meillassoux, Catherine Malabou, Michel Serres and Bruno Latour: this comparative, critical analysis shows the promises and perils of new French philosophy's reformulation of the idea of the human.
Download or read book Desert Islands written by Gilles Deleuze and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2004-01-09 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of 40 texts and interviews written over 20 years by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, of which the early texts belong to literary criticism. Philosophy clearly dominates the rest of the book with a surprise admission by Deleuze that Sartre was his master.
