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Philosopher at the Admiralty
Philosopher at the Admiralty
Johnson, Peter
¥107.81
This book is volume one of a two-part series (volumes sold separately). Taken together, the two volumes of A Philosopher at War examine the political thought of the philosopher and archaeologist, R.G. Collingwood, against the background of the First and Second World Wars. Collingwood served in Admiralty Intelligence during the First World War and although he was not physically robust enough to play an active role in the Second World War, he was swift to condemn the policies of appeasement which he thought largely responsible for bringing it about.The author uses a blend of political philosophy, history and discussion of political policy to uncover what Collingwood says about the First World War, the Peace Treaty which followed it and the crises which led to the Second World War in 1939, together with the response he mustered to it before his death in 1943. The aim is to reveal the kind of liberalism he valued and explain why he valued it. By 1940 Collingwood came to see that a liberalism separated from Christianity would be unable to meet the combined evils of Fascism and Nazism. How Collingwood arrived at this position, and how viable he finally considered it, is the story told in these volumes.
Scottish Idealists
Scottish Idealists
Boucher, David
¥107.81
The extent to which British Idealism was heavily influenced by Scots has been little noticed, yet not only were they at the forefront of introducing Hegel into Britain in the work of Ferrier, Carlyle, Hutcheson, Stirling and Edward Caird, but they were also distinctive in locating themselves in relation to the Scottish philosophical tradition they sought to extend. The Scottish Idealists, among them Edward Caird, David George Ritchie, Andrew Seth Pringle Pattison, William Mitchell, John Watson, and the Welshman Henry Jones who found his spiritual home in Glasgow, comprised a formidable force and dominated the philosophical professoriate in Britain, Australia and Canada from the late nineteenth century to the years leading up to the First World War. Its main centres were St. Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, Cardiff in Wales, and Oxford in England.This collection of readings, the first of its kind, has been chosen with a view to displaying the variety, richness and strength of the Scottish Idealist tradition, beginning with an essay from the famous Essays in Philosophical Criticism (1883), a book that set-out the future direction of enquiry for this group of thinkers who shared a 'common purpose or tendency'. Scottish Idealism was immensely spiritual in character and recognized no hard and fast distinctions between philosophy, religion, poetry and science. It was a formidable force in social and educational reform.
Thomas Reid
Thomas Reid
Grandi, Giovanni B.
¥107.81
Thomas Reid (1710-1796) is the foremost exponent of the Scottish 'common sense' school of philosophy. Educated at Marischal College in Aberdeen, Reid subsequently taught at King's College, and was a founder of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society. His Inquiry Into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense was published in 1764, the same year he succeeded Adam Smith as Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. He resigned from active teaching duties in 1785 to devote himself to writing, and published two more books - Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785) and Essays on the Active Powers of Man (1788). Within a short time of publication, Reid's works were translated into French and German, and greatly influenced debates in philosophy and psychology in Europe. His influence in the emerging colleges and universities of post-revolutionary America was even greater.Reid was widely regarded as David Hume's most sophisticated contemporary critic. His critique of the 'theory of ideas' that lay behind both Hume's scepticism and Berkeley's immaterialism, his critique of Locke's theory of personal identity, and his defence of 'moral liberty' against determinism are all of enduring interest and significance. The aim of this comprehensive selection of his writings is to make the key elements of Reid's philosophical work available to a new generation of readers.Two other philosophers of the 'common sense' school are featured in the Library of Scottish Philosophy - James Beattie and Dugald Stewart.
Decision Trap
Decision Trap
Samerski, Silja
¥107.81
The Decision Trap questions a dogma of our time: the assumption that genetic education empowers citizens and increases their autonomy. It argues that professional instructions about genes, genetic risks, and genetic test options convey a genetic worldview which destroys self-confidence and makes clients dependent on genetic experts and technologies. Part one of the book introduces the reader to the idea of genetic education. It clarifies the notion of the "e;gene"e; as it is commonly understood, and shows that, scientifically, the concept of genes as definable, causal agents is outdated. Part two of the book investigates the hidden curriculum of genetic education, using genetic counselling as a prime example. Genetic counselling is a professional service that aims to enable clients to make autonomous decisions about genetic test options and cope with the results.
Paradigm Shift
Paradigm Shift
Cohen, Martin
¥107.81
Why do giraffes have long necks? It can't really be for reaching tasty leaves since their main food is ground level bushes, tidy though that explanation would be. And how does relativity theory cope with the fact that the observable universe defies prediction by being far too small and anything but homogeneous? By inventing a vastly larger, but invisible, universe. And what exactly should we make of the scientists who claim to be witnessing thought itself, when the changes of blood flow in the brain that they observe are a thousand times slower than the neuronal activity it is supposed to reveal? A little scepticism is in order.Yet if philosophers of science, from Thomas Kuhn to Paul Feyerabend, have argued that science is a more haphazard process, driven by political fashion and short-term economic self-interest, today almost everyone seems to assume it is a vast jigsaw of interlocking facts pieced slowly but steadily together by expert practitioners.In this witty but profound 21st-century update on the issues, Martin Cohen offers vital clues for understanding not only the way knowledge develops, but also into the dangers of accepting too readily or too uncritically the claims of experts of all kinds - even philosophical ones! The claims are invariably presented as objective fact, yet are rooted in human subjectivity.
Why Rape Culture is a Dangerous Myth
Why Rape Culture is a Dangerous Myth
Gittos, Luke
¥107.81
Today it is often said that we live in a 'rape culture'. Panicked headlines tell us that rape is on the increase and that the police are failing to deal with it. Our courts are said to be incapable of delivering justice in rape cases, with the rate of convictions remaining consistently low. Sexism and misogyny in wider society have created a culture in which rape is pervasive, under-reported and often ignored by an uncaring public. But these claims are built on myths and misunderstandings.This book argues that the belief in a 'rape culture' is seriously distorting our discussion of sexual violence. It explains how the laws around rape have expanded significantly in recent decades, giving the state a far greater say in the most intimate areas of our lives. The drive to prosecute more and more people has damaging implications for our legal rights and basic freedoms - and our ability to live intimately with one another. If we are to have a serious discussion about rape, it's time to dispel the dangerous myth of rape culture.
Beyond Patriotism
Beyond Patriotism
Flynn, James R.
¥107.81
Beyond Patriotism argues that some millions of Americans have become "e;post-national"e; people who put the good of humanity ahead of patriotism or national honour. It discusses the decisions that led them from the Vietnamese War, to the attempt to put Pol Pot back into power, to the sanctions against Iraq. Rather than lamenting the hay day of patriotism, post-national people should congratulate themselves on attaining moral maturity. They should clarify their thinking about why nationalism is bankrupt, what American should do to pacify the world, what they owe to their native land, and what they owe to themselves.
What Does It All Mean?
What Does It All Mean?
Adams, William A.
¥107.81
As a young man Bill Adams travelled the world teaching US citizens abroad on behalf of a large state university on the East Coast. Back home he reflected that if there were answers to the great questions of life, then he'd not found them - not in India, in Europe, in China, or Japan. In time he came to see that his lifelong interest in how the mind works could be the clue to the meaning of life. Socrates had been right all along: Know thyself. Adams now sets out a new reasoned argument, based on his experience as a cognitive psychologist and as a human being, to show why Socrates was right: the purpose of life is to recognize ourselves - in each other and in all things. The mind is looking for itself: that is how it works, that is what it does for a living.
James Beattie
James Beattie
Harris, James
¥107.81
James Beattie (1735-1803) was appointed professor of moral philosophy and logic at Marischal College, Aberdeen, Scotland at the age of twenty-five. Though more fond of poetry than philosophy, he became part of the Scottish 'Common Sense' school of philosophy that included Thomas Reid and George Campbell. In 1770 Beattie published the work for which he is best known, An Essay on Truth, an abrasive attack on 'modern scepticism' in general, and on David Hume in particular, subsequently and despite Beattie's attack, Scotland's most famous philosopher. The Essay was a great success, earning its author an honorary degree from Oxford and an audience with George III. Samuel Johnson declared in 1772 that 'We all love Beattie'. Hume, on the other hand, described the Essay as 'a horrible large lie in octavo', and dismissed its author as a 'bigotted silly Fellow'. Although Beattie is no match for Hume as a philosopher, the success of the Essay suggests that, unlike Hume, Beattie voices the characteristic assumptions, and anxieties, of his age. The first part of this selection-the first ever made from Beattie's prose writings-includes several key chapters from the Essay on Truth, along with extracts from all of Beattie's other works on moral philosophy. The topics treated include memory, the existence of God, the nature of virtue, and slavery. The second part of the selection is devoted to Beattie's contributions to literary criticism and aesthetics. Beattie's studies of poetry, music, taste, and the sublime are vital to the understanding of the literary culture out of which developed the early Romanticism of Wordsworth and Coleridge.
Scottish Philosophy of Rhetoric
Scottish Philosophy of Rhetoric
Keefe, Rosaleen
¥107.81
The popular and successful rhetorical textbooks produced by the 18th century Scottish philosophical tradition, such as George Campbell's The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1776), Hugh Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783), and Alexander Bain's English Composition and Rhetoric (1877) have been widely accorded a role in the trajectories of 19th and 20th century literary theory. Scholars have generally overlooked them, however, as philosophical works. The selected writings chosen for this volume show how these rhetorical textbooks were a practical extension of the philosophy of language developed by 18th century Scottish philosophers.Francis Hutcheson, Adam Smith, Thomas Reid, Adam Ferguson, Alexander Gerard, and Henry Home, Lord Kames, advanced a radically new paradigm of language as an inherently mediated practice, directed simultaneously to personal and social, moral and aesthetic uses. This Scottish philosophy of rhetoric powerfully influenced the teaching of language and literacy as tools for social and educational innovation.This volume - the first of its kind - offers a wide variety of writings on rhetoric and rhetorical theory, selected in a way that reveals their intimate connection with the Scottish philosophical tradition.
Scientist in Wonderland
Scientist in Wonderland
Ernst, Edzard
¥107.81
This is the story of the author's life as a doctor and a scientist. Despite a youthful ambition to become a jazz musician, he studied medicine and eventually became a medical research scientist, taking up appointments in Germany, Austria and finally in England. His reverence for the pursuit of truth through the application of scientific methods, coupled with a growing interest in the history of medicine during the Nazi era, did not always endear him to others. At the time he was appointed to the world's first chair in alternative medicine, this was an area of health care that had rarely been studied systematically, and was almost entirely dominated by outspokenly evangelic promoters and enthusiasts - among them, famously, HRH Prince Charles - many of whom exhibited an overtly hostile, anti-scientific attitude towards the objective study of their favoured therapies. Clashes were inevitable, but the sheer ferocity with which advocates of alternative medicine would operate in order to protect their field from scrutiny came as a profound surprise. This memoir provides a unique insight into the cutthroat politics of academic life and offers a sobering reflection on the damage already done by pseudoscience in health care.
On Being Someone
On Being Someone
Oppenheimer, Helen
¥107.81
This book continues the discussions in "e;What a piece of work: on being human"e; (Imprint Academic 2006) and may be considered its sequel.Among all the creatures in the physical universe, humans seem to be more than simply physical, because they are aware of being creatures in the universe. Human beings essentially belong to the world of nature, yet stand out as the most complex and fascinating of all living beings. Like and also unlike other animals, they respond to what happens to them; they make plans and carry them out; they recognize one another, sometimes lovingly; they make friends and enjoy their company; they shape the world around them for convenience and for delight; they ask questions both practical and theoretical; and many of them try to praise God. In What a Piece of Work, Helen Oppenheimer considered humankind as part of the natural universe which Christians believe God set in motion, asking how human beings stand among other creatures and how they are to be valued. In this volume she leaves aside comparisons with our fellow creatures in order to attend to our own experience. It makes a good start to think of oneself as a human animal, but then we need to go further and ask what does it mean to be a person, to be counted as someone?
Anxious to do Good
Anxious to do Good
Peacock, Alan
¥107.81
After nearly three and a half -- rather too exciting -- years as a young war-time sailor, Alan Peacock expected to return to a life of quiet contemplation. Instead he became an activist economist frequently engaged in controversies about the conduct of economic policy lasting all his professional life. His earlier experiences at trying to 'do good' will resonate with all those who have attempted to influence political action, but the account is also designed to inform and entertain those who are curious to know whether economists are actually human.The author has lived long enough to have become a Fellow of both the British Academy and Royal Society of Edinburgh and was knighted for public service in 1987.
Reforming Science
Reforming Science
Ridley, Brian
¥107.81
In the 17th century Sir Francis Bacon advocated the patient study of Nature for the benefit of mankind. Most of science today, in its study of medicine, genetics, electronics etc., continues that pragmatic Baconian tradition without fuss. Over the years, however, as its investigation of Nature probed ever deeper into regions far removed from common experience, science has increasingly exhibited traits more usually associated with fundamentalist religion that with dispassionate study. Articulate voices from biology preach the belief in 18th century materialism in the study of evolution; those from physics promulgate a kind of mathematical theology in its study of elementary particles and cosmology; both inveigh against heresy. But science should be beyond that sort of belief. It should not see its undoubted success in manipulating matter as justifying any sort of religious status, as offering a spiritual foundation alternative to religion. As a scientist himself, Brian Ridley is appalled by such theological trends, hence this book. It is an attempt to address these concerns, to reform science, to place science in its broad historical and philosophical context where dogmatic belief has no place, to remind science itself that it has limitations.
Getting Darwin Wrong
Getting Darwin Wrong
Wallace, Brendan
¥107.81
Brendan Wallace, with a background in psychology, demonstrates that the key claims of Evolutionary Psychology (EP), popularised by Steven Pinker and others, are based on the 'brain is a digital computer' argument. He then argues that as we now know this model of the brain will not work, therefore EP won't work either, since it is based on a fallacious view of the mind/brain.The book, which is written in a reader friendly but rigorous style, is a timely assault on one of the most fashionable philosophies of mind currently 'out there'.
Philosopher and Appeasement
Philosopher and Appeasement
Johnson, Peter
¥107.81
This book is volume one of a two-part series. Taken together, the two volumes of A Philosopher at War examine the political thought of the philosopher and archaeologist, R.G. Collingwood, against the background of the First and Second World Wars. Collingwood served in Admiralty Intelligence during the First World War and although he was not physically robust enough to play an active role in the Second World War, he was swift to condemn the policies of appeasement which he thought largely responsible for bringing it about. The author uses a blend of political philosophy, history and discussion of political policy to uncover what Collingwood says about the First World War, the Peace Treaty which followed it, and the crises which led to the Second World War in 1939, together with the response he mustered to it before his death in 1943. The aim is to reveal the kind of liberalism he valued and explain why he valued it. By 1940 Collingwood came to see that a liberalism separated from Christianity would be unable to meet the combined evils of Fascism and Nazism. How Collingwood arrived at this position, and how viable he finally considered it, is the story told in these volumes.
Who Was Mrs Willett?
Who Was Mrs Willett?
Nunn, Chris
¥107.81
Here is an account of mentality and human experience, written for a multi-disciplinary readership. The focus is on how mind, consciousness and selves inter-relate, extending into exploration of ideas about the nature of awareness and a search for relevant evidence.'Consciousness studies' has reached something of a crossroads nowadays. Computational approaches to mind and 'quantum consciousness' theories, have not lived up to early hopes. Neuroscience has made huge strides in the last few years, but is still nowhere near able to account for the existence of consciousness itself - as opposed to being able to explain how some of its content gets there. Philosophically, there is lack of consensus over both the nature of consciousness and what questions we should be asking about it.Chris Nunn's book surveys the current situation and argues that, as far as 'mind' is concerned, we need to take the overall dynamics into consideration, which include genetic, environmental and social factors along with neurology. He emphasizes the close links that exist between memory, experience and personhood. What emerges most strongly from this account is that answers to questions about the nature of consciousness are likely to depend on achieving a better understanding of the physics of time.
Thomas Brown
Thomas Brown
Dixon, Thomas
¥107.81
Thomas Brown (1778-1820), Professor of Moral Philosophy in Edinburgh, was among the most prominent and widely read British philosophers of the first half of the nineteenth century. An influential interpreter of both Hume and Reid, Brown provided a bridge between the Scottish school of 'Common Sense' and the later positivism of John Stuart Mill and others.The selections in this volume illustrate Brown's original ideas about mental science, cause and effect, emotions and ethics. They are preceded by an introduction situating Brown's career and writings in their intellectual and historical context.
Scottish Philosophy in America
Scottish Philosophy in America
Foster, James J. S.
¥107.81
The Scottish Enlightenment provided the fledgling United States of America and its emerging universities with a philosophical orientation. For a hundred years or more, Scottish philosophers were both taught and emulated by professors at Princeton, Harvard and Yale, as well as newly founded colleges stretching from Rhode Island to Texas. This volume in the Library of Scottish Philosophy demonstrates the remarkable extent of this philosophical influence. Selections from William Smith, John Witherspoon, Samuel Stanhope Smith, Archibald Alexander, Alexander Campbell, W.E. Channing, James McCosh, and C.S. Peirce, together with the editor's introductory and explanatory material, provide the modern reader with unprecedented access to this period of intellectual formation.
Political Potential of Sortition
Political Potential of Sortition
Dowlen, Oliver
¥107.81
The central feature of every true lottery is that all rational evaluation is deliberately excluded. Once this principle is grasped, the author argues, we can begin to understand exactly what benefits sortition can bring to the political community. The book includes a study of the use of sortition in ancient Athens and in late medieval and renaissance Italy. It also includes commentary on the contributions to sortition made by Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Harrington and Paine; an account of the history of the randomly-selected jury; and new research into lesser-known examples from England, America and revolutionary France.
Jesus and the Trojan War
Jesus and the Trojan War
Horan, Michael
¥107.81
Jesus and the Trojan War looks at ways in which stories are presented and understood; and how story-tellers - and their listeners - may wittingly or unwittingly confuse fact with fiction. This book explores the parallels between four stories (the Trojan war, Moses, King Arthur, and Jesus), and the way their sources relate to their histories and contemporary relevance.