Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) Review



The Western tradition of philosophy began in Greece with a cluster of thinkers often called the Presocratics, whose influence has been incalculable. All these thinkers are discussed in this volume both as individuals and collectively in chapters on rational theology, epistemology, psychology, rhetoric and relativism, justice, and poetics. Assuming no knowledge of Greek or prior knowledge of the subject, this volume provides new readers with the most convenient and accessible guide to early Greek philosophy available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of early Greek thought.


Friday, July 29, 2011

Philosophies of Mathematics

Philosophies of Mathematics Review



This book provides an accessible, critical introduction to the three main approaches that dominated work in the philosophy of mathematics during the twentieth century: logicism, intuitionism and formalism.


Thursday, July 28, 2011

Inception and Philosophy: Because It's Never Just a Dream (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)

Inception and Philosophy: Because It's Never Just a Dream (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series) Review



A philosophical look at the movie Inception and its brilliant metaphysical puzzles

Is the top still spinning? Was it all a dream? In the world of Christopher Nolan's four-time Academy Award-winning movie, people can share one another's dreams and alter their beliefs and thoughts. Inception is a metaphysical heist film that raises more questions than it answers: Can we know what is real? Can you be held morally responsible for what you do in dreams? What is the nature of dreams, and what do they tell us about the boundaries of "self" and "other"? From Plato to Aristotle and from Descartes to Hume, Inception and Philosophy draws from important philosophical minds to shed new light on the movie's captivating themes, including the one that everyone talks about: did the top fall down (and does it even matter)?

  • Explores the movie's key questions and themes, including how we can tell if we're dreaming or awake, how to make sense of a paradox, and whether or not inception is possible
  • Gives new insights into the nature of free will, time, dreams, and the unconscious mind
  • Discusses different interpretations of the film, and whether or not philosophy can help shed light on which is the "right one"
  • Deepens your understanding of the movie's multi-layered plot and dream-infiltrating characters, including Dom Cobb, Arthur, Mal, Ariadne, Eames, Saito, and Yusuf

An essential companion for every dedicated Inception fan, this book will enrich your experience of the Inception universe and its complex dreamscape.


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy (Cambridge Introductions to Philosophy)

An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy (Cambridge Introductions to Philosophy) Review



This comprehensive introductory textbook to early Chinese philosophy covers a range of philosophical traditions which arose during the Spring and Autumn (722-476 BCE) and Warring States (475-221 BCE) periods in China, including Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, and Legalism. It considers concepts, themes and argumentative methods of early Chinese philosophy and follows the development of some ideas in subsequent periods, including the introduction of Buddhism into China. The book examines key issues and debates in early Chinese philosophy, cross-influences between its traditions and interpretations by scholars up to the present day. The discussion draws upon both primary texts and secondary sources, and there are suggestions for further reading. This will be an invaluable guide for all who are interested in the foundations of Chinese philosophy and its richness and continuing relevance.


Monday, July 25, 2011

Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (Popular Culture and Philosophy) Review



Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (Popular Culture and Philosophy) Feature

  • ISBN13: 9780812696837
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Since 1968's Night of the Living Dead, zombie culture has steadily limped and clawed its way into the center of popular culture. Today, zombies and vampires have taken over TV shows, comic books, cartoons, video games, and movies. Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy drags the theories of famous philosophers like Socrates and Descartes into the territory of the undead, exploring questions like: Why do vampires and vegetarians share a similar worldview? Why is understanding zombies the key to health care reform? And what does "healthy in mind and body" mean for vampires and zombies? Answers to these questions and more await readers brave enough to make this fun, philosophical foray into the undead.


Sunday, July 24, 2011

Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal

Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal Review



Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal Feature

  • ISBN13: 9781444330908
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
From Santa, elves and Ebenezer Scrooge, to the culture wars and virgin birth, Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone explores a host of philosophical issues raised by the practices and beliefs surrounding Christmas.
  • Offers thoughtful and humorous philosophical insights into the most widely celebrated holiday in the Western world
  • Contributions come from a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, theology, religious studies, English literature, cognitive science and moral psychology
  • The essays cover a wide range of Christmas themes, from a defence of the miracle of the virgin birth to the relevance of Christmas to atheists and pagans


Friday, July 22, 2011

The Beatles and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

The Beatles and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy) Review



The most popular musical group of all time, the Beatles also brought serious thought to the bubble gum-scented world of pop and rock music, with adventurous, profound, and sometimes mysterious lyrics that veered from the deliberate absurdity of “I Am the Walrus” to the rosy Rousseau-like fantasy of “When I’m 64” to the darkly existential/nihilist visions of “Eleanor Rigby” and “A Day in the Life.” In this lively new book, 20 Beatles-loving philosophers offer fresh insight into the lives and words of the Fab Four. Among the topics investigated are the groups’ critique of consumer culture; John Lennon and the Cold War; Paul McCartney’s philosophy of love, community, and politics; the Beatles’ struggle against the inauthentic; the ethics of chemically changed states of consciousness; the metaphysical standing of popularized Eastern meditation; and skepticism in the Beatles’ worldview. Like earlier titles in this popular series, The Beatles and Philosophy discusses complex issues in an enjoyable, highly readable fashion.


Thursday, July 21, 2011

Phenomenologies of the Stranger: Between Hostility and Hospitality (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)

Phenomenologies of the Stranger: Between Hostility and Hospitality (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy) Review



What is strange? Or better, who is strange? When do we encounter the strange? We encounter strangers when we are not at home: when we are in a foreign land or a foreign part of our own land. From Freud to Lacan to Kristeva to Heidegger, the feeling of strangeness-das Unheimlichkeit-has marked our encounter with the other, even the other within our self. Most philosophical attempts to understand the role of the Stranger, human or transcendent, have been limited to standard epistemological problems of other minds, metaphysical substances, body/soul dualism and related issues of consciousness and cognition. This volume endeavors to take the question of hosting the stranger to the deeper level of embodied imagination and the senses (in the Greek sense of aisthesis). This volume plays host to a number of encounters with the strange. It asks such questions as: How does the embodied imagination relate to the Stranger in terms of hospitality or hostility (given the common root of hostis as both host and enemy)? How do we distinguish between projections of fear or fascination, leading to either violence or welcome? How do humans sensethe dimension of the strange and alien in different religions, arts, and cultures? How do the five physical senses relate to the spiritual senses, especially the famous sixthsense, as portals to an encounter with the Other? Is there a carnal perception of alterity, which would operate at an affective, prereflective, preconscious level? What exactly do embodied imaginariesof hospitality and hostility entail, and how do they operate in language, psychology, and social interrelations (including racism, xenophobia, and scapegoating)? And what, finally, are the topical implications of these questions for an ethics and practice of tolerance and peace?


Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence (Oxford Readings in Philosophy)

The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence (Oxford Readings in Philosophy) Review



Is "artificial intelligence" a contradiction in terms? Could computers (in principle) be made to model every aspect of the mind, including logic, language, and emotion? This interdisciplinary collection of classical and contemporary readings provides a clear and comprehensive guide to the many hotly-debated philosophical issues at the heart of artificial intelligence. The editor includes an informative introduction and reading list.


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Perspectives on Philosophy of Science in Nursing: An Historical and Contemporary Anthology

Perspectives on Philosophy of Science in Nursing: An Historical and Contemporary Anthology Review



This book helps you provide a well-rounded doctoral curriculum. The philosophy of science is essential to the core of doctoral study in nursing. This text presents historical and contemporary thinking on this significant subject. Readers will find a wealth of information from a variety of philosophers and conceptualizers of Western science. The text's approach stimulates analysis and reflection for enhanced learning. Coverage straddles the balance between nurse and non-nurse philosophers with discussion and reflective questions, and includes thoughts about nursing as a science and an art. Students will learn to recognize the connection between an understanding of philosophic inquiry and scientific investigation -- or research -- in nursing.
Compatibility:
BlackBerry® OS 4.1 or Higher / iPhone/iPod Touch 2.0 or Higher /Palm OS 3.5 or higher / Palm Pre Classic / Symbian S60, 3rd edition (Nokia) / Windows Mobile™ Pocket PC (all versions) / Windows Mobile Smartphone / Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP/Vista/Tablet PC


Monday, July 18, 2011

Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice (Reflections on Buddhism in the)

Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice (Reflections on Buddhism in the) Review



Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice (Reflections on Buddhism in the) Feature

  • ISBN13: 9780913546338
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
This text explores the way of Zen and its inner truth. Each chapter includes a meditation practice.


Sunday, July 17, 2011

Philosophy after Darwin: Classic and Contemporary Readings

Philosophy after Darwin: Classic and Contemporary Readings Review



Wittgenstein famously remarked in 1923, "Darwin's theory has no more relevance for philosophy than any other hypothesis in natural science." Yet today we are witnessing a major revival of interest in applying evolutionary approaches to philosophical problems. Philosophy after Darwin is an anthology of essential writings covering the most influential ideas about the philosophical implications of Darwinism, from the publication of On the Origin of Species to today's cutting-edge research.

Michael Ruse presents writings by leading modern thinkers and researchers--including some writings never before published--together with the most important historical documents on Darwinism and philosophy, starting with Darwin himself. Included here are Herbert Spencer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Henry Huxley, G. E. Moore, John Dewey, Konrad Lorenz, Stephen Toulmin, Karl Popper, Edward O. Wilson, Hilary Putnam, Philip Kitcher, Elliott Sober, and Peter Singer. Readers will encounter some of the staunchest critics of the evolutionary approach, such as Alvin Plantinga, as well as revealing excerpts from works like Jack London's The Call of the Wild. Ruse's comprehensive general introduction and insightful section introductions put these writings in context and explain how they relate to such fields as epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and ethics.

An invaluable anthology and sourcebook, Philosophy after Darwin traces philosophy's complicated relationship with Darwin's dangerous idea, and shows how this relationship reflects a broad movement toward a secular, more naturalistic understanding of the human experience.


Friday, July 15, 2011

Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art

Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art Review



This is a fresh, bold study of the emerging field of Sound Art, informed by the ideas of Adorno, Merleau Ponty and others. "Listening to Noise and Silence" engages with the emerging practice of sound art and the concurrent development of a discourse and theory of sound. In this original and challenging work, Salome Voegelin immerses the reader in concepts of listening to sound artwork and the everyday acoustic environment, establishing an aesthetics and philosophy of sound and promoting the notion of a sonic sensibility. A multitude of sound works are discussed, by lesser known contemporary artists and composers (for example Curgenven, Gasson and Federer), historical figures in the field (Artaud, Feldman and Cage), and that of contemporary canonic artists such as Janet Cardiff, Bill Fontana, Bernard Parmegiani, and Merzbow. Informed by the ideas of Adorno, Merleau-Ponty and others, the book aims to come to a critique of sound art from its soundings rather than in relation to abstracted themes and pre-existing categories. "Listening to Noise and Silence" broadens the discussion surrounding sound art and opens up the field for others to follow.


Wednesday, July 13, 2011

A History of Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

A History of Philosophy in the Twentieth Century Review



In A History of Philosophy in the Twentieth Century, Christian Delacampagne reviews the discipline's divergent and dramatic course and shows that its greatest figures, even the most unworldly among them, were deeply affected by events of their time. From Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose famous Tractatus was actually composed in the trenches during World War I, to Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger -- one who found himself barred from public life with Hitler's coming to power, the other a member of the Nazi party who later refused to repudiate German war crimes. From Bertrand Russell, whose lifelong pacifism led him to turn from logic and mathematics to social and moral questions, and Jean-Paul Sartre, who made philosophy an occasion for direct and personal political engagement, to Rudolf Carnap, a committed socialist, and Karl Popper, a resolute opponent of Communism. From the Vienna Circle and the Frankfurt School to the contemporary work of philosophers as variously minded as Jacques Derrida, Jürgen Habermas, and Hilary Putnam. The thinking of these philosophers, and scores of others, cannot be understood without being placed in the context of the times in which they lived.


Monday, July 11, 2011

Engaging Philosophy: A Brief Introduction

Engaging Philosophy: A Brief Introduction Review



This brief, elegant book introduces students and general readers to philosophy through core questions and topics - particularly those involving ethics, the existence of God, free will, the relation of mind and body, and what it is to be a person. It also features a chapter on reasoning, both theoretical and practical, that develops an account of both cogent logical reasoning and rational decision-making. Throughout, the emphasis is on initiating newcomers to philosophy through rigorous yet lively consideration of some of the most fundamental questions a thinking person can ask.


Sunday, July 10, 2011

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English Review



It contains etymological roots and the meanings of terms fundamental to epistemology, metaphysics, and practical teachings of the heterodox and orthodox schools of Indian philosophy. Cross-referncing has been provided and various charts are included that provide information regarding relationships, categories, and sourcebooks relevant to the individual schools. This new and revised third edition presents a comprehensive dictionary of Indian philosophical terms, providing the terms in both devanagari and roman transliteration along with an English translation. It offers special meanings of words used as technical terms within particular philosophical systems.


Saturday, July 9, 2011

What is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies

What is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies Review



"All political action has . . . in itself a directedness towards knowledge of the good: of the good life, or of the good society. For the good society is the complete political good. If this directedness becomes explicit, if men make it their explicit goal to acquire knowledge of the good life and of the good society, political philosophy emerges. . . . The theme of political philosophy is mankind's great objectives, freedom and government or empire—objectives which are capable of lifting all men beyond their poor selves. Political philosophy is that branch of philosophy which is closest to political life, to non-philosophic life, to human life."—From "What Is Political Philosophy?"

What Is Political Philosophy?—a collection of ten essays and lectures and sixteen book reviews written between 1943 and 1957—contains some of Leo Strauss's most famous writings and some of his most explicit statements of the themes that made him famous. The title essay records Strauss's sole extended articulation of the meaning of political philosophy itself. Other essays discuss the relation of political philosophy to history, give an account of the political philosophy of the non-Christian Middle Ages and of classic European modernity, and present his theory of esoteric writing.