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We live in a time of moral confusion: many believe there are no overarching moral norms and that we have lost an accepted body of moral knowledge. Alasdair MacIntyre addresses this problem in his restatement of Aristotelian and Thomistic virtue ethics; Stanley Hauerwas does so through his highly influential work in Christian ethics. Both recast virtue ethics in light of their interpretations of the later Wittgenstein's views of language. This book systematically assesses the underlying presuppositions of MacIntyre and Hauerwas, finding that their attempts to secure moral knowledge and restate virtue ethics, both philosophical and theological, fail. Scott Smith proposes alternative indications as to how we can secure moral knowledge, and how we should proceed in virtue ethics. ... Read more

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Using phenomenology to uncover the implicit logic in personal love, sexual love, and hatred, Peter Hadreas provides new insights into the uniqueness of the beloved and offers fresh explanations for some of the worst outbreaks of violence and hatred in modern times. The topics discussed include the value and subjectivity of personal love, nudity and the temporality of sexual love, the connection between personal, sexual love, and the incest taboo, the development of group-focused hatred from individual focused hatred, and prejudicial discrimination. The work encompasses analysis of philosophers and writers from ancient times through to the present day and examines such episodes as the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing and the Columbine High School massacre. ... Read more

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Layman's review ofA Phenomenology of Love and Hate
This heady book uses the tool of phenomenology to describe the dry logic of love, and of hate. Phenomenology is the philosophical view that takes the intuitive sense of conscious experience and describes it.When you love or hate something, whether it be sexual love or full-blown hate, what is the precise relationship between you and the thing independent of external factors.



Whew.It's a tall order that Peter Hadreas fills eloquently in A Phenomenology of Love and Hate, and if you can afford the price for what's between the covers, expect to be satisfied.He examines personal love- `the cherishing of another person'-, sexual love, nudity, incest and on to terror.The author smoothly blends the emotions of these extremes in wandering a line of philosophers from ancient through present times, but keep your dictionary handy.



I recently sat, chatted, and was enthralled by an impromptu classical piano recital by the author in his San Francisco living room.His persona, like the book, is hermetically sealed in a philosopher's study of the details of the cracks of the known universe.Phenomenologists oppose the unobservable & speculative for the empirical, so I sat on the floor next to an equally affixed wire-haired terrier concentrating on the classical excerpts with alternating pnenomonelogy explanation including quotes from the book, and trying to separate my enjoyment for the show from the melodies and discourses to understand my awareness.



At the conclusion, I shook the author's hand and concluded to reread his scholarly book.

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Philosophers have been greatly concerned with the nature of explanation, but no account has been fully satisfactory within science or plausible in the wider world. The author asserts that this is due to a misplaced focus and that instead of focusing on explanation, philosophers should consider understanding. This work outlines his theory and defends it against some objections. Attempts to understand understanding can become self-referential, but the book is intended to enable readers to build a good mental model of the author's theory. ... Read more

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This volume presents a detailed examination of incommensurability in the value-theoretical sense. Exploring how choosers deal with problems and constraints of choice, the author draws on work in cognitive psychology, in sociology, in jurisprudence, in economics, and in the theory of value to show how choosers learn to make "trade-offs" when there is potential incommensurability among the options they are considering. The analysis is also informed by recent work in the tradition of Michel Foucault. With so many modern devices and ideals of government dependent on the comparability of options, this book is timely and can inform public debate about de-regulation, user-pays, accountability, and the substitution of market mechanisms for government regulation and supply. ... Read more

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Dealing with one of the big issues in philosophy - the perplexity and puzzle of our own existence - Stefaan Cuypers explains his views on the closely related problems of self-identity and personal autonomy within the framework of contemporary research in analytical philosophy of mind and action and analytical moral psychology, which he calls "analytical anthropology". After introducing the problem of self-identity in Chapter 1 and critically discussing the influential impersonal solution of Parfit and Perry, he outlines a third theoretical approach - which he calls "analytical personalism" - pointing towards a theory of nature and the importance of personal identity. Regarding the issue of personal autonomy, Cuypers presents the "Frankfurt/Dworkin" model and critically argues that the process of self-identification cannot entirely be rooted in autonomous "acts of will". He states that the process of self-evaluation depends in an important sense on the normative impact of other people's attitudes.As an alternative, he offers a view of personal autonomy in terms of "passive" self-identification on the basis of volitional necessity and in terms of "social" self-evaluation based on recognition by others. Although passivity and social dependence are commonly treated as incompatible with autonomy, Cuypers maintains that both volitional necessity and other-directedness are constitutive of authentic personal autonomy. ... Read more

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In providing a critique of modern moral philosophy from this perspective, the authors line of enquiry lends much support to 'Vitrue Ethics' as exemplified in the work or Hursthouse and Stole while taking a more combative approach with those with whom he disputes. ... Read more

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Engaging with the challenging and controversial reading of "Spinoza" presented by Gilles Deleuze in "Expressionism in Philosophy" (1968), this book focuses on Deleuze's redeployment of Spinozist concepts within the context of his own philosophical project of constructing a philosophy of difference as an alternative to the Hegelian dialectical philosophy. Duffy demonstrates that a thorough understanding of Deleuze's Spinozism is necessary in order to fully engage with Deleuze's philosophy of difference. ... Read more

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Textbook ... Read more

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This text considers the applicability of mathematics to the study of natural phenomena. The possibility of such an application is one of the fundamental assumptions underlying the enormous theoretical and practical success of modern science. Addressing problems of matter, substance, infinity, number, structure of cognitive faculties, imagination, and of construction and mathematical object, Dmitri Nikulin examines mathematical (geometrical) objects in their relation to geometrical or intelligible matter and to imagination. Exploring questions in the history of philosophy and science of late antiquity and early modernity, the key thinkers of focus are Plotinus and Descartes (with the occasional appearance of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Proclus, Newton and others), in whom the fundamental presuppositions of ripe antiquity and of early modernity find their definite expression. ... Read more

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Libertarianism attempts to establish a set of property rights as a complete political morality, its argument proceeding from liberty tout court, as the unique foundational aspect of well being that grounds rights. In this book, Attas presents a sympathetic reconstruction of the libertarian argument and then brings to bear a critical evaluation leading to an ultimate rejection of libertarianism. Exposing the limitations of libertarianism and disclosing its errors, Attas argues that the rights which libertarians adopt with respect to persons (self-ownership), natural resources (original acquisition) and products are indefensible given what liberty must be. ... Read more

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Examining the political theory of anarchism from a philosophical and historical perspective, Paul McLaughlin relates anarchism to the fundamental ethical and political problem of authority. The book pays particular attention to the authority of the state and the anarchist rejection of all traditional claims made for the legitimacy of state authority, the author both explaining and defending the central tenets of the anarchist critique of the state.The founding works of anarchist thought, by Godwin, Proudhon and Stirner, are explored and anarchism is examined in its historical context, including the influence of such events as the Enlightenment and the French Revolution on anarchist thought. Finally, the major theoretical developments of anarchism from the late-nineteenth century to the present are summarized and evaluated.This book is both a highly readable account of the development of anarchist thinking and a lucid and well-reasoned defence of the anarchist philosophy. ... Read more

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EBAY
this item is available on ebay for less than what is charged here!! just go to ebay and type in the title of the book if that does not work type in the isbn number ... Read more

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Presenting philosophy as an art concerned with one's way of life, Sellars draws on Socratic and Stoic philosophical resources and argues for the ancient claim that philosophy is primarily expressed in one's behaviour. The book considers the relationship between philosophy and biography, and the bearing that this relationship has on debates concerning the nature and function of philosophy. Questioning the premise that philosophy can only be conceived as a rational discourse, Sellars presents it instead as an art (techne) that combines both "logos" (rational discourse) and "askesis" (training), and suggests that this will make it possible to understand better the relationship between philosophy and biography. The first part of this book outlines the Socratic conception of philosophy as an art and the Stoic development of this idea into an art of living, as well as considering some of the ancient objections to the Stoic conception. The second part goes on to examine the relationship between philosophical discourse and exercises in Stoic philosophy.Taking the literary form of such exercises as central, the author analyses two texts devoted to philosophical exercises by Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. ... Read more

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A very practical book
This book is a great read for anyone who wants to put theoretical wisdom into practice. The author describes quite vividly how ancient men of wisdom were able to accomplish this challenging task. The book is well structured. The topic is developed very logically. The author shows that theory and practice are not two opposed extremes. On the contrary: they are two complemantary stages of our way to mastery of any art. I especially liked the concepts ofhabituation and digestion as useful principles for translating any theory into our daily actions. ... Read more

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The critical thinking movement is increasingly important in the philosophy of education. Beginning from the generally accepted view that children should be taught to reason, not simply to repeat what they have been told, it tries to establish whether it is in fact possible to teach children a set of skills which add up to thinking. Siegel here examines three major conceptions of critical thinking and then puts forward his own definition of the critical thinker as one who is appropriately moved by reasons'. He argues that critical thinking is a fundamental educational ideal, and defends the ideal against charges of indoctrination. Chapters on science education and minimum competency testing highlight its practical implications for education policy and curriculum. This book should be of interest to lecturers and students of education and philosophy. ... Read more

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349 pages + appendix & glossary ... Read more

Customer Reviews (43)

By No Means Concise nor Logical
I found this book by no means concise nor logical. Perfect for academia. The instruction is laborious and, at times, patently unhelpful. The reasoning behind 2-star rating instead of 1-star is the sheer quantity of examples and exercises in every chapter.

Good job
Product arrived on time and in condition described. Will use again if possible. Thank you!

Bad Idea
This isn't the American version. It's the international version. The sender also doesn't reply to emails about questions you have.

Thanks
We purchased this book in a mad dash when the original course textbook was changed at the last minute.It shipped promptly and was exactly what we needed for over $100 cheaper than they had at the college bookstore.Much appreciated.

Very well laid out
This is a very well laid out book and its supplemental online resources provide an excellent method for increasing understanding on each chapter of the book.

Tip: If your access code has or ends with an asterisk (*) it is part of the code, and not a symbol to indicate a foot note! I was puzzled for half a day, trying to figure out why my code was not getting accepted until I realized that the asterisk was part of the code! ... Read more