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Cosmic Rationalism is meant to elucidate the meaning of what is the logic of true self-interest, where maximum benefit, or positive outcomes in each life could be the reward thereof. It is the author's speculation that there is a God - The Almighty - who is the epitome of good and is the Creator and the Ruler of the infinite universes of the Cosmos. Consequently, this would infer that the individual accordingly; the author postulates; must be good and do good by always abiding by his or her conscience, and thereby receive God's timely multiple blessings toward success at this endeavor called life, especially when confronted with personal crises, or when seeking to obtain and exploit superior opportunities in this life, or in the innumerable life times to come. And finally, it must be understood that since God is the epitome of good, He grants us the gift of an immortal soul to encourage, or to reinforce, or to be the spiritual incentive to pursue righteousness in each life, so that a cosmic destiny of positive outcomes can be experienced by all everlastingly in the unlimited millenniums of future civilizations to come. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Philosophy, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1757 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Explores major marketing and advertising campaigns from 1999-2006. Entries profile recent print, radio, television, billboard and Internet campaigns. Each essay discusses the historical context of the campaign, the target market, the competition, marketing strategy, and the outcome. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Review of Metaphysics, published by Philosophy Education Society, Inc. on December 1, 1994. The length of the article is 614 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Socratic Rationalism and Political Philosophy: An Interpretation of Plato's 'Phaedo.'
Author: William S. Cobb
Publication: The Review of Metaphysics (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 1994
Publisher: Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
Volume: v48Issue: n2Page: p428(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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René Descartes (31 March 1596 ? 11 February 1650), alsoknown as Renatus Cartesius (Latinized form), was a Frenchphilosopher, mathematician, physicist, and writer who spentmost of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has beendubbed the "Father of Modern Philosophy", and much ofsubsequent Western philosophy is a response to hiswritings, which continue to be studied closely to this day.In particular, his Meditations on First Philosophycontinues to be a standard text at most universityphilosophy departments. Descartes' influence in mathematicsis also apparent, the Cartesian coordinate system allowinggeometric shapes to be expressed in algebraic equationsbeing named for him. He is credited as the father ofanalytical geometry. Descartes was also one of the keyfigures in the Scientific Revolution. ... Read more

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Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problemsconcerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values,reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguishedfrom other ways of addressing these questions (such asmysticism or mythology) by its critical, generallysystematic approach and its reliance on reasoned argument.Philosophy comes from the Greek ????????? [philosophia],which literally translates to "love of wisdom". ... Read more

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Lorenzo Pena is a Spanish philosopher, lawyer, logician and political thinker. His rationalism is a neo-Leibnizian approach both in metaphysics and law. ... Read more

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Chapters: Aristotle, Age of Enlightenment, Ancient Philosophy, Pre-Socratic Philosophy, Rationalism, Platonic Realism, Charles Sanders Peirce, Early Islamic Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Charles Sanders Peirce Bibliography, Avicennism, History of Philosophy in Poland, Conatus, Thomas Aquinas and the Sacraments, Atomism, Neoplatonism, Anti-Clericalism, Positivism, Philosophical Progress, Mystical Philosophy of Antiquity, Physics, American Enlightenment, German Idealism, Virtue Ethics, Islamic Metaphysics, Contemporary Philosophy, History of the Concept of Creativity, Junto, Axial Age, Wildness, Natural Philosophy, Aristotelianism, Transcendence, a History of Western Philosophy, Aristotelian Society, Byzantine Philosophy, 19th Century Philosophy, Modern Philosophy, World Riddle, Copernican Revolution, Calculus Ratiocinator, Noetic Theory, Diafotismos, 17th Century Philosophy, a History of Philosophy, Three Critics of the Enlightenment, Double Truth, Linguistic Turn, Oxford Calculators, Ionian Enlightenment, Renaissance Philosophy, Pantheism Controversy, Jan of Stobnica, Michał Twaróg of Bystrzyków, Theosophy, Oxford Franciscan School, Postpositivism, Wittgenstein's Poker: the Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers, Persecution of Philosophers, Material Substratum, Alphabet of Human Thought, Rational Animal, Doxography, League of Peace, Ren Jiyu, Philosophy of Life, Wagnerism. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 649. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: This Charles Sanders Peirce bibliography consolidates numerous references to Charles Sanders Peirce's writings, including letters, manuscripts, publications, and . For an extensive chronological list of Peirce's works (titled in English), see the (Chronological Overview) on the (Writings) page for Charles Sanders Pi...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=3967710 ... Read more

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Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 ? February21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewishorigin. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, thebreadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fullyrealized until years after his death. Today, he isconsidered one of the great rationalists of 17th-centuryphilosophy, laying the groundwork for the 18th centuryEnlightenment and modern biblical criticism. By virtue ofhis magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, in which he opposedDescartes' mind?body dualism, Spinoza is considered to beone of Western philosophy's most important philosophers.Philosopher and historian Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegelsaid of all modern philosophers, "You are either aSpinozist or not a philosopher at all."Though Spinoza wasactive in the Dutch Jewish community and extremely well- versed in Jewish texts, his controversial ideas eventuallyled community leaders to issue a cherem against him,effectively dismissing him from Jewish society at age 23.Likewise, all of Spinoza's works were listed on the IndexLibrorum Prohibitorum (List of Prohibited Books) by theRoman Catholic Church. ... Read more

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This book is a first attempt to cover the whole area of aesthetics from the point of view of critical rationalism.It takes up and expands upon the more narrowly focused work of E. H. Gombrich, Sheldon Richmond, and Raphael Sassower and Louis Ciccotello. The authors integrate the arts into the scientific world view and acknowledge that there is an aesthetic aspect to anything whatsoever. They pay close attention to the social situatedness of the arts.Their aesthetics treats art as emerging from craft in the form of luxurious and playful challenge to the audience.In developing it they place emphasis on the number of questions and claims that can be settled by appeal to empirical facts; on the historical character of aesthetic judgements; and on the connection of aesthetic truth to true love and true friendship, i.e. fidelity and integrity, not to informative truth. ... Read more

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Diotima's Children is a re-examination of the rationalist tradition of aesthetics which prevailed in Germany in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century. It is partly an historical survey of the central figures and themes of this tradition But it is also a philosophical defense of some of its leading ideas, viz., that beauty plays an integral role in life, that aesthetic pleasure is the perception of perfection, that aesthetic rules are inevitable and valuable. It shows that the criticisms of Kant and Nietzsche of this tradition are largely unfounded. The rationalist tradition deserves re-examination because it is of great historical significance, marking the beginning of modern aesthetics, art criticism, and art history. ... Read more

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The eleventh edition of this renowned, topically organized anthology provides a superb balance of historical selections and recent material. The text covers reason and religious belief, human knowledge, mind and its place in nature, determinism, free will and responsibility, and morality and its critics in five parts with careful attention to opposing points of view. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Philosophy book
the book had some hi-lighter marks in it, but other than that it was a good book.

Reason and Responsibility Review
I bought this book for my philosophy class this semester.very, very low price, and the book was in great condition.Got the book shipped to me in about 7 days, which was in the estimate.Overall, very happy with the seller.

Waiting for my refund!!!
I returned this item about a month ago but have not recieve my refund yet. Would you please send me an email about what the situation is right now?

A reasonable book for an upper division specialty course
A straight anthology without sufficient background material to help students make sense of the essays. I would not advise it for an Introduction to Philosophy course. Essays in the books focus on issues of reason, the limits of knowledge, and ethics based upon human reason. The selection of essays show a bias toward American positivism and contrary philosophical views (of which there are many) are not represented. The amount of philosophy this book ignores on the book's chosen topics is enormous. This is also a reason not to use this text for an Introductory class. If this was the only text used in an introductory course, students would come away with a very stilted and erroneous view of philosophy. It would be good for an upper division course focused on American positivism where students already have sufficient background in philosophy to understand these specialized essays and understand the selective nature of the text's selections.

Philosophy 103
I had to buy this book for a general education requirement this year.However, the class turned out to be my favorite (the teacher certainly helped) and I'm keeping the book after the semester is over.Reason and Responsibility contains essays from the greatest philosophers (and some not so great) in order to give the beginner a comprehensive overview of philosophy.

At times, the essays were edited so that parts of the original selection were omitted.I had difficulty writing papers which criticized certain arguments become some claims can only be made from the entire text.However, if you are just reading this for fun as an introduction to philosophy, I highly recommend it. ... Read more

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A distinguished group of scholars met at the State University of New York at Buffalo to share their thoughts on the nature of humans as rational animals. The result is this compelling collection of essays and commentaries titled "Naturalism and Rationality". We are affected by all sorts of stimuli that influence our beliefs and actions. How does our understanding of what it means to be rational affect our interpretation of the world around us? What problems arise as a result of our attempts to analyse rationality within the scope of naturalism? These essays offer fascinating discussion about the nature and extent of rationality - its content, focus, and the intrinsic guidelines for using the term "rational" when describing persons or actions. ... Read more

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This collection of original essays examines the controversy over and attacks on rationality in the methodologies of the humanities and the physical and social sciences. These essays represent the thinking of a wide variety of philosophers, psychologists, historians, classicists, and economists about the role of rationality in thought and action. Reflecting the differing perspectives of their authors' disciplines, as well as the centrality of rationality to those disciplines, they are important additions to a debate that has been going on for some twenty years. Beginning with an introductory essay in which K.D. Irani covers the various ways in which rationality can be approached, the body of the book is divided into five sections dealing with various aspects of the issue. Respectively, they are concerned with rationality as it relates to ethical and social thought and action; general scientific thought and the particular disciplines of economics, history, and law; the analytic and hermenutic approaches to communications and learning; and the contrasting classical traditions of ancient Greece and China. In the final section, two differing theories concerning the nature of rationality itself are presented. A list of suggested further readings completes the volume. ... Read more

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Cognitive science has posed some radical challenges to philosophy in recent years, particularly in the study of the cognitive activities and capacities of individuals. Many philosophers have taken up the challenge, and one result has been the emergence of a radical new wave of relativism, one that assaults the credibility of rationalist views. In this text, Nenad Miscevic defends naturalistic rationalism against these recent relativist attacts. The book begins with an introduction to cognitive science, and goes on to create a searching defence of human rationality and of a traditional role for truth in epistemology. Miscevic presents a critical scrutiny of the relativism championed by Stephen Stich and Paul Churchland and their followers, showing that it not only exaggerates the subversive impact of science, but relies on its links with naturalism for much of its credibility. His careful dissection of relativist arguments establishes the main outlines of a positive rationalistic picture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

convincingly written
i thought that the book is marvellous and it comes out at a time when we desparately need some solid, logical answers. Rationality it seems, has been underplayed in favour of relativism-pragmatism. But this book explains (quite intuitively) of how everything we do as humans is traced back to rationality itself. VERY highly reccommended (especially for those concerned with existential angst). ... Read more

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In Realistic Rationalism, Jerrold Katz develops a new philosophicalposition integrating realism and rationalism. Realism here means thatthe objects of study in mathematics and other formal sciences areabstract; rationalism means that our knowledge of them is not empirical.Katz uses this position to meet the principal challenges to realism. Inexposing the flaws in criticisms of the antirealists, he shows thatrealists can explain knowledge of abstract objects without supposing wehave causal contact with them, that numbers are determinate objects, andthat the standard counterexamples to the abstract/concrete distinctionhave no force. He develops a rationalist and non-naturalist account ofphilosophical knowledge and argues that it is preferable to contemporarynaturalist and empiricist accounts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

This is what real ontology looks like
Do abstract objects exist? If so, can we acquire knowledge of them via nonsensory means (i.e., reason or rational intuition)?

To both these questions Jerrold Katz answers "yes." And his sterling account is on all counts a welcome relief from the interminable parade of militant empiricism that seems to have taken over the streets of modern philosophy.

Even at that, I suspect Katz has conceded a bit more to empiricism than I would. He holds, for example, that we need not "causally interact" with abstract objects in order to have knowledge of them. Well, perhaps we don't, but I don't see why the claim is objectionable; the contrary claim that timeless objects don't participate in temporal causal processes is a premise that surely deserves to be questioned. (I think it's false.)

Then, too, I don't see that Katz ever questions whether we can acquire even _sensory_ knowledge apart from reason. I don't think we can -- but I wish Katz had at least raised the issue.

Be that as it may, what Katz does offer is solid -- and dense; I despair of summarizing _any_ of his arguments in a short review. The skinny of it is that he thinks mathematical objects are real, and indeed that mathematics is a sort of testing lab for philosophy.

A note on the title of my review: I read this book two or three years ago and just now returned to it after reading David Koepsell's _The Ontology of Cyberspace_ -- a book in which there's darned little actual ontology, and what there is of it isn't very good. Katz's account of mathematical objects is a good cure, and it would have been nice if some "web ontologists" had read it.

(Hey, and maybe some "Objectivists" should read it too. Ayn Rand's own impoverished account of "reason" doesn't leave reason anything to do except sort out sensory impressions into file folders, and as such is exactly the sort of "empiricism" at which Katz takes aim.)

Transcription of blurbs from the dust jacket
"This book is certainly going to count as one of the most important contributions to the philosophy of mathematics of the last decades."--Paolo Mancosu, Department of Philosophy, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley

"What is philosophy?The dominant view is thatphilosophy, where it is not the unravelling of linguistic confusions, is aninseparable part of empirical inquiry.Katz sharply challenges this.Inclear and relaxed prose he advocates an earlier view: philosophy is thestudy of reality at the most general level through rational reflection. But he does not simply return to the position of a former age.Drawing ona mastery of twentieth-century analytic philosophy, Katz takes us one wholecycle higher up the helix of metaphilosophy, reconstructing ourunderstanding of the relations between science and philosophy in theprocess."--Marcus Giaquinto, Department of Philosophy, UniversityCollege, London

"Jerrold J. Katz's new book, Realistic Rationalism,constitutes a major development in philosophy of mathematics as a testingground for fundamentally opposed philosophies.The project is to defendrationalism, in respect of both ontology and epistemology; empiricistnaturalism is rejected, and the existence of numbers as particular objectsis upheld against structuralist and semantic considerations.Whether ornot Katz's powerfully developed position is ultimately accepted, the termsof the debate have been very significantly advanced."--DanielIsaacson, Oxford University ... Read more

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The program Amsterdamski suggests in Between History andMethod may not be deemed `strong enough' by the sociologists; buthe believes that it offers the only way to give an account of theevident specificity of science with respect to other products of humanintellectual activities if we cannot accept the idea of thesupra-historical rationality of human nature.
What differentiates such a program from the old so-called `rationalisttradition' is the thesis that the background consensus is not theincarnation of immanent human rationality, and that it is nothistorically stable. What differentiates this program from (at leastsome) contemporary developments in the sociology of science is thenotion that if the circumstances of cognition have any impact upon thecontent of knowledge, this impact is not immediate, but rather ismediated by the relatively stable set of values and ideas constitutingthe research tradition. It is precisely on the basis of thesetraditions, which provide the resources for creative renewal fromwithin, that new scientific knowledge is universalized.
This book will be of interest to historians of science, philosophersand sociologists of science.
... Read more

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In The Enemies of Perfection Debra Candreva argues that Platos philosophy is among the most important influences on philosopher Michael Oakeshotts thought. Despite Oakeshotts criticisms of Plato the author contends that his reliance on him is, by far, greater. ... Read more

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As the influence of religion increasingly insinuates itself into society, aided by media messages touting the personal and social advantages of Christian-defined moral virtues, the need to express well-developed criticism of religious propaganda and to support clearly-stated secular ideals assumes a new urgency. Freethinkers, atheists, agnostics, sceptics, and rationalists will rejoice to discover that Dr. Gordon Stein has returned to the rich history of free-thought to compile an impressive collection of powerful and thought-provoking atheist and rationalist literature.A superb complement to his first book, "An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism", "A Second Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism" features twenty essays and twenty-nine samples of atheist and rationalist verse by such masters as G.J. Holyoake, Robert Browning, John Keats, Annie Besant, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, and Charles Bradlaugh, to name but a few. Many of the essays and poems in this exceptional anthology have been out of print or nearly impossible to procure for over 100 years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Nice to have some freethought history
Prometheus' second anthology is not, I would say, as good as the first one, but it is still a nice read.Most of the selections are at least a half-century old, and most are much older. The biblical criticism of Bradlaugh and Wheless shows its age, and many of the other essays have beenoutdone by contemporary works. But the best feature of the anthology isthat it shows the past of freethought and atheism.There were courageousmen and women years ago, when prejudice and bigotry were even more intenseagainst heresy, who were unafraid to speak out for the truth.I enjoyreading these works and getting a feel for the passion and intensity ofthose brave individuals.Freethinkers would also do well to familiarizethemselves with our past.It lends encouragement.Our generation is notthe first to question religious authority, and we will not be the last. The poetry selections are interesting, too, for those with a taste for it. Read and take heart. ... Read more