A Philosopher's Apprentice : In Karl Popper's Workshop.
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Both a Popper biography and an autobiography, Agassi's A Philosopher's Apprentice tells the riveting story of his intellectual formation in 1950s London, a young brilliant philosopher struggling with an intellectual giant - father, mentor, and rival, all at the same time. His subsequent rebellion and declaration of independence leads to a painful break, never to be completely healed. No other writer has Agassi's psychological insight into Popper, and no other book captures like this one the intellectual excitement around the Popper circle in the 1950s and the struggles of the 1960s and 1970s - personal, academic, political, all important philosophically. Agassi's Popper - whether one agrees with it or not - is an enormous contribution to scholarship. This second revised edition includes also Popper's and Agassi's last correspondence and, in a postscript it shows Agassi leafing through Popper's archives, reaching a sort of reconciliation, an appropriate ending to the drama. A must read." - Malachi Hacohen, Duke University.
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1 online resource (401 pages) :
9789401206112 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Parasite: A Philosophical Exploration /
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Parasite presents the ethico-biological problem of parasitism in a metaphorical and artistic fashion. In this book, philosophers explore the film using sources such as the ancient satirist Lucian's De Parasito, Nietzsche's "the vengeance of the weak," Dostoyevsky's "Underground," or Marxism, among others.
Parasite is a philosophically interesting film because it presents the ethico-biological problem of parasitism in a metaphorical and artistic fashion. Michel Serres, in his book called The Parasite , holds that parasites are not in fact useless, but that they establish communications between different spheres and are thus able to transform large-scale organisms. Parasites import coincidences, activate defence systems, and establish new links with the host. In this book, philosophers explore the film from various angles: using the ancient satirist Lucian's De Parasito , Nietzsche's concept of "the vengeance of the weak," Dostoyevsky's "underground," Marxism, and many more.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004521513
9789004515628
An Unmanaged World: A Philosophical Study of Global Dynamics /
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This book is devoted to the philosophical analysis of key problems of world development and prospects for global management. Based on both rich factual material and a holistic understanding of the world, the author shows how modern globalization has shifted the arena of interaction from individual territories and regions to the entire space of the Earth. The global problems resulting from this shift have led to a weakly regulated and unmanaged world, one that gives rise to acute contradictions for the world community. How can we improve this situation? According to the author, we must learn to "think globally and act together." This study argues that humanity needs a global civilizational revolution aimed at forming a planetary civil society and initiating a shift within international relations, from the "right of power" to the "power of law."
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1 online resource (254 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004746060
Poverty : A Philosophical Approach /
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In Poverty: a philosophical approach , the author studies various philosophical issues concerning poverty in the Program for Education, Health and Food (PROGRESA) that was in effect in Mexico, from 1997 to 2002, and shows how theoretical discussion is necessary to clarify some ideas concerning the application of a social policy. Poverty is one of the main problems concerning economics, political philosophy, and ethics. It is an ethical problem because of its relationship with self-esteem. Since poverty is intimately related to social policies, the philosophy of poverty must consider the distribution criteria used to attend to people in situations of extreme poverty. This would involve attention to their needs, preferences, capabilities and "well-being" rights. The book considers social policies applied to poverty, and their occasional abuse of utilitarian instruments. Many are implemented without considering cultural differences, including varying patterns of conduct in diverse communities. Equality also matters. Since poverty and inequality are not the same, the study of the latter allows us to target groups found in the lowest levels of "the playing field".
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789401202848
9789042019751
Roots in the air : a philosophical autobiography of a philosopher, artist, and musician /
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By way of dialogues, Michael Krausz offers philosophical reflections about his life as philosopher, artist, and musician. He also rehearses his views about relativism, interpretation, creativity, and self-realization. Much of Krausz's work has been inspired by conversations with thinkers such as Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Isaiah Berlin, the Dalai Lama, and musicians such as Josef Gingold, Frederik Prausnitz, and Luis Biava. While the death of his grandparents in Auschwitz continues to disquiet his consciousness, Krausz's critiques of versions of Advaitic Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism led him to a distinctive humanism. This thought-provoking book includes personal and professional accounts about particular philosophers, artists, and musicians. It will edify anyone who, like Krausz, has confronted issues of self-identity and human existence.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004388017 :
0929-8436 ;
Reconstructing subjects : a philosophical critique of psychotherapy /
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This work is about the deceptive nature of psychotherapy. In particular, it is about those therapies that claim to provide the client with insight and self-knowledge when in practice they are a means of social control absorbing clients into socially acceptable norms. Through a philosophical analysis of key concepts such as knowledge, insight, and subjectivity, and through an examination of mechanisms intrinsic to psychotherapeutic practice, such as power, interpretation, and suggestion, this monograph unveils how psychotherapy deludes clients into believing they have discovered their true self. Rather than gaining self-knowledge and insight into their true or core self, clients are subtly reconstructed and reconfigured along prevailing social values. Furthermore, the very epistemological and metaphysical world-view clients are deceived into believing is highly suspect and founded upon a fascistic understanding of knowledge. As an alternative to such domination, psychotherapy needs to reconstruct itself along Nietzschean-Deleuzian lines where the focus is on multiple identities, difference, and creativity. Rather than focusing on an analysis of past memories to alleviate symptoms such as anxiety or depression, therapeutic intervention should aim for a non-repressive conception of self-knowledge and insight based upon a creative future and not a regretful past. This entails a different understanding of knowledge and reality that is not based on subjugating the world to what we know about it, but on immersing ourselves within reality in all of its concrete richness. And such an approach is preferable not because it is "true" but because it is more liberating.
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1 online resource (137 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-131) and index. :
9789401206914 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Altruism or the Other as the Essence of Existence : A Philosophical Passage to Being Altruistic /
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"The author offers fresh, yet radical, philosophical insights into the much contested topic of altruism. Whereas the debate on altruism, since time immemorial, consists in trying to determine whether we are biologically altruistic or not, Ioannidis explores altruism otherwise. Following Nietzsche, he traces altruism to the phenomenon of promising or giving one's word. His analysis provokes us to think that our possibility to exist cannot be realized without this event"--
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004448391
9789004448384
Is human life absurd? : a philosophical inquiry into finitude, value, and meaning /
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In this work, Belliotti unravels the paradoxes of human existence. The purpose of this philosophical journey is to reveal paths for forging meaningful, significant, valuable, even important lives. By examining notions of The Absurd expressed within Search for the Holy Grail, The Seventh Seal, and The Big Lebowski, the author crafts a working definition of "absurdity." He then investigates the contributions of classical thinkers such as Shakespeare, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Tolstoy, Sartre, Camus, as well as philosophers such as Nagel, Feinberg, and Taylor. After arguing that human life is not inherently absurd, Belliotti examines the implications of mortality for human existence, the relationship between subjective and objective meaning, and the persuasiveness of several challenging contemporary renderings of meaningful human lives.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004408791
Questioning the historicity of Jesus : why a philosophical analysis elucidates the historical discourse /
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This volume moves beyond the mainstream scholarly scepticism over the Christ of Faith and considers if there is sufficient evidence to establish the existence of the more mundane Historical Jesus. Using the logical tools of the analytic philosopher, Lataster finds that the relevant sources are unreliable as historical documents, and that the key method of those purporting that the Historical Jesus existed is to appeal to sources that do not exist. Considering an ancient hypothesis suggesting that Jesus began as a celestial messiah that certain Second Temple Jews already believed in, and was later allegorised in the Gospels, Lataster discovers that it is more reasonable to at least be agnostic over Jesus' historicity.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004408784
The World as a City : A Philosophical Image between the Ancient World and the Three Monotheisms /
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The originality of the present book consists in hosting contributions which deal with the concept of cosmopolitanism and the metaphorical image of the world as a city. These issues are analyzed in their philosophical and religious dimension: Greek-Roman antiquity; Christianity from its origins to the 6th century; the post-Biblical and medieval Jewish tradition; the Islamic tradition up to the 12th century. Particularly, the volume investigates how the philosophical meaning of cosmopolitanism has been modified since its Cynic-Stoic origin: it focuses on its new (and not only theological) meanings inside the three monotheisms.
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1 online resource (400 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004741898
A Meaningful Life amidst a Pluralism of Cultures and Values : John Lachs's Stoic Pragmatism as a Philosophical and Cultural Project /
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There is a growing concern about living a meaningful life among those living in different contexts of cultural diversity, be it the American melting pot, the union of European nations, the multiculturally globalized, the multiformity of tribalism of various stripes, and the fashionable cyber bubbles of opinion and commentary that drive the outlooks of millions of uninformed consumers. This book argues for a wisdom that incorporates a reference for both knowledge and self-knowledge, as well as life experience and cultural traditions that have stood the test of time, all contributing to a framework in which we can navigate our lives.
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1 online resource (266 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004680050
The regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens, 317-307 BCE : a philosopher in politics /
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Erudite and urbane, a scion of the Peripatos, Demetrius of Phalerum dominated Athenian political life for a decade (317-307 B.C.E.) with Macedonian support. Viewed by some as the embodiment of the longed-for 'philosopher-king', Demetrius has been seen a test case for the interplay of philosophical training and political praxis in antiquity. This book, through a close re-examination of the fragmentary and diffuse testimonia for Demetrius' decade, argues that such a view misunderstands his legislative, constitutional and financial reforms, which should rather be seen within the context of Macedonian suzerainty, Athenian self-interest, and contemporary social changes. Such a context also affords a better understanding of the dynamic relations between the Macedonian generals and the preeminent Greek city at the dawn of the Hellenistic era.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047441236 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religions challenged by contingency : theological and philosophical approaches to the problem of contingency /
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In this volume, the relationship between religion and contingency is investigated. Its historical part comprises analyses of important philosophers' interpretations of this relationship, viz. that of Leibniz, Kant, Lessing, Jaspers, and Heidegger. Its systematic part analyses how this relationship should be currently (re-)interpreted. The upshot of the different interpretations is a re-evaluation of the traditional assumption that accepting contingency is detrimental to the pursuit of religion. It is shown that a number of the philosophers scrutinized are not as critical regarding the acceptance of (certain sorts of) contingency in the religious realm as is often thought, and the systematic contributions show that it may be unavoidable, sometimes even desirable, to accept contingency when dealing with religion. Contributors include: Lieven Boeve, Wim Drees, Joris Geldhof, Dirk-Martin Grube, Frans Jespers, Peter Jonkers, Donald Loose, Ben Vedder, Henk Vroom.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047433583 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Eugene Borowitz : rethinking God and ethics /
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Eugene B. Borowitz is Sigmund L. Falk Distinguished Professor of Education and Jewish Religious Thought at Hebrew Union College in New York. A rabbi, teacher of rabbis, and a theologian, Borowitz has been an important spokesperson for non-Orthodox forms of Judaism, Reform Judaism in particular. Over seven decades, Borowitz has explored the centrality of God in Jewish existence, the normative force of Jewish law, the meaning of the Covenant, the distinctiveness of Jewish life, and the meaning of Jewish personhood for non-Orthodox Jews. Adopting the language of religious existentialism, he has reflected on the relational nature of human existence, on the one hand, and human self-determination on the other. Rethinking God and Ethics presents influential essays by Borowitz and explains his contribution to Jewish religious thought in the 20th century. This volume is also available in paperback . Brill mourns the death of Professor Eugene Borowitz, of blessed memory, in January 2016. The LCJP honors his valuable contribution to Jewish theology, ethics, and education.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004269996 :
2213-6010 ;
Philosophy of Dionysius the Areopagite : an introduction to the structure and the content of the treatise On the Divine Names /
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This book proposes a reading of Dionysius the Areopagite's longest and most important treatise 'On the Divine Names' from a philosophical point of view, rather than from a theological point of view which dominates the secondary literature. More in particular, it proposes an interpretation of the puzzling structure of the treatise which takes its starting point from earlier interpretations of medieval and modern scholars. The new reading of Dionysius' main text achieves more coherence than they did precisely because of the philosophical angle, which is meant to serve as a complement, not an alternative, to theological and historical interpretations. Thus the book can be read as an introduction to the philosophy of Dionyius as it shows how the author makes original moves in introducing the Christian concepts of peace and creation as philosophical concepts in a Platonic framework.
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1 online resource (xvi, 212 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-204) and indexes. :
9789047409441 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Michael L. Morgan : history and moral normativity /
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Michael L. Morgan is an Emeritus Chancellor Professor at Indiana University and the Senator Jerahmiel S. and Carole S. Grafstein Visiting Chair in Jewish Philosophy at the University of Toronto. On the faculty of Indiana University for his entire career, he has also held Visiting Professorships at the Australian Catholic University, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Stanford University, and Yale University. A historian of philosophy informed by the continental and analytic philosophical traditions, Morgan has reflected on the key challenge of our day: how is objectivity possible in light of the historicity of human life? An interpreter of both "Athens" and "Jerusalem," Morgan has written on ancient Greek philosophy, modern Jewish philosophy, post-Holocaust theology and ethics, Zionism, and Messianism.
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Articles previously published. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004326514 :
2213-6010 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Hymnic narrative and the narratology of Greek hymns /
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Ancient Greek hymns traditionally include a narrative section describing episodes from the hymned deity's life. These narratives developed in parallel with epic and other narrative genres, and their study provides a different perspective on ancient Greek narrative. Within the hymn genre, the place and function of the narrative section changed over time and with different kinds of hymn (literary or cultic; religious, philosophical or magical). Hymnic Narrative and the Narratology of Greek Hymns traces developments in narrative in the hymn genre from the Homeric Hymns via Hellenistic and Imperial hymns to those in the Orphic tradition and in magical papyri, analysing them in narratological terms in order to place them in the wider context of ancient Greek narrative literature.
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1 online resource (ix, 297 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004289512 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.