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Leo Strauss on Religion: Writings and Interpretations (SUNY series in the Thought and Legacy of Leo Strauss)
by Svetozar Y. Minkov Rasoul NamaziIntriguing unpublished manuscripts by Leo Strauss, which explore the intricate relationship between religion, philosophy, and politics, accompanied by fourteen interpretative essays.Addressing the central theme of his work-the complex relationship between religion, philosophy, and politics-the twelve newly available transcripts included in Leo Strauss on Religion offer unprecedented insights into Leo Strauss's thoughts on previously unexplored subjects. Essential for both avid readers and newcomers, this collection unveils sharper formulations and frank discussions, providing a rare peek into the ambiguous aspects of Strauss's renowned reticence in formulating his ultimate thoughts. Accompanied by fourteen interpretative essays from distinguished scholars, this volume serves as a comprehensive guide to Strauss's intellectual odyssey. Offering fresh perspectives, these essays navigate the understudied aspects of Strauss's reflections on religion, putting his thought in a new perspective thereby enriching the scholarly debate around the controversial yet influential legacy of Leo Strauss.
Leo Strauss on Science: Thoughts on the Relation between Natural Science and Political Philosophy (SUNY series in the Thought and Legacy of Leo Strauss)
by Svetozar Y. MinkovDrawing upon a wealth of previously unpublished archival material, Leo Strauss on Science brings to light the thoughts of Leo Strauss on the problem of science. Introducing us to Strauss's reflections on the meaning and perplexities of the scientific adventure, Svetozar Y. Minkov explores questions such as: Is there a human wisdom independent of science? What is the relation between poetry and mathematics, or between self-knowledge and theoretical physics? And how necessary is it for the human species to exist immutably in order for the classical analysis of human life to be correct? In pursuing these questions, Minkov aims to change the conversation about Strauss, one of the great thinkers of the past century.
Leo Strauss on the Borders of Judaism, Philosophy, and History (SUNY series in the Thought and Legacy of Leo Strauss)
by Jeffrey A. BernsteinIn Leo Strauss on the Borders of Judaism, Philosophy, and History, Jeffrey A. Bernstein explores how the thought of Leo Strauss amounts to a model for thinking about the connection between philosophy, Jewish thought, and history. For Bernstein, Strauss shows that a close study of the history of philosophy—from the "ancients" to "medievals" to "moderns"—is necessary for one to appreciate the fundamental distinction between the forms of life Strauss terms "Jerusalem" and "Athens," that is, order through revealed Law and free philosophical thought, respectively. Through an investigation of Strauss's published texts; examination of his intellectual biography and history; and making use of correspondence, archival materials, and seminar transcripts, Bernstein shows how Strauss's concern with the relation between Judaism and philosophy spanned his entire career. His findings will be of use to those interested in the thought of Strauss, the history of Jewish thought, and the relation between religion, philosophy, and politics.
Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life: Reading "What Is Political Philosophy?"
by Rafael MajorLeo Strauss's What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life's work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic approach. Yet precisely because the book is so foundational, if we want to understand Strauss's notoriously careful and complex thinking in these essays, we must also consider them just as Strauss treated philosophers of the past: on their own terms. Each of the contributors in this collection focuses on a single chapter from What Is Political Philosophy? in an effort to shed light on both Strauss's thoughts about the history of philosophy and the major issues about which he wrote. Included are treatments of Strauss's esoteric method of reading, his critique of behavioral political science, and his views on classical political philosophy. Key thinkers whose work Strauss responded to are also analyzed in depth: Plato, Al Farabi, Maimonides, Hobbes, and Locke, as well as twentieth century figures such as Eric Voegelin, Alexandre Kojève, and Kurt Riezler. Written by scholars well known for their insight and expertise on Strauss's thought, the essays in this volume apply to Strauss the same meticulous approach he developed in reading others. The first book length treatment on a single book by Strauss, Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life will serve as an invaluable companion to those seeking a helpful introduction or delving deeper into the major themes and ideas of this controversial thinker.
Leo Strauss, Philosopher: European Vistas (SUNY series in the Thought and Legacy of Leo Strauss)
by Antonio Lastra; Josep Monserrat-MolasThis volume presents, for the first time in English, the approaches to Leo Strauss being pursued by European scholars in Spain, Italy, and Germany. Whereas the traditions of Strauss interpretation have, until recently, focused on issues of interest to political science and, to a lesser extent, religious studies, this collection makes a powerful contribution to the recent philosophical consideration of Strauss. Each essay treats a unique thread emerging from the tapestry of Straussian thought, illustrating Strauss's thinking on the reading of ancient texts and on the relationship between philosophy and politics. In doing so, Strauss is placed squarely and uncompromisingly within the history of philosophy, in conversation with a large range of philosophical figures.
Leo Strauss: An Introduction (Key Contemporary Thinkers)
by Neil G. RobertsonLeo Strauss’s lifelong intellectual mission was to recover ‘classical rationalism’, a pursuit that has made him a controversial figure to this day. While his critics see him as responsible for a troubling anti-democratic strain in modern politics, others argue that his thought is in fact the best defence of responsible democracy. Neil Robertson’s new introduction to Strauss aims to transcend these divides and present a non-partisan account of his thought. He shows how Strauss’ intellectual formation in Weimar Germany and flight from Nazism led him to develop a critique of modernity that tended to support a conservative politics, while embracing a radical sense of what philosophy is and can be. He examines the way in which Strauss built upon the thought of Nietzsche and Heidegger in order to show how their 'nihilism' led not to a standpoint beyond western rationality, but to a recovery of its roots. This skillful reconstruction of the coherence and unity of Strauss’ thought is the essential guide for anyone wishing to fully grasp the contribution of one of the most contentious and intriguing figures in 20th century intellectual history.
Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy (The Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought)
by Thomas L. PangleLeo Strauss's controversial writings have long exercised a profound subterranean cultural influence. Now their impact is emerging into broad daylight, where they have been met with a flurry of poorly informed, often wildly speculative, and sometimes rather paranoid pronouncements.This book, written as a corrective, is the first accurate, non-polemical, comprehensive guide to Strauss's mature political philosophy and its intellectual influence. Thomas L. Pangle opens a pathway into Strauss's major works with one question: How does Strauss's philosophic thinking contribute to our democracy's civic renewal and to our culture's deepening, critical self-understanding?This book includes a synoptic critical survey of writings from scholars who have extended Strauss's influence into the more practical, sub-philosophic fields of social and political science and commentary. Pangle shows how these analysts have in effect imported Straussian impulses into a "new" kind of political and social science.
Leonard Cohen and Philosophy: Various Positions
by Jason HoltFrom the early years, when he morphed from celebrated poet to provocative singer-songwriter, to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Leonard Cohen has endured as one of the most enigmatic and profound figures-with a uniquely compelling voice and unparalleled depth of artistic vision-in all of popular music.<P><P> The aesthetic quality and intellectual merit of Cohen's work are above dispute; here, for the first time, a team of philosophers takes an in-depth look at its real significance.Want to know what Cohen and Kierkegaard have in common? Or whether Cohen rivals the great philosophical pessimist Schopenhauer? Then this book is for you. It provides the first thorough analysis of Cohen from various (philosophical) positions. It is intended not only for Cohen fans but also undergraduates in philosophy and other areas. It explores important neglected aspects of Cohen's work without attempting to reduce them to academic tropes, yet nonetheless will also be useful to academics-or anyone-beguiled by the enigma that is Leonard Cohen.
Leonardo da Vinci: A Memory Of His Childhood (Routledge Great Minds)
by Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud was already internationally acclaimed as the principal founder of psychoanalysis when he turned his attention to the life of Leonardo da Vinci. It remained Freud’s favourite composition. Compressing many of his insights into a few pages, the result is a fascinating picture of some of Freud’s fundamental ideas, including human sexuality, dreams, and repression. It is an equally compelling – and controversial – portrait of Leonardo and the creative forces that according to Freud lie behind some of his great works, including the Mona Lisa. With a new foreword by Maria Walsh.
Leonardo, Descartes, Max Weber: Three Essays (Routledge Revivals)
by Karl JaspersFirst published in 1965, this collection of three essays by influential German philosopher Karl Jaspers deals with the response of the philosophical mind to the world of reality, with the search for truth. In Leonardo, this search is shown in the thinking and the works of a supreme artist whose means of apperception are the senses. The essay on Max Weber commemorates a man Jaspers knew personally and ardently admired. The main essay in the collection is an exhaustive, three part study of Descartes: analysing Descartes’ new philosophical operation, Descartes’ Method, and the position of his philosophy within the wider historical context of philosophical thought.
Leonardo’s Choice
by Carol GigliottiLeonardo's Choice: Genetic Technologies and Animals is an edited collection of twelve essays and one dialogue focusing on the profound affect the use of animals in biotechnology is having on both humans and other species. Communicating crucial understandings of the integrated nature of the human and non-human world, these essays, unlike the majority of discussions of biotechnology, take seriously the impact of these technologies on animals themselves. This collection's central questions revolve around the disassociation Western ideas of creative freedom have from the impacts those ideas and practices have on the non-human world. This transdisciplinary collection includes perspectives from the disciplines of philosophy, cultural theory, art and literary theory, history and theory of science, environmental studies, law, landscape architecture, history, and geography. Included authors span three continents and four countries. Included essays contribute significantly to a growing scholarship surrounding "the question of the animal" emanating from philosophical, cultural and activist discourses. Its authors are at the forefront of the growing number of theorists and practitioners across the disciplines concerned with the impact of new technologies on the more-than-human world.
Leonhard Euler
by Ronald S. CalingerThis is the first full-scale biography of Leonhard Euler (1707-83), one of the greatest mathematicians and theoretical physicists of all time. In this comprehensive and authoritative account, Ronald Calinger connects the story of Euler's eventful life to the astonishing achievements that place him in the company of Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss. Drawing chiefly on Euler's massive published works and correspondence, which fill more than eighty volumes so far, this biography sets Euler's work in its multilayered context--personal, intellectual, institutional, political, cultural, religious, and social. It is a story of nearly incessant accomplishment, from Euler's fundamental contributions to almost every area of pure and applied mathematics--especially calculus, number theory, notation, optics, and celestial, rational, and fluid mechanics--to his advancements in shipbuilding, telescopes, ballistics, cartography, chronology, and music theory.The narrative takes the reader from Euler's childhood and education in Basel through his first period in St. Petersburg, 1727-41, where he gained a European reputation by solving the Basel problem and systematically developing analytical mechanics. Invited to Berlin by Frederick II, Euler published his famous Introductio in analysin infinitorum, devised continuum mechanics, and proposed a pulse theory of light. Returning to St. Petersburg in 1766, he created the analytical calculus of variations, developed the most precise lunar theory of the time that supported Newton's dynamics, and published the best-selling Letters to a German Princess--all despite eye problems that ended in near-total blindness. In telling the remarkable story of Euler and how his achievements brought pan-European distinction to the Petersburg and Berlin academies of sciences, the book also demonstrates with new depth and detail the central role of mathematics in the Enlightenment.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
Leopold III and the Belgian Royal Question
by E. Ramón ArangoOriginally published in 1963. Between 1945 and 1951, Belgium faced a crisis in political leadership when its ruling monarch, King Leopold III, was accused of violating the Belgian Constitution during World War II. The "question" at hand refers to the uncertainty over whether King Leopold III could return to Belgium as king. Leopold III and the Belgian Royal Question documents the history of this political crisis, culminating with the abdication of King Leopold and the assumption of the crown by Baudouin, Leopold's son.
Lernen und Erfahrung. Epagogik: Herausgegeben von Malte Brinkmann (Phänomenologische Erziehungswissenschaft #5)
by Günther Buck (verstorben)Günther Buck legt in dieser Studie eine phänomenologisch-hermeneutische Theorie des Lernens, des Beispiels und der Analogie vor, die für Pädagogik sowie für Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften von grundlegender Bedeutung ist. Der Prozess der Erfahrung im Lernen wird in drei Momenten entfaltet: der epagogischen Gangstruktur, der antizipatorischen Horizonthaftigkeit und der dialektischen, „negativen“ Umwendung auf sich selbst. Lernen wird als Lernen aus Erfahrung und als Erfahrung kenntlich. Im zweiten und dritten Teil gelingt Buck eine Neubestimmung des Beispiels in seinen hermeneutischen, bildenden und didaktischen Funktionen. Unterschiedliche Typen der Analogie werden identifiziert und deren Funktionsweisen differenziert.Mit dieser Neuausgabe kann nach 30 Jahren das bekannteste und wirkungsmächtigste Buch von Günther Buck wieder zugänglich gemacht werden.
Les 7 maximes pour le bonheur de l'âme: Libérez votre bonheur intérieur
by Paul Rodney TurnerLES 7 MAXIMES POUR LE BONHEUR DE L’ÂME Libérez votre bonheur intérieur Apprenez à être heureux tout le temps Le bonheur est quelque chose que nous recherchons tous, que ce soit dans la nourriture, le sexe, les loisirs, les relations, les enfants, la carrière, les hobbies ou le sommeil. Le bonheur nous motive et définit effectivement la qualité de notre vie. On peut avoir une fortune immense mais si on n’est pas heureux alors généralement c’est qu’on a échoué dans la vie. Sans bonheur, la vie perd de sa valeur et, par conséquent, avec la baisse apparente de satisfaction, nous observons une augmentation du nombre de suicides à travers le monde. Dans un monde où les stimuli mentaux et physiques sont en abondance, il semble inconcevable qu’une personne puisse être malheureuse. Certes, tout le monde peut trouver une certaine forme de bonheur, mais malheureusement des tas de gens échouent et vivent leur vie tristes et exaspérés ou espèrent malgré tout qu’une lueur de joie apparaitra à l’horizon de leur destinée. Le bonheur est la nature de l’esprit, comme le dit le Vedānta-sūtra: ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt - “l’âme est par nature pleine de joie”. Cependant, en raison du fait que l’on confond souvent notre moi véritable avec la matière, nous perdons contact avec cet état naturel de béatitude et nous nous identifions à la douleur et la souffrance d’une forme physique. Quand une âme est prise au piège dans un corps matériel, elle s’identifie immédiatement aux relations physiques et oublie sa vraie identité en tant qu’être spirituel. Ce faux égo, influencé par les modalités de la nature matérielle, emprisonne l’âme dans un réseau d’actions et de réactions karmiques. Lorsque l’esprit est l’instrument qui sert à sentir, l
Les Cultural Studies dans les mondes francophones (Études culturelles, africaines et diasporiques)
by de B'béri, Boulou EbandaDepuis trois décennies le monde anglo-saxon a considéré sérieusement les Cultural Studies comme une analyse des pratiques quotidiennes et de la production de sens. Mais la production analytique en français dans cette discipline est restée presque absente. Les mondes francophones ont déjà vécu plusieurs événements qui auraient intéressé les Cultural Studies au XXIe siècle : les manifestations sociales de l’hiver 2006 et de l’automne 2007 en France, les mouvements migratoires d’Africains vers l’Europe et le débat sur « les accommodements raisonnables » au Québec entre autres. Pour tous ces événements, nous avions entendu s’élever plusieurs voix qui offraient des articulations généralistes de différentiation de nous à l’autre et des idiomes comme « ces gens-là », « les enfants issus d’immigration », « nous ne voulons pas accueillir la misère du monde » et bien d’autres. Nous n’avions pas entendu s’élever des perspectives provenant des Cultural Studies dans leur compréhension particulière d’événements politiques, ni en France, ni en Belgique, ni en Suisse, encore moins au Québec. Ces perspectives nous invitent à tenir compte des rapports entre discours et représentations, de placer les contextes politiques des pratiques quotidiennes comme prémisses de nos analyses, d’ouvrir les identités aux pratiques de production de sens et de revoir les groupes et formations identitaires. Cet ouvrage a pour but de souligner les repères utiles des Cultural Studies pour mieux comprendre les milieux politiques et culturels de la francophonie au XXIe siècle. Publié en français
Les Nazis et le Mal. La destruction de l'être humain
by Ana Rubio-SerranoLes Nazis et le Mal. La destruction de l'être humain par Ana Rubio-Serrano. (Nouvelle édition) Le Nazisme a ouvert la porte au terrorisme global. Il a dessiné un mal structurel où personne n'était sûre, pas même le peuple allemand. L'ennemi : tout celui pouvant penser par lui-même de façon libre et différente à ce que les règles nazies le dictaient. Les aryens n'étaient que des "individus créés", conçus pour la violence, c'est-à-dire, des automates intelligents déshumanisés. La socialisation du crime à travers la violence devenue en culture a été l'un des objectifs que l'on a pu établir dans les camps et dans la société. Bien que plus de soixante-cinq ans se sont écoulés depuis qu'Hitler monta au pouvoir en Allemagne, le sujet du Nazisme et de l'Holocauste est encore un des sujets pertinents, en gardant en vie les questions suivantes : Comment cela a-t-il pu arriver ? Et quelles sont les conséquences de ce qui a eu lieu ? Ces questions sont abordées dans "Les nazis et le mal, la destruction de l'être humain", publié par Éditorial UOC sous la marque Niberta et avec un prologue du Chaire en éthique à l'Université de Barcelone, Norbert Bilbeny. Ce qui est, d'abord, une question très vaste, est réduite à une enquête exhaustive de la notion du mal chez les hommes du Troisième Reich ou ce qui est équivalent au Même, le processus de comment les êtres humains deviennent méchants, ce qui se matérialise dans le Troisième Reich. On pourrait penser que le sujet concernant le Nazisme est déjà surchargé de références et qu'il serait difficile d'ajouter de nouveaux éléments à la réflexion sur cette question. Cependant, à peine quelques décennies représentent un bref intermède dans l'histoire dans son ensemble et la complexité du mal Nazi continue à nous troubler ; surtout, il est terrifiant d'être conscient du degré réel du mal atteint par des personnes qui, comme nous, vivaient dans de
Les Nazis et le Mal. La destruction de l’être humain
by Zaida Machuca Inostroza Ana Rubio-SerranoLes Nazis et le Mal. La destruction de l'être humain. par Ana Rubio-Serrano Le Nazisme a ouvert la porte au terrorisme global. Il a dessiné un mal structurel où personne n'était sûre, pas même le peuple allemand. L'ennemi : tout celui pouvant penser par lui-même de façon libre et différente à ce que les règles nazies le dictaient. Les aryens n'étaient que des "individus créés", conçus pour la violence, c'est-à-dire, des automates intelligents déshumanisés. La socialisation du crime à travers la violence devenue en culture a été l'un des objectifs que l'on a pu établir dans les camps et dans la société. Bien que plus de soixante-cinq ans se sont écoulés depuis qu'Hitler monta au pouvoir en Allemagne, le sujet du Nazisme et de l'Holocauste est encore un des sujets pertinents, en gardant en vie les questions suivantes : Comment cela a-t-il pu arriver ? Et quelles sont les conséquences de ce qui a eu lieu ? Ces questions sont abordées dans "Les nazis et le mal, la destruction de l'être humain", publié par Éditorial UOC sous la marque Niberta et avec un prologue du Chaire en éthique à l'Université de Barcelone, Norbert Bilbeny. Ainsi, le livre commence par décrire comment le Nazisme a introduit son pouvoir sur la société allemande grâce à sa forte structure. La globalisation du Mal est la première des quatre parties dans lesquelles le livre est divisé et dans ce livre, nous trouvons essentiellement une description détaillée du processus de la façon dont la société s'est plongée dans le mal/est devenue maligne, ce qui nous permet de parler de la médecine Nazie, la loi Nazie, le racisme antisémite élaboré, la dimension religieuse du nazisme et l'utilisation nazie de la langue. Nous lisons aussi comment, dans le but d'atteindre ses objectifs, le Nazisme savait très bien comment rassembler une variété de frustrations sociales - nous pourrions même les appeler "l
Les daré un corazón nuevo
by Eduardo Bonnín BarcelóContiene una colección de artículos, en los que el autor intenta mostrar que la teología moral católica no puede ser ni alienante ni opresiva, aunque a veces lo haya sido por desviarse del Evangelio. Su intención es procurar que el Pueblo de Dios pase de una moral legalista a una moral de la libertad de los hijos de Dios.
Les escoles que canvien el món
by César BonaEl nou llibre de César Bona ens convida a conèixer de primera mà alguns dels casos més meravellosos que estan succeint en l'àmbit educatiu, excel·lents exemples de que l'educació dels nostres fills, la manera d'ensenyar-los, es pot fer d'una altra manera i, el millor de tot: que funciona. Hi ha escoles que estan canviant l'educació. No són a Finlàndia ni a Suècia, són aquí. Unes són rurals i altres públiques, algunes tenen alumnes d'infantil i de primària, altres, a més, de secundària, de batxillerat o d'FP, però totes són «escoles Changemarker» i estan preparades per liderar una autèntica transformació educativa. César Bona ha viatjat a set ciutats i pobles seguint el camí d'algunes de les escoles que lluiten perquè cada nen i cada nena tingui l'oportunitat de convertir-se en un agent de canvi. Aquests centres compten amb alumnes motivats, mestres compromesos i pares còmplices. Escoles excel·lents des d'un punt de vista acadèmic, amb un projecte integral en el qual el respecte, la creativitat, la imaginació, el treball en equip, l'empatia, la interacció amb el barri i amb la societat són el millor camí per completar l'ensenyament de les assignatures tradicionals. L'autor ha entrevistat a mestres, pares i alumnes i ens narra, amb una veu personal i propera, els projectes que estan duent a terme, el que han aconseguit i com tots nosaltres, sigui quina sigui la nostra edat, podem aportar-hi molt. No hem d'oblidar que els nens no són els adults del demà, són els habitants del present. Si reforcem la seva creativitat natural, la seva imaginació desbordant, i treballem l'empatia, la solidaritat i el respecte, poden canviar el món. No en el futur, sinó ara. Perquè una nova educació no és un somni, és una realitat.
Les marchands
by Guido Galeano Vega Julien SaunierL’éducation appropriée de valeurs sociales humaines est la priorité dans le monde. N’importe qui ayant administré et mené l’économie mondiale, consciemment ou non, de manière intentionnelle ou non, est focalisé sur l’industrie de la mort sur la planète. Cela peut se percevoir par tous les évènements violents que notre génération, supposée évoluée, a souffert. En un siècle, des millions et des millions de ressources ont été gaspillées, et millions et des millions de personnes ont été tuées, en pleine force de l’âge. Apparemment, une partie de l’humanité a perdu l’amour de la vie, et se rue dans les bras de la mort, comme serviteur volontaire pour tuer. Ceux qui tuent sont ceux qui privent la société de recevoir les fruits positifs de la productivité globale. Ce sont ceux qui accumulent les fruits de l’effort et du sacrifice des autres. Ceux qui tuent sont ceux qui investissent les ressources de la planète dans l’industrie de la mort.
Lesotho 1970: An African Coup under the Microscope (Perspectives on Southern Africa #5)
by B.M. KhaketlaThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.
Less Legible Meanings: Between Poetry and Philosophy in the Work of Emerson
by Pamela J. SchirmeisterExamining both why and how Emerson evades the ancient quarrel between literature and philosophy, this book entirely rethinks the nature of Emerson's radical individualism and its relation to the possibility of an ethics and a politics. The author argues that the quarrel between literature and philosophy never took place in America, and that instead traditional philosophical work staged itself here as a form of literary praxis and cultural therapeutics. Epitomized in the work of Emerson, this praxis takes shape explicitly in Emerson's understanding of democracy and occurs as an exchange within the act of reading. This is the exchange that Emerson so eloquently calls for in "The American Scholar" under the name of "letters." Emerson's project for American letters is the creation of a new national identity; as Less Legible Meanings makes clear, we have not yet understood the full range of implications that this project entails. After situating American letters in relation to German and British Romanticism and the features of American culture that augmented and altered their reception in the United States, the book goes on to explore the type of reading that Emersonian rhetoric engenders. Both persuasive and tropological, this rhetoric elicits from the reader something similar to psychoanalytic transference. Its goal is to lead the reader to a point at which representational logic breaks down so that a new subject can take shape. The purpose of such rhetoric, however, extends well beyond personal self-creation, because the construction of the subject emerges as the very possibility of the passage from the private sphere to the public one. In this passage, our entire notion of liberal individualism must be rethought, and with it, the pragmatic question of Emersonian ethics and politics. A revisionary study of some of Emerson's central essays, Less Legible Meanings also invites the reader to reconsider the nature of Emerson's influence on contemporary American culture and to discover new ways in which we might continue to understand his work. Interdisciplinary in scope, the book makes equal use of the history of philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, and cultural history.
Less Than Nothing
by Slavoj ZizekFor the last two centuries, Western philosophy has developed in the shadow of Hegel, an influence each new thinker struggles to escape. As a consequence, Hegel's absolute idealism has become the bogeyman of philosophy, obscuring the fact that he is the defining philosopher of the historical transition to modernity, a period with which our own times share startling similarities. Today, as global capitalism comes apart at the seams, we are entering a new period of transition. In Less Than Nothing, the product of a career-long focus on the part of its author, Slavoj i ek argues it is imperative we not simply return to Hegel but that we repeat and exceed his triumphs, overcoming his limitations by being even more Hegelian than the master himself. Such an approach not only enables i ek to diagnose our present condition, but also to engage in a critical dialogue with key strands of contemporary thought--Heidegger, Badiou, speculative realism, quantum physics, and cognitive sciences. Modernity will begin and end with Hegel.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Lesser Hippias
by PlatoPlato studied under Socrates and was Aristotle's teacher. Together these three Greeks developed the basis of philosophical thinking for the entire Western world. Plato was also a writer, mathematician, and founder of the Academy in Athens, which was the first university in Europe. Lesser Hippias is also known as Hippias Minor. This is thought to be one of Plato's earlier works in which Socrates matches wits with the literary critic Hippias. From Wikipedia " Hippias believes that Homer can be taken at face value, and that Achilles may be believed when he says he hates liars. Socrates argues that Achilles is a cunning liar who throws people off the scent of his own deceptions, and that cunning liars are actually the "best" liars. Socrates proposes, possibly for the sheer dialectical fun of it, that it is better to do evil voluntarily than involuntarily. His case rests largely on the analogy with athletic skills, such as running and wrestling. He says that runner or wrestler who deliberately sandbags is better than the one who plods along because he can do no better. "