- Table View
- List View
Lectures on Philosophy
by George Edward MooreThis is Volume XV in a collection of twenty-two on 20th Century Philosophy. First published in 1966, as a part of the Muirhead library of Philosophy this work consists of selections from three courses of lectures. The first course was given in the academic year 1925-26, the second in 1928-29, and the third in 1933-34. The first two (entitled “ Metaphysics” ) were intended primarily for Part II of the Moral Sciences Tripos; the last (entitled “ Elements of Philosophy” ) for Part I. (The selections from the second course, which are the most extensive, are printed first.)
Lectures on Psychical Research: Incorporating the Perrott Lectures Given in Cambridge University in 1959 and 1960 (Routledge Revivals)
by C. D. BroadThis book, first published in 1962, is based on a series of lectures first given at Cambridge University in 1959 and 1960, dealing with 'psychical research' - i.e. the scientific investigation of ostensibly paranormal phenomena. Split into three sections, Professor Broad's study examines numerous issues relating to psychical theory, including guessing, hallucinatory quasi-perception and trance-mediumship.
Lectures on the History of Moral and Political Philosophy
by Jonathan Wolff G. A. CohenPreviously unpublished writings from one of the most important political philosophers of recent timesG. A. Cohen was one of the leading political philosophers of recent times. He first came to wide attention in 1978 with the prize-winning book Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence. In subsequent decades his published writings largely turned away from the history of philosophy, focusing instead on equality, freedom, and justice. However, throughout his career he regularly lectured on a wide range of moral and political philosophers of the past. This volume collects these previously unpublished lectures.Starting with a chapter centered on Plato, but also discussing the pre-Socratics as well as Aristotle, the book moves to social contract theory as discussed by Hobbes, Locke, and Hume, and then continues with chapters on Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche. The book also contains some previously published but uncollected papers on Marx, Hobbes, and Kant, among other figures. The collection concludes with a memoir of Cohen written by the volume editor, Jonathan Wolff, who was a student of Cohen's.A hallmark of the lectures is Cohen's engagement with the thinkers he discusses. Rather than simply trying to render their thought accessible to the modern reader, he tests whether their arguments and positions are clear, sound, and free from contradiction. Throughout, he homes in on central issues and provides fresh approaches to the philosophers he examines. Ultimately, these lectures teach us not only about some of the great thinkers in the history of moral and political philosophy, but also about one of the great thinkers of our time: Cohen himself.
Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy
by John RawlsThis last book by the late John Rawls, derived from written lectures and notes for his long-running course on modern political philosophy, offers readers an account of the liberal political tradition from a scholar viewed by many as the greatest contemporary exponent of the philosophy behind that tradition. Rawls’s goal in the lectures was, he wrote, “to identify the more central features of liberalism as expressing a political conception of justice when liberalism is viewed from within the tradition of democratic constitutionalism.” He does this by looking at several strands that make up the liberal and democratic constitutional traditions, and at the historical figures who best represent these strands—among them the contractarians Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau; the utilitarians Hume, Sidgwick, and J. S. Mill; and Marx regarded as a critic of liberalism. Rawls’s lectures on Bishop Joseph Butler also are included in an appendix. Constantly revised and refined over three decades, Rawls’s lectures on these figures reflect his developing and changing views on the history of liberalism and democracy—as well as how he saw his own work in relation to those traditions. With its clear and careful analyses of the doctrine of the social contract, utilitarianism, and socialism—and of their most influential proponents—this volume has a critical place in the traditions it expounds. Marked by Rawls’s characteristic patience and curiosity, and scrupulously edited by his student and teaching assistant, Samuel Freeman, these lectures are a fitting final addition to his oeuvre, and to the history of political philosophy as well.
Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy
by John Rawls Samuel FreemanThis last book by the late John Rawls, derived from written lectures and notes for his long-running course on modern political philosophy, offers readers an account of the liberal political tradition from a scholar viewed by many as the greatest contemporary exponent of the philosophy behind that tradition. <p><p> Rawls's goal in the lectures was, he wrote, "to identify the more central features of liberalism as expressing a political conception of justice when liberalism is viewed from within the tradition of democratic constitutionalism." He does this by looking at several strands that make up the liberal and democratic constitutional traditions, and at the historical figures who best represent these strands--among them the contractarians Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau; the utilitarians Hume, Sidgwick, and J. S. Mill; and Marx regarded as a critic of liberalism. Rawls's lectures on Bishop Joseph Butler also are included in an appendix. Constantly revised and refined over three decades, Rawls's lectures on these figures reflect his developing and changing views on the history of liberalism and democracy--as well as how he saw his own work in relation to those traditions. <p> With its clear and careful analyses of the doctrine of the social contract, utilitarianism, and socialism--and of their most influential proponents--this volume has a critical place in the traditions it expounds. Marked by Rawls's characteristic patience and curiosity, and scrupulously edited by his student and teaching assistant, Samuel Freeman, these lectures are a fitting final addition to his oeuvre, and to the history of political philosophy as well.
Lectures on the Moral Government of God (Routledge Revivals)
by Nathaniel W. TaylorOriginally compiled in 1859, this book is a collection of Nathaniel Taylor's lectures considering the moral government of God. The moral government of god was the great thought of Dr. Taylor's intellect, and the favourite theme of his instructons in theology; to vindicate the ways of God to man, was the object to which all Dr Taylor's energies were consecrated. This collection presents a complete and connected view of all that he wrote on this fundamental topic in theology, and to the lectures on moral government have been appended other essays and lectures on subjects that are naturally connected with this.
Lectures on the Philosophy of Mathematics
by Joel David HamkinsAn introduction to the philosophy of mathematics grounded in mathematics and motivated by mathematical inquiry and practice.In this book, Joel David Hamkins offers an introduction to the philosophy of mathematics that is grounded in mathematics and motivated by mathematical inquiry and practice. He treats philosophical issues as they arise organically in mathematics, discussing such topics as platonism, realism, logicism, structuralism, formalism, infinity, and intuitionism in mathematical contexts. He organizes the book by mathematical themes--numbers, rigor, geometry, proof, computability, incompleteness, and set theory--that give rise again and again to philosophical considerations.
Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion: The Lectures of 1827
by Georg Wilhelm HegelThis 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 1988.
Lectures on the Philosophy of Right, 1819–1820
by G.W.F. HegelPublished in 1821, Outlines of the Philosophy of Right is considered the definitive articulation of the legal, moral, social, and political philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel. However, shortly before its publication, Hegel delivered a series of lectures on the subject matter of the work at the University of Berlin. These lectures are unlike any others Hegel gave on the philosophy of Right in that they do not supplement a published text but rather give a full and independent presentation of his mature political thought. Yet, they are also unlike Hegel’s formal treatise in that they form a smooth and flowing discourse, much like Hegel’s lectures on the philosophy of history, philosophy of art, philosophy of religion, and history of philosophy. Substantively, these lectures contain more extensive discussions of poverty and the proletariat than are found in Hegel’s published text – discussions that carry out the retreat from optimism about the present age intimated in the preface to Outlines but nowhere evident in the text itself. Translated with an introduction and notes by Alan Brudner, Hegel’s 1819/20 lectures on the philosophy of Right present his complete thoughts on law and the state in a manner that is more accessible and engaging than any other Hegelian text on these subjects.
Lectures on the Theory of Ethics (SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)
by J. G. FichteTranslated here for the first time into English, this text furnishes a new window into the final phase of Fichte's career. Delivered in the summer of 1812 at the newly founded University of Berlin, Fichte's lectures on ethics explore some of the key concepts and issues in his evolving system of radical idealism. Addressing moral theory, the theory of education, the philosophy of history, and the philosophy of religion, Fichte engages both directly and indirectly with some of his most important contemporaries and philosophical rivals, including Kant, Schelling, and Hegel. Benjamin D. Crowe's translation includes extensive annotations and a German-English glossary. His introduction situates the text systematically, historically, and institutionally within an era of cultural ferment and intellectual experimentation, and includes a bibliography of recent scholarship on Fichte's moral theory and on the final period of his career.
Lectures on the Will to Know: Lectures at the College De France 1970–1971 and Oedipal Knowledge
by Daniel DefertLectures on the Will to Know reminds us that Michel Foucault's work only ever had one object: truth. Here, he builds on his earlier work, Discipline and Punish, to explore the relationship between tragedy, conflict, and truth-telling. He also explores the different forms of truth-telling, and their relation to power and the law. The publication of Lectures on the Will to Know marks a milestone in Foucault's reception, and it will no longer be possible to read him in the same way as before.
Lectures on the Will to Know: Lectures at the College de France 1970-1971 and Oedipal Knowledge
by Michel Foucault Graham Burchell Daniel DefertIn the first of his annual series of lectures at the Collège de France, Foucault develops a vigorous Nietzschean history of the will to know through an analysis of changing procedures of truth, legal forms, and class struggles in ancient Greece.
Led Zeppelin and Philosophy
by Scott CalefLed Zeppelin, who bestrode the world of rock like a colossus, have continually grown in popularity and influence since their official winding up in 1980. They exasperated critics and eluded classification, synthesizing blues, rock, folk, rockabilly, funk, classical, country, Indian, and Arabic techniques. They performed the alchemical trick of transmuting base led into gold-and platinum-and diamond. They did what they would, finding wisdom through personal excess and artistic self-discipline. "Not a coda to Zeppelin's legacy, but a blast of metaphysical graffiti as relevant today as the first time we heard the opening chords of 'Stairway to Heaven'. From Kant to 'Kashmir', from Freud to 'Fool in the Rain', Calef and company explore Zeppelin's music in an introspective, suggestive manner worthy of both a blistering Page solo and a bawdy Bonham stomp." -BRANDON W. FORBES, co-editor of Radiohead and Philosophy"Led Zeppelin's albums, personalities, live performances, art work, myths, influences, and more, all come under the microscope. Compelling insights and observations add more depth to a subject that continues to thrill and inspire. Each chapter is driven by an unquenchable thirst for Zeppelin knowledge and pulls the reader deeper into the world of Led Zeppelin . . ." -DAVE LEWIS, editor, Tight But Loose
Leer con niños
by Santiago Alba RicoUn libro puede cambiar el mundo. Freud convenció a la tradición literaria occidental de que todos los niños quieren matar a sus padres cuando lo que en realidad nos cuenta la historia de Edipo -como varias decenas de mitos y relatos populares- es, al revés, que son los padres, o al menos los reyes, los que quieren matar, devorar o abandonar a sus hijos. Este libro, que cabalga entre el ensayo y la ficción, parte de una experiencia singular: la lectura compartida de la literatura sin etiquetas: Homero, Dickens, Canetti, Dante, Salinger... A partir de ahí plantea y responde a dos preguntas inseparables: «¿Para qué sirven los niños?» y «¿Para qué sirven los libros?». En una sociedad dominada por «solteros sin imaginación», en la que la infancia, exaltada en un escaparate, se ha vuelto más vulnerable que nunca y en la que la discontinuidad del niño y la continuidad del relato están radicalmente amenazadas, Santiago Alba Rico reivindica una especie de nuevo compromiso «materno» que una, como en la experiencia de Sherezade, los Cuentos y los Niños. De ello depende la educación, no de Edipo, sino de Layo; es decir, la educación de los asesinos. La crítica ha dicho...«Leer con niños va de niños y de libros, pero mucho más del niño que los adultos llevamos dentro, sin que falte el adulto que los niños llevan dentro.»El Mundo«Habla de la gente que defiende su tiempo para leer, de la vida en una época bárbara que pretende acabar con los relatos de carne y hueso, de las nuevas formas virtuales de dominación, de la pobreza, de las prisas crueles de un capitalismo que nos impone hábitos de solteros y de huérfanos.»Luís García Montero «Un libro cautivador y excitante, repleto de destellos: un libro valientemente interpelador en el que destacan las observaciones muy delicadas sobre los niños, fruto de una atención apasionada y amorosa.»Ignacio Echevarría, El Mercurio «Un libro delicado y brutal sobre para qué sirven los niños y, por lo tanto, para qué sirve la diferencia entre lo bueno y lo malo, lo horrible y lo maravilloso. Un libro necesario cuando esas diferencias parecen confusas a tantas personas.»Belén Gopegui «Tras muchos años de haber combatido la escuela y la familia como aparatos de reproducción ideológica, este libro vuelve a reivindicarlas desde la izquierda como espacios de resistencia.»Rebelión.org «Este ensayo sobre el papel de la literatura y la educación en la jungla salvaje del capitalismo contiene pistas impagables y preguntas inquietantes.»Javier Rodríguez Marcos, El País«Leer con niños [...] fluctúa entre el ensayo, la literatura, el periodismo y la autobiografía con una fluidez deslumbrante.»Darwin Palermo «Leer con niños es un tratado puro (y a veces duro) de ética y filosofía política, pero animado por un contagioso ritmo literario.»Alba Rico, Babelia, El País
Leer con niños
by Santiago Alba RicoUn libro puede cambiar el mundo. Freud convenció a la tradición literaria occidental de que todos los niños quieren matar a sus padres cuando lo que en realidad nos cuenta la historia de Edipo -como varias decenas de mitos y relatos populares- es, al revés, que son los padres, o al menos los reyes, los que quieren matar, devorar o abandonar a sus hijos. Este libro, que cabalga entre el ensayo y la ficción, parte de una experiencia singular: la lectura compartida de la literatura sin etiquetas: Homero, Dickens, Canetti, Dante, Salinger... A partir de ahí plantea y responde a dos preguntas inseparables: «¿Para qué sirven los niños?» y «¿Para qué sirven los libros?». En una sociedad dominada por «solteros sin imaginación», en la que la infancia, exaltada en un escaparate, se ha vuelto más vulnerable que nunca y en la que la discontinuidad del niño y la continuidad del relato están radicalmente amenazadas, Santiago AlbaRico reivindica una especie de nuevo compromiso «materno» que una, como en la experiencia de Sherezade, los Cuentos y los Niños. De ello depende la educación, no de Edipo, sino de Layo; es decir, la educación de los asesinos. La crítica ha dicho...«Leer con niños va de niños y de libros, pero mucho más del niño que los adultos llevamos dentro, sin que falte el adulto que los niños llevan dentro.»El Mundo «Habla de la gente que defiende su tiempo para leer, de la vida en una época bárbara que pretende acabar con los relatos de carne y hueso, de las nuevas formas virtuales de dominación, de la pobreza, de las prisas crueles de un capitalismo que nos impone hábitos de solteros y de huérfanos.»Luís García Montero «Un libro cautivador y excitante, repleto de destellos: un libro valientemente interpelador en el que destacan las observaciones muy delicadas sobre los niños, fruto de una atención apasionada y amorosa.»IgnacioEchevarría, El Mercurio «Un libro delicado y brutal sobre para qué sirven los niños y, por lo tanto, para qué sirve la diferencia entre lo bueno y lo malo, lo horrible y lo maravilloso. Un libro necesario cuando esas diferencias parecen confusas a tantas personas.»Belén Gopegui «Tras muchos años de haber combatido la escuela y la familia como aparatos de reproducción ideológica, este libro vuelve a reivindicarlas desde la izquierda como espacios de resistencia.»Rebelión.org «Este ensayo sobre el papel de la literatura y la educación en la jungla salvaje del capitalismo contiene pistas impagables y preguntas inquietantes.»Javier Rodríguez Marcos, El País «Leer con niños [...] fluctúa entre el ensayo, la literatura, el periodismo y la autobiografía con una fluidez deslumbrante.»Darwin Palermo «Leer con niños es un tratado puro (y a veces duro) de ética y filosofía política, pero animado por un contagioso ritmo literario.»Alba Rico, Babelia, El País
Leer la mente: El cerebro y el arte de la ficción
by Jorge VolpiEn este brillante y provocador ensayo, Jorge Volpi destierra la vieja idea de la ficción como entretenimiento y sostiene, por el contrario, que las novelas y los cuentos han sido esenciales para la evolución de la especie humana. Del reconocido escritor Jorge Volpi, autor de No será la Tierra y ganador del Premio Iberoamericano José Donoso por el conjunto de su obra. Un brillante y provocador ensayo, donde Jorge Volpi entrelaza ciencia y literatura y demuestra que todos somos ficciones y que la literatura es una de las claves de nuestra identidad individual y nuestras pasiones compartidas. ¿Qué pasa en mi cerebro cuando leo una novela o un cuento? ¿Cómo y cuándo aparecieron? ¿Qué parte de la mente inventa las anécdotas felices o los desenlaces trágicos? ¿Por qué sufrimos o gozamos con los personajes de los relatos y de qué forma nosotros, los lectores, nos transformamos en esos personajes? ¿No es acaso el yo nuestra mayor invención? Del descubrimiento de las neuronas espejo al origen de la conciencia y las emociones, y de las trampas de la memoria a los laberintos de la inteligencia, el autor de En busca de Klingsor y No será la Tierra, Jorge Volpi, refrenda su voluntad de entrelazar ciencia y literatura. Al final, Leer la mente demuestra que todos somos ficciones y que la literatura es una de las claves de nuestra identidad individual y nuestras pasiones compartidas.
Left Behind: Latin America and the False Promise of Populism
by Sebastian EdwardsThe political and economic history of Latin America has been marked by great hopes and even greater disappointments. Despite abundant resources--and a history of productivity and wealth--in recent decades the region has fallen further and further behind developed nations, surpassed even by other developing economies in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. In Left Behind, Sebastian Edwards explains why the nations of Latin America have failed to share in the fruits of globalization and forcefully highlights the dangers of the recent turn to economic populism in the region. He begins by detailing the many ways Latin American governments have stifled economic development over the years through excessive regulation, currency manipulation, and thoroughgoing corruption. He then turns to the neoliberal reforms of the early 1990s, which called for the elimination of deficits, lowering of trade barriers, and privatization of inefficient public enterprises--and which, Edwards argues, held the promise of freeing Latin America from the burdens of the past. Flawed implementation, however, meant the promised gains of globalization were never felt by the mass of citizens, and growing frustration with stalled progress has led to a resurgence of populism throughout the region, exemplified by the economic policies of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. But such measures, Edwards warns, are a recipe for disaster; instead, he argues, the way forward for Latin America lies in further market reforms, more honestly pursued and fairly implemented. As an example of the promise of that approach, Edwards points to Latin America's giant, Brazil, which under the successful administration of President Luis Inácio da Silva (Lula) has finally begun to show signs of reaching its true economic potential. As the global financial crisis has reminded us, the risks posed by failing economies extend far beyond their national borders. Putting Latin America back on a path toward sustained growth is crucial not just for the region but for the world, and Left Behind offers a clear, concise blueprint for the way forward.
The Left Hand of Data: Designing Education Data for Justice
by Matthew Berland Antero GarciaA speculative framework that imagines how we can use education data to promote play, creativity, and social justice over normativity and conformity.Educational analytics tend toward aggregation, asking what a &“normative&” learner does. In The Left Hand of Data, educational researchers Matthew Berland and Antero Garcia start from a different assumption—that outliers are, and must be treated as, valued individuals. Berland and Garcia argue that the aim of analytics should not be about enforcing and entrenching norms but about using data science to break new ground and enable play and creativity. From this speculative vantage point, they ask how we can go about living alongside data in a better way, in a more just way, while also building on the existing technologies and our knowledge of the present.The Left Hand of Data explores the many ways in which we use data to shape the possible futures of young people—in schools, in informal learning environments, in colleges, in libraries, and with educational games. It considers the processes by which students are sorted, labeled, categorized, and intervened upon using the bevy of data extracted and collected from individuals and groups, anonymously or identifiably. When, how, and with what biases are these data collected and utilized? What decisions must educational researchers make around data in an era of high-stakes assessment, surveillance, and rising inequities tied to race, class, gender, and other intersectional factors? How are these complex considerations around data changing in the rapidly evolving world of machine learning, AI, and emerging fields of educational data science? The surprising answers the authors discover in their research make clear that we do not need to wait for a hazy tomorrow to do better today.
Left-Handed Wolf: Poems
by Adam DayAdam Day’s Left-Handed Wolf offers short lyrical meditations and narratives that wrestle with contemporary issues of the environment, spirituality, and the social. These compact, imagistic poems welcome space and silence as a way of addressing both the commonality and complexity of people and experience. Day’s poems—influenced by meditation practice, as well as by classical Japanese and Chinese verse—are serious and bawdy, reverential and impertinent, accessible and eclectic, yet unified in their tone, atmosphere, and sensibility.
Left Hemisphere
by Gregory Elliott Razmig KeucheyanAs the crisis of capitalism unfolds, the need for alternatives is felt ever more intensely. The struggle between radical movements and the forces of reaction will be merciless. A crucial battlefield, where the outcome of the crisis will in part be decided, is that of theory. Over the last twenty-five years, radical intellectuals across the world have produced important and innovative ideas. The endeavour to transform the world without falling into the catastrophic traps of the past has been a common element uniting these new approaches. This book - aimed at both the general reader and the specialist - offers the first global cartography of the expanding intellectual field of critical contemporary thought. More than thirty authors and intellectual currents of every continent are presented in a clear and succinct manner. A history of critical thought in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is also provided, helping situate current thinkers in a broader historical and sociological perspective.From the Hardcover edition.
Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism
by Bernard-Henri LevyIn this unprecedented critique, Bernard-Henri Lévy, one of the world's leading intellectuals revisits his political roots, scrutinizes the totalitarianisms of the past as well as those on the horizon, and argues powerfully for a new political and moral vision for our times. Are human rights Western or universal? Does anti-Semitism have a future, and, if so, what will it look like? And how is it that progressives themselves-those who in the past defended individual rights and fought fascism-have now become the breeding ground for new kinds of dangerous attitudes: an unthinking loathing of Israel; an obsessive anti-Americanism; an idea of "tolerance" that, in its justification of Islamic fanaticism, for example, could become the "cemetery of democracies"; and an indifference, masked by relativism, to the greatest human tragedies facing the world today? Illuminating these and other questions, Lévy also brings to life his own autobiography, highlighting the thinkers he has known and scrutinized and the ideological battles he has fought over thirty years-revealing their bearing on the present.Above all, Lévy offers a powerful new vision for progressives everywhere, one based neither on the failed idealisms of the past neither nor on their current misguided, bigoted, and dangerously sentimental attachments but on an absolute commitment to combat evil in all its guises. The "new barbarism" Levy compellingly diagnoses is real and must be confronted. At a time of ideological and political transition in America, Left in Dark Times is a polemical, incendiary articulation of the threats we all face-in many cases without our even being aware of it-and a riveting, cogent stand against those threats. Surprising and sure to be controversial, wise and free of cynicism, it is one of the most important books yet written by one of the crucial voices of our time. Praise for Bernard-Henri Lévy's American Vertigo "An entertaining trip, as much in the tradition of Jack Kerouac as Tocqueville." -The New York Times "Perceptive, pugnacious, passionate [and] exquisitely written."-The New York Observer"It's difficult to remember when a writer of any nationality so clearly and thoughtfully delineated both the good and bad in America. [Grade:] A."-Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice)"Lévy is a true friend of the American experiment and a comrade in the American struggle against the barbarisms."-The New Republic "Lévy writes brilliantly. American Vertigo is filled with insights and goodwill."-The Wall Street Journal"Provocative . . . [Lévy is] a writer of enormous power and vitality."-San Francisco Chronicle "Vigorous . . . impressive."-The Boston GlobeFrom the Hardcover edition.
Left in the Center: The Liberal Party of New York and the Rise and Fall of American Social Democracy
by Daniel SoyerDaniel Soyer's history of the Liberal Party of New York State, Left in the Center, shows the surprising relationship between Democratic Socialism and mainstream American politics.Beginning in 1944 and lasting until 2002, the Liberal Party offered voters an ideological seal of approval and played the role of strategic kingmaker in the electoral politics of New York State. The party helped elect presidents, governors, senators, and mayors, and its platform reflected its founders' social democratic principles. In practical politics, the Liberal Party's power resided in its capacity to steer votes to preferred Democrats or Republicans with a reasonable chance of victory. This uneasy balance between principle and pragmatism, which ultimately proved impossible to maintain, is at the heart of the dramatic political story presented in Left in the Center.The Liberal Party, the longest-lived of New York's small parties, began as a means for anti-Communist social democrats to have an impact on the politics and policy of New York City, Albany, and Washington, DC. It provided a political voice for labor activists, independent liberals, and pragmatic social democrats. Although the party devolved into what some saw as a cynical patronage machine, it remained a model for third-party power and for New York's influential Conservative and, later, the Working Families parties.With an active period ranging from the successful senatorial career of Jacob Javits to the mayoralties of John Lindsay and Rudy Giuliani, the Liberal Party effectively shaped the politics and policy of New York. The practical gains and political cost of that complicated trade-off is at the heart of Left in the Center.
Left Is Not Woke
by Susan NeimanIf you’re woke, you’re left. If you’re left, you’re woke. We blur the terms, assuming that if you’re one you must be the other. That, Susan Neiman argues, is a dangerous mistake. The confusion arises because woke is fuelled by traditionally leftwing emotions: the wish to stand with the oppressed and marginalized, to address historic crimes. But those emotions are undermined by widespread philosophical assumptions with reactionary sources. As a result, wokeism conflicts with ideas that have guided the left for more than 200 years: a commitment to universalism, a firm distinction between justice and power, and a belief in the possibility of progress. Without these ideas, the woke will continue to undermine their own goals and drift, inexorably and unintentionally, towards the right.One of the world’s leading philosophical voices, Neiman calls with passion and power for the left to return to the ideals that built the best of the modern world.
The Left Libertarianism of the Greens
by Kire SharlamanovThis book offers a systematic and multifaceted analysis of the Greens on the levels of political philosophy, political concepts, social movement, political parties, and political ideology. The originality of the book lies in the determination of the political philosophy of the Greens as left libertarianism. Such a determination of the Greens can already be found in the writings of Herbert Kitschelt, but while he only makes a cursory mention of it, this book offers a detailed elaboration of the points of contact between left-libertarianism and the Greens. The book also attempts to explain the acceptance of left-libertarianism by the Greens with social processes in Western Europe, the emergence of a new middle class and post-materialist values. At the same time, the book examines the relationship between the left-libertarian political philosophy of the Greens and the organizational structure of the Green parties, their relationship to the state, and to democracy.
A Left that Dares to Speak Its Name: 34 Untimely Interventions
by Slavoj ZizekWith irrepressible humor, Slavoj i ek dissects our current political and social climate, discussing everything from Jordan Peterson and sex “unicorns” to Greta Thunberg and Chairman Mao. Taking aim at his enemies on the Left, Right, and Center, he argues that contemporary society can only be properly understood from a communist standpoint. Why communism? The greater the triumph of global capitalism, the more its dangerous antagonisms multiply: climate collapse, the digital manipulation of our lives, the explosion in refugee numbers – all need a radical solution. That solution is a Left that dares to speak its name, to get its hands dirty in the real world of contemporary politics, not to sling its insults from the sidelines or to fight a culture war that is merely a fig leaf covering its political and economic failures. As the crises caused by contemporary capitalism accumulate at an alarming rate, the Left finds itself in crisis too, beset with competing ideologies and prone to populism, racism, and conspiracy theories. A Left that Dares to Speak Its Name is i ek’s attempt to elucidate the major political issues of the day from a truly radical Leftist position. The first three parts explore the global political situation and the final part focuses on contemporary Western culture, as i ek directs his polemic to topics such as wellness, Wikileaks, and the rights of sexbots. This wide-ranging collection of essays provides the perfect insight into the ideas of one of the most influential radical thinkers of our time.