A repackaged edition of the revered author's classic work that examines the four types of human love: affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God—part of the C. S. Lewis Signature Classics series. C.S. Lewis—the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics—contemplates the essence of love and how it works in our daily lives in one of (...) his most famous works of nonfiction. Lewis examines four varieties of human love: affection, the most basic form; friendship, the rarest and perhaps most insightful; Eros, passionate love; charity, the greatest and least selfish. Throughout this compassionate and reasoned study, he encourages readers to open themselves to all forms of love—the key to understanding that brings us closer to God. (shrink)

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of C. S. Lewis’s death, a special annotated edition of his Christian classic, The Screwtape Letters, with notes and excerpts from his other works that help illuminate this diabolical masterpiece. Since its publication in 1942, The Screwtape Letters has sold millions of copies worldwide and is recognized as a milestone in the history of popular theology. A masterpiece of satire, it offers a sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the (...) vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to “Our Father Below.” At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, The Screwtape Letters comprises the correspondence of the worldly-wise devil Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. For the first time, The Screwtape Letters will be presented in full-text accompanied by helpful annotations in a striking two-color format. These annotations will give fans a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the popular book, providing background information, explanations of terms, historical significance, and excerpts from Lewis’s other works that more fully explain the ideas in this volume. For both expert Lewis fans and casual readers, The Screwtape Letters: Annotated Edition will be a beautiful and insightful guide to a beloved classic. (shrink)

This unique and expertly annotated collection of the classic accounts of Socrates left by Plato, Aristophanes, and Xenophon features new translations of Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and the death scene from Phaedo by C. D. C. Reeve, Peter Meineck's translation of Clouds, and James Doyle's translation of Apology of Socrates.

The elegiac poem of eight lines discovered in the Ceramicus and published by by W. Peek is of considerable interest for the historian. Peek is surely right in maintaining that it was composed for the Athenians who fell under Tolmides at Coronea in 447 B.C., and his general exposition of the poem's meaning is convincing. The aim of this paper is to make some comments and supplements to his interpretation and then to consider some peculiarities in the thought and technique (...) of the poem. We may first set out a text and a translation:λμονες ℎοῖον γṑνα μχες ελσανες λπ[ο]φσχς δαιμονṐς ṑλσα' μ πολμοισὐν κακι χσετλελεσσε βροοῖσι δ πσι λοιπνφρζεσθαι λογṐν πιοσν ἔθκε λος. (shrink)

In this talk presented at the 2022 conference of the Catholic Bar Association, C’Zar Bernstein unpacks the meaning of the word person in the Fourteenth Amendment and, through his exegesis, identifies philosophical arguments that may be instrumental in affording legal protection to the most vulnerable members of society.

Over the past twenty years, the annual meetings of the Semiotic Society of America have tracked the growth and development of modern sign theory in American scholarship. Since 1981, the published proceedings of SSA meetings have included representative semiotic work from a wide range of disciplines and every extant -system- of semiotic thought. The papers have especially represented some of the leading intellectual descendants of C.S. Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure in the United States and Canada. On this ground, the (...) series remains the primary record of North American contributions to sign perspectives, embracing world-wide philosophical, literary, and scientific bases for a 21st-century -doctrine of signs-. The proceedings project has consistently pursued excellent scholarship, representative diversity, and quality production. With publication of Semiotics 1996, general editor John Deely and the Semiotic Society continue the record of -representing- American semiotics. The SSA also plan to incorporate more voices from Mexico in an effort to achieve a comprehensive North American -semiotic- which is strongly linked to practical and theoretical developments across the world.". (shrink)

Open peer commentary on the article “Developing a Dialogical Platform for Disseminating Research through Design” by Abigail C. Durrant, John Vines, Jayne Wallace & Joyce Yee. Upshot: The target article provides a thorough and insightful review of the Research Through Design conferences and discusses the successes and limitations of the events in the dissemination of design knowledge.

Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, and William James- three diverse philosophers from three different eras- have followed a similar route of non-theoretical justification of belief. This position states that there is no theoretical knowledge, positive or negative, of divine existence. The defense of religious belief, therefore, must be related to pervasive features of practical human existence; in other words, it must be subjective. While giving amble attention to the differences among these three philosophers, C. Stephen Evans finds and examines a common (...) structure to all their arguments. This structure includes a theoretical skepticism about the existence of God, a repudiation of a neutral attitude on this question, and a deliberate shift of this question from theoretical reason to practical reason. (shrink)

In this comprehensive history of evolutionism, C. Leon Harris has combined primary source readings with clear, pertinent background information, to provide a solid basic understanding of the ways scientists have arrived at today's views of evolution. Harris describes the major contributors to the theory of evolutionism, placing each in the context of the general cultural influences to which he was exposed. Each chapter also contains an explanation of the philosophical basis of the scientific approach of the period in question. A (...) lengthy bibliography provides direction for further reading on this important and timely subject. (shrink)

This book explores a wide range of philosophical issues in their connection with theism, including views of free will, ethical theories, theories of mind, naturalism, and karma-plus-reincarnation. In this clear and logical guide, C. Stephen Layman takes up eight important philosophical questions about God: Does God exist? Why does God permit evil? Why think God is good? Why is God hidden? What is God's relationship to ethics? Is divine foreknowledge compatible with human free will? Do humans have souls? Does reincarnation (...) provide the best explanation of suffering? Based on more than thirty years of experience in teaching undergraduates and in leading philosophical discussions related to God, Layman has arranged the text to deal with each of these eight questions in one or two chapters apiece. Many philosophical works take up questions about God, but the chapters of this book plunge the reader very quickly into the arguments relevant to each question. Layman presents the arguments cogently and simply, yet without oversimplifying the issues. The book emphasizes strengths and weaknesses of both theism and its metaphysical rivals. Readers will gain a clearer understanding of theism and naturalism, and of their sometimes surprising implications. (shrink)

In order to characterize actions, It is not necessary to describe the characteristic way in which they are caused by an agent's wants and beliefs, As a I goldman and d davidson have supposed. It is enough to note the absence of alternative causes. Nor are all our actions intentional, As both davidson and, In a more limiting way, A c danto, Have suggested. These are the theses argued in this paper.

These two books are among the most recently published tomes of a projected twenty comprising the first French edition of the Complete Works of Kierkegaard. Such a work represents the life-long dedication of Paul Tisseau, Kierkegaard's principal French translator. Many of Tisseau's translations have already been published in various other places, and it is generally known that he undertook to publish on his own several of the less commercially appealing religious works. After his death in 1964, his daughter completed his (...) work by correcting published and unpublished manuscripts and by translating the few works her father had not been able to do. The present edition was indeed worth waiting for; it is at once an artful translation and an excellent scholarly tool, complete with marginal pagination of the definitive Danish edition, the Drachmann, Heiberg, Lange of 1920-1926, plus location of each separate work in the first and third Danish editions. Jean Brun provides to-the-point introductions containing a wealth of historical material and ample footnotes referring to significant textual variations, subtleties of translation, and related passages in other works. Volume thirteen contains the Edifying Discourses in Various Spirits, Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing, The Lilies and the Birds, and The Gospel of Sufferings; volume eighteen, Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, The Woman that Was a Sinner, The Unchangeableness of God, For Self-Examination, and Judge for Yourselves.--C. M. R. (shrink)

Reprints a useful, non-technical statement of Reichenbach's mature thought, combining an unconvincing survey of speculative philosophy and its "failure," with a concise account of the results of a philosophy carried out "scientifically." The original appeared in 1951.--V. C. C.

A careful and competent introduction to the Russell-Broad type of analytic philosophy.--A. C. P.

A full and systematic exposition of the teachings of a thinker who has been hailed as the Avatar of our time. He describes the odyssey of the soul from its creation through its "evolution and involution of consciousness" to its eventual return into the Oversoul. The book is somewhat repetitive, and the profusion of Indian terms together with a certain incoherence make it hard going for the uninitiated--A. C. P.

A preliminary sketch of a philosophy of history together with an account of certain phases in ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman history. Though the book is interesting and well written, it is impossible to tell whether the chapter on philosophy is to serve as a preface to the following three historical chapters, or whether these chapters are meant to illustrate and elucidate the embryonic philosophy outlined in the first.--A. C. P.

A nicely done paperback reprint of Lewis' classic in epistemology.--A. C. P.

A collection of previously published essays and addresses on New Testament topics. Though these pieces are distinctly theological rather than philosophical, the studies of Bultmann and Dibelius should be of interest to some philosophers.--A. C. P.

The esoteric teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, revealed by an author who claims to have been, in a previous incarnation, an early Christian mystic.--A. C. P.

A photographic reprint of the 1920 edition of Fry's graceful essays on painting, sculpture, and the principles of aesthetics criticism. --A. C. P.

This edition, providing the only available English language access to Collin de Plancy's long-forgotten Dictionnaire infernal, is directed to the reader who likes the reinforcement of being able to get through a whole book in an hour or so, whizzing through clean pages at incredible speeds. Perhaps the most misleading aspect of this flashy volume is the fact that the publishers never mention that it is abbreviated at all; it contains 177 truncated versions of Collin de Plancy's 2,400 plus entries, (...) which filled in the 1825-1826 edition of four volumes of text and one of plates. Wade Baskin, a master of condensation, does cover a lot of ground in his two and one-half page introduction. This, unfortunately, serves as little but a teaser to the reader interested in more than a mere mention of Collin de Plancy's colorful, success-oriented career, his filiations with spiritual brothers like Nodier, and his influence on other writers of the Romantic period. One can begrudge this sort of holding back with good reason, for Collin de Plancy is a name unfamiliar today even to French scholars. Baskin's translation is, as usual, excellent.—C. M. R. (shrink)

In this revised and expanded edition of his well-known study of Denis Diderot's life and works, Crocker combines solid scholarship with a vivid portrayal of his subjects. Leaving firm ground only occasionally, Crocker masterfully reconstructs Diderot's life by weaving into his narrative the testimony of Diderot's contemporaries and the philosopher's own anecdotes of the more picturesque episodes of his life. The author never departs from firm ground, however, in his presentation of Diderot's works. With a rare blend of erudition and (...) a lively critical sense, he sets them forth in the light of eighteenth-century currents of thought, highlighting Diderot's most significant contributions to materialism, sensualism, and experimentalism, while at the same time preserving, in quite readable summaries, the integrity of individual writings. His extensive consideration of the twenty years Diderot devoted to the Encyclopedia is particularly stimulating. By contrast, his summary presentation of Diderot's novels is somewhat disappointing, especially since he gives all too brief mention to Diderot's innovations in that genre. A needed index is lacking, but in spite of this and other minor shortcomings, Crocker's efforts have resulted in what is clearly the best complete English biography of one of the eighteenth century's most colorful geniuses.—C. M. M. (shrink)

A collection of previously published articles by one of the leading translators and interpreters of Hegel's philosophy. Most of the studies about Hegel concern the Phenomenology, although one goes back to his early writings to find the roots of some later doctrines. The other studies are about the philosophical presuppositions of Marxism and their relation to their idealistic sources.--C. L.

A second, corrected edition of the 1948 original, plus preface and a third appendix on the import of Pascal for the present day. The work consists of a number of brief considerations centered around the theme of "common sense," essential to a study of history as sacred. Castelli writes in a climate interpreted as threatening to lead us to a state of "second innocence". Against this threat, Castelli lays the groundwork for a theological existentialism, based on a "sense of revelation," (...) a personal "common sense" commitment arising from the realization of one's own insufficiency. In an age where Catholic theologians are developing a political basis for their thought, Castelli's book appears perhaps even more apropos than in the late 1940's. It opposes modern solipsism resulting from subjectivist tendencies in philosophy since Descartes, as well as analogues in the political sphere--monologue and violence--and proposes as an alternative a theologically based human solidarity.--C. M. R. (shrink)

In this exposition of Boehme's key conceptions, the author tries to show that the seventeenth-century Silesian mystic's work can and should be viewed as an original, coherent philosophic system. Includes detailed biographical sketch, bibliography, indexes, illustrations and diagrams.--C. M.

In this book we are offered a collection of ten papers illustrating Malcolm's conception of ordinary language philosophy, ranging in content over a wide variety of topics in epistemology. The influence of his former teachers, Moore and Wittgenstein, is evident throughout. Three lectures on the often neglected concept of memory, two of which are new, are included in the book, together with the widely regarded article entitled "Anselm's Ontological Arguments."--C. V.

Twelve essays--two about and one by Bentley--on such varied topics as economics, politics, physics, law, and metaphysics. A bibliography of Bentley's writings is appended.--C. L.

A collection of eight essays, including five that have previously been published. The subjects discussed are logical truth, modal logic, conditionals and entailment.--C. L.

Can Nietzsche be this great? Yes, in a special sense; and whatever the faults and difficulties of this book, it must be said that someone had to do it. It stands as a classic: as a thorough reading of Nietzsche, to be sure, and possibly also as an introduction to Jaspers' own thought. The translators have performed commendably.—C. D.

A collection of passages from Plato's dialogues which bear on Christian theology and morals, arranged and translated by the Archdeacon of Westminster. --C. L.

A large collection of materials, subtitled "An Introduction to Philosophy," and divided into the three parts suggested by the title. "Philosophy," "Religion," and "Science" are treated by the editor as attitudes or ways of thinking. There are biographical sketches before each selection, and questions for discussion and bibliographies after. The editor also includes an introduction, a glossary, an index, and a concluding chapter entitled "Towards a Philosophy of Life."--N. S. C.

Renou's Louis H. Jordan Lectures for 1951 give a concise, erudite, yet readable survey of Hinduism and Jainism. Their title is misleading since they mention modern as well as ancient developments and dwell not so much on religious as on theologico-philosophical and literary-historical issues. The work provides a good sense of European scholarship on its subject and includes more information on the various Hindu sects than do some of its counterparts. Except for the occasional, brilliant aside, it does not help (...) one to understand what it might have been like to have ever been a Hindu or a Jain.--C. P. S. (shrink)

Though the philosopher will undoubtedly find this study too elementary for many of his purposes, the student of literature and the generally interested reader will be delighted by this rich source of reference material. Published under the general editorship of Mortimer J. Adler by the Institute for Philosophical Research, The Idea of Love has one of the most accessible formats of the Concepts in Western Thought Series. Preliminary chapters explain critical notions used in later schematizations of various figures, and relate (...) in neat topical divisions controversies about natural and supernatural human love. Next, illustrative chapters present different authors according to whether they hold that love can be either acquisitive or benevolent desire, is only acquisitive desire, must include benevolence, is wholly or primarily judgment. Two final divisions which overlap these give judgmental aspects of wholly and primarily tendential conceptions of love. Expositions within each of these divisions both justify the classification and adequately develop particular sub-themes. In toto, more than forty philosophers, writers, theologians, and psychologists receive a fairly extensive treatment, including generous citations, while brief references are also made to minor figures. Among those given major consideration are Plato, Augustine, Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas, Dante, Kierkegaard, Kant, Freud, Jung, and William James ; Plotinus, Andreas Capellanus, Stendhal, Schopenhauer, Santayana, Darwin, Rousseau, Spinoza, Leibniz ; Adam Smith, Hegel, C. S. Lewis, Ortega Y Gasset, Erich Fromm ; Descartes, Hume, Locke, and Pascal. The work is indexed and supplemented by a seven-page bibliography.--C. M. R. (shrink)

This is an attempt to show, with a Roycean form of dialectic, the inadequacies of common sense, realism, and pragmatism for explaining the possibility of epistemic error, and the way their respective deficiencies require Royce's own solution. The argument is marred by repeated imprecisions of statement, and obscurities of presentation and criticism.—C. T. W.

A collection of nine essays delivered at a Brock University symposium, including papers by J. Owens, C. Kahn, and H. G. Gadamer. As the title indicates, this volume is an example of "comparative philosophy": four of the papers deal with the Western tradition of thinking about being, and four with the Eastern tradition. Only one paper actually compares the two traditions at any length.

Purports to be a "critical survey of the fundamental problems of logic and epistemology and their metaphysical implications," but is mainly an exposition. It is difficult to discover a unifying thesis explaining why the author chose to compare precisely these two philosophers.--C. M.

A fine new translation, in which clarity and ease of reading have been the principal aims. Mr. Warrington has re-arranged the traditional text in an effort to make of its often disparate parts a unified and well-ordered whole. Book Δ is printed first, for example, and Ι and Λ last, with α and parts of Κ and Μ as Appendices. Long sentences have been broken up, subtitles inserted, points and paragraphs numbered for ready reference, and parenthetical phrases printed as footnotes. (...) Further footnotes explain difficult passages and provide cross-references. The result is perhaps the easiest Metaphysics possible, though even it, of course, is far from easy going.--V. C. C. (shrink)

An effort to account for the discrepancy between modern man's technological skill and his understanding of moral and social values, which has made human self-destruction a very real threat. The author's conclusions are familiar and not too illuminating.--V. C. C.

This is a very readable theological attack on current religious journalism about "the death of God" and its moral consequences. Rightly chiding the "radical" theologians for their tendentious use of words like "new," Hamilton wrongly equates their talk of "the secular" with support of the profane and so sometimes misses the import of their groping for new ways of thinking and acting as Christians. Seen through his eyes, much of their thought is really nineteenth century liberal humanism repackaged for the (...) suburban market. Recognizing the incoherence of the Barth-Bonhoeffer concept of religion, he nevertheless uses it when accusing Bishop Robinson, van Buren, and the rest of replacing Christianity with religion, rather than inaugurating a "religionless Christianity," as they intend. The best part of the book is an analysis of what Bonhoeffer really meant by "religionless Christianity" and other such provocative phrases. Like those he criticizes, Hamilton is quite sure that the Bible supports only his version of Christianity. His unabashed neo-orthodoxy commits him to conceiving of God as an arbitrary dictator, but it also provides him with a keen critical vantage-point, by reference to which all philosophical theologies are damned as modernizing, hypothetical, Hegelian, and un-Christian at heart. His own preference for talk of "natural piety" instead of "secular Christianity" is too sketchily presented to be assessed.--C. P. S. (shrink)

With respect to "beginnings," Marxism-Leninism shares with Hegel the opinion that 1) man is a product of an historical process and hence has no fixed nature; 2) knowledge and its object are changeable, but there is an "absolute standpoint" created by change itself from which a view of the whole is obtainable. There is disagreement about the nature of the object known and hence also about the nature of the absolute standpoint. This study repeats the customary objection that Hegel begins (...) with thinking, whereas he ought to have begun with primitive human activity. Accordingly, Hegel ends with speculation whereas Marxism-Leninism issues in praxis. The best part of the study appears to be the discussion of the relation in Hegel between sensibility and thought, and therewith the relation between the beginning of the Logik and of the Phänomenologie.—H. C. (shrink)

This work consists of three essays: "Descartes et la philosophie moderne," by Ervin Rozsnyai; "A propos de la morale 'définitive' de Descartes," by Dezcö Kalocsai; and "Esquisse de l'histoire du cartésianisme en Hongrie," by Zádor Tordai. The second essay, which is also the longest of the three, seems to promise by its title the discovery of the "perfect moral science" which Descartes says culminates his philosophy. But "définitive" is put in quotes just because, according to the author, Descartes never systematized (...) his morality: it must be pieced together from the Passions of the Soul and from correspondence. This view is in part a consequence of Kalocsai's inattention to the implications of Descartes' identification of virtue with passion. In general, while all these essays are eager to point out the progressive and "unchristian," i.e., "this-worldly" direction of Descartes' philosophy, it is not recognized that his conception of the "mastery of nature" put Descartes beyond biblical morality, to say nothing of bourgeoise morality.—H. C. (shrink)

Rescher is one of the few logicians equipped to deal with the whole of logic in the original languages. Arabic logic is particularly fortunate in finding such an interpreter. This book however is not a systematic treatment, but a series of topical essays. Perhaps its usefulness is to acquaint the un initiated with the flavor and tone of Arabic logic. One can then pass on to Rescher's systematic study—The Development of Arabic Logic—which is promised this year.—H. C.

Prof. Das argues that Sri Ramakrishna was an incarnation of God. He pits the Hindu doctrine of plural incarnations against the Christian doctrine of unique incarnation, but his notion of incarnation is so alien to the Christian conception that there is hardly a meeting of issues. That Prof. Das easily accepts points we would deem in greatest need of justification, e.g., the psychic ability to make oneself invisible, and argues in great detail for what we would take as simple points, (...) indicates that we have yet far to go in creating a context for significant communication between East and West. The book contains some interesting chapters on the historical background and life of Ramakrishna, and an explication of several of his major theses.--R. C. N. (shrink)

The central theme of this book concerns the structure of narratives and the analysis of a special class of narrative sentences. This seemingly specialized technical job has surprisingly broad and fruitful application. In the course of a single connected argument the author manages to throw light on a wide range of problems that have puzzled philosophical students of history including the relation between speculative philosophy of history and history proper, the verification of statements about the past, the alleged relativism of (...) historical interpretation, the distinction between "history" and "chronicle," the nature of historical explanation, and the debate about methodological individualism. The argument also draws upon and contributes to discussions dealing with some broader issues generally carried on outside the context of the philosophy of history such as the logic of temporal language and the problem of future contingencies. The approach is fresh and exciting, the style both clear and lively.—R. C. S. (shrink)

A thorough exposition of Croce's philosophy of art, showing its development through four stages. Especially interesting is the thesis that Croce's Aesthetic belongs only to the second stage, and that he passed beyond it in the next fifty years to anticipate the later Anglo-American critical theory. Includes an index and excellent bibliography. A substantial contribution to the scholarship of Italian Idealism.--R. C. N.

Existential analysis, according to Binswanger, is not a psychopathology, and is not necessarily therapeutic; it is not founded upon the medical standards of "sick" and "healthy." The eight writers in this volume illustrate that the suspension of such norms widens and deepens the field of philosophical anthropology, and hold that we may talk meaningfully about the "human condition." Taking "alienation" as an aspect of that condition, four of the authors explore some of its manifestations and its place in the totality (...) of experience. As a whole, the volume is bold and engaging, and balances scholarly rigor with adventurous speculation.--R. C. D. (shrink)

An intellectual history of the relation of intellect to will and of the conflict between religious contemplation and moral practice in 17th century Britain, focusing on the thought of More. Virtually every writer known to More and every writer who has written about More is mentioned.--R. C. N.

In this volume are collected sixteen previously-published essays dealing with sociology's peculiarity as a science, and with such general problems in sociological thinking as ideology, technology, culture, and the search for community. Ferrarotti's guiding principle is that truth is "intersubjective reality," and his goal is "to accept the other man as man" and thus to "guarantee the opening towards existential involvement with the truth-truth as participation."--R. C. D.

An impressive display of various modes and levels of argumentation, defending the view that the hypotheses in the Parmenides form an integrated set of indirect proofs that show the necessary presupposition of a doctrine of forms and the inevitable failure of understanding to articulate such a doctrine. To support his interpretation, Brumbaugh appeals to the historical context of the Academy, the aesthetic form of the Parmenides, and the relation of this dialogue to the rest of Plato's thought. Brumbaugh offers his (...) own critical edition and translation of the dialogue. A volume of noteworthy scholarship, offering an incentive for creative thought.--R. C. N. (shrink)