The idea of Hume as a philosopher of culture has only recently gained general acceptance; yet as far back as 1941 the Journal of the History of Ideas was publishing essays on Hume which reflected this aspect of his work. The essays selected for this volume range back as far as 1941, but they may be viewed as more timely than ever, given the recent interest in Hume as a philosopher of society, politics and history.

I have elsewhere argued that the original American pragmatists revolutionized twentieth-century European philosophy by determining or reshaping the intellectual agendas of Edmund Husserl, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Émile Durkheim, Georges Sorel, Jean Wahl, and Alexandre Kojève. I have also argued that the “critique of the subject” proposed by poststructuralist feminists—particularly by Judith Butler—becomes more coherent and consequential when we rewrite its Nietzschean genealogy to include its pragmatist antecedents.1 In this space, I want to argue that William James and John Dewey are better (...) guides to the end of modernity than Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger, who still reign as the court poets of the .. (shrink)

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” has been canonized as an essential statement of the political theory of civil disobedience. This article examines the early reception of King’s essay and the development of the liberal idea of civil disobedience it has become synonymous with to argue that its canonization coincided with, and displaced, the radicalization of King’s developing thinking about disobedience. It examines published and archival writings from 1965 through 1968 to reconstruct King’s power-oriented theory of (...) “mass” civil disobedience as it developed in response to the dual challenges of white backlash and Black Power. The basic challenge of mass civil disobedience is how to mobilize liberating acts of taking power without undercutting the possibility of transformative integration through sharing power. To articulate this dilemma, this article draws on an undertheorized category from John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice to conceptualize disobedience as a practice of militant love. (shrink)

Several debates of the last years within the research field of contemporary realism – known under titles such as "New Realism," "Continental Realism," or "Speculative Materialism" – have shown that science is not systematically the ultimate measure of truth and reality. This does not mean that we should abandon the notions of truth or objectivity all together, as has been posited repeatedly within certain currents of twentieth century philosophy. However, within the research field of contemporary realism, the concept of objectivity (...) itself has not been adequately refined. What is objective is supposed to be true outside a subject’s biases, interpretations and opinions, having truth conditions that are met by the way the world is. The volume combines articles of internationally outstanding authors who have published on either Idealism, Epistemic Relativism, or Realism and often locate themselves within one of these divergent schools of thought. As such, the volume focuses on these traditions with the aim of clarifying what the concept objectivity nowadays stands for within contemporary ontology and epistemology beyond the analytic-continental divide. With articles from: Jocelyn Benoist, Ray Brassier, G. Anthony Bruno, Dominik Finkelde, Markus Gabriel, Deborah Goldgaber, Iain Hamilton Grant, Graham Harman, Johannes Hübner, Andrea Kern, Anton F. Koch, Martin Kusch, Paul M. Livingston, Paul Redding, Sebastian Rödl, Dieter Sturma. (shrink)

Love is a key concept in the theory and history of civil disobedience yet it has been purposefully neglected in recent debates in political theory. Through an examination of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s paradoxical notion of “aggressive love,” I offer a critical interpretation of love as a key concept in a vernacular black political theology, and the consequences of love’s displacement by law in liberal theories of civil disobedience. The first section locates the origins of aggressive love in an (...) earlier generation of black theologians who looked to India’s anticolonial struggle to reimagine the dignity of the oppressed as “creative survival.” The second contextualizes King’s early sermons on moral injury and self-respect within this tradition to reinterpret Stride toward Freedom’s account of the dignity-enhancing effects of nonviolent resistance as the triumph of love over fear. The third considers the implications of these arguments for conceptualizing the moral psychology of the white citizen and its consequences for contemporary debates over the ideological uses of Civil Rights history. The call to respond to oppression with aggressive love illustrates the paradoxical character of civil disobedience obscured by legal accounts as well as by criticisms of the very idea of “civil” disobedience. This is the paradox of affirming civility while enacting disobedience in order to bind political confrontation with political pedagogy. (shrink)

My aim in this paper is to begin a discussion about how, and to what extent, Martin Heidegger’s thinking about technology offers helpful critical terms for thinking about the nature and global sway of today’s most dominant and prevalent forms of technology, namely the interrelated technologies of information, communication, and (capitalist) commerce. My suggestion will be that Heidegger’s thought does indeed have implications for critical thinking about these technologies, but that in order to see how it does, we may (...) have to deepen and further radicalize some of Heidegger’s suggestions about essence, being, and form. This need for deepening is connected with the way in which these specific technologies themselves depend on the character and structure of language , in that they present themselves as effective means for the manipulation, storage, retrieval and exchange of broadly linguistic, symbolic, and informational material. In fact, in the context of Heidegger’s late thought about technology as well as language, the syntagm “information technology” itself – a term that, as far as I know, Heidegger himself never used – nevertheless points the way, as I shall argue, to a deepening of the Heideggerian inquiry into form which itself can facilitate an improved critical understanding of the implications of these technologies for life around the planet today. (shrink)

Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy provides in one volume the major writings from nearly 2,500 years of political and moral philosophy. The most comprehensive collection of its kind, it moves from classical thought (Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Cicero) through medieval views (Augustine, Aquinas) to modern perspectives (Machiavelli, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Adam Smith, Kant). It includes major nineteenth-century thinkers (Hegel, Bentham, Mill, Nietzsche) as well as twentieth-century theorists (Rawls, Nozick, Nagel, Foucault, Habermas, Nussbaum). Also included are numerous essays from (...) The Federalist Papers and a variety of notable documents and addresses, among them Pericles' Funeral Oration, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and speeches by Edmund Burke, Abraham Lincoln, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, John Dewey, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The readings are substantial or complete texts, not fragments. An especially valuable feature of this volume is that the works of each author are introduced with a substantive and engaging essay by a leading contemporary authority. These introductions include Richard Kraut on Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Cicero; Paul J. Weithman on Augustine and Aquinas; Roger D. Masters on Machiavelli; Jean Hampton on Hobbes; Steven B. Smith on Spinoza and Hegel; A. John Simmons on Locke; Joshua Cohen on Rousseau and Rawls; Donald W. Livingston on Hume; Charles L. Griswold, Jr., on Smith; Bernard E. Brown on Hamilton and Madison; Jeremy Waldron on Bentham and Mill; Paul Guyer on Kant; Richard Miller on Marx and Engels; Richard Schacht on Nietzsche; Thomas Christiano on Nozick; John Deigh on Nagel; Thomas A. McCarthy on Foucault and Habermas; and Eva Feder Kittay on Nussbaum. Offering unprecedented breadth of coverage, Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy is an ideal text for courses in social and political philosophy, moral philosophy, or surveys in Western civilization. (shrink)

En diversos textos relacionados con la filosofía de la historia, Immanuel Kant presenta los conceptos de “naturaleza”, “destino” o “providencia” que dan sentido y finalidad a la historia de la humanidad en su conjunto. Estos textos fueron publicados durante las décadas de 1780 y 1790. El objetivo de este artículo es examinar las diferentes formas que adopta la teleología de la naturaleza en estos textos kantianos. Intentaremos mostrar las coincidencias y las diferencias entre las formas mencionadas.

This work makes a substantial reexamination of the social processes behind the labelling of patients in hospital care. Taking an interpretive perspective, the author analyses the social construction of patient labels, identifying strategies for and the consequences of giving and receipt of 'good' and 'bad' labels.

In 1983, Harvard University Press published Derek Freeman's Margaret Mead And Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth. Many anthropologists judged the book to be an unwarranted attack on the late Margaret Mead for the field work she did in 1925-26 for Coming of Age in Samoa, published in 1928. The implications from this now famous book served as evidence for a general liberal view of culture in America, resonated with the work of John Dewey as it became (...) popular in the 1920's, and established Mead as an intellectual icon until her death in 1978. Freeman's first critique…. (shrink)

It has always been an important task of economics to assess individual and social welfare. The traditional approach has assumed that the measuring rod for welfare is the satisfaction of the individual’s given and unchanging preferences, but recent work in behavioural economics has called this into question by pointing out the inconsistencies and context-dependencies of human behaviour. When preferences are no longer consistent, we have to ask whether a different measure for individual welfare can, and should, be found. This book (...) goes beyond the level of preference and instead considers whether a hedonistic view of welfare represents a viable alternative, and what its normative implications are. Offering a welfare theory with stronger behavioural and evolutionary foundations, Binder follows a naturalistic methodology to examine the foundations of welfare, connecting the concept with a dynamic theory of preference learning, and providing a more realistic account of human behaviour. This book will be of interest to researchers and those working in the fields of welfare economics, behavioural and evolutionary economics. (shrink)

The paper focuses on MacIntyre’s account of teleology and the role of teleology in explaining value language and grounding ethical normativity. It isolates three distinct albeit interrelated notions of teleology emerging gradually from Macintyre’s philosophical project. It investigates how moral language is explained and moral norms justified on the bases of these three articulations of the teleological motif. It subjects the weakness of this reasoning to criticism.

Most of the medieval arts of poetry and prose were written before the middle of the thirteenth century, but their dissemination was not uniform in all parts of Europe. In England, the surviving copies of a work such as Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria nova taper off notably toward the end of the thirteenth century, and the numbers do not begin to pick up again until the last quarter of the fourteenth century. This pattern is no accident of preservation but reflects (...) a significant revival of interest in Latin rhetoric and literature, centered at Oxford in the late fourteenth century. The characteristic literary materials and rhetorical methods of this renaissance resonated beyond the university environment and are reflected with striking precision in the references to rhetoric scattered throughout the vernacular poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer. (shrink)

El artículo sostiene que repensar un nuevo desarrollo es el reto en estos tiempos de encrucijadas, lo cual obliga a una relectura crítica de las teorías que permitirá aprender a desaprender. Señala que las nuevas realidades latinoamericanas se manifiestan como consecuencia de tres procesos-eje: La globalización y los efectos de los procesos de integración económica; las dificultades para la organización democrática de la vida colectiva de la sociedad, y las desigualdades sociales. Critica el hecho de que hoy se glorifica al (...) capitalismo liberal como el único modelo económico posible y deseable, el único que garantizaría la continuidad de la democracia, y postula que la nueva realidad entre la innovación social y el retorno al territorio requiere la modificación de las mentalidades individuales y colectivas e implica una vasta labor de formación de los agentes locales y de la población local. Tras exponer algunas experiencias en América Latina, concluye que sólo desde una nueva cultura del desarrollo con el compromiso de construir la gran obra de un mundo con armonía entre la vida urbana y los espacios rurales, entre el Sur y el Norte, es posible dar sentido a las políticas y las acciones. (shrink)

Este artículo busca poner en diálogo la reflexión ética de Ignacio Ellacuría con la reflexión de filosofía ética y política actual, así como poner de manifiesto las virtualidades que su pensamiento crítico-realista posee. Comienza por un análisis personal del autor sobre el concepto de libertad que servirá de horizonte para situar las diversas reflexiones éticas y políticas, también la ética de la liberación ellacuriana.

The present article aims to explain Kamala??la’s understanding of the nature of insight, specifically considering it as the ‘discernment of reality’ -- a technical term identified with insight in the author’s well known Bh?van?krama? texts. I approach my analysis of bh?ta-pratyavek?? from three different angles. I begin by providing a rationale for its translation. This is followed by an account of Kamala??la’s reading of key passages in the La?k?vat?ra S?tra describing the process to which the term refers. Here the aim (...) is to illustrate Kamala??la’s understanding of bh?ta-pratyavek?? as it is actually experienced in meditation. The final section examines bh?ta-pratyavek?? in relation to other important technical terminology employed in the course of making arguments against his historical rival in debate, the Ch’an monk Mo ho yen. By providing these three different perspectives on the same process it is my hope that both scholars and practitioners will be able to more fully comprehend and benefit from the instructions provided by the ancient master Kamala??la. (shrink)

El nacionalismo es un fenómeno a la vez poliédrico y de contornos difusos. Hay, sin embargo, un conjunto de parecidos familiares que autorizan una aproximación desde el ángulo normativo. Estas páginas se centran en la vertiente oscura, arguyendo que las consecuencias de las políticas de corte nacionalista tienen que ver con un cierto número de factores que inciden en la acción colectiva que guardan relación con el tema de la identidad. Después de justificar el enfoque, se trata: 1. de ciertas (...) particularidades de la retórica nacionalista 2. del bajo coste relativo de la movilización desde el marco nacionalista y de la preponderancia de la variante étnica 3. del papel de las emociones negativas Unas consideraciones sobre las eventuales vías de salida cierran el artículo. (shrink)

Die weit verstreuten kHardback Veroffentlichungen, Denkerfahrungen Martin Heideggers aus 66 Jahren, erscheinen hier zusammengefasst unter dem noch von Martin Heidegger festgelegten Titel Aus der Erfahrung des Denkens in zweiter Auflage. Erstes (1910) und letztes (1976) Zeugnis seiner bisher veroffentlichten Gedanken sind in diesem Band vereinigt. Viele Beitrage bewegen sich im Umkreis von Dichtung, Kunst und Musik. Die Vielfalt der Denkerfahrungen zeigt deutlich, dass Martin Heideggers denkerisches Bemuhen weit uber die allgemeine Philosophie hinausgegangen ist. Bislang nur den Subskribenten (...) der Gesamtausgabe vorbehalten, ist dieser Band nun auch einzeln zu beziehen. Inhalt: Abraham a Sancta Clara (1910) - Fruhe Gedichte (1910-1916) - Schopferische Landschaft: Warum bleiben wir in der Provinz? (1933) - Wege zur Aussprache (1937) - Winke (1941) - Chorlied aus der Antigone des Sophokles (1943) - Zur Erorterung der Gelassenheit. Aus einem Feldweggesprach uber das Denken (1944/45) - Aus der Erfahrung des Denkens (1947) - Der Feldweg (1949) - Holzwege (Dem kunftigen Menschen.) (1949) - Zu einem Vers von Morike. Ein Briefwechsel mit Martin Heidegger von Emil Staiger (1951) - Was heisst Lesen? (1954) - Vom Geheimnis des Glockenturms (1954) - Uber das Langenhardener Hebelbuch (1954) - Uber die Sixtina (1955) - Die Sprache Johann Peters Hebels (1955) - Begegnungen mit Ortega y Gasset (1955) - Was ist die Zeit? (1956) - Hebel - der Hausfreund (1957) - Aufzeichungen aus der Werkstatt (1959) - Sprache und Heimat (1960) - Uber Igor Strawinsky (1962) - Fur Rene Char (1963) - Adalbert Stifters Eisgeschichte (1964) - Wink in das Gewesen (1966) - Die Kunst und der Raum (1969) -Zeichen (1969) - Das Wohnen des Menschen (1970) - Gedachtes (1970) - Rimbaud vivant (1972) - Sprache (1972) - Der Fehl heiliger Namen (1974) - Fridolin Wiplingers letzter Besuch (1974) - Erhart Kastner zum Gedachtnis (1975) - Grusswort von Martin Heidegger (1976). (shrink)