Calamity Theory
Calamity Theory

Author: Joshua Schuster

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

Published: 2021-10-19

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 1452966583

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What are the implications of how we talk about apocalypse? A new philosophical field has emerged. “Existential risk” studies any real or hypothetical human extinction event in the near or distant future. This movement examines catastrophes ranging from runaway global warming to nuclear warfare to malevolent artificial intelligence, deploying a curious mix of utilitarian ethics, statistical risk analysis, and, controversially, a transhuman advocacy that would aim to supersede almost all extinction scenarios. The proponents of existential risk thinking, led by Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, have seen their work gain immense popularity, attracting endorsement from Bill Gates and Elon Musk, millions of dollars, and millions of views. Calamity Theory is the first book to examine the rise of this thinking and its failures to acknowledge the ways some communities and lifeways are more at risk than others and what it implies about human extinction. Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Author: Marisha Pessl

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2006-08-03

Total Pages: 540

ISBN-13: 1101218800

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The mesmerizing bestseller that combines the storytelling gifts of Donna Tartt and the suspense of Alfred Hitchcock—A New York Times Ten Best Book of the Year Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age tale and a richly plotted suspense story, told with dazzling intelligence and wit. At the center of the novel is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway School, she finds some—a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel—with visual aids drawn by the author—that has won over readers of all ages.

Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems
Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems

Author: Bruno Apolloni

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2007-09-12

Total Pages: 907

ISBN-13: 3540748199

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This book is part of a three-volume set that constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, KES 2007. Coverage in this first volume includes artificial neural networks and connectionists systems, fuzzy and neuro-fuzzy systems, evolutionary computation, machine learning and classical AI, agent systems, and information engineering and applications in ubiquitous computing environments.

The Calamity Form
The Calamity Form

Author: Anahid Nersessian

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2020-08-12

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 022670131X

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Romanticism coincided with two major historical developments: the Industrial Revolution, and with it, a turning point in our relationship to the earth, its inhabitants, and its climate. Drawing on Marxism and philosophy of science, The Calamity Form shines new light on Romantic poetry, identifying a number of rhetorical tropes used by writers to underscore their very failure to make sense of our move to industrialization. Anahid Nersessian explores works by Friedrich Hölderlin, William Wordsworth, John Keats, and others to argue that as the human and ecological costs of industry became clear, Romantic poetry adopted formal strategies—among them parataxis, the setting of elements side by side in a manner suggestive of postindustrial dissonance, and apostrophe, here an address to an absent or vanishing natural environment—as it tried and failed to narrate the calamities of capitalism. These tropes reflect how Romantic authors took their bewilderment and turned it into a poetics: a theory of writing, reading, and understanding poetry as an eminently critical act. Throughout, Nersessian pushes back against recent attempts to see literature as a source of information on par with historical or scientific data, arguing instead for an irreducibility of poetic knowledge. Revealing the ways in which these Romantic works are of their time but not about it, The Calamity Form ultimately exposes the nature of poetry’s relationship to capital—and capital’s ability to hide how it works.

Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory
Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory

Author: Gregory S. Kavka

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 1986-10-21

Total Pages: 488

ISBN-13: 9780691027654

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In recent years serious attempts have been made to systematize and develop the moral and political themes of great philosophers of the past. Kant, Locke, Marx, and the classical utilitarians all have their current defenders and arc taken seriously as expositors of sound moral and political views. It is the aim of this book to introduce Hobbes into this select group by presenting a plausible moral and political theory inspired by Leviathan. Using the techniques of analytic philosophy and elementary game theory, the author develops a Hobbesian argument that justifies the liberal State and reconciles the rights and interests of rational individuals with their obligations. Hobbes's case against anarchy, based on his notorious claim that life outside the political State would be a "war of all against all," is analyzed in detail, while his endorsement of the absolutist State is traced to certain false hypotheses about political sociology. With these eliminated, Hobbes's principles support a liberal redistributive (or "satisfactory") State and a limited right of revolution. Turning to normative issues, the book explains Hobbes's account of morality based on enlightened self-interest and shows how the Hobbesian version of social contract theory justifies the political obligations of citizens of satisfactory States.

An Introduction to Global Environmental Issues Instructors Manual
An Introduction to Global Environmental Issues Instructors Manual

Author: Lewis A. Owen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-05-08

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 1135863083

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An Introduction to Global Environmental Issues presents a comprehensive stimulating introduction to the key environmental issues presently threatening our global environment. Offering an authoritative introduction to the key topics, a source of latest environmental information, and an innovative stimulus for debate, this is an essential book for all those studying or concerned with global environmental issues. In this second edition, the most topical global environmental issues are brought more clearly into focus. Explanations of the evolution of the earth's natural systems (hydrosphere, biosphere, geosphere, ecosphere) provide the essential understanding of the scientific concepts, processes and historical background behind key environmental issues. Contemporary socio-economic, cultural and political considerations are explored and important conceptual approaches such as Gaian hypotheses and Chaos Theory are introduced. Human impact and management of the natural environment, and concerns for maintaining biodiversity are emphasised throughout. Specific features include: Case studies drawn from across the world Superb illustrations: 4-colour plate sections; a wealth of informative diagrams Glossary of key terms, with key concepts highlighted throughout the text Annotated guides to Further Reading Chapter summaries and key points A new Instructors' Manual is available to accompany the text

Subjectivation in Political Theory and Contemporary Practices
Subjectivation in Political Theory and Contemporary Practices

Author: Andreas Oberprantacher

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-12-25

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1137516593

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This book explores, discusses, and assesses the actual and potential sense of subjectivation in a variety of contexts. In particular, it reflects the genealogies, connections, variations, and practical implications of various theories of subjectivity and subjection while providing an up-to-date and authoritative account of how to engage with the ‘subject’. Rather than addressing the ‘subject’ merely in theoretical terms, this book explores subjectivation as a seminal expression of subjective practices in the plural. To the extent that subjectivity and subjection are key terms in a plurality of discourses and for a number of disciplines, Subjectivation in Political Theory and Contemporary Practices advances a trans-disciplinary reading by taking into account relevant debates that stretch from poststructuralism via postfordism to postdemocracy. In this sense, the book introduces readers to current approaches to subjectivation by displacing conventional understandings and suggesting unexpected reformulations.

Theory & Practice in Clinical Social Work
Theory & Practice in Clinical Social Work

Author: Jerrold R. Brandell

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2010-02-16

Total Pages: 881

ISBN-13: 1412981387

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Today's clinical social workers face a spectrum of social issues and problems of a scope and severity hardly imagined just a few years ago and an ever-widening domain of responsibility to overcome them. Theory and Practice in Clinical Social Work is the authoritative handbook for social work clinicians and graduate social work students, that keeps pace with rapid social changes and presents carefully devised methods, models, and techniques for responding to the needs of an increasingly diverse clientele. Following an overview of the principal frameworks for clinical practice, including systems theory, behavioral and cognitive theories, psychoanalytic theory, and neurobiological theory, the book goes on to present the major social crises, problems, and new populations the social work clinician confronts each day. Theory and Practice in Clinical Social Work includes 29 original chapters, many with carefully crafted and detailed clinical illustrations, by leading social work scholars and master clinicians who represent the widest variety of clinical orientations and specializations. Collectively, these leading authors have treated nearly every conceivable clinical population, in virtually every practice context, using a full array of treatment approaches and modalities. Included in this volume are chapters on practice with adults and children, clinical social work with adolescents, family therapy, and children's treatment groups; other chapters focus on social work with communities affected by disasters and terrorism, clinical case management, cross-cultural clinical practice, psychopharmacology, practice with older adults, and mourning and loss. The extraordinary breadth of coverage will make this book an essential source of information for students in advanced practice courses and practicing social workers alike.