Things look like they might be starting to turn around for thirty-odd year old no-hoper Hugo, when he finds a robot in his house on his birthday. But, as he soon discovers, this is no birthday present (no one seems to have remembered to get him anything!), but the handiwork of his cousin, an engineer in the French army, who realized that the robot he had been building was designed to destroy humanity. Forced to hide out with Hugo, Roger – as he decides to call himself – must learn to live with humans... No mean feat!
A brief, radical defense of human uniqueness from acclaimed philosopher Roger Scruton In this short book, acclaimed writer and philosopher Roger Scruton presents an original and radical defense of human uniqueness. Confronting the views of evolutionary psychologists, utilitarian moralists, and philosophical materialists such as Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, Scruton argues that human beings cannot be understood simply as biological objects. We are not only human animals; we are also persons, in essential relation with other persons, and bound to them by obligations and rights. Scruton develops and defends his account of human nature by ranging widely across intellectual history, from Plato and Averroës to Darwin and Wittgenstein. The book begins with Kant’s suggestion that we are distinguished by our ability to say “I”—by our sense of ourselves as the centers of self-conscious reflection. This fact is manifested in our emotions, interests, and relations. It is the foundation of the moral sense, as well as of the aesthetic and religious conceptions through which we shape the human world and endow it with meaning. And it lies outside the scope of modern materialist philosophy, even though it is a natural and not a supernatural fact. Ultimately, Scruton offers a new way of understanding how self-consciousness affects the question of how we should live. The result is a rich view of human nature that challenges some of today’s most fashionable ideas about our species.
In this acclaimed book, Scruton takes the issues relating to vivisection, hunting, animal testing and BSE and places them in a wider framework of thought and feeling. Now available in paperback
Roger Rabbit is sure that Clark Gable has not only stolen the role of Rhett Butler in the soon-to-be-shot Gone With the Wind, but he has also stolen the heart of Jessica. Investigating the affair, Eddie Valiant, Toon protector, finds himself up to his fedora in murder and Hollywood corruption. Who P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? will appeal to movie buffs, mystery fans, and Rabbit devotees alike.
Principles of Human Evolution presents an in-depth introduction to paleoanthropology and the study of human evolution. Focusing on the fundamentals of evolutionary theory and how these apply to ecological, molecular genetic, paleontological and archeological approaches to important questions in the field, this timely textbook will help students gain a perspective on human evolution in the context of modern biological thinking. The second edition of this successful text features the addition of Robert Foley, a leading researcher in Human Evolutionary Studies, to the writing team. Strong emphasis on evolutionary theory, ecology and behavior and scores of new examples reflect the latest evolutionary theories and recent archaeological finds. More than a simple update, the new edition is organized by issue rather than chronology, integrating behavior, adaptation and anatomy. A new design and new figure references make this edition more accessible for students and instructors. New author, Robert Foley – leading figure in Human Evolutionary Studies – joins the writing team. Dedicated website – www.blackwellpublishing.com/lewin – provides study resources and artwork downloadable for Powerpoint presentations. Beyond the Facts boxes – explore key scientific debates in greater depth. Margin Comments – indicate the key points in each section. Key Questions – review and test students’ knowledge of central chapter concepts and help focus the way a student approaches reading the text. New emphasis on ecological and behavioral evolution – in keeping with modern research. Fully up to date with recent fossil finds and interpretations; integration of genetic and paleoanthropological approaches.
The tools used to unearth the facts of our prehistoric past have not always been tangible. Each fossil discovery and new methods of analysis is met with an avalanche of debate, alternate interpretations, and the refutation of competing theories. This text is a concise and provocative look at some answers to the question " Where did we come from? " .
A masterful new monograph from one of the most revered and highly collectible contemporary art photographers in the world Roger Ballen is one of the most original image makers of the twenty-first century. Asylum of the Birds showcases his iconic photographs, which were all taken entirely within the confines of a house in a Johannesburg suburb, the location of which remains a tightly guarded secret. The inhabitants of the house, both people and animals, and most notably the ever-present birds, are the cast who perform within a sculptural and decorated theatrical interior that the author creates and orchestrates. The resulting images are compelling and dynamic, existing somewhere between still life and portrait. They are richly layered with graffiti, drawings, animals, and found objects. In a world where photographers seek to avoid definition, Roger Ballen is a true original who not only defies genres, but has defined his own artistic space as well.
2021 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title In Human Becomings, Roger T. Ames argues that the appropriateness of categorizing Confucian ethics as role ethics turns largely on the conception of person that is presupposed within the interpretive context of classical Chinese philosophy. By beginning with first self-consciously and critically theorizing the Confucian conception of persons as the starting point of Confucian ethics, Ames posits that the ultimate goal will be to take the Confucian tradition on its own terms and to let it speak with its own voice without overwriting it with cultural importances not its own. He argues that perhaps the most important contribution Confucian philosophy can make to contemporary ethical, social, and political discourse is the conception of focus-field, relationally constituted persons as a robust alternative to the ideology of individualism with single actors playing to win.
To what extent, and in what manner, do storytelling practices accommodate nonhuman subjects and their modalities of experience, and how can contemporary narrative study shed light on interspecies interactions and entanglements? In Narratology beyond the Human, David Herman addresses these questions through a cross-disciplinary approach to post-Darwinian narratives concerned with animals and human-animal relationships. Herman considers the enabling and constraining effects of different narrative media, examining a range of fictional and nonfictional texts disseminated in print, comics and graphic novels, and film. In focusing on techniques such as the use of animal narrators, alternation between human and nonhuman perspectives, the embedding of stories within stories, and others, the book explores how specific strategies for portraying nonhuman agents both emerge from and contribute to broader attitudes toward animal life. Herman argues that existing frameworks for narrative inquiry must be modified to take into account how stories are interwoven with cultural ontologies, or understandings of what sorts of beings populate the world and how they relate to humans. Showing how questions of narrative bear on ideas of species difference and assumptions about animal minds, Narratology beyond the Human underscores our inextricable interconnectedness with other forms of creatural life and suggests that stories can be used to resituate imaginaries of human action in a more-than-human world.
Roger McPaw, a young Raccoon, has returned to his favorite summer camp for another week of adventures. This summer Roger brings a new friend named Toby and together they enjoy all that Camp WannaTippaTrashCan has to offer. Rogers friendship with his Human friend Gabe has continued as well, but some new challenges are in store. Roger and Toby learn how to turn bullies into friends, and how to rescue another Raccoon boy who was captured by the camp ranger of the nearby Human camp, Camp Wigwam.
