The Philosophical Quest: A Cross-Cultural Reader

The Philosophical Quest: A Cross-Cultural Reader

Author: Gail M. Presbey

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Published: 1999-10-12

Total Pages: 654

ISBN-13:

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This is a true cross-cultural anthology which presents philosophers from different cultures in dialogue with one another. The text includes selections from both traditional and contemporary Western and non-Western philosophy: African American, Latin American, and feminist philosophers as well as Asian, African, Native American, and Islamic philosophers. The reader is organized by topic, and highlights the similarities and differences between Western and Non-Western philosophers -- it arranges selections so that authors speak to one another across cultures. Chapter introductions and section introductions within chapters guide students. The second edition includes new sections on non-Western epistemology, the question of life after death, Rawls and criticism, and understanding others' experience and points of view. The authors have revised the more difficult sections of chapter 1 and have included more African, African American, and female philosophers, and more variety in the sections on social philosophy.


A Companion to Ayn Rand

A Companion to Ayn Rand

Author: Allan Gotthelf

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-11-08

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 1119099021

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The first volume to offer a comprehensive scholarly treatment of Rand’s entire corpus (including her novels, her philosophical essays, and her analysis of the events of her times), this Companion provides vital orientation and context for scholars and educated readers grappling with a controversial and understudied thinker whose enduring influence on American (and world) culture is increasingly recognized. The first publication to provide an in-depth scholarly treatment ranging over the whole of Rand’s corpus Provides informed contextual analysis for scholars in a variety of disciplines Presents original research on unpublished material and drafts from the Rand archives in California Features insightful and fair-minded interpretations of Rand’s controversial positions


The Liberatory Thought of Martin Luther King Jr.

The Liberatory Thought of Martin Luther King Jr.

Author: Robert E. Birt

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2012-09-15

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 0739165542

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The Liberatory Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. is a philosophical anthology which explores Dr. King’s legacy as a philosopher and his contemporary relevance as a thinker-activist. It consists of sixteen chapters organized into four sections: Part I, King within Philosophical Traditions, Part II, King as Engaged Social and Political Philosopher, Part III, King’s Ethics of Nonviolence, and Part IV, Hope Resurgent or Dream Deferred: Perplexities of King’s Philosophical Optimism. Most chapters are written by philosophers, but two are by philosophically informed social scientists. The contributors examine King’s relationships to canonical Western philosophical traditions, and to African-American thought. King’s contribution to traditional branches of philosophy such as ethics, social philosophy and philosophy of religion is explored, as well as his relevance to contemporary movements for social justice. As is evident from the title, the book considers the importance of King’s thought as liberatory discourse. Some chapters focus on “topical” issues like the relevance of King’s moral critique of the Vietnam War to our present involvement in Middle Eastern wars. Others focus on more densely theoretical issues such as Personalism, existential philosophy or Hegelian dialectics in King’s thought. The significance of King’s reflections on racism, economic justice, democracy and the quest for community are abiding themes. But the volume closes, quite fittingly, on the importance of the theme of hope. The text is a kind of philosophical dialogue on the enduring value of the legacy of the philosopher, King.


Specters of Liberation

Specters of Liberation

Author: Martin J. Beck Matustik

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1998-03-19

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780791436929

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Advocates a new existential and political coalition among critical and postmodern social theorists and among critical gender, race, and class theorists, in dissent from the New World Order, to raise specters of liberation and empower radical democratic change.


Philosophical Perspectives on Power and Domination

Philosophical Perspectives on Power and Domination

Author: Laura Duhan Kaplan

Publisher: Rodopi

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 9789042002715

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The essays in this volume explore in detail many of the ways power structures our daily personal, political and intellectual lives, and evaluate the workings of power using a variety of theoretical paradigms, from Hobbesian liberalism to Foucauldian feminist postmodernism. Taken as a whole, the book aims towards an end to unjust and destructive uses of power and the flowering of an encouraging, educated empowerment for all human beings in a pluralistic world. Section I offers a progressive chain of arguments that moves from the acceptance of domination, through the rejection of domination and, finally, to a new vision of power based on equality and mutual respect. Section II explores the questions, how is the philosophical self, that is, our very understanding of who we are, implicated in the web of power and domination? Section III responds to political realism as it explores morally ideal solutions to the global problems of poverty, war and hunger. Section IV discusses ways in which our thought and practice in both public and private life are bound up in hierarchies of domination.


The Moral Psychology of Compassion

The Moral Psychology of Compassion

Author: Justin Caouette

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-03-16

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1786604205

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Compassion is widely regarded as an important moral emotion – a fitting response to various cases of suffering and misfortune. Yet contemporary theorists have rarely given it sustained attention. This volume aims to fill this gap by offering answers to a number of questions surrounding this emotion. These questions include: What is the nature of compassion? How does compassion differ from other emotions, such as empathy, pity, or gratitude? Is compassion a virtue? Can we have too much compassion? How does compassion influence other mental states (desires, motivations, beliefs, and intentions) and behaviour? How is compassion influenced by the environment? Must compassion be deserved? Can one be moral while lacking the capacity for compassion? Compassion, like other emotions, has many facets – biological, social, psychological and neural, among others. The contributors to this volume will draw on a variety of disciplines and methods in order to develop a more systematic and comprehensive understanding of this often-neglected moral emotion.


The Purpose of Life

The Purpose of Life

Author: Stewart Goetz

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2012-07-12

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1441157050

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What does philosophy have to say on the question of the meaning of life? This is one of the founding questions of philosophy and has remained a central problem for philosophers from antiquity through to the Middle Ages and modern period. It may surprise some readers that there has, in fact, been a good deal of agreement on the answer to this question: the meaning of life is happiness. The Purpose of Life is a serious but engaging exploration and defense of this answer. The central idea that shapes The Purpose of Life is Augustine's assertion that "It is the decided opinion of all who use their brains that all men desire to be happy." In working through the ramifications of this answer, Stewart Goetz provides a survey of the debates surrounding life's meaning, from both theists and atheists alike.


Philosophical Perspectives on the 'War on Terrorism'

Philosophical Perspectives on the 'War on Terrorism'

Author: Gail M. Presbey

Publisher: Rodopi

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 529

ISBN-13: 9042021969

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This book responds to the Bush Administration position on the "war on terror." It examines preemption within the context of "just war"; justification for the United States-led invasion of Iraq, with some authors charging that its tactics serve to increase terror; global terrorism; and concepts such as reconciliation, Islamic identity, nationalism, and intervention.