Bøker i Continuum Studies in British Philosophy-serien

One of the influential debates in John Locke's work is the problem of personal identity over time. This problem is that of how a person at one time is the same person later in time, and so can be held responsible for past actions. This title offers an emphasis on Locke's theological commitments, and those of Rene Descartes and Thomas Hobbes.

Focuses on how Wittgenstein and Gadamer treat language in their accounts of language as game and their major writings on the subject - "Philosophical Investigations" and "Truth and Method", respectively. This book brings the work of two major modern philosophers in to dialogue.

Just before and during the English Civil War of the 1640s, Thomas Hobbes wrote in defence of the monarchy, his aim being to eliminate the root causes of civil war and internal strife. This book examines Hobbes's arguments for how best to achieve this aim, taking into account the political, philosophical, and religious context of Hobbes's time.

Bertrand Russell was not only one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century, he was also a humanitarian and activist who fought for many moral, social, and political causes. This book brings a new dimension to our understanding of Russell's life, his activism, and his contribution to moral philosophy.

Francis Bacon is considered the 'father' of modern experimental science. This book speaks up for Bacon, and focuses on Bacon's "Novum Organum, The Advancement of Learning and De Augmentis", in order to discern the theoretical nature of his programme for the 'renovation' of the natural sciences.

Views that Wittgenstein, in his discussion of logic, describes the boundaries of factual discourse for the purpose of fixing a common language. This book argues that, he suggests when religious and ethical statements fall outside this common language, we should reconstruct them to make sense within the common language.

This process reveals those characteristics of mechanical explanations that make them superior to elemental theories of chemical explanation, characteristics that have become an enduring feature of the scientific enterprise.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was one of the important and influential thinkers of the 20th century. This book studies Wittgenstein's philosophy of value to deal with ethics, aesthetics and religious value. It clarifies his many ideas and arguments related to the notion of value and implications of his work for debates in contemporary ethics.

Discussion of John Stuart Mill's ethics has been dominated by concern with right and wrong action as determined by the principle of utility. This book unearths the context of moral and socio-political debate that Mill did not have to make explicit to his Victorian readers.

A monograph that examines Hobbes' political writings in the context of the rest of his corpus and the work of his contemporaries. It considers what it is that makes the study of Hobbes so compelling. It shows the relevance of Hobbes to contemporary debates around the radically democratic potential of the 'multitude'.

A monograph that presents a non-sceptical outlook on David Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature" by analysing the hitherto neglected role of the belief in other minds. It considers the problem of other minds as a special problem within the debate about scepticism. It focuses on Hume's discussion of sympathy.

Exploring the life, work and ideas of the great 19th century utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, this study takes a unique look at his intellectual project from the point of view of the development of his political thought and later reassessment of his own ideas. Placing Bentham''s work in its historical and intellectual context, Utilitarian Philosophy and Politics considers in particular Bentham''s utilitarianism in relation to his later engagement with political and constitutional reform. James Crimmins argues that, despite being one of the most argued over philosophers of the 19th century, Bentham remains one of the most misunderstood of political philosophers. By attempting to look again at the context in which Bentham was writing and his self-conscious concern with his own legacy, this book offers a new account of this major political thinker.

David Hume, one of the most influential philosophers to have written in the English language, is widely known as a skeptic and an empiricist. This book studies Hume's philosophy of religion, a topic central to his whole philosophical project.

Offers an appreciation of Iris Murdoch's philosophy, focusing the importance of images and the imagination for her thought. This book examines how literature and imagination enabled Murdoch to form a philosophical response to the decline of religion. It also reconsiders various contemporary assumptions about what philosophy is and does.

Shows how Wittgenstein's philosophy of language points towards a different philosophy of life, thereby making a contribution to ethical and political thought. Tracing the development of Wittgenstein's work from 1914 to 1951, this book explores the notion of 'form' in the Tractatus.

Examines Russell's work, particularly from 1900 to 1950, and exposes a repeated emphasis on, and turn to, linguistic considerations. This book considers how 'linguistics' and 'philosophy' were struggling in the twentieth century to define themselves and to create appropriate contemporary disciplines.

Offers an original reading of Ludwig Wittgenstein's views on such topics as radical scepticism, the first- and third-person asymmetry of mental talk, Cartesianism, and rule-following.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) is remembered only as an alleged 'Social Darwinist' who applied the theory of the survival of the fittest to society. This book provides the modern survey of the corpus of Spencer's thought. It introduces a Spencer very different to his posthumous reputation.

In 1911, Bertrand Russell began a historically formative interchange about the nature of logic and cognition with his student, Ludwig Wittgenstein. This work presents a treatment of Russell's decisive 1913 exchanges with Wittgenstein. It also incorporates little-known notes and diagrams into a different analysis of the problems Russell was facing.

Argues that Wittgenstein, though himself often silent on particular ethical matters, gives us immense resources for understanding the aims appropriate to any philosophical ethics. This work re-examines some of the landmarks in the history of moral philosophy in order to cast contemporary ethical philosophy in a fresh light.

Tackles some of the problems in Berkeley's philosophy by providing a fresh interpretation of Berkeley's core ontological doctrines and their relationship to his views about self-consciousness. This work examines that Berkeley is led to adopt a model of self-consciousness because he rejects basic metaphysics of many of his predecessors.

A development in Wittgenstein Studies has been the advancement of a therapeutic reading of the Tractatus. This book offers an extended application of this reading of Wittgenstein, encompassing Wittgenstein's later work too, to examine the implications of Wittgenstein's work as a whole upon the domains of literature, psychopathology, and time.

Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy comes alive when it is used as a vehicle for philosophical discovery, rather than when it is interpreted as a system of propositions. This volume offers a study of Wittgenstein's later work on the philosophy of psychology, his cryptic remarks on visual meaning and the analysis of the concept of perception.

Thomas Reid (1710-96) was one of the most daring and original thinkers of the eighteenth century. His work became the cornerstone of the Scottish School of Common Sense Philosophy. This book begins by characterizing the state of moral epistemology at the time when Reid was writing. It offers an assessment of the success of Reid's ethical project.

Takes issue with the near-universal tendency of Hobbes scholars to emphasize the influence of Hobbes's natural philosophy on his political philosophy. This book shows how Hobbes's political ideas influence his natural philosophy.