Bøker i Philosophy-serien

For those who are looking for ways of living and being with the body, the mind/spirit and the earth that nurture the health of all three, this book presents Taoism as a path of triple cultivation. Drawing on the rich oral and textual traditions of Taoism, The Way of Taoism provides ways of living and being with the body and the earth that nurture the health of both in mutual spirituality and materiality. From the written tradition of Taoism, it brings together teaching about the Taoist body and Taoist ecology. It also draws on the living oral and scriptural tradition of the Taoist Tai Chi Society(TM)/Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism(TM) that has a strong connection with Buddhism and Confucianism in the 'three religions' tradition. It is the first book written by a member practitioner of this Society to bring all these aspects together. The Way of Taoism crosses the great divides and dualisms between mind and body, humans and 'the environment, ' spirituality and materiality, east and west. It provides ways of nurturing bodily, spiritual/mental and 'environ-mental' health along the path of triple cultivation. The Way of Taoism engages in cross-cultural dialogue between eastern and western culture, and in historical exchange between traditional and contemporary times. It argues against monotheism, makes a plea for polytheism and foregrounds Taoism as a polytheistic religion. It is a comprehensive guide to the way of Taoism.

Is the creative act like a volcano: an outburst that lights up the universe? This volume connects reason with desire and the arts in ways that enable us to imagine how creativity can bring us closer to the truth. The artistic quest for freedom stands in stark contrast to philosophy's call to subordinate art to reason and tradition. The struggle between them has culminated in artistic attempts to subsume philosophical matters within the domain of art. One central question in this study is what the consequences will be of a final dissolution of the boundary between the two domains: will all that remains of the artwork be an abstract howl of the rock - our rock, the planet - itself?

Philosophy of mathematics is moving in a new direction: awayfrom a foundationalism in terms of formal logic and traditionalontology, and towards a broader range of approaches thatare united by a focus on mathematical practice.The scientific research network PhiMSAMP (Philosophy ofMathematics: Sociological Aspects and MathematicalPractice) consisted of researchers from a variety ofbackgrounds and fields, brought together by their commoninterest in the shift of philosophy of mathematics towardsmathematical practice. Hosted by the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and funded by the DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) from 2006-2010, thenetwork organized and contributed to a number of workshopsand conferences on the topic of mathematical practice.The refereed contributions in this volume represent theresearch results of the network and consists of contributionsof the network members as well as selected paper versions ofpresentations at the network's mid-term conference, "Ismathematics special?" (PhiMSAMP-3) held in Vienna 2008.

It has been observed many times before that, as yet, there are no encompassing, integrated theories of mathematical practice available.To witness, as we currently do, a variety of schools in this field elaborating their philosophical frameworks, and trying to sort out their differences in the course of doing so, is also to be constantly reminded of the fact that a lot of epistemic aspects, extremely relevant to this task, remain dramatically underexamined. This volume wants to contribute to the stock of studies filling this perceived lacuna. It contains papers by established, upcoming, as well as beginning scholars, covering general, metaphilosophical themes such as naturalism, semiotics, pragmaticism, or empiricism, next to more specific topics including the unity of mathematical theories, thruth-flow in mathematics, diagrammatic reasoning, erroneous argumentation, or numerical analysis.

Man by nature desires to know, and the most natural way ofsatisfying this desire is to find answers to the questions thatarise from wonder and perplexity. Questioning is our default viewof method. I was turned into a cornerstone of western thoughtin the Socratic elenchus and Aristotle¿s doctrine of explanationand inquiry. Aristotle¿s dialogical games, especially as they findexpression in Topics, survived medieval dialectical games and hada profound impact on practices in academic life. And even whenAristotelianism came under fire during the renaissance and theScientific Revolution, questioning as method was not jettisonedbut rather transformed into a new form in which the questionswere to be addressed to Nature herself.Questioning is not just a method but also a philosophy in itsown right. Man not only desires to know, but wonder andperplexity are at the very heart of man¿s essence. As Karl-Otto Apel persuasively argues, Gadamer¿s Truth and Methodwas not just, or perhaps even mainly, a methodologicalinsight into how knowledge was to be obtained. Rather, inphilosophical hermeneutics questioning has a more profoundstanding, marking, as Apel puts it, "logos-reflection" andhence dialogue in the full sense.This collection of essays by leading philosophers probesquestioning as philosophy and as method both from ahistorical and a systematic perspective. The authors includeJ. Hintikka, P. Aubenque, R. Smith, M.-L. Kakkuri-Knuuttila,E. Moutsopoulos, T. Calvo Martínez, M. Yrjönsuuri, J.-F.Courtine, K.-O. Appel, V. A. Lektorsky, G. Schurz, M.Sintonen, and W. Rabinowicz & L. Bovens

This volume sheds new light on the multifarious personality of Bruno de Finetti and his outstanding contributions not only to probability and statistics, but also to economics and philosophy. Rather than focusing on de Finetti¿s technical work on probability, the essays collected here address the philosophy underpinning all of de Finetti¿s writings, a view Richard Jeffrey labelled ¿radical probabilism¿. Special attention is devoted to de Finetti¿s ideas on economics, which are inspired by the same philosophical approach, while an effort is made to highlight some lesser known aspects of de Finetti¿s production. The volume ends with an Appendix on de Finetti¿s book L¿invenzione della verità (The invention of truth), written in 1934 and published in 2006, which contains an extensive presentation of de Finetti¿s philosophical viewpoint, revolving around the idea that our knowledge is the product of human thought, which in such enterprise is guided by considerations of utility, rather than metaphysical principles.

The key-terms "language", "knowledge" and "metaphysics" arguably shapemost of the recent researches in analytic philosophy. This volume aim toaddress some of the currently debated issues revolving around thesethree fundamental areas and, in particular: can the notion of"descriptive name" be extended to names of natural kinds? What does itmean for a belief to be justified? Is there a principled way to draw thedistinction between causal and non causal relations? Do futurecontingent claims require us to employ a notion of relative truth? Inwhat sense analytic sentences could be taken to be known a posteriori?The twelve papers collected in this volume arise from a selection ofthose presented during the First Graduate Conference of the ItalianSociety for Analytic Philosophy (SIFA) held at the University of Paduain September 2007. The authors are all young and brilliant scholarscoming from some of the most prestigious universities in the world:University College (London), Nottingham, Princeton, Kentucky, Stanford,Eastern Piedmont, St. Andrews, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Duhram,Catholic University of Leuven, London School of Economics.

What does the development of a truly robust contemporary theory of domination require? Ashley J. Bohrer argues that it is only by considering all of the dimensions of race, gender, sexuality, and class within the structures of capitalism and imperialism that we can understand power relations as we find them nowadays. Bohrer explains how many of the purported incompatibilities between Marxism and intersectionality arise more from miscommunication rather than a fundamental conceptual antagonism. As the first monograph entirely devoted to this issue, »Marxism and Intersectionality« serves as a tool to activists and academics working against multiple systems of domination, exploitation, and oppression.

Prefazione di Vittorio Morfino.

Unlike the vast majority of existing literature on Plato, this book seeks to argue that liberty constitutes the central notion and preoccupation of Platonic thought and that his theory of ideas is indeed a theory of liberty. Moreover, this book contends that Plato's thought can be understood to be both one of liberty and a theory of liberation. Bound up in its efforts to reveal both the ideal liberty and the conditions and possibility of its existence in the so-called 'real world,' the thought of liberty tends to be all-encompassing. Consequently, this book seeks to expose how liberty can be understood to influence Plato's ontological form of analysis in relation to politics, philosophy, and anthropology, as well as its influence on the structural unity of all three. Understood from such a perspective, this book frames Platonic philosophy as primarily an investigation, an articulation and as a way of establishing the relationship between the individual and the collective. Importantly, this relationship is acknowledged to be the natural and original framework for any conception and exercise of human liberty, especially within democratic theory and politics. By treating Plato's philosophy as a continuous effort to find modes and dimensions of liberation in and through different forms of this relationship, this book hopes to not only engage in the discussion about the meaning of Platonic ontological-political insights on different grounds, but also to provide a different perspective for the evaluation of its relevance to the main contemporary issues and problems regarding liberty, liberation, democracy and politics. This book will be of interest to both undergraduate students, experienced scholars and researchers, as well as to the general public who have an interest in philosophy, classics, and political theory.

Roberto Marchesini presents a timely proposal within post-human philosophy in order to overcome the centuries of separation between human beings, non-human animals and technology. This book highlights the inspiring nature of the relationship with non-human beings ¿ what Marchesini calls ¿Epiphany¿ ¿ and how its enhancement can open new existential dimensions. Technology is also reinterpreted, no longer as a performative tool, but as a virus that infiltrates the human dimension and changes its predicates. Technopoietic events are not just the product of human intelligence, but they arise from an epiphany (a becoming alterity), thus positioning technology well within the ontological and somatic dimension of human beings. This book lays the foundations for a new and non-anthropocentric Humanism, which is able to recognize the essential role that non-human alterities have had throughout our history.

The concept of memory has always been a crucial topic in philosophical discourse. This book re-traces the thought of major philosophers such as Edmund Husserl, Paul Ricoeur, Hannah Arendt, Karl Jaspers, William James, Jos¿uis Borges and Sigmund Freud to provide an indepth exploration around several aspects of this timely issue. How is a memory formed? How can we bring into existence what has sunk into oblivion? What is the role of our instincts and inner drives in the constitution of memory? What is the connection between memory and forgetfulness, as well as that between mercy and remembrance? Focusing on these fundamental questions, the author presents a rich interconnection of concepts and ideas that build a signifi cant work on the great theme of memory.

"For the will desires not to be dark, and this very desire causes the darkness" (Jacob Boehme). Moving through the fundamental question of this paradox, this book offers a constellation of theoretical and critical essays that shed light on the darkness of the will: its obscurity to itself. Through indepth analysis of medieval and modern sources - Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, Eriugena, Dante, Meister Eckhart, Chaucer, Nietzsche, Cioran, Meher Baba - this volume interrogates the nature and meaning of the will, along seven modes: spontaneity, potentiality, sorrow, matter, vision, eros, and sacrifice. These multiple lines of inquiry are finally presented to coalesce around one fundamental point of agreement: the will says yes, yet only a will that knows how to say no to itself, entering the silence of its own darkness, will ever be free.

After the publication of Nietzsche¿s Untimely Meditations (Unzeitgem¿e Betrachtungen) the term 'Untimely' was introduced widely in philosophical studies, not merely in Nietzschean contexts. Although this concept has become very popular, it is surprising that it has been neglected by critical studies. Indeed, there are only a few publications that fully present the issue of 'Untimely' on the international scene. In this volume the reader will find different reflections moving from the Nietzschean texts, rethinking the question of the ¿Untimely¿ beyond the 'master', and exploring wider horizons of research.

Bioethics urges us to question and debate fundamental moral issues that arise in health-related sciences. However, as a result of Western dominance and globalization, bioethical thinking and practice has inevitably been shaped and defined by Western theories. With recent discussions centering on the relationship between culture and bioethics, it is important to consider how and to what extent can bioethics reflect and accommodate non-Western values and beliefs? Debatably, many scholars working in the field of 'African bioethics' seek to construct a bioethical practice that is grounded in indigenous African values. Yet, how relevant are ancient African cultural norms to the lives and realities of the 21st century Sub-Saharan-Africans? This edited volume explores bioethics in Africa from pluralistic and inter-cultural perspectives. The selected papers offer diverse theoretical and practical perspectives on the bioethical challenges that are common and specific to the lives of Sub-Sahara Africans. The contributors define bioethics broadly (beyond ethical issues relating to biomedical and biotechnological science) to include applied ethics that concern all aspects of life. Multidisciplinary in approach, the contributions to this book consider bioethics in relation to philosophy, social work, psychiatry, African studies, religious studies, psychology, and medicine. The broad scope of this volume means it will be of interest to those studying and working in bioethics as well as the fields mentioned above.