Ce livre important reprend les concepts clés de l'éthique, de l'éducation, de la politique et de l'histoire. Il discute pied à pied les idéaux du progrès et les utopies et fait toute sa place aux limites de tolérance de la nature, à la souffrance, à la peur et à l'espérance responsable. L'accueil réservé à cette grande oeuvre - des philosophes aux décideurs politiques et des pédagogues aux scientifiques - témoigne de l'urgence d'une telle réflexion.

The book is written with grace and wit; again and again, Neiman writes the kind of sentences we dream of uttering in the perfect conversation: where every mot is bon. This is exemplary philosophy.

Imagine living in the future in a world already damaged by humankind, a world where resources are insufficient to meet everyone's basic needs and where a chaotic climate makes life precarious. Then imagine looking back into the past, back to our own time and assessing the ethics of the early twenty-first century. "Ethics for a Broken World" imagines how the future might judge us and how living in a time of global environmental degradation might utterly reshape the politics and ethics (...) of the future. This book is presented as a series of history of philosophy lectures given in the future, studying the classic texts from a past age of affluence, our own time. The central ethical questions of our time are shown to look very different from the perspective of a ruined world. The aim of "Ethics for a Broken" World is to look at our present with the benefit of hindsight - to reimagine contemporary philosophy in an historical context - and to highlight the contingency of our own moral and political ideals. (shrink)

Are we in imminent danger of extinction? Yes, we probably are, argues John Leslie in his chilling account of the dangers facing the human race as we approach the second millenium. The End of the World is a sobering assessment of the many disasters that scientists have predicted and speculated on as leading to apocalypse. In the first comprehensive survey, potential catastrophes - ranging from deadly diseases to high-energy physics experiments - are explored to help us understand the risks. One (...) of the greatest threats facing humankind, however, is the insurmountable fact that we are a relatively young species, a risk which is at the heart of the 'Doomsday Argument'. This argument, if correct, makes the dangers we face more serious than we could have ever imagined. This more than anything makes the arrogance and ignorance of politicians, and indeed philosophers, so disturbing as they continue to ignore the manifest dangers facing future generations. (shrink)

This book is designed to appeal both to those interested in Roman poetry and to specialists in ancient philosophy. In it David Sedley explores Lucretius ' complex relationship with Greek culture, in particular with Empedocles, whose poetry was the model for his own, with Epicurus, the source of his philosophical inspiration, and with the Greek language itself. He includes a detailed reconstruction of Epicurus' great treatise On Nature, and seeks to show how Lucretius worked with this as his sole philosophical (...) source, but gradually emancipated himself from its structure, transforming its raw contents into something radically new. By pursuing these themes, the book uncovers many unrecognised aspects of Lucretius ' methods and achievements as a poetic craftsman. (shrink)

Un des débats les plus intéressants et les plus passionnés qui traversent la période du XVIIè et XVIIIè siècle concerne la finalité et les causes finales. L'importance du sujet se conçoit aisément si l'on songe à l'étendue et à la profondeur de ses implications. Par ses enjeux, le problème concerne les domaines épistémologique, esthétique, métaphysique et théologique. Comment doit-on penser, comprendre et étudier la nature? La philosophie s'interroge alors sur la scientificité non seulement des explications qu'elle donne, mais aussi des (...) questions qu'elle pose. Peut-on encore faire une théodicée, c'est-à-dire justifier d'un ordre final et providentiel de l'univers? La question porte tout autant sur la nature et Dieu que sur les pouvoirs de la raison humaine. L'étude de ces deux siècles de débats permet de comprendre la genèse de nos conceptions contemporaines de la nature. (shrink)

El autor analiza cómo la decadencia no es independiente al progreso y a la historia de la humanidad.