Partant du problème du biopouvoir introduit à la fin du cours de 1976, Il faut défendre la société, Michel Foucault déplace soudain l'horizon du cours : il s'agit non plus de l'histoire des dispositifs de sécurité, qui passe provisoirement au second plan, mais de la généalogie de l'État moderne, à travers les procédures mises en œuvre, en Occident, pour assurer le « gouvernement des hommes ».
This book of readings contains selections from Hospers, Stevenson, Black, Urmson, Hampshire and many others. Topics treated include the nature of art, aesthetic experience, creativity and art criticism.—S. A. E.
This represents the first modern translation of any of the writings of von Humboldt and the only introduction to his works in English. Included are many of his reflections on history, religion and politics, the latter being of special interest. On the whole, the translation is readable and the problems discussed, though somewhat dated, are of interest to those concerned with the perennial problems of the philosophies of man and culture.—S. A E.
This selection includes Spinoza's interpretation and comments on Descartes writings, together with Spinoza's Thoughts on Metaphysics. The translation reads easily and the introduction is genuinely useful.—S. A. E.
In research textbooks, and much of the research practice, they describe, qualitative processes and interpretivist epistemologies tend to dominate visual methodology. This article challenges the assumptions behind this dominance. Using exemplification from three existing visual data sets produced through one large education research project, this article considers the affordances and constraints of the research process focusing particularly on analysis. It examines how and when the visual can be incorporated, gives some critical reflections on the role and use of visual methods (...) to fulfil different research intents, and, in particular, considers combining large, open-ended data sets with acceptable and rigorous analysis techniques. We then explore arguments about the nature of visual data, what is considered epistemologically appropriate and the decision-making which accompanies any appraisal of process in education research. The intention is to challenge ourselves, and fellow visual methods researchers, to develop a more complete understanding of the theory and practice of visual research. (shrink)
The choice of topics around which the readings are grouped is very good. Not only are the more technical and theoretical problems of ethics discussed, but classical sources are brought to bear on such concrete problems as capital punishment, birth control and divorce.—S. A. E.
Gurwitsch's concern in this book is with the doing of phenomenology rather than the explication of what other phenomenologists have done. His analyses of Husserl's views, with whom he appears to be in close agreement, are in the service of the concrete phenomenological analyses Gurwitsch himself undertakes. His remarks on William James serve as a further corroboration of the interest practicing phenomenologists are taking in James' thought and the phenomenological strains which run through it. What emerges in Gurwitsch's own thought (...) is a view of consciousness and its objects which parallels in large measure Husserl's middle period investigations, in particular those appearing in the Ideen. Gurwitsch's work is to be praised as an attempt to introduce concrete and sometimes original phenomenological insights into the American philosophical scene.—S. A. E. (shrink)
The translation is a careful one and the introduction by Warner Wick will prove helpful to students beginning their study of Kant's ethical writings.—S. A. E.
In five brief chapters the author presents Unamuno's theories of language and truth, his epistemological views, and what the author terms his "Quixotic" existentialism. None of the problems alluded to are discussed in any depth, but the brevity of the book recommends it to those seeking an introduction to the main lines of Unamuno's thought.—S. A. E.
These essays do a rather thorough and sometimes exciting job of articulating the encounter between Christianity and contemporary philosophies of existence. Earle, representing the "opposition," puts the case for Nietzsche and Sartre quite convincingly. Edie's treatment of Heidegger might have been more subtle and suffers from the closeness with which Edie links Heidegger with Tillich. Wild's essays, without a doubt the most interesting but most perplexing in the collection, appear to be at once orthodox and revolutionary, with an overall Bultmannian (...) cast.—S. A. E. (shrink)
Kwant carefully outlines what he takes to be Merleau-Ponty's most basic discovery, the body-subject, detailing the French philosopher's approach to this phenomenon. The author relates Merleau-Ponty to Marxism, phenomenology and Sartre, as well as to the sciences and scientism. The critical remarks offered at the end of the book are a bit sketchy, but on the whole Kwant shows himself to be a careful and faithful renderer of Merleau-Ponty's thought.—S. A. E.
A chatty introduction to the problems of philosophy of religion. The book covers such topics as the origin of religion, arguments for the existence of God, fundamentalism, and immortality. Summary questions are included which are designed to stimulate discussion of the text.--S. A. E.
The lectures that form the basis of this volume were the inaugural series of St. Thomas More Lectures, given at Yale in 1962. Murray treats the Biblical problem of the presence of God and the contemporary problem of the death of God. Though not detailed, the lectures are far-reaching in scope and raise in captivating manner the question of the meaning of the contemporary religious situation, challenging the reader to rethink for himself the problem involved in adequately interpreting this situation.—S. (...) A. E. (shrink)
The main divisions of this collection are concerned with knowledge, rationalism and empiricism, truth, induction and perception. The selections tend toward the British tradition, though there are selections from such thinkers as Plato and Kant.—S. A. E.
The underlying assumption of this book is that "speeding up the process of securing maximal contributions from ethical theory for solving moral problems involves the fullest self-conscious focusing on method." With clarity and insight the author explores various ethical theories and their relationships to one another, trying always to bring about an understanding of what is truly at stake in various theoretical controversies and to relate ethical theory to the business of morality itself.—S. A. E.
Crocker's book is a continuation of his study of French intellectual history of the enlightenment period. In an earlier volume he dealt primarily with theories of human nature, metaphysics and psychology. Here his concern is with moral experience and values. Crocker traces the advance of utilitarianism and nihilism as they undermined the traditional solutions to man's moral problems, viz., Christianity and Natural Law. He shows how the political theories of the France of the eighteenth century were shaped by metaphysical and (...) ethical considerations. The treatments of Voltaire and Rousseau are incisive.—S. A. E. (shrink)
A well-edited compendium of some of the basic writings in the field. Included are passages from such thinkers as Augustine, Aquinas, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Royce, and Tennant, together with helpful philosophical introductions, bibliographical notes, and editorial footnotes designed especially for the student.--S. A. E.
The attribution of sentience or consciousness to plants is currently a topic of debate among biologists and philosophers. The claim that plants are conscious is based on three arguments: (i) plants, like all living organisms, are sentient (biopsychism); (ii) there is a strong analogy between the phloem transport system of plants and the nervous system of animals; and (iii) plants are the cognitive equals of sentient animals. On the basis of a model of consciousness that spells out criteria for assigning (...) sentience to a living organism and presents a diagnostic evolutionary marker of consciousness, we argue that these arguments are flawed and discuss some of the ethical issues they raise. (shrink)
The authors' intention is to explore themes of related interest to both psychological and ethical disciplines. Their treatment of the problems in the twilight zone between these disciplines is insightful. The underlying theme is that a psychology of personality fails to articulate its subject matter if it reduces the ought to the is but that a theory of the good must take cognizance of the manner in which the ought finds its roots in the is.—S. A. E.
Bub's criticism of Bell's locality postulate is discussed. The locality postulate is explained, and it is shown that Bub is in fact arguing against a class of theories which are subject to stronger restrictions than this postulate, and therefore his “refutation” of the latter is misleading.
Genomic research is an expanding and subversive field, leaking into various others, from environmental protection to food production to healthcare delivery, and in doing so, it is reshaping our relationship with them. The international community has issued various declaratory instruments aimed at the human genome and genomic research. These soft law instruments stress the special nature of genomics and our genetic heritage, and attempt to set limits on our activities with respect to same, as informed by the human rights paradigm. (...) This paper examines the primary thrust and, more importantly, the joint value position of the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights and the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, concluding that, though important legal instruments from the human rights paradigm, these instruments, or rather the values contained therein, must find a more influential hard law voice and a broader policy environment. (shrink)
Since Rawl’s A theory of justice, political philosophy has been haunted by the moral and epistemic problem of justification. The growing awareness of the irreducibility of human disagreement has increased a sense of uneasiness towards the ambivalence of pluralism that, in turn, has fostered the hope that rationality, in its public use, could help us in grounding the social order on more stable basis. Although Stanley Cavell is not usually considered a significant participant in this debate, through his work he (...) has developed an original and strong interpretation of the nature of justification and rationality. Cavell’s search for a new conception of rationality starts from an analysis of the rationality immanent to the use of ordinary language. This model of explanation, whose origins are to be found in the teaching of Wittgenstein and Austin, is then extended and articulated through an analysis of aesthetic judgment. This vantage point is successively used by Cavell in order to redefine the epistemological categories of political and moral philosophy. Cavell’s moral and political philosophy is based on an original account of practical rationality and justification built over the concepts of claim, articulation and expression. As Cavell himself has never offered a complete account of his theory of rationality, in this paper I provide a wide reconstruction of the linguistic, aesthetic and moral steps through which this theory has been developed. (shrink)
A continuation of some of the lines of thought developed in his earlier work, Concerning Human Understanding. Here Banerjee tries to make out a case for metaphysics by showing philosophy as an independent discipline concerned with the analysis of the human situation. Of special interest is the author's effort to understand language in terms of the person and his concern with the nature of man as a being who is with others. Many insights of phenomenological philosophy are mirrored in this (...) work, though in a different terminology.—S. A. E. (shrink)
Contains articles and excerpts from such writers as Urmson, Tomas, Stevenson, Ziff and Black, and offers an opportunity for the reader to assess the recent contributions of analysis to aesthetics.--S. A. E.
