Science relies on models and idealizations that are known not to be true. Even so, science is epistemically reputable. To accommodate science, epistemology should focus on understanding rather than knowledge and should recognize that the understanding of a topic need not be factive. This requires reconfiguring the norms of epistemic acceptability. If epistemology has the resources to accommodate science, it will also have the resources to show that art too advances understanding.

How might the social sciences best be employed in the study of law, especially in light of today's legal climate of anti-foundationalism? Realistic Socio-Legal Theory addresses this question thoroughly and precisely. Drawing upon philosophical pragmatism to construct an epistemological and methodological foundation, this book formulates a framework for a realistic approach to socio-legal theory. Brian Z. Tamanaha contrasts the strengths of his realistic approach with those of the major schools of socio-legal theory through application to many key issues in the (...) field. He explores the problematic state of socio-legal studies, the relationship between behavior and meaning, the notion of legal ideology, the nature of the concept of law, the problem of indeterminacy in rule following and application, and the structure of judicial decision making. Tamanaha's discussion is always clear and concise as he articulates a social theory of law that draws equally from legal theory and socio-legal studies. His book has much to offer those interested in the gathering and organization of knowledge about law and legal phenomena. (shrink)

Good and evil; religious aspects; Islam.

Arab countries; intellectual life; congresses.

Comparative study of the theory of knowledge (Islam) with special reference to the philosophy of Ghazzālī, 1058-1111 and Aḥmad Raz̤ā K̲h̲ān̲, 1856-1921.

Rush Rhees was a philosopher, and a pupil and close friend of Ludwig Wittgenstein. While some of Rhees's own published papers became classics, most of his work remained unpublished during his lifetime. After his death, his papers were found to comprise sixteen thousand pages of manuscript on every aspect of philosophy, from philosophical logic to Simone Weil. This collection of unpublished papers, edited by D. Z. Phillips, includes Rhees's outstanding work on philosophy and religion. Written over an academic lifetime, some (...) of the papers are sympathetic to religion while others are not. It is Rhees's ability to interweave the personal and philosophical, and his integrity and intellectual honesty, which make this one of the most impressive books in twentieth-century philosophy of religion. (shrink)

In “Considering Causalisms”, Andrew Sneddon critically examines causalism, the dominant position in action theory since Donald Davidson published his influential article, “Actions, Reasons, and Causes”. Sneddon’s analysis is based on a distinction he makes between two kinds of causalism. One is a minimal version of causalism, which holds only a causal view of reasons explanations. Sneddon calls it “restricted-causalism,” or causalismR.

Typescripts, essays, and an authoritative edition of Knowing and the known, Dewey's collaborative work with Arthur F. Bentley. In an illuminating Introduction T. Z. Lavine defines the collaboration's three goals-the construction of a new language for behavioral inquiry, a critique of formal logicians, in defense of Dewey's Logic, and a critique of logical positivism. In Dewey's words: Largely due to Bentley, I've finally got the nerve inside of me to do what I should have done years ago. What is it (...) to be a linguistic sign or name? and Values, valuations, and social facts, ' both written in 1945, are published here for the first time. (shrink)

Autor se z hlediska marxistické filozofie a metodologie zabývá revolucí v biologii ve vztahu k filozofii, teoretizací současné biologie, problémem biologické evoluce, druhem jako základní jednotkou evoluce, problémy klasifikace v biologii a v závěru klade otázku : "věk biologie" nebo ekologická katastrofa?

The book combines philosophical depth with a wide and deep discussion covering the essential existential challenges humanity is currently experiencing.

A book which might well become a classic on Heidegger. Richardson discusses most of Heidegger's works in chronological order, offering a close analysis of each. Most chapters include a general exposition of the argument of the work discussed, a detailed analysis of the problems of Thought, Being and Dasein in the work, and a résumé. While maintaining very high standards of scholarly precision in the rendering of Heidegger's ideas and terminology, Richardson yet succeeds in making his book very readable and (...) lucid. Without "supplementing" Heidegger in any way, refraining from explanatory speculations and staying always very close to the text, he manages to clarify some of the most difficult passages of Heidegger's works. His frequent cross-references make the commentary of genuine value to the advanced student as well as to the novice. Heidegger, in his own preface to the book, criticizes Richardson for the sharp distinction between Heidegger I and Heidegger II, but gives a most important substantiation to two of the author's main theories, viz., the difference between Heidegger's Seinsdenken and Husserl's phenomenology, and the central status of the concept of Ereignis in Heidegger's philosophy. Richardson regrettably does not pursue the Heidegger III suggested by Vycinas, the Heidegger of the Geviert, the question of the nature of Being as such. In some chapters at least this omission makes the interpretation seem partial and sometimes inexact. One hopes for a sequel as good and illuminating.—E. M. Z. (shrink)

A collection of commentaries on various theories in aesthetics, similar in method and aim to Kainz's Vorlesungen. Far from placing "the study of aesthetics on a new footing" or grasping "the scope of the subject as a whole," as the dust jacket declares, it is still a useful, well organized and often illuminating manual for the student of aesthetics. Sparshott treats some problems clearly and succinctly, but many other questions, such as the mode of being of the work of art (...) or the possibility of regarding art as a cognitive form, are not even mentioned. It also seems that some familiarity with at least the main currents in aesthetics on the continent and a more systematic conception of the field of aesthetics as a whole would have brought Sparshott closer to his stated aims.—E. M. Z. (shrink)

This book is an important challenge to the extensive literature--philosophical, sociological, and aesthetic--concerning the much abused concept of alienation. Lachs boldly proposes scrapping the concept of alienation: "It is unlikely that we shall make much headway in understanding the source and nature of our social ailments without abandoning the idea of alienation." He regards alienation as flawed by vagueness; by lack of rules for its application; by indiscriminate reference to objective conditions and subjective discomfort; and by the confusion of description (...) and evaluation. Lachs undertakes to replace alienation with the concepts of mediation and psychic distance: these are clear and applicable; their reference is to "describable conditions"; moreover, these concepts are value-neutral, separating description from evaluation. Most significantly, "while alienation seems an unmitigated evil, more realistically, mediation has both costs and benefits.". (shrink)

Žižek as comedian: jokes in the service of philosophy.

Ghazzālī, 1058-1111; Kīmiyā-yi saʻādat -Criticism and interpretation ; Ghazzālī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, -1126; Savāniḥ -Criticism and interpretation ; Ghazzālī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, -1126; Baḥr al-muḥabbat fī asrār al-muvaddat fītafsīr Sūrah-i Yūsuf -Criticism.

In this major new work the leading philosopher Slavoj Žižek argues that philosophical materialism has failed to meet the key scientific, theoretical and political challenges of the modern world, from relativity theory and quantum physics to Freudian psychoanalysis and the failure of twentieth-century Communism. To bring materialism up to date, Žižek proposes a new foundation for dialectical materialism. He argues that dialectical materialism is the only true philosophical inheritor of what Hegel designates as the speculative approach of thought - all (...) other forms of materialism fail. In Absolute Recoil, Žižek offers a startling reformulation of the ground and possibilities of contemporary philosophy. (shrink)

cz. 1. Marksizm, myśl katolicka, filozofia egzystencjalna.