Contributions in Philosophy – serie

Martin J. Henn's Parmenides of Elea offers to the reader a reinvigorating verse translation of the Diels and Kranz B-Fragments of Parmenides cast in rhyming couplet iambic pentameter. Placing Parmenides in his proper historical context by taking seriously the impact of Persian Zoroastrianism on his developing monism, Henn supplies precise interpretation of the most difficult and vexing of Parmenides's fragments, while also providing reliable philosophical analysis of the many seeming contradictions latent in the text.The interpretive essays form a unique contribution to studies of this work, exploring such issues as the sprawling influences of Persian Zoroastrian dualism, literary parallels and contrasts with Hesiod's Theogony, and the radical antithesis between a finite linear and an infinite closed-loop model of space and time. Overall, Henn's work represents a new model for study of a key element of philosophical literature, making it a highly significant addition to the scholarship on the subject.

Douglas N. Walton considers the question of whether the conventions of informal conversation can be articulated more precisely than they are at present. Specifically, he addresses the problem of the fallacy of ad hominem argumentation as it occurs in natural settings. Can rules be formulated to determine if criticisms of apparent hypocrisy in an argument are defensible or refutable? Walton suggests that they can, and ultimately defends the thesis that ad hominem reasoning is not fallacious per se. He carries his analysis to the core of action--theoretic reasoning--by examining a number of specimen arguments. As suggested by the title, the conclusion of ad hominem argument is demonstrated to be relative to the arguer's position. In the appendixes of the book, articles by Gerald McAuliffe and Gordon R. Lowe illustrate vivid and powerful cases in which Walton's contentions are put to the test.

Drawing upon research from a variety of disciplines, this volume offers a systematic discussion of the issues and assumptions of the corporate responsibility debate. James J. Brummer provides an extensive review of the relevant literature and develops a methodology for treating specific problems of corporate responsibility, illustrating its use in actual practice. The book also proposes a theory of corporate responsibility and legitimacy that builds upon the concept of accountability and explores the relevance of applying methods of study traditionally associated with the humanities to contemporary problems of corporate ethics.The author begins by addressing general concepts and principles including types of corporate responsibility, relations of accountability, models of the corporation, and theories of institutional legitimacy. Part Two outlines the four theories of corporate responsibility--the classical, stakeholder, social demandingness, and social activist theories--and examines their major premises and supporting evidence. Two chapters treat the specific issue of plant closing or relocation in relation to each of the four theories of corporate responsibility. Finally, the author discusses collective and subordinate responsibility, paying particular attention to the concept of whistleblowing. The concluding chapter summarizes the corporate responsibility debate and analyzes various models of accountability. An ideal supplemental text for courses in business ethics and public administration, this volume is also an invaluable resource for executives confronted with issues of corporate responsibility in their own operations.

Political liberalism has increasingly come under fire from both the right and the left, in politics as well as in philosophy. In this new study, G.B. Madison offers a systematic rebuttal to these contemporary critics, attempting to demonstrate that the basic principles of classical liberal philosophy are not only internally valid and coherent but also directly relevant to the problems faced by society in the post-industrial age. Building on the theory of Frank H. Knight and other liberal tinkers, Madison outlines the postmodern theory of reason that is presupposed within classical liberal theory and makes the case that as a political philosophy liberalism can be justified entirely within its own terms, without reference to arbitrary or absolute values.

Victims and Values joins history and ethics, conducting a timely inquiry into conscience and politics. Mindful of William James's notion that ethics must be grounded in the historical situation, this book examines fundamental ambiquities, dichotomies, and contradictions that we experience about the worth of our own suffering and that of others. In particular, it analyzes how victims make a powerful claim upon contemporary conscience and politics. Amato distances himself equally from those who deny suffering all substantive meaning and those who fashionably transform it into self-righteous identities and political rhetorics and ideologies. Amato's hope is that each person will be able to take measure of the suffering of others, while still remaining able to value his own suffering.After distinguishing pain from suffering, Amato starts his work with the assumption that humanity must interpret and give meaning to its pains and sufferings. Amato examines the fundamental place of suffering, sacrifice, and victims in Greek and Christian cultures. Reaching the central object of his study, the modern mind, Amato shows how the reformist world view of the eighteenth century philosopher sought to reduce suffering to a matter of rational calculation and how the progressive views of the nineteenth century dedicated the most profound energies of society and state to the elimination of human suffering. Ironically, in the twentieth century this resulted in an increasingly hedonistic society that is preoccupied with suffering and its rights, victims and their claims. Historians, philosophers, political scientists, theologians, and lay people will all find a lively forum in Amato's work.

This volume provides a unique overview and analysis of the philosophy and thought of Wilhelm Dilthey, and examines his writings in terms of their contemporary relevance. Rickman contends that the hub of Dilthey's work was his philosophy of the human studies, and that his ideas were directly relevant to the future of the social sciences. The book focuses on Dilthey's contribution not only to philosophy but also to history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, literary criticism, and the methodology of human studies in general; his bearing on present-day concepts is documented by quotations from modern authors in these various fields. This incisive study also includes a critical assessment of the ambiquities and tensions in Dilthey's writing, which have been underscored by the recent first publication of some of his important manuscripts, and examine how contemporary thought has been stimulated by these ambiguities and by his resolute attempts to confront reality in all its complexities.

This collection of spiritual testimonies is committed to the idea that genuine dialogue between men and women that acknowledges the essential fully-gendered human aspect of each is the foundation for achieving true liberation of the sexes. This study looks to the traditions of the five major religions of the world for guidance. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are examined by five women who, drawing on their own personal experiences, individually address how the issues of justice and equality are manifested in their respective religions, and search for teachings within those traditions that would promote meaningful dialogue.Of central concern to the text is the concept that both sexes have responsibility for extracting the core lessons from their own particular cultural and religious framework, and the inclusion of writings by men as partners in this pursuit evidences the work's dialogical approach. Hopeful that men and women will witness the essential equality that is the heart of our belief systems, the work concludes with an outline of educational methods designed to encourage the kind of dialogue that can promote authentic freedom.

Make Room for Dreams examines Zionism from both a philosophical and practical point of view. This in-depth study reviews and evaluates the notion that Zionism has become a way of enlisting political or economic support for Israel and is no longer seen as a movement that should seek ways to realize humane or spiritual goals. The discussion focuses on the concept of Zionism as the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, a return that must be accompanied by a changing of certain basic attitudes concerning the Jews' mode of being-in-the-world. The manner of blending existentialism with political thought is seen in relation to the Biblical experience, and it is shown that Zionist challenges must draw their sustenance from the ability to read the Bible with existential and political awareness.It presents five specific challenges for Zionism in Israel, citing concrete examples from life in Israel, and some examples from the history of Zionism. The current situation is also described, and precise determinations for responding to the challenges are woven into each chapter. Also included is a thought-provoking summary of the manner in which a more authentic Jewish existence can be lived in Israel. This scholarly work is the first to deal with the complex issues behind the Zionist movement in present-day Israel, and will provide a valuable resource for philosophers, political scientists, and students in Jewish studies.

Walton's book is a study of several fallacies in informal logic. Focusing on question-answer dialogues, and committed to a pragmatic rather than a semantic approach, he attempts to generate criteria for evaluating good and bad questions and answers. The book contains a discussion of such well-recognized fallacies as many questions, black-or-white questions, loaded questions, circular arguments, question-begging assertions and epithets, ad hominem and tu quoque arguments, ignoratio elenchi, and replying to a question with a question. In addition, Walton develops several artificial dialogue games and has an excellent discussion of burden of proof in nonlegal contexts. The discussion is for the most part nontechnical and does not presuppose any training in formal logic. It is illustrated with many (sometimes overlong) examples of fallacies drawn from real life--mostly debates in the Canadian House of Commons. . . . Walton's book breaks new ground on a number of issues. ChoiceThis first full-length study of logical fallacies, errors, faults, illicit attacks, blunders, and other critical deficiencies in interrogation and reply has been written in the tradition of informal fallacies in logic. It is especially valuable, readable, and interesting because of the 139 case studies it presents, many of these case studies come from political debates and some from interviews, legal cross-examinations, and other sources. Walton uses these challenging examples of tricky, aggressive, argumentative, or fallacious questions to develop coherent and pragmatic guidelines for criticizing questionable questions (and in some cases their replies) on logical grounds. Among the types of problematic questions analyzed are: the traditional so-called fallacy of many questions, illustrated by the famous Have you stopped beating your wife?; black and white questions; terminologically loaded questions; and questions containing personal attacks. These and other types of problematic questions as well as evasive replies and replying to a question with a question are studied. Critical errors of reasoning are identified and analyzed by developing context-based, normative models of reasonable dialogue in which a questioner must have freedom to ask informative and probing questions, and the respondent must be constrained to give reasonably direct, not overly evasive answers.In this era of negative and evasive political campaigning, with candidates employing skillful tactics of manipulating public opinion to assure election rather than taking clear stands and seriously debating issues in an informed and sincere manner, Question-Reply Argumentation is especially relevant reading for those who take democracy seriously. The methods used reflect a significant shift from earlier semantically based theories to current pragmatic, dialogue-based models, and will be of interest to logicians and linguists. The volume's conclusions should challenge some current preconceptions. Recommended reading for courses in logic, speech communications, linguistics, philosophy of language, areas of political science relating to political discourse and debate, courses on questioning in cognitive psychology, and courses on critical thinking in education.

This book offers a new theory of begging the question as an informal fallacy, within a pragmatic framework of reasoned dialogue as a normative theory of critical argumentation. The fallacy of begging the question is analyzed as a systematic tactic to evade fulfillment of a legitimate burden of proof by the proponent of an argument. The technique uses a circular structure of argument to block the further progress of dialogue and, in particular, the capability of the respondent to ask legitimate critical questions in reply to the argument. Walton analyzes the concept of burden of proof in argument, and provides chapters on the use of argument diagramming as a technique of argument reconstruction. This powerful method of argument analysis developed therein is then applied to more than 100 case studies of circular argumentation where the charge of begging the question is or has been thought to be an appropriate criticism.Throughout this work, Walton throws light on the relationship between the problem of circular reasoning and broader issues in the critical analysis of argumentation. Ground-breaking use is made of the pragmatic theory of argument as interactive dialogue. Rules for several kinds of dialogue framework provide standards of good reasoning to validate or to refute the criticism that a particular argument begs the question. This book is directed to students and professionals in the fields of speech communication, philosophy, linguistics, logic, dispute mediation, and education.

Contemporary society, according to F.F. Centore, is dominated by a post-modern philosophical world-view. Therefore, he argues, it behooves the educated individual to know what this perspective means, where it came from, and where it is taking humankind. Lacking until now, from the many works that have been written on post-modernism, is one that scrutinizes its fundamental assumptions and presuppositions.Being and Becoming fills this need by synthesizing the key developments in contemporary post-modernism. By taking the reader through the various historical periods and developments which have led to the current situation, Centore shows how, that which is now taken for granted by the vast majority of people, is not necessary for either philosophical or theological reasons. Moreover, he shows that post-modernism is not required as the rational foundation for personal freedom, privacy, and creativity. Centore offers an alternative solution to the basic problems that lie at the root of post-modern philosophy. The comprehensive, rational, and scientific approach that he advocates would, he argues, render post-modernism irrelevant and unnecessary. Our intellectual and social-political life would be much better without post-modern doctrine and with a more rational, emotionally satisfying philosophy of being and becoming. Centore's work is certain to prove controversial, but deserves to be given careful attention by anyone seriously interested in understanding the contemporary world.

Fuery explores the relationship between post-structuralism and absence. In order to understand the psychoanalytic theory of Lacan (and Freud), the deconstructionalist methodology of Derrida, Foucault's studies of systems of thought, and Kristeva's socio-cultural and psychoanalytic interests, Fuery believes it is necessary to take into consideration the function and operation of absence. He shows how post-structuralist theory can be seen as a system of studies of subjectivity in terms of absence, and how desire is based almost entirely on the precondition of absence. The study is divided into sections on subjectivity. desire, and meaning, with the final section working toward a hermeneutics and semiotics of absence.

More than a school of philosophy with a defined set of beliefs and convictions, classical Cynicism represents an unconventional sect of philosophers and a way of life. This is a complete account of classical Cynicism from its beginnings in the Socratic circle to its extinction in late Roman times. In this thoroughly documented study, Navia explores various issues related to the sources of information about the Cynics, the development of Cynicism, and the principal representatives of classical Cynicism. Exploring the relationship between classical Cynicism and cynicism as understood in its ordinary modern sense, the author argues that despite their common designation, they represent significantly different philosophical attitudes. This book explicates the main ideas associated with classical Cynicism and argues that, its shortcomings notwithstanding, classical Cynicism furnishes us with a wealthy source of philosophical enlightenment.Individual chapters are devoted to Antisthenes, Diogenes, and Crates, the three principal classical Cynics. Attention is given to the development and application of certain fundamental Cynic ideas and to the transformation of these ideas throughout the eight centuries during which Cynicism was an influential philosophical movement. The book provides abundant references to primary and secondary sources and includes a bibliography of over five hundred entries.

The development of Simone de Beauvoir's notion of self in both her philosophical and autobiographical writings is analyzed in this volume. Two ideas of the self are isolated: the existential notion of the self and the gendered self, which she developed in The Second Sex, and which represents a major departure from existential philosophy. Beginning with a study of her early essays, the author proceeds to discuss Beauvoir's major philosophical works and her autobiographical writings where three personae emerge—the child, the woman in love, and the writer. This analysis highlights the innovative quality of Beauvoir's thought. It also shows that writing an autobiography can be a philosophically inventive enterprise and one in which Beauvoir created her most profound analysis of the self.

More than fifty years ago, Tetsuhiko Uehiro looked down on the radioactive ashes of Hiroshima and dedicated his life to more ethical resolutions of human disagreements. He founded an association which attracted millions of Japanese people, to promote traditional ethics. His son, Eiji Uehiro, seeking a more universal and international basis for ethics, founded the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education, which became a partner of the Carnegie Council. To commemorate the Foundation's tenth anniversary, leading scholars of Asian philosophy and Jungian psychology were brought together to find new grounds for ethics in human experience which would not depend on religious affiliation and which would apply ethics to the interpersonal and global problems of the modern world.All the authors reach for new decision-making paradigms giving new ways of learning about morality. They suggest that our bodies, feelings, dreams, and synchronous experiences give us clues to ethics. Their scholarship illusrates that people are invisibly, inescapably interconnected with each other and with our environment. An important resource for scholars in the fields of comparative cultures, counseling and ethics, Jungian psychology, and Asian religions.

The life and teachings of Diogenes of Sinope, the Greek philosopher who gave rise to classical Cynicism, deserve careful consideration because of their relevance to contemporary ethical issues. The task of reconstructing the philosopher's life, however, is exceedingly difficult, because in his case, more than in those of other ancient philosophers, we must deal not only with the scarcity of reliable sources and testimonies, but also with the mountains of anecdotal and fictional accounts that are responsible for the creation of a veritable literary legend around the Cynic who once lived in a tub. This comprehensive study reconstructs his biography on the basis of classical and Arabic sources, identifies the main ideas and principles of his philosophy, and shows the application of his philosophical message for our contemporary world.It also includes an extensively annotated translation of Diogenes Laertius' Life of Diogenes of Sinope, which is our principal source of information about the philosopher.

This introduction to Nietzsche's thought is geared to those who approach his work with grave skepticism. Belliotti begins each chapter with a brief exposition of a broad theme in Nietzsche's work, raising important questions of interpretation. He then turns the discussion into a dialogue between two characters who, in the topics they address, exemplify rather than merely explain Nietzsche's broad themes. In this manner, Stalking Nietzsche focuses on the connection between philosophy and living: How can reading Nietzsche change one's life? What links are there between accepting Nietzsche's broad philosophical themes and practical conduct? And what lessons, if any, can reading Nietzsche teach us about the human condition?

The status of the modern age has long been debated, but since post-modernism, it has assumed centrality as if it were the issue of philosophy. Gardner brings a new approach to the problem of modernity, based on theories of René Girard and others. While modernity is commonly seen as an ideological project or interpretation of Being, Gardner sees it in terms of the structure of human relations and their impact on philosophy. The decisive feature of the modern world is what Tocqueville called equality of conditions, which has wrought a revolution in the self-image of the individual and in one's dealings with others. But, in the process, it has replaced old myths—debunked by the Enlightenment—with new ones of its own invention. Hence emerged the myths of freedom—of the autonomy of the self or the spontaneity of passion, or later, of emancipation or authenticity—from Descartes to Heidegger.Gardner probes the central issue: To what extent have philosophers clarified these myths, or, perhaps, succumbed to their illusions. This inquiry attacks the major dogmas of contemporary criticism—such as the primacy of the question of technology, or of the quarrel of ancients and moderns. It restores the philosophical legitimacy of anthropology, both in opposition to Heidegger's ontology and to the deconstructive retreat into an idealism, and in contrast to classical political philosophy. This provocative analysis will be of interest to philosophers, political theorists, and others dealing with the problem of modernity.

The tension between the roles of authorial intention and the text itself is a basic concern of contemporary hermeneutics. Challenging much of the current thinking in the field, this volume argues that the text itself, in its various forms, is an untenable criterion for correct interpretation, and through compelling moral and epistemological arguments defends an intentionalist approach to interpretation. After discussing the shortcomings of earlier intentionalist theories, Irwin proposes a new, normative approach, urinterpretation, which is based on an author construct, the urauthor, that includes several elements traditionally seen as separate from the author. The book closes with a theoretical application of intentionalism to philosophical, literary, and legal texts.

Centore's work is an inquiry into the weaknesses and strengths of the two basic positions in ethics: the man-centered model and the God-centered model for deciding between right and wrong behavior. The philosophical paradigm for the man-centered approach is absolute relativism, while the paradigm for the God-centered approach is relative absolutism. Centore argues that the man-centered model in actual practice proves not to be realistic as an ethical guide, while the God-centered model, if properly understood, is the most useful approach. This work penetrates difficult ethical issues by examining human experience and reasoning in conjunction with actual choices of action. Although the God-centered approach is shown to be the most practical, Centore argues for a natural moral law that avoids any specific theology.Each chapter discusses the historical and theoretical background of the approaches and two possible compromises. The work is enlivened with examples of possible contexts in which moral decisions must take place. Various ethical dilemmas are presented with an examination of the potential consequences of applying either the atheistic or the theistic ethical approach. Centore's argument is complex, but he explains the elements clearly and his conclusion is strengthened by real-life cases and an extensive Bibliography.

Luis E. Navia provides a comprehensive examination of the ideas and contributions of a Greek philosopher who was influential in the development of classical Cynicism. Based on both primary and secondary sources as well as the findings of modern scholarship, it is a unique contribution to the study of Antisthenes. An important philosopher, only two English-language books about him have been published in the last eighty years. With his clear and accessible narrative style, Navia succeeds in reconstructing Antisthenes' biography resurrecting this ancient philosopher's ideas as still relevant to this day.Navia describes an integral moment in the history of Greek philosophy--the presence of Antisthenes as a student of the Sophists, an associate of Socrates, and the originator of the Cynic movement. This detailed study of the principal sources, includes an index of relevant names, a bibliography of over two hundred and fifty titles, and an appendix consisting of an extensively annotated translation of Diogenes Laertius' biography of Antisthenes.

Have the reports of the author's death been greatly exaggerated? When Roland Barthes famously announced the death of the author, he heralded a major new debate in modern literary criticism and aesthetics. This volume is a dialogical collection of key essays discussing the nature of authorship and the place, if any, of authorial intention in the interpretation of literary texts. Including seminal essays by Barthes and Foucault, along with other previously published and newly commissioned contributions, this collection examines the philosophical underpinnings and arguments of both sides of the debate.