Humanities Press – serie

The Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) has been labeled everything from a sadomasochistic pornographer (The 120 Days of Sodom) to the fiction writer responsible for the ideas that led to the Nazi death camps.Must We Burn Sade? peels away the negative legacy that has shrouded Sade for too long. Deepak Narang Sawhney points out that "Sade's legacy has been neglected, recreated, fictionalized, and venerated by medical guilds, literary hacks, religious detractors, and intellectual movements. In the past two centuries, Sade has come to represent many things for many people. . . . It is unclear whether we know Sade the writer or the apparatus which has been set up to either condemn or to sanctify his life and work."By contrast, this intriguing collection of essays seeks to examine Sade for what he was—a writer of novels and letters, a creator of plays and stories, and an author of essays and political manifestos. The contributors examine the literary, theatrical, political, social, and philosophical aspects of Sade's work, acquitting him of the false accusations and trials that have plagued his name by revealing his influences and motivations, and by providing an understanding of society's fear of Sade. What is so alarming about Sade's books that civilized society has felt compelled to disassociate itself from his works? This volume forces us to rethink Sade.Included are essays by Kathy Acker, David Allison, Georges Bataille, Catherine Cusset, Lucienne Frappier-Mazur, Annie Le Brun, Alphonso Lingis, Stephen Pfohl, Deepak Narang Sawhney, Philippe Sollers, and Alistair Welchman.

This absorbing study of the Victorian controversies over the cultural meaning of evolution broadens our perspective by discussing the roles played by prominent individuals besides Charles Darwin, notably Alfred Russel Wallace, Herbert Spencer, and Thomas Henry Huxley. Fichman traces the emergence of science as a definitive political and cultural force in this critical period, showing that evolutionary biology was at the epicenter of these profound sociocultural transformations. His astute analysis of the often vehement Victorian debates on the political, religious, racial, and ethical implications of evolutionary thought reveals how science came to be inseparable from the broader culture. He also relates 19th-century controversies to cultural debates in the 20th century, in particular the notorious Scopes trial (1925) and the later, and ongoing, debate about "scientific creationism." For all those fascinated, and perplexed, by the impact of evolutionary theory on our worldview, and the increasingly close ties between science and Western culture, Fichman's historical perspective lends much clarity and context to current controversies.

Presents an analysis and discussion of moral language and the assumptions underlying its use. This book contends that much of our prescriptive language pertaining to issues such as gambling, abortion, capitol punishment, homosexuality, prostitution, divorce, freedom of speech and expression, pornography, and others, is devoid of moral content.

Features Mandel's essays that are an affirmation of internationalism, macropolitics, political economy, and class analysis.

Explores the literary reflection of Britain's changing attitudes to the wider world between the Restoration and the American War of Independence. This work assesses the impact upon literary genres of this awareness of real and imagined travel, and of travel literature.

Shows the way to a post-modern ethics - neither utilitarian nor deontological - by reflecting on its key concepts of freedom, value, intersubjectivity, obligation, responsibility, rights, ethos, history, and culture.

Offers a guide to various ethical dilemmas. This book provides both a theoretical and an empirical foundation for addressing several emotionally difficult issues. It includes fifty-five articles divided into eighteen sections dealing with subjects as ethical theory, geriatric ethics, end-of-life issues, informed consent, and, pain management.

Examines the link between Heidegger's theories and his reading of German philosophy - especially idealist and neo-Kantian strains. This title offers the analyses and evaluations of Heidegger's writings that represent a range of views, running from those who agree with Heidegger to those who are critical.

Presents a collection of essays by philosophers and political theorists that cover the main varieties of patriotism. This title includes articles that discuss the history of the term in moral and political discourse in the English-speaking world. It emphasises that patriotism is a distinct moral and political outlook.

Descartes with his sharp separation of the mental and the physical set the stage for the philosophy of mind for the years to come. Philosopher Patrick T Mackenzie finds in the later writings of Wittgenstein the suggestion that Descartes got off on the wrong foot.

Argues that Heidegger's questioning of rationality and his rejection of objectivity did not cause him to abandon the idea of norms. This book suggests that Heidegger's critics have fundamentally misunderstood his idea of freedom, the key to which lies in Heidegger's notion of resoluteness.

Containing 1500 biographies and more than 1400 photographs or portraits, this encyclopaedia documents the lives and achievements of remarkable American women who lived during the nineteenth century. This work demonstrates that women were a rising cultural and intellectual force to be reckoned with.

Aimed at philosophers, cognitive scientists, and anyone with an interest in the perennial riddle of consciousness. This work about philosophy of mind is a defence of dualism as a serious philosophical explanation of consciousness.

Explores the philosophic content of some literary works, analysing and evaluating the ideas that drive the narrative. This book examines, among other things, the concept of free will and determinism in Melville's "Moby Dick", placing the quest for the white whale within the context of foreordination, hubris, prophecy, and defiance of divine power.

Kai Nielsen is a towering figure of Canadian philosophy. This work contains twenty papers on Nielsen's thought, and also his responses to critical essays, which show that it is possible to develop a systematic approach that links difference areas of philosophy within one perspective.

Offers an interpretation based upon central features of both the pre-Platonic conception of poetry and features of Plato's various discussions of poetry and the poets. This book concentrates on the philosophical significance of Plato's distinction between dramatic and non-dramatic sorts of poetry.

Robert Hunter made an impact on social reform. He demonstrated that poverty was preventable by appropriate government action. His proposals helped precipitate action at state and local levels and foreshadowed much of the social legislation enacted under the New Deal. This book provides an account of his life and work.

Describes how the Irish philosopher George Berkeley (1684-1753) continues to inspire debates about his views on knowledge, reality, God, freedom, mathematics, and religion. This book resolves discussions about Berkeley's account of physical objects, minds, and God's role in human experience within explicitly ethical and theological contexts.