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History, Metaphors, Fables: A Hans Blumenberg Reader

Hans Blumenberg

This book collects the central writings by Hans Blumenberg and covers topics such as on the philosophy of language, metaphor theory, non-conceptuality, aesthetics, politics, and literary studies. The ... More

This book collects the central writings by Hans Blumenberg and covers topics such as on the philosophy of language, metaphor theory, non-conceptuality, aesthetics, politics, and literary studies. The book demonstrates Blumenberg's intellectual breadth and gives an overview of his thematic and stylistic range over four decades. Blumenberg's early philosophy of technology becomes tangible, as does his critique of linguistic perfectibility and conceptual thought, his theory of history as successive concepts of reality, his anthropology, or his studies of literature. The book allows readers to discover a master thinker whose role in the German intellectual post-war scene can hardly be overestimated.Less

Platonism and Naturalism: The Possibility of Philosophy

Lloyd P. Gerson

In his third and concluding volume, the author presents an innovative account of Platonism, the central tradition in the history of philosophy, in conjunction with Naturalism, the “anti-Platonism” in ... More

In his third and concluding volume, the author presents an innovative account of Platonism, the central tradition in the history of philosophy, in conjunction with Naturalism, the “anti-Platonism” in antiquity and contemporary philosophy. The book contends that Platonism identifies philosophy with a distinct subject matter, namely, the intelligible world and seeks to show that the Naturalist rejection of Platonism entails the elimination of a distinct subject matter for philosophy. Thus, the possibility of philosophy depends on the truth of Platonism. From Aristotle to Plotinus to Proclus, the book clearly links the construction of the Platonic system well beyond simply Plato's dialogues, providing strong evidence of the vast impact of Platonism on philosophy throughout history. The book concludes that attempts to seek a rapprochement between Platonism and Naturalism are unstable and likely indefensible.Less

The Rhetorical Sense of Philosophy

Donald Phillip Verene

Philosophy and rhetoric are both old enemies and old friends. This book sets out to shift our understanding of the relationship between philosophy and rhetoric from that of separation to one of close ... More

Philosophy and rhetoric are both old enemies and old friends. This book sets out to shift our understanding of the relationship between philosophy and rhetoric from that of separation to one of close association. The book outlines how ancient rhetors focused on the impact of language regardless of truth, ancient philosophers utilized language to test truth; and ultimately, this separation of right reasoning from rhetoric has remained intact throughout history. It is time, the book argues, to reassess this ancient and misunderstood relationship. The book traces this argument utilizing the writing of ancient and modern authors from Plato and Aristotle to Descartes and Kant; it also explores the quarrel between philosophy and poetry, as well as the nature of speculative philosophy. The author's argument culminates in a unique analysis of the frontispiece as a rhetorical device in the works of Hobbes, Vico, and Rousseau. The book bridges the stubborn gap between these two fields, arguing that rhetorical speech both brings philosophical speech into existence and allows it to endure and be understood. The book depicts the inevitable intersection between philosophy and rhetoric, powerfully illuminating how a rhetorical sense of philosophy is an attitude of mind that does not separate philosophy from its own use of language.Less

Sex, Love, and Letters: Writing Simone de Beauvoir

Judith G. Coffin

When this book's author discovered a virtually unexplored treasure trove of letters to Simone de Beauvoir from Beauvoir's international readers, it inspired the author to explore the intimate bond ... More

When this book's author discovered a virtually unexplored treasure trove of letters to Simone de Beauvoir from Beauvoir's international readers, it inspired the author to explore the intimate bond between the famed author and her reading public. This correspondence, at the heart of the book, immerses us in the tumultuous decades from the late 1940s to the 1970s — from the painful aftermath of World War II to the horror and shame of French colonial brutality in Algeria and through the dilemmas and exhilarations of the early gay liberation and feminist movements. The letters provide a glimpse into the power of reading and the power of readers to seduce their favorite authors. The relationship between Beauvoir and her audience proved especially long, intimate, and vexed. The book traces this relationship, from the publication of Beauvoir's acclaimed The Second Sex to the release of the last volume of her memoirs, offering an unfamiliar perspective on one of the most magnetic and polarizing philosophers of the twentieth century. Along the way, we meet many of the greatest writers of Beauvoir's generation — Hannah Arendt; Dominique Aury, author of The Story of O; François Mauriac, winner of the Nobel Prize and nemesis of Albert Camus; Betty Friedan; and, of course, Jean-Paul Sartre — bringing the electrically charged salon experience to life. The book lays bare the private lives and political emotions of the letter writers and of Beauvoir herself. Her readers did not simply pen fan letters but, as the book shows, engaged in a dialogue that revealed intellectual and literary life to be a joint and collaborative production.Less

The Shorter Writings

Xenophon

Gregory A. McBrayer (ed.)

This volume contains new, literal translations of Xenophon’s eight shorter writings along with interpretive essays on each work: Hiero, or The Skilled Tyrant; Agesilaus; Regime of the Lacedaemonians; ... More

This volume contains new, literal translations of Xenophon’s eight shorter writings along with interpretive essays on each work: Hiero, or The Skilled Tyrant; Agesilaus; Regime of the Lacedaemonians; Regime of the Athenians; Ways and Means, or On Revenue; The Skilled Cavalry Commander; On Horsemanship; and The One Skilled at Hunting with Dogs. The Agesilaos is a eulogy of a Spartan king, and the Hiero, or the Skilled Tyrant recounts a searching dialogue between a poet and a tyrant. The Regime of the Lacedaemonians presents itself as a laudatory examination of what turns out to be an oligarchic regime of a certain type, while The Regime of the Athenians offers an unflattering picture of a democratic regime. Ways and Means, or On Revenues offers suggestions on how to improve the political economy of Athens’ troubled democracy. The other three works included here—The Skilled Cavalry Commander, On Horsemanship, and The One Skilled at Hunting with Dogs—treat skills that are appropriate for gentlemen. By bringing together Xenophon’s shorter writings, this volume aims to help all those interested in Xenophon understand better the core of his thought, political as well as philosophic.Less

St. Matthew Passion

Hans Blumenberg

This book is the author's sustained and devastating meditation on Jesus's anguished cry on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Why did this abandonment happen, what does it mean ... More

This book is the author's sustained and devastating meditation on Jesus's anguished cry on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Why did this abandonment happen, what does it mean within the logic of the Gospels, how have believers and nonbelievers understood it, and how does it live on in art? The book unfolds context upon context in which this cry has reverberated, from early Christian apologetics and heretics to twentieth-century literature and philosophy. The author's guide through this unending story of divine abandonment is Johann Sebastian Bach's monumental Matthäuspassion, the parabolic mirror that bundled eighteen hundred years of reflection on the fate of the crucified and the only available medium that allows us post-Christian listeners to feel the anguish of those who witnessed the events of the Passion. With interspersed references to writers such as Goethe, Rilke, Kafka, Freud, and Benjamin, the book gathers evidence to raise the singular question that, in its view, Christian theology has not been able to answer: How can an omnipotent God be so offended by his creatures that he must sacrifice and abandon his own Son?Less

Thucydides, Hobbes, and the Interpretations of Realism

Laurie M. Johnson

This book has been consistently cited by scholars of international relations who explore the roots of realism in Thucydides' history and the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. While acknowledging ... More

This book has been consistently cited by scholars of international relations who explore the roots of realism in Thucydides' history and the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. While acknowledging that neither thinker fits perfectly within the confines of international relations realism, the author proposes Hobbes's philosophy is more closely aligned with it than Thucydides'. The book concludes that Thucydides' approach to politics is more preferable than Hobbes's. Hobbes, despite his pessimistic assumptions about human nature, is not realistic. It also discusses how realism and neorealism, despite their differences, share the same philosophical roots. The book suggests that Thucydides has been misunderstood and that he actually provides an interesting alternative approach to realism in the study of international politics.Less

Unfelt: The Language of Affect in the British Enlightenment

James Noggle

This book offers a new account of feeling during the British Enlightenment, finding that the passions and sentiments long considered as preoccupations of the era depend on a potent insensibility, the ... More

This book offers a new account of feeling during the British Enlightenment, finding that the passions and sentiments long considered as preoccupations of the era depend on a potent insensibility, the secret emergence of pronounced emotions that only become apparent with time. Surveying a range of affects, including primary sensation, love and self-love, greed, happiness, and patriotic ardor, the book explores literary evocations of imperceptibility and unfeeling that pervade and support the period's understanding of sensibility. Each of the four sections of the book—on philosophy, the novel, historiography, and political economy—charts the development of these idioms from early in the long eighteenth century to their culmination in the age of sensibility. From Locke to Eliza Haywood, Henry Fielding, and Frances Burney, and from Dudley North to Hume and Adam Smith, the book's exploration of the insensible dramatically expands the scope of affect in the period's writing and thought. Drawing inspiration from contemporary affect theory, the book charts how feeling and unfeeling flow and feed back into each other, identifying emotional dynamics at their most elusive and powerful: the potential, the incipient, the emergent, and the virtual.Less

Vico's "New Science": A Philosophical Commentary

Donald Phillip Verene

Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) is best remembered for his major work, the New Science (Scienza nuova), in which he sets forth the principles of humanity and gives an account of the stages common to ... More

Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) is best remembered for his major work, the New Science (Scienza nuova), in which he sets forth the principles of humanity and gives an account of the stages common to the development of all societies in their historical life. Controversial at the time of its publication in 1725, the New Science has come to be seen as the most ambitious attempt before Auguste Comte at a comprehensive science of human society and the most profound analysis of the philosophy of history prior to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. This book can be read as an introduction to Vico’s thought or it can be employed as a guide to the comprehension of specific sections of the New Science. The book offers a clear and direct discussion of the contents of each division of the New Science with close attention to the sources of Vico’s thought in Greek philosophy and in Roman jurisprudence. It also highlights the grounding of the New Science in Vico’s other works and the opposition of Vico’s views to those of the seventeenth-century natural-law theorists. The addition of an extensive glossary of Vico’s Italian terminology makes this an ideal companion to Vico’s masterpiece.Less