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Love, Beauty or Morality
by Alberto CastelliThis book is moved by two main questions. Is Love a matter of beauty or mortality? In other words, is love an ethical ideal? Also, modernity understood as the age of mechanical reproduction, has shaped not simply our cities but our very same way of feeling. How has our conception of love changed, if it has, in the past two centuries? This book is to address these questions. It is not to trace the evolution of the idea of love in Western culture, from Plato to the present day. It aims to bring to the surface different shades of love lingering at the heart of Western culture to rehabilitate the myth of love to its original credibility. Our confused civilization has split love into sensual and moral aspects but to be aware of it is perhaps to defeat a dilemma that seems so unnatural. This book is about how we make sense of our lives through love and how nineteenth and twentieth-century literature records it.
Simone Weil: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by A. Rebecca Rozelle-StoneThis Very Short Introduction provides an overview of the intriguing and provocative life and ideas of twentieth century French philosopher, mystic, and social activist Simone Weil. Weil was not a typical, systematic philosopher. Despite her short life, Weil's philosophy has much to offer us in our times of personal, communal, political, and environmental crises, both in the breath and poignancy of her philosophy, and the topics it covers. In keeping with Weil's spirit to consider and address laypeople, Rozelle-Stone takes readers, including those who have had little or no previous exposure to Weil or philosophy, on an accessible journey of Weil's major philosophical impacts. This exploration consists of seven chapters highlighting: her life and manner of death, both characterized by attention; the influence of ancient Greek ideas on her philosophy; her thoughts on labour and politics; her unique and ecumenical religious inspirations, stemming from Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism; her ethical philosophy centred on a specific notion of attentiveness; her understanding of beauty as connected to fragility but also eternity; and finally, her legacy and influence on contemporary writers and issues, particularly as she may help us navigate and critically assess the growing convergence between religious fervour, late capitalist and corporate values, and authoritarian politics. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Simone Weil: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by A. Rebecca Rozelle-StoneThis Very Short Introduction provides an overview of the intriguing and provocative life and ideas of twentieth century French philosopher, mystic, and social activist Simone Weil. Weil was not a typical, systematic philosopher. Despite her short life, Weil's philosophy has much to offer us in our times of personal, communal, political, and environmental crises, both in the breath and poignancy of her philosophy, and the topics it covers. In keeping with Weil's spirit to consider and address laypeople, Rozelle-Stone takes readers, including those who have had little or no previous exposure to Weil or philosophy, on an accessible journey of Weil's major philosophical impacts. This exploration consists of seven chapters highlighting: her life and manner of death, both characterized by attention; the influence of ancient Greek ideas on her philosophy; her thoughts on labour and politics; her unique and ecumenical religious inspirations, stemming from Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism; her ethical philosophy centred on a specific notion of attentiveness; her understanding of beauty as connected to fragility but also eternity; and finally, her legacy and influence on contemporary writers and issues, particularly as she may help us navigate and critically assess the growing convergence between religious fervour, late capitalist and corporate values, and authoritarian politics. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Transformative Sustainability Pedagogy: Designing and Facilitating Eco-Spiritual Learning
by Heather BurnsThis book offers stories and tools for designing and facilitating transformative sustainability pedagogy and explores how educators can intentionally design and facilitate eco-spiritual learning that promotes healing and wholeness. In these times of accelerating climate change and systemic injustice, we need learning spaces that both challenge our unsustainable dominant paradigms and support us in re-learning how to live in relational and regenerative ways. Rooted in the paradigm of interconnection and relationality, this book offers practical ways to design and facilitate learning toward more just, ecological, and spiritual ways of being. The author weaves together a variety of personal stories of teaching and learning, an exploration of how new science can be applied to transformative sustainability pedagogy, and eco-spiritual practices to help educators nurture wholeness and connection in themselves and in learning spaces.
The Language of Symmetry
by Benedict Rattigan, Denis Noble and Afiq HattaThe Language of Symmetry is a re-assessment of the structure and reach of symmetry, by an interdisciplinary group of specialists from the arts, humanities, and sciences at Oxford University.It explores, amongst other topics: order and chaos in the formation of planetary systems entropy and symmetry in physics group theory, fractals, and self-similarity symmetrical structures in western classical music how biological systems harness disorder to create order This book aims to open up the scope of interdisciplinary work in the study of symmetry and is intended for scholars of any background - whether it be science, arts, or philosophy.
Structural Violence: The Makings of Settler Colonial Impunity
by Elena Ru?zEnduring social inequalities in settler colonial societies are not an accident. They are produced and maintained by the self-repairing structural features and dynastic character of systemic racism and its intersecting oppressions. Using methods from diverse anticolonial liberation movements and systems theory, Structural Violence theorizes the existence of adaptive and self-replicating historical formations that underwrite cultures of violence in settler colonial societies. Corresponding epistemic forces tied to profit and wealth accumulation for beneficiary groups often go untracked. The account offered here argues that these epistemic forces play a central role in producing and maintaining massive health inequalities and the maldistribution of disease burdens?including those associated with sexual violence?for marginalized populations. It upends the widespread view that structural racism can be dismantled without addressing gendered violence. It also advocates for a theory of change rooted in reparative action and models of structural competency that respond to the built-in design of structural violence and the ecosystems of impunity that allow it to thrive.
Exploitation: Perspectives from Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
by Benjamin Ferguson, Matt ZwolinskiExploitation: Perspectives from Philosophy, Politics, and Economics brings together recent work on the topic of exploitation from philosophy, political science, and economics in one volume, organized around three main questions: What is exploitation? Why is exploitation wrong? What should we do about it? These questions are increasingly relevant in public policy discussions. The past decade has witnessed the rise of populism and an increasing sense that politics is a game rigged to benefit certain classes of persons at the expense of others. Interestingly, this sense of unfairness has been shared across the political spectrum though, of course, the left and right differ in both their moral diagnosis and their political prescription. Current debates over minimum wage laws, immigration reform, and undue corporate influence on politics can all be understood as drawing on and developing these concerns over exploitative political treatment. At the same time, the literature on exploitation has blossomed. What was once a topic of relatively narrow interest to philosophers working in the tradition of analytical Marxism has been reinvigorated and diversified. The essays in this book both represent and extend that diversity. While the condition of labor remains an important and central topic, the current volume extends the analysis to such neglected topics as the relationship between children and parents, interactions between states, and interactions between generations.
The Geography of Taste (Thinking Art)
by Bence Nanay Dominic McIver Lopes Samantha Matherne Mohan MatthenThis is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. It is free to read at Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Wherever on the globe anyone sets foot, they find people immersed in matters aesthetic. In UNESCO's definition, there can be no culture that lacks an aesthetic life. Aesthetic life is in this sense a cultural universal. At the same time, aesthetic engagement has a geography. While all cultures have an aesthetic, no single aesthetic belongs to all cultures. The rules of aesthetic engagement vary by culture. How should aesthetics proceed if we take this fact of aesthetic diversity, rather than the presumption of aesthetic universality as our starting point? How should we theorize the cultural origins and cultural basis of aesthetic diversity? How should we think about the value and normativity of aesthetic diversity? To model what the turn toward diversity might look like in aesthetic inquiry, the four authors of this book each defend a different account of aesthetic diversity, and together they engage in a collective dialogue about these issues. The Geography of Taste will interest students in aesthetics courses as well as others interested in novel, global approaches to aesthetics.
Microaggressions in Medicine (Bioethics for Social Justice)
by Lauren Freeman Heather StewartIn a world that too often marginalizes people based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, body size, or disability, medicine can often be no different. Far from ?doing no harm,? it treats some patients unfairly, leading to detrimental effects. Guided by diverse patient testimonies and case studies, Microaggressions in Medicine focuses on the harms that such patients face. It amplifies their voices, stories, and experiences, which have too-often been excluded from mainstream bioethical, medical, and popular discussions. Microaggressions in medicine are not rare, but frequent in the healthcare experiences of marginalized patients. Recognizing this can help patients better understand and make sense of their experiences. As bioethicists Lauren Freeman and Heather Stewart argue, building such an awareness can also help current and future healthcare professionals recognize the serious and enduring consequences that microaggressions have on their patients. Freeman and Stewart offer practical strategies for healthcare professionals to reduce microaggressions in their practices. The harms of microaggressions are anything but micro. Healthcare professionals have a moral obligation to prevent them as much as possible. Health equity can be achieved, but only through first recognizing the harm caused by microaggressions in medical contexts. Shining a light on microaggressions in medicine and offering concrete ways for health professionals to avoid them in the future will make a positive difference in the lives of marginalized patients as they interact with medical institutions and practitioners. All patients deserve high quality, patient-centered care but healthcare professionals must change their practices in order to achieve such equity.
Structural Violence: The Makings of Settler Colonial Impunity
by Elena Ru?zEnduring social inequalities in settler colonial societies are not an accident. They are produced and maintained by the self-repairing structural features and dynastic character of systemic racism and its intersecting oppressions. Using methods from diverse anticolonial liberation movements and systems theory, Structural Violence theorizes the existence of adaptive and self-replicating historical formations that underwrite cultures of violence in settler colonial societies. Corresponding epistemic forces tied to profit and wealth accumulation for beneficiary groups often go untracked. The account offered here argues that these epistemic forces play a central role in producing and maintaining massive health inequalities and the maldistribution of disease burdens?including those associated with sexual violence?for marginalized populations. It upends the widespread view that structural racism can be dismantled without addressing gendered violence. It also advocates for a theory of change rooted in reparative action and models of structural competency that respond to the built-in design of structural violence and the ecosystems of impunity that allow it to thrive.
When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Democracy is often described in two opposite ways, as either wonderfully resilient or dangerously fragile. Both characterizations can be correct, depending on the context. When Democracy Breaks aims to deepen our understanding of what separates democratic resilience from democratic fragility by focusing on the latter. The volume's collaborators--experts in the history and politics of the societies covered in their chapters--explore eleven episodes of democratic breakdown, from ancient Athens to Weimar Germany to present-day Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela. Strikingly, in every case, various forms of democratic erosion long preceded the final democratic breakdown. Although no single causal factor emerges as decisive, linking together all of the episodes, some important commonalities--including extreme political polarization, explicitly anti-democratic political actors, and significant political violence--stand out across the cases. Moreover, the notion of democratic culture, while admittedly difficult to define and even more difficult to measure, may play a role in all of them. Throughout the volume, the contributors show again and again that the written rules of democracy are insufficient to protect against tyranny. While each case of democratic decay is unique, the patterns that emerge shed much light on the continuing struggle to sustain modern democracies and to assess and respond to the threats they face.
The Classical Upani?ads: A Guide (Guides to Sacred Texts)
by Signe CohenThe Upani?ads are rich and complex Sanskrit Hindu scriptures dating back to the 8th century BCE and are a staple of world religion courses across the globe. In this volume, Signe Cohen guide readers through on the thirteen "Classical Upani?ads," those generally regarded as the oldest: Bhadrayaka, Chandogya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Isa, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, Svetasvatara, Mandukya, Prasna, Kausitaki, and Maitri Upanisad. Where most survey textbooks present a cursory overview of these texts, The Classical Upani?ads: A Guide provides a nuanced but accessible exploration of the Upani?ads that will benefit both scholars, students, and general readers alike. This volume explores the historical, geographical, and social context of the Classical Upani?ads and discusses issues of dating, authorship, and transmission of the texts. Cohen also breaks down central ideas in the Upani?ads, such as atman, brahman, karma, reincarnation, moksa, knowledge, and sacred sounds (mantras). The text also discusses the importance of the Upani?ads for Hinduism and Indian culture, as well as the reception of the Upani?ads in the West. Through exploring these works, their key characters and ideas, and their impact on Hinduism's core beliefs, Cohen provides the reader a thorough but approachable entry into these seminal texts.
Misplaced Ideas?: Political-Intellectual History in Latin America (Studies in Comparative Political Theory)
by El?as J. PaltiIs there a Latin American thought? What distinguishes it from the thought of other regions, particularly from European thought? What are its main expressions in political, cultural, and social life? How has it evolved historically? As the Mexican philosopher Leopoldo Zea Aguilar stated: "hardly any other society has so zealously sought for the features of its own identity." In Misplaced Ideas?, El?as J. Palti examines how Latin American identity has been conceived across different epochs and diverse conceptual contexts. Palti approaches these ideas from a historical-intellectual perspective, unraveling the theoretical foundations on which the very interrogation on Latin American identity has been forumulated and re-formulated. While he does not endorse or refute any particular perspective, Palti discloses the historical and contingent nature of their foundations. Ultimately, Misplaced Ideas? highlights the problematic dynamics of the circulation of ideas in peripheral regions of Western culture, which raises, in turn, broader theoretical questions regarding the ways of approaching complex historical-intellectual processes.
The Virtue of Loyalty (The Virtues)
by Troy JollimoreLoyalty is a highly contested virtue. One the one hand, some have wondered whether it is really a virtue at all. On the other, we might doubt whether a person who was not loyal to anything could be said to have a defined moral character. Loyalty is so fundamental to so many of our relationships and commitments that it is hard to imagine a world without it. Because it structures our lives by setting horizons and limits within which we make choices and conduct our affairs, it is difficult to appreciate how significant, profound, and pervasive its influence is. That said, loyalty is a particularly salient moral concept in the public sphere, where demands for loyalty of various sorts, not to mention accusations of disloyalty, often inspire fervently passionate responses. Although loyalty invites moral objections and poses philosophical puzzles, it is undeniably held in high regard and viewed with great significance by many people. This volume presents ten new academic essays on the topic of loyalty considered as a virtue, written by scholars in philosophy, law, religious studies, empirical psychology, and child development, and approached from a diverse array of backgrounds and perspectives. The Virtue of Loyalty aims to help readers attain a greater understanding of this complex and multifaceted virtue.
When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day
by Archon Fung, David Moss and Odd Arne WestadThis is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Democracy is often described in two opposite ways, as either wonderfully resilient or dangerously fragile. Both characterizations can be correct, depending on the context. When Democracy Breaks aims to deepen our understanding of what separates democratic resilience from democratic fragility by focusing on the latter. The volume's collaborators--experts in the history and politics of the societies covered in their chapters--explore eleven episodes of democratic breakdown, from ancient Athens to Weimar Germany to present-day Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela. Strikingly, in every case, various forms of democratic erosion long preceded the final democratic breakdown. Although no single causal factor emerges as decisive, linking together all of the episodes, some important commonalities--including extreme political polarization, explicitly anti-democratic political actors, and significant political violence--stand out across the cases. Moreover, the notion of democratic culture, while admittedly difficult to define and even more difficult to measure, may play a role in all of them. Throughout the volume, the contributors show again and again that the written rules of democracy are insufficient to protect against tyranny. While each case of democratic decay is unique, the patterns that emerge shed much light on the continuing struggle to sustain modern democracies and to assess and respond to the threats they face.
Misplaced Ideas?: Political-Intellectual History in Latin America (Studies in Comparative Political Theory)
by El?as J. PaltiIs there a Latin American thought? What distinguishes it from the thought of other regions, particularly from European thought? What are its main expressions in political, cultural, and social life? How has it evolved historically? As the Mexican philosopher Leopoldo Zea Aguilar stated: "hardly any other society has so zealously sought for the features of its own identity." In Misplaced Ideas?, El?as J. Palti examines how Latin American identity has been conceived across different epochs and diverse conceptual contexts. Palti approaches these ideas from a historical-intellectual perspective, unraveling the theoretical foundations on which the very interrogation on Latin American identity has been forumulated and re-formulated. While he does not endorse or refute any particular perspective, Palti discloses the historical and contingent nature of their foundations. Ultimately, Misplaced Ideas? highlights the problematic dynamics of the circulation of ideas in peripheral regions of Western culture, which raises, in turn, broader theoretical questions regarding the ways of approaching complex historical-intellectual processes.
The Geography of Taste (Thinking Art)
by Bence Nanay Dominic McIver Lopes Samantha Matherne Mohan MatthenThis is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. It is free to read at Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Wherever on the globe anyone sets foot, they find people immersed in matters aesthetic. In UNESCO's definition, there can be no culture that lacks an aesthetic life. Aesthetic life is in this sense a cultural universal. At the same time, aesthetic engagement has a geography. While all cultures have an aesthetic, no single aesthetic belongs to all cultures. The rules of aesthetic engagement vary by culture. How should aesthetics proceed if we take this fact of aesthetic diversity, rather than the presumption of aesthetic universality as our starting point? How should we theorize the cultural origins and cultural basis of aesthetic diversity? How should we think about the value and normativity of aesthetic diversity? To model what the turn toward diversity might look like in aesthetic inquiry, the four authors of this book each defend a different account of aesthetic diversity, and together they engage in a collective dialogue about these issues. The Geography of Taste will interest students in aesthetics courses as well as others interested in novel, global approaches to aesthetics.
Exploitation: Perspectives from Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Exploitation: Perspectives from Philosophy, Politics, and Economics brings together recent work on the topic of exploitation from philosophy, political science, and economics in one volume, organized around three main questions: What is exploitation? Why is exploitation wrong? What should we do about it? These questions are increasingly relevant in public policy discussions. The past decade has witnessed the rise of populism and an increasing sense that politics is a game rigged to benefit certain classes of persons at the expense of others. Interestingly, this sense of unfairness has been shared across the political spectrum though, of course, the left and right differ in both their moral diagnosis and their political prescription. Current debates over minimum wage laws, immigration reform, and undue corporate influence on politics can all be understood as drawing on and developing these concerns over exploitative political treatment. At the same time, the literature on exploitation has blossomed. What was once a topic of relatively narrow interest to philosophers working in the tradition of analytical Marxism has been reinvigorated and diversified. The essays in this book both represent and extend that diversity. While the condition of labor remains an important and central topic, the current volume extends the analysis to such neglected topics as the relationship between children and parents, interactions between states, and interactions between generations.
The Virtue of Loyalty (The Virtues)
Loyalty is a highly contested virtue. One the one hand, some have wondered whether it is really a virtue at all. On the other, we might doubt whether a person who was not loyal to anything could be said to have a defined moral character. Loyalty is so fundamental to so many of our relationships and commitments that it is hard to imagine a world without it. Because it structures our lives by setting horizons and limits within which we make choices and conduct our affairs, it is difficult to appreciate how significant, profound, and pervasive its influence is. That said, loyalty is a particularly salient moral concept in the public sphere, where demands for loyalty of various sorts, not to mention accusations of disloyalty, often inspire fervently passionate responses. Although loyalty invites moral objections and poses philosophical puzzles, it is undeniably held in high regard and viewed with great significance by many people. This volume presents ten new academic essays on the topic of loyalty considered as a virtue, written by scholars in philosophy, law, religious studies, empirical psychology, and child development, and approached from a diverse array of backgrounds and perspectives. The Virtue of Loyalty aims to help readers attain a greater understanding of this complex and multifaceted virtue.
The Classical Upani?ads: A Guide (Guides to Sacred Texts)
by Signe CohenThe Upani?ads are rich and complex Sanskrit Hindu scriptures dating back to the 8th century BCE and are a staple of world religion courses across the globe. In this volume, Signe Cohen guide readers through on the thirteen "Classical Upani?ads," those generally regarded as the oldest: Bhadrayaka, Chandogya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Isa, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, Svetasvatara, Mandukya, Prasna, Kausitaki, and Maitri Upanisad. Where most survey textbooks present a cursory overview of these texts, The Classical Upani?ads: A Guide provides a nuanced but accessible exploration of the Upani?ads that will benefit both scholars, students, and general readers alike. This volume explores the historical, geographical, and social context of the Classical Upani?ads and discusses issues of dating, authorship, and transmission of the texts. Cohen also breaks down central ideas in the Upani?ads, such as atman, brahman, karma, reincarnation, moksa, knowledge, and sacred sounds (mantras). The text also discusses the importance of the Upani?ads for Hinduism and Indian culture, as well as the reception of the Upani?ads in the West. Through exploring these works, their key characters and ideas, and their impact on Hinduism's core beliefs, Cohen provides the reader a thorough but approachable entry into these seminal texts.
Beyond Consent: Seeking Justice in Research
Justice is foundational to discussion, debate, and policy making surrounding biomedical research. Time-tested for more than 20 years, Beyond Consent examines the concept of justice and its application to research with human subjects, through multiple lenses of research populations of people who are sick (including those needing emergency medical care), cognitively impaired, children, captive and convenient (such as prisoners), women, racial minorities, communities, and living in international settings. This second edition includes new chapters on today?s leading-edge topics as well as updated chapters that consider what has changed, and what new matters have arisen. The result is a fresh treatment of the latest issues and concepts of justice in research examined by multidisciplinary scholars. This volume is a vital resource for students and scholars of bioethics, medicine, and public health policy; as well as for members of institutional review boards, research administrators, and policy makers.
Microaggressions in Medicine (Bioethics for Social Justice)
by Lauren Freeman Heather StewartIn a world that too often marginalizes people based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, body size, or disability, medicine can often be no different. Far from ?doing no harm,? it treats some patients unfairly, leading to detrimental effects. Guided by diverse patient testimonies and case studies, Microaggressions in Medicine focuses on the harms that such patients face. It amplifies their voices, stories, and experiences, which have too-often been excluded from mainstream bioethical, medical, and popular discussions. Microaggressions in medicine are not rare, but frequent in the healthcare experiences of marginalized patients. Recognizing this can help patients better understand and make sense of their experiences. As bioethicists Lauren Freeman and Heather Stewart argue, building such an awareness can also help current and future healthcare professionals recognize the serious and enduring consequences that microaggressions have on their patients. Freeman and Stewart offer practical strategies for healthcare professionals to reduce microaggressions in their practices. The harms of microaggressions are anything but micro. Healthcare professionals have a moral obligation to prevent them as much as possible. Health equity can be achieved, but only through first recognizing the harm caused by microaggressions in medical contexts. Shining a light on microaggressions in medicine and offering concrete ways for health professionals to avoid them in the future will make a positive difference in the lives of marginalized patients as they interact with medical institutions and practitioners. All patients deserve high quality, patient-centered care but healthcare professionals must change their practices in order to achieve such equity.
Beyond Consent: Seeking Justice in Research
by Jeffrey P. Kahn, Anna C. Mastroianni and Jeremy SugarmanJustice is foundational to discussion, debate, and policy making surrounding biomedical research. Time-tested for more than 20 years, Beyond Consent examines the concept of justice and its application to research with human subjects, through multiple lenses of research populations of people who are sick (including those needing emergency medical care), cognitively impaired, children, captive and convenient (such as prisoners), women, racial minorities, communities, and living in international settings. This second edition includes new chapters on today?s leading-edge topics as well as updated chapters that consider what has changed, and what new matters have arisen. The result is a fresh treatment of the latest issues and concepts of justice in research examined by multidisciplinary scholars. This volume is a vital resource for students and scholars of bioethics, medicine, and public health policy; as well as for members of institutional review boards, research administrators, and policy makers.
Elemental-Embodied Thinking for a New Era (Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures #42)
by Lenart Škof Sigridur Thorgeirsdottir SashinunglaThis collection responds to widespread, complex, and current environmental challenges by presenting eleven original essays on a new elemental-embodied approach in environmental humanities. This approach has a special focus on elemental and indigenous philosophies as well as localized experiences of terrestrial forces: from earthquakes and eruptions to pandemics and natural disasters. Representing a shift in modern Western scientific and disembodied thinking of nature, this edited book approaches the question of relationality and intertwining of human and natural being by utilizing the elemental-embodied methodologies within philosophy of embodiment and nature. Supported by research in cognitive sciences, the contributors represent the experiential and affective turn within research into human cognition. As embodied, the human being is embedded and interacting with all there is. The aim of this edited volume is to indicate new paths toward regaining our access to natural being within usand thus toward reconnecting with the natural environment and the things and beings around us in a new, environmentally enhanced way. It appeals to researchers and students working in many fields, predominantly in philosophy, as well as religious and environmental studies.
Critical Theory: The Basics (The Basics)
by Martin ShusterCritical Theory: The Basics brings clarity to a topic that is confusingly bandied about with various meanings today in popular and academic culture.First defined by Max Horkheimer in the 1930s, “critical theory” now extends far beyond its original German context around the Frankfurt School and the emergence of Nazism. We now often speak of critical theories of race, gender, anti-colonialism, and so forth. This book introduces especially the core program of the first-generation of the Frankfurt School (including Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Erich Fromm, and Herbert Marcuse), and shows how this program remains crucial to understanding the problems, ideologies, and systems of the modern world, including capitalism, racism, sexism, and the enduring problems of colonialism. It explores basic questions like: What is critical theory? What can critical theory be? What should it be? Why and how does critical theory remain vital to understanding the contemporary world, including notions of self, society, politics, art, religion, culture, race, gender, and class? With suggestions for further reading, this book is an ideal starting point for anyone seeking an accessible but robust introduction to the richness and complexity of this tradition and to its continuing importance today.