Existential Threats

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Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 0812294017
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (122 download)

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Book Synopsis Existential Threats by : Lisa Vox

Download or read book Existential Threats written by Lisa Vox and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2017-05-12 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans have long been enthralled by visions of the apocalypse. Will the world end through nuclear war, environmental degradation, and declining biodiversity? Or, perhaps, through the second coming of Christ, rapture of the faithful, and arrival of the Antichrist—a set of beliefs known as dispensationalist premillennialism? These seemingly competing apocalyptic fantasies are not as dissimilar as we might think. In fact, Lisa Vox argues, although these secular and religious visions of the end of the world developed independently, they have converged to create the landscape of our current apocalyptic imagination. In Existential Threats, Vox assembles a wide range of media—science fiction movies, biblical tractates, rapture fiction—to develop a critical history of the apocalyptic imagination from the late 1800s to the present. Apocalypticism was once solely a religious ideology, Vox contends, which has secularized in response to increasing technological and political threats to American safety. Vox reads texts ranging from Christianity Today articles on ecology and the atomic bomb to Dr. Strangelove, and from Mary Shelley's The Last Man to the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, demonstrating along the way that conservative evangelicals have not been as resistant to science as popularly believed and that scientists and science writers have unwittingly reproduced evangelical eschatological themes and scenarios in their own works. Existential Threats argues that American apocalypticism reflects and propagates our ongoing debates over the authority of science, the place of religion, uses of technology, and America's evolving role in global politics.

Existential Threats and Civil-security Relations

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Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780739134849
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (348 download)

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Book Synopsis Existential Threats and Civil-security Relations by : Oren Barak

Download or read book Existential Threats and Civil-security Relations written by Oren Barak and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Existential Threats and Civil Security Relations critically analyzes, presents, and further develops the major approaches to existential threats--structural, cultural, and rational. It examines the influence these threats have on effective democracies, formal democracies, and democratizing states.

Meeting the Challenges of Existential Threats through Educational Innovation

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 100046783X
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Meeting the Challenges of Existential Threats through Educational Innovation by : Herner Saeverot

Download or read book Meeting the Challenges of Existential Threats through Educational Innovation written by Herner Saeverot and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-22 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meeting the Challenges of Existential Threats through Educational Innovation is the first book of its kind to provide an educational and systematic analysis of problems and solutions regarding the most pressing threats that humankind is facing. The book makes a case for the importance of education responding to significant threats; including climate change, pandemics, decline in global biodiversity, overpopulation, egoism, ideologies, nuclear, biological and chemical warfare, inequality, artificial intelligence, and ignorance and the distortion of truth. Written by leading experts in their field based on cutting-edge research, the chapters explore these issues and offer suggestions for how education can address these problems in the future. This groundbreaking and highly topical book will be an essential reading for academics, researchers and post-graduate students in the fields of education research, environmental studies, educational politics and organizational management.

Understanding America’s Greatest Existential Threats

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Author :
Publisher : FriesenPress
ISBN 13 : 1525553836
Total Pages : 196 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

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Book Synopsis Understanding America’s Greatest Existential Threats by : Dr. J. R. Maxwell

Download or read book Understanding America’s Greatest Existential Threats written by Dr. J. R. Maxwell and published by FriesenPress. This book was released on 2020-12-08 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this introductory volume, readers will learn about the vital role that the various Critical Infrastructure (CI) sectors play in America, in the context of homeland security. The protection, maintenance, and monitoring of these interdependent CI assets is a shared responsibility of governments, private sector owner/operators, first responders, and all those involved in homeland security and emergency management. As this foundational learning resource demonstrates, rapidly advancing technologies combined with exponential growth in demand on the aging infrastructure of America’s power grid is setting the stage for a potentially catastrophic collapse that would paralyze each and every facet of civilian life and military operations. This meticulously researched primer will guide readers through the known world of power failures and cyber-attacks to the emerging threat from a High-altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP). A HEMP would cause cascading failures in the power grid, communications, water treatment facilities, oil refineries, pipelines, banking, supply chain management, food production, air traffic control, and all forms of transportation. Each chapter in America’s Greatest Existential Threat (Vol. 1) begins with learning objectives and ends with a series of review questions to assess take-up of the chapter material. Similarly, subsequent volumes will explore HEMP and emerging issues in closer detail with current research and analysis now in development.

Existential Risks in Peace and Conflict Studies

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Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031243153
Total Pages : 219 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (312 download)

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Book Synopsis Existential Risks in Peace and Conflict Studies by : Noah B. Taylor

Download or read book Existential Risks in Peace and Conflict Studies written by Noah B. Taylor and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-03-21 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the topic of peace and the long-term survival of the human species. Drawing on Existential Risk Studies (ERS), the book lays out a theoretical framework for drawing new perspectives and approaches for looking toward the future and addressing existential risks related to the complexity and dynamics of conflict. Looking at five research lines in Peace and Conflict Studies (PCS); (1) Great Powers Conflict, (2) Peace, Pandemic, and Conflict, (3) Climate, Peace, and Conflict, (4) Emerging Technologies, Peace, and Conflict and (5) Totalitarianism, the chapters discuss how these lines are defined and discussed, how they are understood in ERS, and what approaches would be beneficial to adapt and integrate into PCS. By drawing on ERS and grounding the discussion in lines of research that will be important to the field of PCS, this book suggests that long-term perspectives are needed in the field, especially in regard to existential risk and their implications of conflict.

Confronting the Existential Threat of Dementia

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3030123502
Total Pages : 141 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (31 download)

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Book Synopsis Confronting the Existential Threat of Dementia by : Richard Cheston

Download or read book Confronting the Existential Threat of Dementia written by Richard Cheston and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-06-12 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores how dementia acts as an existential threat, both to people diagnosed with the condition, and to their carers. The authors highlight how dementia not only gradually erodes our most fundamental abilities, but that it does so at a time of life when the resources of individuals, couples, and families are already stretched. While over time many people who are living with dementia are able to adapt to their diagnosis and acknowledge its impact on them, for many others it remains too threatening and painful to do this. The book draws on examples from clinical practice and experimental studies to argue that a range of responses, such as searching for long-dead parents or clinging to previous identities, all represent ways in which people living with dementia attempt to protect themselves against the emotional impact of the condition. Finally, the authors set out new ways of intervening to boost psychological resources and thereby support people in facing the existential threat of dementia.

Cultural-Existential Psychology

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107096863
Total Pages : 315 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Cultural-Existential Psychology by : Daniel Sullivan

Download or read book Cultural-Existential Psychology written by Daniel Sullivan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-06 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridging cultural and experimental existential psychology, this book offers a synthetic understanding of how culture shapes psychological threat.

Calamity Theory

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Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 1452966583
Total Pages : 138 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (529 download)

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Book Synopsis Calamity Theory by : Joshua Schuster

Download or read book Calamity Theory written by Joshua Schuster and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the implications of how we talk about apocalypse? A new philosophical field has emerged. “Existential risk” studies any real or hypothetical human extinction event in the near or distant future. This movement examines catastrophes ranging from runaway global warming to nuclear warfare to malevolent artificial intelligence, deploying a curious mix of utilitarian ethics, statistical risk analysis, and, controversially, a transhuman advocacy that would aim to supersede almost all extinction scenarios. The proponents of existential risk thinking, led by Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, have seen their work gain immense popularity, attracting endorsement from Bill Gates and Elon Musk, millions of dollars, and millions of views. Calamity Theory is the first book to examine the rise of this thinking and its failures to acknowledge the ways some communities and lifeways are more at risk than others and what it implies about human extinction. Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

Facing Global Environmental Change

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3540684883
Total Pages : 1544 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (46 download)

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Book Synopsis Facing Global Environmental Change by : Hans Günter Brauch

Download or read book Facing Global Environmental Change written by Hans Günter Brauch and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-06-04 with total page 1544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year 2007 could perhaps accurately be described as the year when climate change finally received the attention that this challenge deserves globally. Much of the information and knowledge that was created in this field during the year was the result of the findings of the Fourth - sessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which were disseminated on a large scale and reported extensively by the media. This was the result not only of a heightened interest on the part of the public on various aspects of climate change, but also because the IPCC itself proactively attempted to spread the findings of its AR4 to the public at large. The interest generated on the scientific realities of climate change was further enhanced by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC and former Vice President of the US, Al Gore. By taking this decision in favour of a leader who has done a great deal to create awareness on c- mate change, and a body that assesses all scientific aspects of climate change and disseminates the result of its findings, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has clearly drawn the link between climate change and peace in the world.

What's the Worst That Could Happen?

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Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262366614
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis What's the Worst That Could Happen? by : Andrew Leigh

Download or read book What's the Worst That Could Happen? written by Andrew Leigh and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why catastrophic risks are more dangerous than you think, and how populism is making them worse. Did you know that you’re more likely to die from a catastrophe than in a car crash? The odds that a typical US resident will die from a catastrophic event—for example, nuclear war, bioterrorism, or out-of-control artificial intelligence—have been estimated at 1 in 6. That’s fifteen times more likely than a fatal car crash and thirty-one times more likely than being murdered. In What’s the Worst That Could Happen?, Andrew Leigh looks at catastrophic risks and how to mitigate them, arguing provocatively that the rise of populist politics makes catastrophe more likely. Leigh explains that pervasive short-term thinking leaves us unprepared for long-term risks. Politicians sweat the small stuff—granular policy details of legislation and regulation—but rarely devote much attention to reducing long-term risks. Populist movements thrive on short-termism because they focus on their followers’ immediate grievances. Leigh argues that we should be long-termers: broaden our thinking and give big threats the attention and resources they need. Leigh outlines the biggest existential risks facing humanity and suggests remedies for them. He discusses pandemics, considering the possibility that the next virus will be more deadly than COVID-19; warns that unchecked climate change could render large swaths of the earth uninhabitable; describes the metamorphosis of the arms race from a fight into a chaotic brawl; and examines the dangers of runaway superintelligence. Moreover, Leigh points out, populism (and its crony, totalitarianism) not only exacerbates other dangers but is also a risk factor in itself, undermining the institutions of democracy as we watch.

Overcoming the Threat to Our Future

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Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1984557688
Total Pages : 429 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (845 download)

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Book Synopsis Overcoming the Threat to Our Future by : David Anderson

Download or read book Overcoming the Threat to Our Future written by David Anderson and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2018-10-04 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about the social, political, philosophical, religious, and economic presuppositions we have believed to be inherent truths that we are now discovering were built on geo-ecological flaws. We are being faced with an existential threat. There is the possibility of human extinction. And unlike threats in the past to all forms of life on the planet, this one will not be determined by a random meteorite/asteroid or natural planetary happening. It will be self-inflicted. We are that species. Where have we all gone wrong? Could it be that certain elements in our thought process laboriously pieced together from the beginning of our bronze/iron/agricultural age are now working against us? And if so, what are those elements? Finally, the question is, How could we, the most clever and brilliant primate ever to evolve, be bringing this on ourselves? Is it that we have an evolutionary self-destructive neurotic/psychotic cranial imperfection? And if this is the reason, at what stage of our evolution did that imperfection occur? Finally, do you and I biologically/psychologically/neurologically have the ability to move away from that imperfection?

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Existentialism

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350227455
Total Pages : 433 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis The Bloomsbury Handbook of Existentialism by : Jack Reynolds

Download or read book The Bloomsbury Handbook of Existentialism written by Jack Reynolds and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-12-28 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fully revised and updated 2nd edition provides a comprehensive reference guide to existentialism, featuring key chapters on key existentialist thinkers, as well as chapters applying existentialism to subject areas ranging across politics, literature, feminism, religion, the emotions, cognitive science, and poststructuralism. Contemporary developments in the field of existentialism that speak to issues of identity and exclusion are explored in 4 new chapters on race, gender, disability, and technology, whilst the 5th new chapter new chapter outlines analytic philosophy's complicated relationship to existentialism. Presenting the field of existentialism beyond the European tradition, this edition also includes a new key thinker chapter on Frantz Fanon, alongside Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and de Beauvoir, as well as new engagement with the work of scholars on race and existentialism, including Lewis R. Gordon, George Yancy, and Richard Wright. The resources section at the end of the book includes an updated A to Z glossary, and timeline of key events, texts and thinkers in existentialism, as well as a list of relevant organisations, and an annotated guide to further reading, making this 2nd edition an invaluable text for scholars and students alike.

The Precipice

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Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 031648489X
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (164 download)

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Book Synopsis The Precipice by : Toby Ord

Download or read book The Precipice written by Toby Ord and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This urgent and eye-opening book makes the case that protecting humanity's future is the central challenge of our time. If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Our species could survive for billions of years - enough time to end disease, poverty, and injustice, and to flourish in ways unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, where we face existential catastrophes - those from which we could never come back. Since then, these dangers have only multiplied, from climate change to engineered pathogens and artificial intelligence. If we do not act fast to reach a place of safety, it will soon be too late. Drawing on over a decade of research, The Precipice explores the cutting-edge science behind the risks we face. It puts them in the context of the greater story of humanity: showing how ending these risks is among the most pressing moral issues of our time. And it points the way forward, to the actions and strategies that can safeguard humanity. An Oxford philosopher committed to putting ideas into action, Toby Ord has advised the US National Intelligence Council, the UK Prime Minister's Office, and the World Bank on the biggest questions facing humanity. In The Precipice, he offers a startling reassessment of human history, the future we are failing to protect, and the steps we must take to ensure that our generation is not the last. "A book that seems made for the present moment." —New Yorker

The Transhumanism Handbook

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3030169200
Total Pages : 863 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (31 download)

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Book Synopsis The Transhumanism Handbook by : Newton Lee

Download or read book The Transhumanism Handbook written by Newton Lee and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-07-03 with total page 863 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern humanity with some 5,000 years of recorded history has been experiencing growing pains, with no end in sight. It is high time for humanity to grow up and to transcend itself by embracing transhumanism. Transhumanism offers the most inclusive ideology for all ethnicities and races, the religious and the atheists, conservatives and liberals, the young and the old regardless of socioeconomic status, gender identity, or any other individual qualities. This book expounds on contemporary views and practical advice from more than 70 transhumanists. Astronaut Neil Armstrong said on the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Transhumanism is the next logical step in the evolution of humankind, and it is the existential solution to the long-term survival of the human race.

The Era of Global Risk

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Author :
Publisher : Open Book Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1800647891
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis The Era of Global Risk by : SJ Beard

Download or read book The Era of Global Risk written by SJ Beard and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2023-08-23 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative and comprehensive collection of essays explores the biggest threats facing humanity in the 21st century; threats that cannot be contained or controlled and that have the potential to bring about human extinction and civilization collapse. Bringing together experts from many disciplines, it provides an accessible survey of what we know about these threats, how we can understand them better, and most importantly what can be done to manage them effectively. These essays pair insights from decades of research and activism around global risk with the latest academic findings from the emerging field of Existential Risk Studies. Voicing the work of world leading experts and tackling a variety of vital issues, they weigh up the demands of natural systems with political pressures and technological advances to build an empowering vision of how we can safeguard humanity’s long-term future. The book covers both a comprehensive survey of how to study and manage global risks with in-depth discussion of core risk drivers: including environmental breakdown, novel technologies, global scale natural disasters, and nuclear threats. The Era of Global Risk offers a thorough analysis of the most serious dangers to humanity. Inspiring, accessible, and essential reading for both students of global risk and those committed to its mitigation, this book poses one critical question: how can we make sense of this era of global risk and move beyond it to an era of global safety?

Security, Governance, and State Fragility in South Africa

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Author :
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 1793609535
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (936 download)

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Book Synopsis Security, Governance, and State Fragility in South Africa by : Edward L. Mienie

Download or read book Security, Governance, and State Fragility in South Africa written by Edward L. Mienie and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2020-03-06 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do existing measures of state fragility measure fragility accurately? Based on commonly used fragility measures, South Africa (SA) is classified as a relatively stable state, yet rising violent crime, high unemployment, endemic poverty, eroding public trust, identity group based preferential treatment policies, and the rapid rise of the private security sector are all indications that SA may be suffering from latent state fragility. Based on a comprehensive view of security, this study examines the extent to which measures of political legitimacy and good governance, effectiveness in the security system – especially with respect to the police system – and mounting economic challenges may be undermining the stability of SA in ways undetected by commonly used measures of state fragility. Using a mixed-methods approach based on quantitative secondary data analysis and semi-structured interviews with government officials, security practitioners, and leading experts in the field, this study finds that the combination of colonization, apartheid, liberation struggle, transition from autocracy to democracy, high levels of direct and structural violence, stagnating social, political, and economic developments make South Africa a latently fragile state. Conceptually, the results of this research call into question the validity of commonly used measures of state fragility and suggest the need for a more comprehensive approach to assessing state fragility. Practically, this study offers a number of concrete policy recommendations for how South Africa may address mounting levels of latent state fragility.

Superintelligence

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Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199678111
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (996 download)

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Book Synopsis Superintelligence by : Nick Bostrom

Download or read book Superintelligence written by Nick Bostrom and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This profoundly ambitious and original book picks its way carefully through a vast tract of forbiddingly difficult intellectual terrain.