Rawls In 60 Minutes

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Rawls in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3750427844
Total Pages : 122 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (54 download)

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Book Synopsis Rawls in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Rawls in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-02-17 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Rawls's masterpiece A Theory of Justice was discussed all over the world already during the author's lifetime. Its very title is provocative since it is generally believed that there can be no general theory of justice: what is just for one man is unjust for another. But Rawls succeeds nonetheless in giving a definition of a just society. To do this he develops a brilliant procedure: choice from behind a "veil of ignorance". If we are to choose, absolutely fairly and objectively, how property, income and education are to be justly distributed, then the people choosing must not know in advance whether, in the society they choose, they will be rich or poor, male or female, worker or employer, educated or uneducated, talented or untalented. Because a rich man is likely to find great differences in wealth just, a poor man unjust. Only a "veil of ignorance", says Rawls, "forces each to take the welfare of others into account". Such a choice "behind a veil" could, of course, never actually take place. But if it did, says Rawls, then it would produce the only two perfectly just principles of justice that can be applied to a society: the equality principle and the "difference principle". By these the quality of every modern society can be measured. What do these principles mean in detail? And can the same thought-experiment work in other contexts? If, for example, we did not know whether, in a future society, we would be humans or animals, would we then choose a vegetarian society? Rawls surely sets off, with his Theory of Justice, a whole firework display of ground-breaking new ideas. This introduction to Rawls appears as part of the popular series "Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes".

Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes - Volume 5

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 375687205X
Total Pages : 614 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (568 download)

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Book Synopsis Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes - Volume 5 by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes - Volume 5 written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2023-01-12 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes Volume 5" comprises the five books "Adorno in 60 Minutes", "Habermas in 60 Minutes", "Foucault in 60 Minutes", "Rawls in 60 Minutes", and "Popper in 60 Minutes". Each short study sums up the key idea at the heart of each respective thinker and asks the question: "Of what use is this key idea to us today?" But above all the philosophers get to speak for themselves. Their most important statements are prominently presented, as direct quotations, in speech balloons with appropriate graphics, with exact indication of the source of each quote in the author's works. This light-hearted but nonetheless scholarly precise rendering of the ideas of each thinker makes it easy for the reader to acquaint him- or herself with the great questions of our lives. Because every philosopher who has achieved global fame has posed the "question of meaning": what is it that holds, at the most essential level, the world together? For Adorno it is the dialectical development of civilization from the Stone Age up to capitalism along with the alienation of Man from Nature that goes with it. Habermas, by contrast, sees in this historical process of development the chance to gradually improve society through the emancipatory power of language in communicative action. Foucault remains sceptical here and reveals to us the rigid structures in which we, as modern individuals, are trapped. Rawls develops a complex and compelling procedure for the creation of an ideally just state of affairs. Popper, finally, establishes a quite new theory of science whereby every scientific truth has only a provisional character so that it must eventually be relieved and replaced by better truths. In other words, the meaning of the world and thus of our own lives remains, among philosophers, a topic of great controversy. One thing, though, is sure: each of these five thinkers struck, from his own perspective, one brilliant spark out of that complex crystal that is the truth.

Freud in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3741227706
Total Pages : 97 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Freud in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Freud in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Viennese physician and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud moved from hypnotizing his patients to interpreting their dreams and discovered thereby the hitherto unexplored dimension of the unconscious mind. Each of us, argued Freud, has hidden wishes, desires, and drives which influence our actions below the level of our awareness. A great role is played here, already from childhood on, by sexual desire and pleasure. The nursing infant still lives entirely by the “pleasure principle”, taking everything into his mouth, crying when he wants something, and laughing when he is satisfied. But he must soon learn to obey the rules set by his parents, teachers and society in general. The infantile “pleasure principle” is brutally superseded by the “reality principle”. This is an experience we all must undergo. But it is also one which sometimes leads to grievances and traumatization, as do other aspects of the development of our sexuality and of our relationships. Freud was a doctor and practiced a revolutionary method of treatment: psychoanalysis. He was the first to discover that the way people experience their own lives is often to be traced back to experiences which cannot, indeed, be altered but can be emotionally re-evaluated. Furthermore, Freud impressively explains how our “psychical apparatus” functions day to day and how we process in every second, with lightning speed, our drives, thoughts and perceptions. It was with good reason that the readers of the New York Times voted Freud the most important thinker of the 20th Century. The small book Freud in 60 Minutes explains Freud’s new and revolutionary perspective on human life step by step, by means of many examples and over forty quotes from Freud’s own works. Because all the key components of his theory – from the “oral stage”, the Oedipus Complex, the conflict of the drives, sublimation, repression, resistance, symptom-formation, transference, right on to the therapy itself – interlock with one another. In the second part of the book it is asked: “Of what use is Freud’s discovery to us today?” It is astounding how important and helpful his insights can be for forming and directing our own lives, provided they are applied rightly. The book forms part of the popular series Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes.

Kant in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3741226378
Total Pages : 150 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Kant in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Kant in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immanuel Kant is thought to be perhaps the greatest of all philosophers. And Kant did make, in the 18th Century, two great discoveries which engage us still today. Firstly, he founded the globally acknowledged ‘categorical imperative’ in moral philosophy; secondly, he became the first philosopher to succeed in answering that question as old as humanity of how knowledge arises in our brains. In his main work, the 1000-page Critique of Pure Reason, Kant analysed the working of Man’s thinking apparatus. He posed the critical question: what can a human being know with certainty and what can he not? Working through this titanic question like a man possessed, he finally, after 11 years, produced his equally titanic answer. Our reason, he said, can provide true and certain knowledge only of that which we have already perceived through our five senses (i.e. seen, heard, smelt, tasted, or touched). For this reason one cannot prove the existence of God, say, or really have “knowledge” of Him, because He is bodiless and imperceptible. Kant thus gave researchers, for the first time, a set of logical tools which was sensationally simple and yet quite perfect, and that still remains valid today and makes all scientific results achieved worldwide mutually comparable. Every theory, however good, had thenceforth to be proven in terms of actual sense-perceptions, for example through repeatable experiments. In his second main work, the Critique of Practical Reason, he tackled the equally ambitious question: ‘what is the right way for a human being to act?’ Is there a single valid standard for morally right action? Here too Kant provided a spectacular solution that is still passionately debated, globally, today. The book Kant in 60 Minutes explains both these major works of Kant’s in a lively way, using over 80 key passages from the works themselves and many examples. The final chapter on “what use Kant’s discovery is for us today” shows the enormous importance of his ideas for our personal lives and our society. The book forms part of the popular series Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes.

Heidegger in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3741227757
Total Pages : 106 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Heidegger in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Heidegger in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heidegger is without a doubt one of the most important thinkers in the history of the Western world. He called his philosophy a “fundamental ontology” because he wanted to show the very deepest foundations of Man’s understanding of himself and the world. His interest as a philosopher extended beyond the individual sciences to the underlying question of the meaning of life as a whole. His key question, then, was: “What is the meaning of Being?” But if we are to ask about the meaning of Being, and thus about the meaning of life, we must – so Heidegger argues – first look into the question of just what kind of being it is that poses such questions. This question-posing being, he says, is Man himself. Man is the only living being who can and must ask such questions. Man is constantly looking for orientation. This is why Heidegger also describes human life as a great challenge. Life does not live itself but rather requires constant decisions in order to be lived. But this also means that we can, potentially, fail to realize the meaning of our own life. Heidegger provocatively suggests that most people fail to live out their existence (as he puts it) “authentically”. He confronts us with the fact that, generally speaking, we live our lives doing “the things you’re supposed to do”. “You’re supposed” to go to school, then to university, to get a well-paid job, to take an annual holiday – and so this is what we do, how we live our lives. Instead of living authentic lives of our own, we stay within the tracks made safe and worn by others. But how do I know what life would be authentically mine? How do I make out the life that I am “destined” for? The book Heidegger in 60 Minutes uses key passages quoted from Heidegger’s own works to explain the philosopher’s famous “existential analysis” in a clearly comprehensible way. It takes the reader on an adventurous journey to the deepest structures of his or her own existence. There will surely be few readers of the chapters on the “’care’ character of human existence” or “anxiety in the face of nothingness” who will not recognize something of their own life-experience in the “existential” structures laid bare by Heidegger. In the chapter on “what use Heidegger’s discovery is to us today” it is then shown how broadly and topically relevant Heidegger’s thoughts still are for our personal lives and for the society of the 21st Century. The book forms part of the popular series Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes.

Smith in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 374122765X
Total Pages : 102 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Smith in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Smith in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was, of all people, to a Scottish philosopher of morality that there fell the role of intellectual forefather of capitalism. It was Adam Smith who was the first to recognize and describe, in 1776, the basic principle of the market economy. His magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations, is still looked on today as “the Bible of capitalism”. And indeed, for a period of ten years it was, after the Bible itself, the most-translated book on earth. Smith created the “magic formula” of the free play of supply and demand and his theory of “the invisible hand” spread like wildfire around the world, remaining still today the core of the capitalist market model. What is more, Smith provided a philosophical justification for capitalism in the form of a theory of human nature: Man, he argued, is by nature egoistic and self-interested. And nothing suits such a being so well as a market economy, because it gives everyone the chance to increase their wealth. But this, in the end, benefits all, since each of us, working at improving his or her own quality of life, is led willy-nilly, as if by an “invisible hand”, to promote also the welfare of society as a whole. Do egoistic energies really tend to be transformed into social prosperity in this way? How does the market model work? Can one really simply let the economy run its course? Is capitalism “natural”? The book Smith in 60 Minutes explains the incisive theories of this philosopher and economist in a clear and comprehensible way, using over 50 key passages from Smith’s own works. The final chapter on “what use Smith’s discovery is for us today” discusses both the triumphal progress of Smith’s market model and the catastrophic crises that capitalism’s triumph has brought with it. A thorough knowledge of Smith is indispensable for politicians, bankers and economic policy leaders. But really anyone who lives in a market economy – and there are few, today, who don’t – should be familiar with Smith’s basic ideas. The mechanism of the “invisible hand” and the free play of supply and demand are more than just theories. They form the very heart of the capitalist world and it is indispensable to know the economic and philosophical foundations of the social order in which we live. The book forms part of the popular series Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes.

Sartre in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3741227722
Total Pages : 114 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Sartre in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Sartre in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sartre is surely one of the most important philosophers of the 20th Century. His “philosophy of existence” influenced not just academic debate but the whole of Western civilization, especially European youth. In France, from the end of WW2 on into the 1960s, a certain “youth culture” milieu composed of secondary school and university students and young artists and intellectuals proclaimed their “existential” attitude to life by wearing the black clothes and horn-rimmed glasses that Sartre was seen to wear in so many photos from the period. The motto of these “existentialists” ran: ‘do not let anyone else tell you how you are to live’. They advocated a frank and intensive style of life, both as regards friendships and love affairs and political commitments. Sartre was the great philosopher of freedom. No other philosopher has so strongly emphasized the freedom of the human will. And because Man is free he must make something out of his life and lives as he believes it right to live, if necessary contrary to existing social rules and traditions. Sartre, for example, opposed many of his country’s wars, fought for a more just society, launched many petitions, and carried on a so-called “open relationship” with his lifelong companion Simone de Beauvoir. In his principal work Being and Nothingness Sartre also became one of the first philosophers to explore the nature of “love”. How does love actually work? What does it mean to lead a free and self-determined life? How free are we? The book Sartre in 60 Minutes explains the most important of Sartre’s theses in a clear and comprehensible way, keeping close to Sartre’s own text and including over fifty selected passages from his work and focussing on the central theme of his ideas about freedom and the structure of inter-human relations. In the chapter on “what use Sartre’s discovery is to us today” it is then shown how important Sartre’s thoughts still are for our personal lives and for the society of the 21st Century. The book forms part of the popular series Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes.

Rousseau in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3741227625
Total Pages : 113 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Rousseau in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Rousseau in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rousseau possessed a brilliant mind and one that questioned every accepted value and idea. Whatever most were “for”, Rousseau was always “against”! He was against monarchy, against the church, against the status quo, against inequality, against traditional education, against marriage, and (of course) against technical progress and the destruction of Nature. Today we might call Rousseau a “professional rabble-rouser”. His contrariness was his trademark. He spent most of his life as a quasi-vagrant or a refugee. Sometimes it was the church, other times the government of one country or another that he had to flee from. But all arrest warrants were in vain. Through books like The Social Contract his radical demand for democracy prepared the ground for the French Revolution, and his famous discourses on Man’s loss of contact with, and destruction of, Nature made him a pioneer also of ecological thought. He even founded a revolutionary new philosophy of education which we know today as the “anti-authoritarian” approach to child-rearing. The book Rousseau in 60 Minutes explains the thinker’s core ideas, exemplified by over 70 quotations from his works. The seed for these ideas was planted one day when he was on in his way to see his friend Diderot in prison, reading a copy of the newspaper Mercure de France as he went. It announced a competition for the best essay on whether scientific and artistic progress had made people morally better. All the competitors answered “yes”. Except Rousseau. His answer was that Man is naturally good and became wicked only through being “socialized” and “civilized”. This provocative thesis won him the prize and brought him Europe-wide fame. Because he had hereby become the first philosopher to recognize the key problem of the whole modern world. The “noble savage” ran free through the woods, but we pass our days in cramped offices and forfeit, each day, more of our instincts and our freedom. But above all, Rousseau pointed out, modern Man lives always “in and for the gaze of other people”. That is to say, we tend to dissolve more and more into the “mainstream”. Is Rousseau right here? Have we conformed too far? Have we forfeited our instincts? And above all: What can we do about it? The book forms part of the popular series Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes.

Platon in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3741227617
Total Pages : 110 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Platon in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Platon in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plato’s great discovery was radically new but has echoed down the ages. His “theory of Ideas” has shaped the whole of Western culture and his name is known worldwide. More than 2000 years ago Plato used his “allegory of the cave” – which envisaged people looking at shadows on a cavern wall and taking them for realities – to express a terrible suspicion. He saw his fellow Athenians living in a manipulated world of appearances – cut off from reality and “put to sleep” by material pleasures, wealth and demagogic politicians – and hoped, with this image, to shake them out of this sleep. Plato’s suspicions here are astonishingly relevant still in our Digital Age. Do we not also risk getting entirely lost in the shadows and projections of our TV-, Internet- and mobile-phone-dominated lives? To know truth, argued Plato, Man must learn to see again with his “inner eye”. We are able to sense the truth if we succeed in looking beyond the mere appearances. For behind the everyday objects that surround us, and the immediately visible world, there is another (invisible) reality, a sort of higher level of Being, which can reveal to us the world as it truly is. This second, higher reality is the realm of the “Ideas”: above all the Ideas of the Good, the True and the Beautiful by which we must be guided in our lives. But what exactly are these Ideas? Where do they come from? What does Plato mean when he speaks of “the Good”? And, most importantly, how can we know this “Good” and live a life in accordance with it? The book Plato in 60 Minutes uses three of Plato’s marvellous allegories – “the chariot”, “the sun”, and “the cave” – to explain the philosopher’s fascinating vision of the Ideas. But it also presents, citing key passages, Plato’s great political vision of an ideal state ruled by philosopher-kings. Finally, in a chapter on “what use Plato’s discovery is for us today”, it is shown how burningly relevant the ancient philosopher’s thoughts still are. The book forms part of the popular series Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes.

Camus in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3741227730
Total Pages : 86 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Camus in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Camus in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Albert Camus was a legend in his own lifetime, as a successful author, a philosopher and a “ladies’ man”. His philosophical discoveries remain provocative even today. Because, like all great philosophers, Camus posed the question of the meaning of life. But his answer to this question was an answer of an entirely new kind. This question as to the meaning of life has been answered, of course, very differently down the centuries. For Plato it is ‘the Good’ that holds the world together; for Hegel the ‘World-Spirit’; for Marx the relations of production; for Sartre freedom; for Nietzsche ‘will to power’; and for Habermas the development of communicative reason. Really, each philosopher has his own answer to this question. But Camus is the exception here. He has none. Or rather, worse: he has an answer, but one of very sobering effect. His answer to the question ‘what is the meaning of life?’ is simply ‘It has no meaning. Life is absurd’. We plan ahead and make decisions, but in the last analysis our whole life depends on a series of chance events over which we have no control. Nor is there really a goal. Nevertheless, it is our task to live proudly and undauntedly on. Camus compares the life of Man with the myth of Sisyphus. The mythical Sisyphus strained tirelessly to push a boulder up a mountainside, even though it always rolled back down before he reached the top. But precisely in this apparently senseless and absurd activity lay, argued Camus, a chance for a fulfilled life. Camus explains to us how we can live with absurdity. We must, he says, imagine Sisyphus happy. The book Camus in 60 Minutes explains, using selected quotations and examples, this theory of “the absurd” as it is developed by Camus in his main philosophical works The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel. The chapter on “what use Camus’ discovery is for us today” describes the “absurd style of life” that Camus recommends. Camus’ colourful examples of “absurd life-projects”, and his descriptions of how one best confronts “the absurd” itself and leads a life without God or ideological orientation are, above all in our modern societies, of powerful relevance and topicality. The book forms part of the popular series Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes.

Nietzsche in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3752803827
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (528 download)

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Book Synopsis Nietzsche in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Nietzsche in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2018-06-21 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nietzsche has the reputation of being the most provocative and controversial of all philosophers. What he demanded of humanity was something tremendous: that we should develop beyond ourselves and become "overmen". Formerly, we could draw a meaning for our lives from religion. But this is no longer possible because, as Nietzsche says: "God is dead!" This brief dictum has echoed around the world. Man, Nietzsche argues, has freed himself, with the rise of the natural sciences, from all belief in a "beyond" and now has, for the first time, the chance to take his existence into his own hands. Most human beings, however, prove unable to fill the gap in their lives that the "death of God" has left. They continue to seek salvation in such new gods, or idols, as nationalism, socialism, racism, or capitalism. But instead of slipping into the blind worship of these new gods, or "godlets", we need - so argues Nietzsche - rather to trust in our own selves, allow our own "will to power" to unfold, and become "overmen". Just as flowers stretch up toward the sun and animals seek constantly after nourishment, we human beings too must struggle every day to secure our lives and render them richer and more intense. In daily life, conducting this struggle must always mean, in part, conducting it at other people's expense: whoever, for example, applies for a job as a manager and gets it will necessarily cause bitter disappointment among those who applied and failed. "One furthers one's ego always at the expense of others", writes Nietzsche. But "will to power" finds a whole series of very different forms of expression. The artist, the father of a family, the politician, the businessman, the employee, indeed every one of us individually, must find his or her own highly personal and particular path to self-development. "Become who you are!" "Nietzsche in 60 Minutes" explains his exhilarating philosophy step by step making use of some 160 of the most important passages from his works.

Popper in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3750470898
Total Pages : 121 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (54 download)

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Book Synopsis Popper in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Popper in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-04-30 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Karl Popper (1902-1994) is one of the great thinkers of the modern age. He developed his key idea, the "open society" already at age 17. Popper at the time believed passionately in Newton's theory of gravitation, by which the science of the day explained the motion of all bodies on earth and in the heavens. But during the great eclipse of 1919 observations were made that confirmed for the first time Einstein's theory of relativity. The London Times wrote: "Scientific Revolution; New Theory of the Universe; Newton's Conception Overthrown." If this is so, concluded Popper, and if a genius like Newton can prove to have been wrong and his knowledge, after two hundred years, can be replaced by a better knowledge, then perhaps there are no such things as truths "true once and for all". It was at this point that he developed his brilliant key idea: "Scientific knowledge is not knowledge; it is only conjectural knowledge." Every scientific theory must count as "true" only for so long as it cannot be refuted by some counter-example or replaced by a better theory. And just for this reason modern society must always be open to critiques and new theories. This applies also, indeed quite especially, to politics. Instead of calling, like Plato, for an ideal state, or pursuing, like Marx and Hegel, "totalitarian" philosophical-historical goals, the scientific method of trial and error must also be applied to politics. Was Popper right? Is all our knowledge merely conjectural knowledge resting on trial and error? And did Plato, Hegel and Marx really pave the way for totalitarianism? Is what we need to improve society really rather the method of "hard science"? Can we solve our problems using Popper's "piecemeal social technology"? Popper gives clear and unmistakable answers. The book appears as part of the popular series "Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes".

Hobbes in 60 Minutes

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3751968318
Total Pages : 86 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (519 download)

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Book Synopsis Hobbes in 60 Minutes by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Hobbes in 60 Minutes written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-07-03 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Hobbes is the founder of the modern theory of the state. He gained worldwide fame with his thesis that Man is not, by nature, a peaceful or sociable being but rather always pursues, egoistically, first and foremost his own welfare and advantage. Were there no state, with their laws, judges and police, we would live in a constant "war of all against all". Not because Man is essentially wicked but because such behaviour is dictated by our nature as predatory animals: "Man is an arrant wolf to Man". With this oft-cited phrase, however, Hobbes in fact provided the first modern legitimation for the state. The state, he argued, is necessary and in the interest of all insofar as it provides human beings with mutual protection from the fraud, theft and murder which they would otherwise commit upon one another and secures a peaceful coexistence for everyone. Only the state creates the security of law for all who live in it. Hobbes also warns us against quitting too lightly this condition of life in an established state or endangering it by entering into civil war: "I also show that the condition of Man outside civil society is that of a perpetual war of all against all." The book "Hobbes in 60 Minutes" explains, with the aid of some 70 important passages quoted from Hobbes's principal writings Leviathan and De Cive, the philosopher's key notion of "the state of Nature" and the famous theory of the state he developed as a proposal for transcending this state. The book is published as part of the popular series "Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes".

Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes - Volume 2

Author : Walther Ziegler
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3741241466
Total Pages : 482 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes - Volume 2 by : Walther Ziegler

Download or read book Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes - Volume 2 written by Walther Ziegler and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-08-04 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes” is the second ‘omnibus’ volume drawn from the popular book-series of the same name. It comprises the five books, already published as separate volumes, "Marx in 60 Minutes", "Freud in 60 Minutes", "Sartre in 60 Minutes", "Camus in 60 Minutes", and "Heidegger in 60 Minutes". Each short study sums up the key idea at the heart of each respective thinker and asks the question: “Of what use is this key idea to us today?” But above all the philosophers get to speak for themselves. Their most important statements are prominently presented, as direct quotations, in speech balloons with appropriate graphics, with exact indication of the source of each quote in the author’s works. Between 40 and 80 representative passages are given from the work of each of the five philosophers. This light-hearted but nonetheless scholarly precise rendering of the ideas of each thinker makes it easy for the reader to acquaint him- or herself with the great questions of our lives. Because every philosopher who has achieved global fame has posed the “question of meaning”: what is it that holds, at the most essential level, the world together? There have emerged here a range of very different answers. In Marx, it is the relations of production – that is to say, the conditions under which we labour and produce the goods we need – which ultimately determine our sense of our lives, our thinking, and our whole culture. In Freud, it is the libido and thus the energy of our drives, which we can either live out, repress, or sublimate. In Sartre it is the absolutely free human will which compels Man to make himself what he is. In Heidegger, what absorbs us is the struggle for the authenticity of ‘Dasein’ and the ‘care’ for the Being of the world. Camus is the only philosopher in this series who gives no answer at all to the “question of meaning”. There is no “meaning”, says Camus; life is absurd and depends merely upon a sequence of random chance events. In other words, the meaning of the world and thus of our own lives remains, among philosophers, a topic of great controversy. One thing, though, is sure: each of these five thinkers struck, from his own perspective, one brilliant spark out of that complex crystal that is the truth.

Rawls

Author : Samuel Freeman
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134418922
Total Pages : 573 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (344 download)

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Book Synopsis Rawls by : Samuel Freeman

Download or read book Rawls written by Samuel Freeman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-05-23 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this superb introduction, Samuel Freeman introduces and assesses the main topics of Rawls' philosophy. Starting with a brief biography and charting the influences on Rawls' early thinking, he goes on to discuss the heart of Rawls's philosophy: his principles of justice and their practical application to society. Subsequent chapters discuss Rawls's theories of liberty, political and economic justice, democratic institutions, goodness as rationality, moral psychology, political liberalism, and international justice and a concluding chapter considers Rawls' legacy. Clearly setting out the ideas in Rawls' masterwork, A Theory of Justice, Samuel Freeman also considers Rawls' other key works, including Political Liberalism and The Law of Peoples. An invaluable introduction to this deeply influential philosopher, Rawls is essential reading for anyone coming to his work for the first time.

Television Specials

Author : Vincent Terrace
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476611440
Total Pages : 558 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

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Book Synopsis Television Specials by : Vincent Terrace

Download or read book Television Specials written by Vincent Terrace and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-10-15 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1954 NBC President Pat Weaver introduced "spectaculars"--lavish entertainment shows designed to bring a new dimension to television. Though special programs had been around since 1939, Weaver's effort heralded a new age, with programs ranging from variety shows with big name hosts (Judy Garland, Cher, Perry Como, Bob Hope, for instance) through animated holiday specials and outstanding dramas to acclaimed children's programming. This is the guide to 3,197 entertainment specials, 1939 to 1993, that were broadcast on network, cable or syndicated television. For each show the cast, including guest stars and announcer, is provided. Also included are comprehensive production credits (director, producer, writer and music), dates aired, networks and running times, and program synopses.

Minimizing Marriage

Author : Elizabeth Brake
Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 0199774137
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis Minimizing Marriage by : Elizabeth Brake

Download or read book Minimizing Marriage written by Elizabeth Brake and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses fundamental questions about marriage in moral and political philosophy. It examines promise, commitment, care, and contract to argue that marriage is not morally transformative. It argues that marriage discriminates against other forms of caring relationships and that, legally, restrictions on entry should be minimized.