The Tragedy of Optimism

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Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438468377
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis The Tragedy of Optimism by : Steven S. Schwarzschild

Download or read book The Tragedy of Optimism written by Steven S. Schwarzschild and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2018-01-29 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steven S. Schwarzschild (1924–1989) was arguably the leading expositor of German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen (1842–1918), undertaking a lifelong effort to reintroduce Cohen's thought into contemporary philosophical discourse. In The Tragedy of Optimism, George Y. Kohler brings together all of Schwarzschild's work on Cohen for the first time. Schwarzschild's readings of Cohen are unique and profound; he was conversant with both worlds that shaped Cohen's thought, neo-Kantian German idealism and Jewish theology. The collection covers a wide range of subjects, from ethics, socialism, the concept of human selfhood, and the mathematics of the infinite to more explicitly Jewish themes. This volume includes two of Schwarzschild's previously unpublished manuscripts and a scholarly introduction by Kohler. Schwarzschild shows that despite its seeming defeat by events of the twentieth century, Cohen's optimism about human progress is a rational, indeed necessary, path to peace.

The Protection of Children (Second Edition)

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Publisher : Quid Pro Books
ISBN 13 : 161027220X
Total Pages : 486 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis The Protection of Children (Second Edition) by : Robert Dingwall

Download or read book The Protection of Children (Second Edition) written by Robert Dingwall and published by Quid Pro Books. This book was released on 2014-04-05 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic study of law and social work in action is based on the most extensive investigation of child abuse and neglect ever carried out in Great Britain. The authors followed the course of numerous cases from the first detection of ill-treatment to the resolution (or otherwise) of the problem. Famous for coining the much-used (and often misunderstood or misused) phrase "the rule of optimism," this book is updated with an extensive Postscript from 1995 and a new, 2014 Preface that explains the uneven history of the optimism principle, in both the UK and US -- and in both social work practice and sociological scholarship.

Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781552385302
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (853 download)

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Book Synopsis Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will by : Kai Nielsen

Download or read book Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will written by Kai Nielsen and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kai Nielsen is one of Canada's most distinguished political philosophers. In a career spanning over 40 years, he has published more than 400 papers in political philosophy, ethics, meta-philosophy, and philosophy of religion. Pessimism of the Intellect presents a thoughtful collection of Nielsen's essays complemented by an extended reflective interview with Nielsen. This collection allows the reader to grasp the systematic scope of his thought and methodology.

Dark Matters

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691226148
Total Pages : 472 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Dark Matters by : Mara van der Lugt

Download or read book Dark Matters written by Mara van der Lugt and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-26 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intellectual history of the philosophers who grappled with the problem of evil, and the case for why pessimism still holds moral value for us today In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, philosophers engaged in heated debates on the question of how God could have allowed evil and suffering in a creation that is supposedly good. Dark Matters traces how the competing philosophical traditions of optimism and pessimism arose from early modern debates about the problem of evil, and makes a compelling case for the rediscovery of pessimism as a source for compassion, consolation, and perhaps even hope. Bringing to life one of the most vibrant eras in the history of philosophy, Mara van der Lugt discusses legendary figures such as Leibniz, Hume, Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant, and Schopenhauer. She also introduces readers to less familiar names, such as Bayle, King, La Mettrie, and Maupertuis. Van der Lugt describes not only how the earliest optimists and pessimists were deeply concerned with finding an answer to the question of the value of existence that does justice to the reality of human suffering, but also how they were fundamentally divided over what such an answer should look like. A breathtaking work of intellectual history by one of today's leading scholars, Dark Matters reveals how the crucial moral aim of pessimism is to find a way of speaking about suffering that offers consolation and does justice to the fragility of life.

Regard for Reason in the Moral Mind

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192539604
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis Regard for Reason in the Moral Mind by : Joshua May

Download or read book Regard for Reason in the Moral Mind written by Joshua May and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The burgeoning science of ethics has produced a trend toward pessimism. Ordinary moral thought and action, we're told, are profoundly influenced by arbitrary factors and ultimately driven by unreasoned feelings. This book counters the current orthodoxy on its own terms by carefully engaging with the empirical literature. The resulting view, optimistic rationalism, shows the pervasive role played by reason our moral minds, and ultimately defuses sweeping debunking arguments in ethics. The science does suggest that moral knowledge and virtue don't come easily. However, despite the heavy influence of automatic and unconscious processes that have been shaped by evolutionary pressures, we needn't reject ordinary moral psychology as fundamentally flawed or in need of serious repair. Reason can be corrupted in ethics just as in other domains, but a special pessimism about morality in particular is unwarranted. Moral judgment and motivation are fundamentally rational enterprises not beholden to the passions.

It's Better Than It Looks

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Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 1610397428
Total Pages : 378 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis It's Better Than It Looks by : Gregg Easterbrook

Download or read book It's Better Than It Looks written by Gregg Easterbrook and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is civilization teetering on the edge of a cliff? Or are we just climbing higher than ever? Most people who read the news would tell you that 2017 is one of the worst years in recent memory. We're facing a series of deeply troubling, even existential problems: fascism, terrorism, environmental collapse, racial and economic inequality, and more. Yet this narrative misses something important: by almost every meaningful measure, the modern world is better than it ever has been. In the United States, disease, crime, discrimination, and most forms of pollution are in long-term decline, while longevity and education keep rising and economic indicators are better than in any past generation. Worldwide, malnutrition and extreme poverty are at historic lows, and the risk of dying by war or violence is the lowest in human history. It's not a coincidence that we're confused -- our perspectives on the world are blurred by the rise of social media, the machinations of politicians, and our own biases. Meanwhile, political reforms like the Clean Air Act and technological innovations like the hybridization of wheat have saved huge numbers of lives. In that optimistic spirit, Easterbrook offers specific policy reforms to address climate change, inequality, and other problems, and reminds us that there is real hope in conquering such challenges. In an age of discord and fear-mongering, It's Better Than It Looks will profoundly change your perspective on who we are, where we're headed, and what we're capable of.

Ethics for a Broken World

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131754773X
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis Ethics for a Broken World by : Tim Mulgan

Download or read book Ethics for a Broken World written by Tim Mulgan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-11 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine living in the future in a world already damaged by humankind, a world where resources are insufficient to meet everyone's basic needs and where a chaotic climate makes life precarious. Then imagine looking back into the past, back to our own time and assessing the ethics of the early twenty-first century. "Ethics for a Broken World" imagines how the future might judge us and how living in a time of global environmental degradation might utterly reshape the politics and ethics of the future. This book is presented as a series of history of philosophy lectures given in the future, studying the classic texts from a past age of affluence, our own time. The central ethical questions of our time are shown to look very different from the perspective of a ruined world. The aim of "Ethics for a Broken" World is to look at our present with the benefit of hindsight - to reimagine contemporary philosophy in an historical context - and to highlight the contingency of our own moral and political ideals.

Building Better Beings

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Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191655775
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis Building Better Beings by : Manuel Vargas

Download or read book Building Better Beings written by Manuel Vargas and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-01-17 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building Better Beings presents a new theory of moral responsibility. Beginning with a discussion of ordinary convictions about responsibility and free will and their implications for a philosophical theory, Manuel Vargas argues that no theory can do justice to all the things we want from a theory of free will and moral responsibility. He goes on to show how we can nevertheless justify our responsibility practices and provide a normatively and naturalistically adequate account of of responsible agency, blame, and desert. Three ideas are central to Vargas' account: the agency cultivation model, circumstantialism about powers, and revisionism about responsibility and free will. On Vargas' account, responsibility norms and practices are justified by their effects. In particular, the agency cultivation model holds that responsibility practices help mold us into creatures that respond to moral considerations. Moreover, the abilities that matter for responsibility and free will are not metaphysically prior features of agents in isolation from social contexts. Instead, they are functions of both agents and their normatively structured contexts. This is the idea of circumstantialism about the powers required for responsibility. Third, Vargas argues that an adequate theory of responsibility will be revisionist, or at odds with important strands of ordinary convictions about free will and moral responsibility. Building Better Beings provides a compelling and state-of-the-art defense of moral responsibility in the face of growing philosophical and scientific skepticism about free will and moral responsibility.

Cruel Optimism

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Publisher : Duke University Press Books
ISBN 13 : 9780822351115
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (511 download)

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Book Synopsis Cruel Optimism by : Lauren Berlant

Download or read book Cruel Optimism written by Lauren Berlant and published by Duke University Press Books. This book was released on 2011-10-27 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted. People have remained attached to unachievable fantasies of the good life—with its promises of upward mobility, job security, political and social equality, and durable intimacy—despite evidence that liberal-capitalist societies can no longer be counted on to provide opportunities for individuals to make their lives “add up to something.” Arguing that the historical present is perceived affectively before it is understood in any other way, Berlant traces affective and aesthetic responses to the dramas of adjustment that unfold amid talk of precarity, contingency, and crisis. She suggests that our stretched-out present is characterized by new modes of temporality, and she explains why trauma theory—with its focus on reactions to the exceptional event that shatters the ordinary—is not useful for understanding the ways that people adjust over time, once crisis itself has become ordinary. Cruel Optimism is a remarkable affective history of the present.

The Best of All Possible Worlds? Leibniz's Philosophical Optimism and Its Critics 1710-1755

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Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004440763
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis The Best of All Possible Worlds? Leibniz's Philosophical Optimism and Its Critics 1710-1755 by : Hernán D. Caro

Download or read book The Best of All Possible Worlds? Leibniz's Philosophical Optimism and Its Critics 1710-1755 written by Hernán D. Caro and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-09-25 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive survey of the criticisms of Leibniz's philosophical optimism in the first half of the eighteenth century, when what has been called the ‘debacle of the perfect world’ first began.

Reconstructing Schopenhauer's Ethics

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 0190906804
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis Reconstructing Schopenhauer's Ethics by : Sandra Shapshay

Download or read book Reconstructing Schopenhauer's Ethics written by Sandra Shapshay and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book articulates and defends an interpretation of Schopenhauer's ethics as an original and credible contribution to the history of ethics. It presents Schopenhauer's ethics of compassion in direct tension with his resignationism and aims to show surprising continuities with Kant's ethics.

Philosophical Progress

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198802099
Total Pages : 201 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophical Progress by : Daniel Stoljar

Download or read book Philosophical Progress written by Daniel Stoljar and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel Stoljar presents a persuasive rejection of the widespread view that philosophy makes no progress. He defends a reasonable optimism about philosophical progress, showing that we have correctly answered philosophical questions in the past and may expect to do so in the future. He offers a credible vision of how philosophy works.

The Geek Manifesto

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Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 1446438848
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (464 download)

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Book Synopsis The Geek Manifesto by : Mark Henderson

Download or read book The Geek Manifesto written by Mark Henderson and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-05-10 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether we want to improve education or cut crime, to enhance public health or to generate clean energy, we need the experimental methods of science - the best tool humanity has yet developed for working out what works. Yet from the way we're governed to the news we're fed by the media we're let down by a lack of understanding and respect for its insights and evidence. In The Geek Manifesto Mark Henderson explains why and how we need to entrench scientific thinking more deeply into every aspect of our society. A new movement is gathering. Let's turn it into a force our leaders cannot ignore. This edition includes an appendix: 'A Geek Manifesto for America' by David Dobbs.

Hope without Optimism

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Publisher : University of Virginia Press
ISBN 13 : 0813937353
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (139 download)

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Book Synopsis Hope without Optimism by : Terry Eagleton

Download or read book Hope without Optimism written by Terry Eagleton and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2015-09-09 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his latest book, Terry Eagleton, one of the most celebrated intellects of our time, considers the least regarded of the virtues. His compelling meditation on hope begins with a firm rejection of the role of optimism in life’s course. Like its close relative, pessimism, it is more a system of rationalization than a reliable lens on reality, reflecting the cast of one’s temperament in place of true discernment. Eagleton turns then to hope, probing the meaning of this familiar but elusive word: Is it an emotion? How does it differ from desire? Does it fetishize the future? Finally, Eagleton broaches a new concept of tragic hope, in which this old virtue represents a strength that remains even after devastating loss has been confronted. In a wide-ranging discussion that encompasses Shakespeare’s Lear, Kierkegaard on despair, Aquinas, Wittgenstein, St. Augustine, Kant, Walter Benjamin’s theory of history, and a long consideration of the prominent philosopher of hope, Ernst Bloch, Eagleton displays his masterful and highly creative fluency in literature, philosophy, theology, and political theory. Hope without Optimism is full of the customary wit and lucidity of this writer whose reputation rests not only on his pathbreaking ideas but on his ability to engage the reader in the urgent issues of life. Page-Barbour Lectures

The Precipice

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Publisher : Hachette Books
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 Books. 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

Queer Optimism

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780816650002
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Queer Optimism by : Michael D. Snediker

Download or read book Queer Optimism written by Michael D. Snediker and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Queer Optimism' presents a new paradigm for queer theory. Through fresh, perceptive, and sensitive readings of the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Hart Crane, Jack Spicer, and Elizabeth Bishop, Snediker reveals that each of these poets demonstrated an interest in the durability of positive affects.

Adorno's Practical Philosophy

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107036542
Total Pages : 303 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Adorno's Practical Philosophy by : Fabian Freyenhagen

Download or read book Adorno's Practical Philosophy written by Fabian Freyenhagen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-25 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique exploration of Adorno's ethics, defending his challenging views about how to live in an evil world.