Author: Jeffrey A. Bell File Type: pdf Beginning with Plato and Aristotle, philosophers throughout history have built their theories around the problem of reconciling a fundamental distinction, as for example, Platos distinction between knowledge (reality) and opinion (appearance), Descartes mindbody distinction, and Kants a prioria posteriori distinction. This problem of difference is a classic theme in philosophy, and one that has taken especially intriguing turns in recent decades. Jeffrey A. Bell here presents a finely constructed survey of the contemporary continental philosophers, focusing on how they have dealt with the problem of difference. Bells work centres around three key figures - Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, and Deleuze. He also considers the positions of such thinkers as Foucault, Derrida, and Rorty, who have called for an end to the traditional response to the problem of difference - an end to the search for any ultimate foundations on which our varied and different experiences of the world might be based - and thus, in effect, an end to traditional philosophy.In clarifying the relationship between phenomenology and poststructuralism, Bell analyses the role of paradox in both traditions, in particular the role it plays in accounting for difference. Not only philosophers, but also teachers and students in the area of comparative literary they will benefit from this book.

Author: Lawrence H. Keeley File Type: pdf The myth of the peace-loving noble savage is persistent and pernicious. Indeed, for the last fifty years, most popular and scholarly works have agreed that prehistoric warfare was rare, harmless, unimportant, and, like smallpox, a disease of civilized societies alone. Prehistoric warfare, according to this view, was little more than a ritualized game, where casualties were limited and the effects of aggression relatively mild. Lawrence Keeleys groundbreaking War Before Civilization offers a devastating rebuttal to such comfortable myths and debunks the notion that warfare was introduced to primitive societies through contact with civilization (an idea he denounces as the pacification of the past). Building on much fascinating archeological and historical research and offering an astute comparison of warfare in civilized and prehistoric societies, from modern European states to the Plains Indians of North America, War Before Civilization convincingly demonstrates that prehistoric warfare was in fact more deadly, more frequent, and more ruthless than modern war. To support this point, Keeley provides a wide-ranging look at warfare and brutality in the prehistoric world. He reveals, for instance, that prehistorical tactics favoring raids and ambushes, as opposed to formal battles, often yielded a high death-rate that adult males falling into the hands of their enemies were almost universally killed and that surprise raids seldom spared even women and children. Keeley cites evidence of ancient massacres in many areas of the world, including the discovery in South Dakota of a prehistoric mass grave containing the remains of over 500 scalped and mutilated men, women, and children (a slaughter that took place a century and a half before the arrival of Columbus). In addition, Keeley surveys the prevalence of looting, destruction, and trophy-taking in all kinds of warfare and again finds little moral distinction between ancient warriors and civilized armies. Finally, and perhaps most controversially, he examines the evidence of cannibalism among some preliterate peoples. Keeley is a seasoned writer and his book is packed with vivid, eye-opening details (for instance, that the homicide rate of prehistoric Illinois villagers may have exceeded that of the modern United States by some 70 times). But he also goes beyond grisly facts to address the larger moral and philosophical issues raised by his work. What are the causes of war? Are human beings inherently violent? How can we ensure peace in our own time? Challenging some of our most dearly held beliefs, Keeleys conclusions are bound to stir controversy.**Amazon.com ReviewThroughout much of this century the notion has been gaining ground, bolstered by genocide and Holocaust, that modern warfare is more barbaric than war has ever been. Alongside this view has grown a romantic impression that primitive cultures were, and are, more peaceful. Lawrence Keeley, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois, aims to dispel this inversion of the connotations of civilization. He cites the historical evidence that humans have always been just as bloodthirsty as they are today, and that indeed in the days when death was less clinical it was often nastier. War, it seems, has always been with us. ReviewThe evidence that Mr. Keeley marshals is vivid, varied, and often complex.--The New York Times Book Review [Keeley] skillfully shows that pre-state peoples fought as cleverly and cruelly as we moderns, and for the same ostensibly coderationalreasons. Thecodeprimitives were not innocent, nor are we moderns uniquely depraved.--Lingua Franca