Author: Nigel Hems File Type: pdf Immanuel Kant is widely considered to be the most important and influential thinker of modern Europe and the late Enlightenment. His philosophy is extraordinarily wide-ranging and his influence has been pervasive throughout eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-century thought, in particular in the work of the German Idealists, and also in both Analytic and Continental philosophy today. This comprehensive and accessible companion to Kants historical and philosophical context, philosophical concerns, major works and enduring influence features more than 100 specially commissioned entries, written by a team of experts in the field, covering every aspect of his philosophy. The Companion presents a comprehensive overview of the historical and philosophical context in which Kant wrote and the various features, themes and topics apparent in his thought. It also includes extensive synopses of all his major published works and a survey of the key lines of reception and influence. It concludes with a thoroughly comprehensive bibliography of English language secondary literature. This is an essential reference tool for anyone working in the field of eighteenth-century German philosophy. **About the Author Gary Banham is Reader in Transcendental Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His previous publications include Kants Transcendental Imagination (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), Kants Practical Philosophy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and Kant and the Ends of Aesthetics (Macmillan, 2000). Nigel Hems is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Dennis Schulting is Assistant Professor of Metaphysics and the History of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Author: Kurt Vonnegut
File Type: pdf
In Breakfast of Champions, one of Kurt Vonneguts most beloved characters, the aging writer Kilgore Trout, finds to his horror that a Midwest car dealer is taking his fiction as truth. What follows is murderously funny satire, as Vonnegut looks at war, sex, racism, success, politics, and pollution in America and reminds us how to see the truth.Amazon.com ReviewWe are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane. So reads the tombstone of downtrodden writer Kilgore Trout, but we have no doubt whos really talking his alter ego Kurt Vonnegut. Health versus sickness, humanity versus inhumanity--both sets of ideas bounce through this challenging and funny book. As with the rest of Vonneguts pure fantasy, it lacks the shimmering, fact-fueled rage that illuminates Slaughterhouse-Five. At the same time, that makes this book perhaps more enjoyable to read. Breakfast of Champions is a slippery, lucid, bleakly humorous jaunt through (sick? inhumane?) America circa 1973, with Vonnegut acting as our Virgil-like companion. The book follows its main character, auto-dealing solid-citizen Dwayne Hoover, down into madness, a condition brought on by the work of the aforementioned Kilgore Trout. As Dwayne cracks, then crumbles, Breakfast of Champions coolly shows the effects his dementia has on the web of characters surrounding him. Its not much of a plot, but its enough for Vonnegut to air unique opinions on America, sex, war, love, and all of his other pet topics--you know, the only ones that really count. ReviewMarvelous . . . [Vonnegut] wheels out all the complaints about America and makes them seem fresh, funny, outrageous, hateful and lovable.The New York Times Vonnegut is George Orwell, Dr. Caligari and Flash Gordon compounded into one writer . . . a zany but moral mad scientist.TimeFree-wheeling, wild and great . . . uniquely Vonnegut.Publishers Weekly
Author: A. Kioupkiolis
File Type: pdf
An exploration of the contemporary re-conception of freedom after the critique of objective truths and ideas of an unchanging human nature, in which modern self-determination was grounded. This book focuses on the radical theorist Cornelius Castoriadis and the new paradigm of agonistic autonomy is contrasted with Marxian and liberal approaches. **
Author: Elizabeth S. Cohen
File Type: pdf
Through fifteen essays that work from a rich array of primary sources, this collection makes the novel claim that early modern European women, like men, had a youth. European culture recognised that, between childhood and full adulthood, early modern women experienced distinctive physiological, social, and psychological transformations. Drawing on two mutually shaped layers of inquiry cultural constructions of youth and lived experiences these essays exploit a wide variety of sources, including literary and autobiographical works, conduct literature, judicial and asylum records, drawings, and material culture. The geographical and temporal ranges traverse England, Ireland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, and Mexico from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. This volume brings fresh attention to representations of female youth, their own life writings, young womens training for adulthood, courtship, and the emergent sexual lives of young unmarried women. **
Author: R. V. Young
File Type: epub
A Students Guide to Literaturetakes up these questions In a time of mass culture and pulp fiction, can great literature still be discerned, much less defended? Why is literature so compelling? What should we read? Literary scholar R. V. Young addresses these timely issues in this guide to Western literature and poetry. He demonstrates that literature liberates the mind from cultural and temporal provincialism by expanding our intellectual and emotional horizons. Learn how great fiction and poetry are integral to a liberal education, and visit the classic works of literature againor for the first time.
Author: Robert Fisk
File Type: epub
This remarkable anthology chronicles more than three years of spiralling violence and despair in Syria atrocity heaped upon atrocity, misery upon misery, and all - so far - to no avail. No faction is without blood on its hands no crime, from torture to poison gas, has been deemed taboo. The dead are too numerous to count. As for the living, close to 3 million refugees have fled Syria, with millions more internally displaced. How did we come to this? There is no better way to answer this question than to revisit The Independents published accounts of the unfolding tragedy. Spearheaded by peerless and profoundly experienced correspondents such as Patrick Cockburn, Robert Fisk, Kim Sengupta, our coverage has led the world in its fearlessness and insight. Syrias tragedy is not yet over.
Author: Kilian Spandler
File Type: pdf
This book explores the normative foundations of ASEAN and the EU. It revives the history of the two organizations in an in-depth narrative of the protracted arguments surrounding their establishment, legal integration and enlargement. While political actors used norms to legitimize their ideas for institutional change, the complex and dynamic nature of these norms also provided the breeding ground for contestation and, sometimes, institutional sclerosis and failure. Recasting these processes in an innovative English School framework, the volume makes a crucial contribution to the literature of Comparative Regionalism that goes beyond Eurocentric perspectives. **Review The EU and ASEAN represent two of the most important models of regional integration today, and this books novel approach exposes the underlying processes of normative contestation that shape their structure and role. An original and outstanding contribution to the literature on Comparative Regionalism, norm dynamics and International Relations theory. (Amitav Acharya, Distinguished Professor of International Relations, American University, USA) A fascinating and refreshing account of the divergent development of two of the main regional organizations in todays world. Spandler pushes the theory of international society to new horizons and builds a bridge between Comparative Regionalism and International Relations. (Thomas Diez, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, University of Tubingen, Germany) With a focus on historical pathways, normative structures and deliberated decisions in post-colonial settings, this study links regional organizations with the global order using Barry Buzans distinction between primary and secondary institutions. The result is a thick account of a differentiated regional and global order which brings together Comparative Regionalism and International Politics. It is a path-breaking study. (Cornelia Navari, Visiting Professor of International Affairs, University of Buckingham, UK) From the Back Cover This book explores the normative foundations of ASEAN and the EU. It revives the history of the two organizations in an in-depth narrative of the protracted arguments surrounding their establishment, legal integration and enlargement. While political actors used norms to legitimize their ideas for institutional change, the complex and dynamic nature of these norms also provided the breeding ground for contestation and, sometimes, institutional sclerosis and failure. Recasting these processes in an innovative English School framework, the volume makes a crucial contribution to the literature of Comparative Regionalism that goes beyond Eurocentric perspectives. Kilian Spandler is researcher at the School of Global Studies of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Author: Andreas Bernard
File Type: pdf
Before skyscrapers forever transformed the landscape of the modern metropolis, the conveyance that made them possible had to be created. Invented in New York in the 1850s, the elevator became an urban fact of life on both sides of the Atlantic by the early twentieth century. While it may at first glance seem a modest innovation, it had wide-ranging effects, from fundamentally restructuring building design to reinforcing social class hierarchies by moving luxury apartments to upper levels, previously the domain of the lower classes. The cramped elevator cabin itself served as a reflection of life in modern growing cities, as a space of simultaneous intimacy and anonymity, constantly in motion. In this elegant and fascinating book, Andreas Bernard explores how the appearance of this new element changed notions of verticality and urban space. Transforming such landmarks as the Waldorf-Astoria and Ritz Tower in New York, he traces how the elevator quickly took hold in large American cities while gaining much slower acceptance in European cities like Paris and Berlin. Combining technological and architectural history with the literary and cinematic, Bernard opens up new ways of looking at the elevator--as a secular confessional when stalled between floors or as a recurring space in which couples fall in love. Rising upwards through modernity, Lifted takes the reader on a compelling ride through the history of the elevator. Andreas Bernard is editor of Suddeutsche Zeitung, Germanys largest daily newspaper. He received his Ph.D. in Cultural Sciences from the Bauhaus University Weimar, and teaches cultural studies in Berlin and Lucerne, Switzerland.
Author: Keith Pratt
File Type: pdf
South Korea a democratic high-tech Asian Tiger and flamboyant host of the 2002 World Cup North Korea a secretive dictatorship on Bushs notorious axis of evil, with a controversial nuclear program and a poverty-stricken population. These two Koreas seem worlds apart, separated along the 38th parallel by the last active cold war frontier. But North and South Korea share a common history and culture of which both are deeply proud the poignant scenes of reunited families when the borders were opened in 2000 show that, even though frustrated, the links between the two populations remain strong. Keith Pratt tells the story of this common heritage from the ancient states of Old Choson and Wiman Choson to the present relics of Cold War politics. He describes the physical and cultural landscape in which this history unfolds, dealing with religious identities and social aspects like food and drink, as well as more controversial issues such as punishment and torture, and the comfort women of the Japanese occupation. In a series of short picture essays he introduces particular aspects of Koreas past, including the worlds oldest observatory and the countrys famous turtle boats. Everlasting Flower A History of Korea reveals a country which, although sandwiched between the more familiar worlds of China and Japan, has a distinct and rich cultural identity of its own. With the DPRKs precarious relationship with the outside world brought to increasingly frequent crises in the aftermath of 911, the Korean peninsular looks certain to remain a geopolitical hotspot. The importance of understanding this part of the world has never been greater. **Review a full and fascinating study of Korean history The Guardian Everlasting Flower is significant because for the first time there is a single book which surveys the whole cultural history of Korea, showing Koreas development within the Chinese cultural world, and demonstrating how the civilization of the peninsula changed under the impact of western and Japanese cultural influences in the twentieth century ... Pratt brings a comparative perspective to his discussion of Korean history which gives the book a breadth often missing in other works. History ... a very solidly researched, well-balanced and enjoyable read peppered with glimpses of wit and personal observation. It will be a valuable introduction to Korean history for undergraduates, non-academics and more specialist readers alike - and one that will hopefully inspire further reading. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies ... highly readable, well organised study of Korean history from earliest times to the present day. Asian Studies Review a solidly researched, well-balanced and enjoyable read peppered with glimpses of wit and personal observation. It will be a valuable introduction to Korean history for undergraduates, non-academics and more specialist readers alike Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies This book provides an informative and comprehensive coverage of the history of Korea from the prehistorical era to the present ... What distinguishes this book from other general histories of Korea is its thorough and meticulous survey of Korean cultural history ... The author does a superb job in analyzing the factors behind changes in Korean culture, in presenting Koreas cultural accomplishments, and assessing its often underestimated or even neglected contributions to the East Asian tradition. Experts as well as non-experts will find interesting and insightful knowledge of Korea and East Asia ... an excellent choice as a textbook for college level classes ... and a wonderful companion for Korea-bound travellers Canadian Journal of History Everlasting Flower represents a step forward in the historiography of modern Korea -- Donald Clarke, Professor of History About the Author Keith Pratt is professor emeritus in the Department of East Asian Studies at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books and articles on Korea, including Korea A Historical and Cultural Dictionary.
Author: Robert Wardy
File Type: pdf
What is rhetoric?Is it the capacity to persuade? Or is it mere rhetoric the ability to get others to do what the speaker wants, regardless of what they want? This is the rhetoric of ideological manipulation and political seduction. Rhetoric is for some a distinctive mode of communication for others, whenever someone speaks, rhetoric is present.This book is devoted to helping readers understand these rival accounts, by showing how it has happened that there are so many conceptions of rhetoric. Any such approach must be rooted in classical antiquity, since our ideas of rhetoric are the product of a complicated historical process starting in ancient Greece. Greek rhetoric was born in bitter controversy. The figure of Gorgias is at the centre of that debate and of this book he invites us to confront the terrifying, exhilarating possibility that persuasion is just power.