Franco Fabbro, a distinguished neuroscientist with decades of experience in clinical psychology and neuropsychiatry, presents an ambitious and sweeping work in _Biological and Neuroscientific Foundations of Philosophy_. The book’s central thesis is a call for a paradigm shift: philosophy, which has for centuries been heavily (and often exclusively) grounded in the abstract, timeless, and deterministic frameworks of mathematics and physics, must reorient itself towards the more concrete, complex, and temporally-bound realities of biology and neuroscience. This is not a dismissal of (...) the physical sciences but an argument for their proper place within a larger, more foundational biological context. The book is structured to systematically build this case. Following a critical examination of the "physico-mathematical paradigm"—from its Platonic and Galilean roots to its modern quandaries in quantum mechanics and relativity—Fabbro proposes an alternative grounded in the properties of living organisms. He masterfully synthesizes a vast range of scientific domains, traversing the origin of life and the evolution of the nervous system (Chapter 3), the paleoanthropological story of hominids and the emergence of _Homo sapiens_ (Chapter 4), the profound socio-political transformations from hunter-gatherer bands to modern empires (Chapter 5), and the nature of information and communication (Chapter 6). (shrink)

This edited collection, part of I.B. Tauris's "Investigating Cult TV" series, offers a scholarly examination of Ronald D. Moore's reimagined _Battlestar Galactica_ (2004–2009). The volume brings together contributions from ten academics and critics, along with an interview with writer-producer Jane Espenson, to explore the series' treatment of politics, gender, religion, militarism, sexuality, and the aesthetics of science fiction television. The book's title—_Investigating Flesh, Spirit, and Steel_—signals its central preoccupations: the embodied humanity (and Cylon-ity) of its characters, the theological and spiritual (...) dimensions of the narrative, and the technological/military apparatus within which the drama unfolds. (shrink)

This study provides a comprehensive reinterpretation of the meaning of Locke's political thought. John Dunn restores Locke's ideas to their exact context, and so stresses the historical question of what Locke in the Two Treatises of Government was intending to claim. By adopting this approach, he reveals the predominantly theological character of all Locke's thinking about politics and provides a convincing analysis of the development of Locke's thought. In a polemical concluding section, John Dunn argues that liberal and (...) Marxist interpretations of Locke's politics have failed to grasp his meaning. Locke emerges as not merely a contributor to the development of English constitutional thought, or as a reflector of socio-economic change in seventeenth-century England, but as essentially a Calvinist natural theologian. (shrink)

Autobiography of John Stuart Mill by John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 - 8 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory and political economy. He has been called "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century." Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state (...) control. Mill expresses his view on freedom by illustrating how an individual's drive to better their station, and for self-improvement, is the sole source of true freedom. Only when an individual is able to attain such improvements, without impeding others in their own efforts to do the same, can true freedom prevail. Mill's linking of freedom and self-improvement has inspired many. By establishing that individual efforts to excel have worth, Mill was able to show how they should achieve self-improvement without harming others, or society at large. (shrink)

A major account of the development of the political, religious, social and moral thought of John Locke.

This book is available either individually, or as part of the specially-priced Arguments of the Philosphers Collection.

In this collection, Reginald D. Archambault has assembled John Dewey's major writings on education. He has also included basic statements of Dewey's philosophic position that are relevant to understanding his educational views. These selections are useful not only for understanding Dewey's pedagogical principles, but for illustrating the important relation between his educational theory and the principles of his general philosophy.

This paper considers the applicability of standard accounts of causation to living systems. In particular it examines critically the increasing tendency to equate causal explanation with the identification of a mechanism. A range of differences between living systems and paradigm mechanisms are identified and discussed. While in principle it might be possible to accommodate an account of mechanism to these features, the attempt to do so risks reducing the idea of a mechanism to vacuity. It is proposed that the solution (...) to this problem requires the development of a philosophical account of process adequate to apply to living systems. (shrink)

This is an extensive anthology of the writings of John Dewey, edited by John J. McDermott.

" John McDowell is one of the most influential philosophers writing today. His work, ranging from interpretations of Plato and Aristotle to Davidsonian semantics, from ethics to epistemology and the philosophy of mind, has set the agenda for many recent philosophical debates. This volume contains the proceedings of the third Münsteraner Vorlesungen zur Philosophie which McDowell delivered in 1999: A lecture, entitled ""Experiencing the World"", introduces into the set of ideas McDowell developed in his groundbreaking book Mind and World. (...) The lecture is followed by ten brief essays, both interpretative and critical, in which students and faculty from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Münster discuss various aspects of McDowell's philosophy. The volume ends with responses by John McDowell. ". (shrink)

(2006). John Gray and the Political Theory of Modus Vivendi. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy: Vol. 9, The Political Theory of John Gray, pp. 155-169.

From Yorkshire schoolboy to philosopher and theologian of International renown, John Hick tells his life story in this warm and absorbing autobiography. Painting a vivid picture of Twentieth-century soceity, from 1950s America to racial tensions in England and in apartheid-era South Africa, he recounts the events that have shaped his life, including his early conversion to evangelical Christianity, his role as a conscientious objector in the Second World War, and his gradual often controversial- move towards a religious pluralism embracing (...) all the world faiths. This thoughtful reflection on the changing face of religion and insight into one man's spiritual and intellectual journey will appeal to any concerned with the great human questions, from belief in the Transcendent, to the role of faith, and the nature of death and beyond. (shrink)

This volume reprints in a scholar's edition the first English-language texts on bioethics, John Gregory's (1724-1773) Observations on the Duties and Offices of a Physician and on the Method of Prosecuting Enquiries in Philosophy (London, 1770) and Lectures on the Duties and Qualifications of a Physician (London, 1772). Five previously unpublished manuscripts of Gregory's lectures are also included. An introduction places Gregory's medical ethics and philosophy of medicine in their eighteenth-century contexts of Scottish Enlightenment history and culture, Baconian science (...) and philosophy of medicine, medical practice, the feminine and feminist philosophy of the Bluestocking Circle, and moral sense philosophy, particularly David Hume's concept of sympathy, and provides a bibliography of primary and secondary sources as an aid to teaching and future scholarship. The book's index provides access to Gregory's texts, by using both historical terms and current terminology of bioethics. A volume in the subseries Classics of Medical Ethics. (shrink)

n 1695 John Locke published The Reasonableness of Christianity, an enquiry into the foundations of Christian belief. He did so anonymously, to avoid public involvement in the fiercely partisan religious controversies of the day. In the Reasonableness Locke considered what it was to which allChristians must assent in faith; he argued that the answer could be found by anyone for themselves in the divine revelation of Scripture alone. He maintained that the requirements of Scripture were few and simple, and (...) therefore offered a basis for tolerant agreement among all Christians, and thepromise of peace, stability, and security through toleration. This is the first critical edition of the Reasonableness: for the first time an authoritative annotated text is presented, with full information about sources, variants, amendments, and the publishing history of the work. Also provided in the editorial notes are cross-references, references to otherworks by Locke, definitions of terms, and other information conducive to an understanding of the text.Though modern interest has focused particularly on Locke's philosophy and political theory, increasing attention is being paid to his religious thought. These different strands cannot be understood properly in isolation from each other: so the broader aim of this edition is to help towards animproved understanding of his religious thought in the context of his work as a philosopher, political theorist, and exponent of religious toleration. In his editorial introduction John Higgins-Biddle investigates how Locke's ideas developed, and offers a critical assessment of the three maincontemporary and subsequent interpretations of Locke's religious thought, all of which are shown to be unsatisfactory. (shrink)

John Clarke of Hull, one of the eighteenth century's staunchest proponents of psychological egoism, defended that theory in his Foundation of Morality in Theory and Practice. He did so mainly by opposing the objections to egoism in the first two editions of Francis Hutcheson's Inquiry into Virtue. But Clarke also produced a challenging, direct argument for egoism which, regrettably, has received virtually no scholarly attention. In this paper I give it some of the attention it merits. In addition to (...) reconstructing it and addressing interpretive issues about it, I show that it withstands a tempting objection. I also show that although Clarke's argument ultimately fails, to study it is instructive. It illuminates, for example, Hutcheson's likely intentions in a passage relevant to egoism. (shrink)

John Locke (1632–1704) was a White English philosopher and one of the most influential political theorists in the early modern period. This chapter contains selections from his Two Treatises of Government—published in 1689 but composed at least a few years earlier. Because Locke is often called the father of liberalism, one might expect him to be fiercely opposed to all forms of slavery. Yet he only rejects natural slavery, voluntary slavery, and hereditary slavery, while defending war slavery and penal (...) slavery. Moreover, he holds that slavery gives masters absolute, arbitrary power over enslaved people. The selection includes Locke’s theory of the circumstances in which enslavement is permissible, as well as his description of the state of nature and his theories of liberty, equality, punishment, just war, and property, all of which are important background for his views on slavery. (shrink)

John Hepburn (fl. 1664–1715) was a White Quaker who immigrated to New Jersey as an indentured servant in the 1680s, probably from Scotland. This chapter is a selection from his American Defence of the Christian Golden Rule, or an Essay to Prove the Unlawfulness of Making Slaves of Men, which was published in 1715. As the work’s title suggests, Hepburn argues against slavery based on the Golden Rule, that is, the principle that we should treat others the way we (...) would demand to be treated. The text also features several other fascinating antislavery arguments, including an argument based on human free will and the argument that enslavement forces enslaved people to violate all ten of the biblical Ten Commandments. Hepburn’s work is an excellent source of theological antislavery arguments as well as non-theological evidence of the injustice and inhumanity of slavery. (shrink)

This book is a major intellectual and cultural history of intolerance and toleration in early modern and early Enlightenment Europe. John Marshall offers an extensive study of late seventeenth-century practices of religious intolerance and toleration in England, Ireland, France, Piedmont and the Netherlands and the arguments that John Locke and his associates made in defence of 'universal religious toleration'. He analyses early modern and early Enlightenment discussions of toleration, debates over toleration for Jews and Muslims as well as (...) for Christians, the limits of toleration for the intolerant, atheists, 'libertines' and 'sodomites', and the complex relationships between intolerance and resistance theories including Locke's own Treatises. This study is a significant contribution to the history of the 'republic of letters' of the 1680s and the development of early Enlightenment culture and is essential reading for scholars of early modern European history, religion, political science and philosophy. (shrink)

For more than three decades John Searle has been developing and elaborating a unified theory of language and mind. What has emerged is an impressive and detailed account of intentionality embracing both mental states and linguistic behaviour. Though the developing theory has been presented in a steady stream of books and articles over the last thirty years, two items stand out as major landmarks: the publication of _Speech Acts_ in 1969 and of _Intentionality_ in 1983. Both of these seminal (...) books offer structural theories; that is, they analyze the items within their domains (speech acts and mental states) as having a structure which allows for variation along a number of parameters. _John Searle and His Critics_ proceeds from an analysis of the importance and influence of these two works to an overall assessment of Searle's impact in the philosophy of language, of mind, of social explanation, and of reference and intentionality. Each of the chapters has been newly commissioned from a leading scholar in the relevant field and each section concludes with a summary and response from Searle himself. (shrink)

John Woolman (1720–1772) was a White American Quaker who lived in New Jersey and later in Pennsylvania. He worked as a tailor and merchant and advocated for the abolition of slavery as well as several other causes, including animal rights. This chapter is a selection from his most important antislavery work, Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes, the first part of which he published in 1754 (but apparently composed as early as 1746) and the second in 1762. This (...) fascinating and philosophically sophisticated antislavery text touches on issues such as the origins and nature of racial bias, natural rights, equality, the Golden Rule, complicity, and the ways in which the institution of slavery corrupts both enslavers and enslaved people. Some of Woolman’s arguments against slavery are theological, others draw on moral principles and intuitions that are independent of theology. (shrink)

This book shows that, far from repudiating Hegel, Dewey's entire pragmatic philosophy is premised on a "philosophy of spirit" inspired by Hegel's project.

Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825) was a White English poet, essayist, and children’s book author. John Aikin (1747–1822) was a White English physician and Barbauld’s younger brother. In the 1790s, Barbauld and Aikin co-authored the six-volume work Evenings at Home, a collection of stories composed by Aikin and Barbauld for children or young adults. This chapter is one of these stories—a short fictional conversation between an enslaved man and his enslaver. In this dialogue, the unnamed enslaved person makes several remarkable (...) points, for instance about gratitude and the injustice of slavery; toward the end of the text, the enslaver frees him. Incidentally, this dialogue had a major impact on Frederick Douglass, the famous Black abolitionist and author. Douglass writes that he discovered this text when he was about thirteen and still enslaved, reading the dialogue “again and again with unflagging satisfaction.”. (shrink)

This publication offers the first critical edition of John Buridan’s second set of questions on Aristotle's “De generatione et corruptione”. The edition was made by Michiel Streijger, Paul Bakker and Hans Thijssen. First published as a printed book in 2010, the publication has been converted to open access with the CC BY-NC-ND license as of September 2023.

John Dewey’s pragmatism and naturalism are grounded on metaphysical tenets describing how mind’s intelligence is thoroughly natural in its activity and productivity. His worldview is best classified as Organic Realism, since it descended from the German organicism and Naturphilosophie of Herder, Schelling, and Hegel which shaped the major influences on his early thought. Never departing from its tenets, his later philosophy starting with Experience and Nature elaborated a philosophical organon about science, culture, and ethics to fulfill his particular version (...) of Organic Realism. (shrink)

This chapter renders the analysis of moral agency by John Dewey, one of the founders of American pragmatism, as an account of pragmatist role ethics. For Dewey, moral obligations arise naturally in, and are constitutive of, the role relationships that are necessary to a society’s existence. The purpose of morality is regulation of the mutual reciprocal expectations that people have of one another’s conduct in their enactment of social roles. Dewey insists that acts with moral significance are enactments of (...) the self. Thus, when making morally significant choices of role and performance, the agent is choosing the sort of person she is or wants to become. Deliberation over the choice is influenced by three independent sources of normativity, which often diverge in influence: the agent’s own judgement of the moral praiseworthiness of the choice; its socially recognized obligations; and whether the character trait it reveals will be approved by others. (shrink)

The reception of John Dewey’s A Common Faith has been quite marginal in philosophy of religion since its appearance in 1934. The more memorable aspect to Dewey’s reconstruction of religion, his reformulation for God, tends to confound natural theology, transgress scientific naturalism, and offend humanism’s secularity. Neither supernatural nor just natural, not personal but far from impersonal, and thoroughly experiential yet never observable, his philosophical divinity seems to elude categorization. Initially he pictures a God of personal ideals driving the (...) process of self-realization. Then Dewey sketches how a society’s collective devotion to realizing its shared ideals amounts to its shared religious experience oriented through that idealized God. Not halting with religious pluralism, he demands natural piety from everyone in the pursuit of realizing shared ideals for all humanity. That universal project of realizing idealizations inheres a motivational unity into an ideally-real deity which Dewey calls God. That humanity-wide endeavor conveys the deified spirit of unlimited democracy, not because humanity or democracy should be God, but because genuine democracy without borders reveres one deity without peers. Dewey’s religious philosophy and its God, while distinctive among philosophical deities for personalistic, participatory, and progressive character can be classed with ethical monotheism. (shrink)