Looking back at the twentieth century the question is what we have 'learned' in the field of philosophy in that century. In the case of philosophy 'learning' is understood as getting a more adequate insight into the frameworks in terms of which we spell our experience, in particular as getting an eye for aspects of it that were overlooked or insufficiently noticed in the philosophy of earlier periods. In that connection four themes are discussed: 1. subjectivity and inwardness, i.e. the (...) issue of the special mode of being of the subject ; 2. intersubjectivity and connectedness, i.e. the 'discovery' that by the relation between subjects a very special dimension of reality is indicated that cannot be adequately characterized in terms of the subject-object relationship ; 3. mediation, the issue that meanings are always context and tradition bound, that subjectivity, mind, etc., manifest themselves only as 'incarnated', mediated by nature ; and 4. the evolution from a uniform to a manifold concept of rationality and experience. (shrink)

Otto Duintjer is one of the philosophers who have anew put the theme of spirituality on the philosophical agenda. Indeed, philosophy understood as striving for wisdom has had a spiritual dimension from the outset. But in modern time that dimension has eclipsed ever more, especially in academic philosophy. An important reason is that philosophy has adapted itself to a model of science, for which a 'disinterested' and 'neutral' attitude of the knowing subject and a hypothetical form of thinking are charasteristic. (...) In the logic of this type of science, and hence of a corresponding philosophy, existential and metaphysical questions and the theme of transcendence, which are essential for spirituality, fundamentally have no place. An important line of modern thinking, of which Kant and Wittgenstein are leading representatives and that Duintjer also takes as his starting-point, acknowledges the significance of these questions. But it also thinks that they can only be handled in a negative and indirect way. At the basis of that is an epistemological conception that understands knowledge exclusively as fully explicit knowledge. But if knowledge can also comprise all sorts of partially explicated or 'tacit' knowledge, as twentieth century philosophy has come to think, perspectives are opened for forms of spiritual knowledge that are not solely dependent on negative or indirect ways of reaching them. (shrink)

Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community.

In his very interesting paper Harry Kunneman argues for an alternative view on voluntary work which not so much stresses the economic aspect but primarily its existentially meaningful aspect. To underpin this, Kunneman makes use of a broad range of hermeneutical, social-philosophical, complexity theoretical, biological and other ideas. This multipolar structure of the article might also prove to be its very weakness, because the rich train of thought remains highly abstract. This could be overcome by using examples and casuistry to (...) elucidate and specify the many distinctions in the article. (shrink)

The environmental problem has become one of the greatest threats to modern society. Yet it is struggling to develop an effective environmental policy. The reason for this, the book argues, is that the environmental crisis is linked to the organisation of the social system as such. In other words, it is an expression of general features of this system, such as the im-moderateness of modern culture (growth, faster and faster, more and more), the view of nature primarily as an inventory (...) of resources, an external concept of welfare, an unleashed economy and technology. The conclusion is that a sustainable environmental policy requires a transition to a different kind of society. The book tries to provide some pointers. (shrink)

Het milieuprobleem is inmiddels tot een van de ernstigste bedreigingen van de moderne samenleving uitgegroeid. Toch lukt het maar moeilijk om een effectief milieubeleid van de grond te krijgen. De reden daarvan, zo is de stelling van dit boek, is dat de milieucrisis met de inrichting van het sociale bestel als zodanig samenhangt. Het brengt met andere woorden algemene kenmerken van dat systeem tot uitdrukking. Te noemen zijn dan onder meer de mateloosheid van de moderne cultuur (sneller, meer, groei), de (...) kijk op de natuur als vooral een inventaris van grondstoffen, een uiterlijk welzijnsbegrip en een losgeslagen economie. De conclusie is dan dat binnen het bestek van zo'n cultuur de transitie naar een duurzame samenleving een uitzichtloze zaak is. Maar dat daarvoor de overgang naar een ander type maatschappij nodig is. Het boek geeft daarvoor een aantal voorzetten."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)