ACUMEN

(P/B) FILM, THEORY AND PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy, and in particular continental philosophy, has provided a conceptual underpinning for cinema since its beginnings, especially in the development of cinematic aesthetics. In its turn, film has rethought the abstractions of space and time and the categories of sex and gender and has created new concepts which illuminate phenomenology, metaphysics and epistemology. Film, Theory and Philosophy brings together leading scholars to provide a detailed overview of the key thinkers who have shaped the field of film philosophy. The thinker...
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(P/B) THOMAS KUHN
Thomas Kuhn (1922 - 96) transformed the philosophy of science. His seminal 1962 work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions introduced the term "paradigm shift" into the vernacular and remains a fundamental text in the study of the history and philosophy of science. This introduction to Kuhn's ideas covers the breadth of his philosophical work, situating The Structure of Scientific Revolutions within Kuhn's wider thought and drawing attention to the development of his ideas over time. Kuhn's work is assessed within the context of other ph...
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(P/B) WILFRID SELLARS
Wilfrid Sellars (1912 - 89) has been called the most profound and systematic epistemological thinker of the twentieth century. Many of his ideas have become widely acknowledged, including his attack on the "myth of the given", his functionalist treatment of intentional states, his proposal that psychological concepts are like theoretical concepts, and his suggestion that attributions of knowledge locate the knower "in the logical space of reasons". Sellars is, however, notoriously difficult to understand. His essays are complex and sometim...
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(P/B) KNOWLEDGE
What is it about knowledge that makes us value it more highly than mere true belief? This question lies at the heart of epistemology and has challenged philosophers ever since it was first posed by Plato. Michael Welbourne's examination of the historical and contemporary answers to this question provides both an excellent introduction to the development of epistemology but also a new theory of the nature of knowledge. The early chapters introduce the main themes and questions that have provided the context for modern discussions. The Plato...
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(P/B) HILARY PUTNAM
Hilary Putnam is one of the most influential philosophers of recent times, and his authority stretches far beyond the confines of the discipline. He has had a dramatic influence on theories of meaning, semantic content, the nature of mental phenomena, on interpretations of quantum mechanics, theory-change, logic, mathematics, and on what shape we should desire for future philosophy. However, the diversity of Putnam's writings and his frequent spells of radical rethinking pose a considerable challenge to readers. De Gaynesford shows how the...
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(P/B) SAUL KRIPKE
Saul Kripke is one of the most original and creative philosophers writing today. His work has had a tremendous impact on the direction that philosophy has taken in the last thirty years and continues to dominate some of its most fundamental aspects. Given Kripke's importance it is perhaps surprising that there is no introduction to his philosophy available to the general student. This book fills that gap. As much of Kripke's work is highly technical, the book's central aim is to provide clear exposition of Kripke's ideas in a form that is ...
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(P/B) ALBERT CAMUS
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, encompassing philosophy, literature, politics and history, John Foley examines the full breadth of Camus ideas to provide a comprehensive and rigorous guide to his political and philosophical thought and a significant contribution to a range of debates current in Camus research. Foley argues that the coherence of Camus thought can best be understood through a thorough understanding of the concepts of the absurd and revolt as well as the relation between them. The book includes a detailed discussion o...
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(P/B) UNDERSTANDING NIETZCHEANISM
Nietzsche's critiques of traditional modes of thinking, valuing and living, as well as his radical proposals for new alternatives, have been vastly influential in a wide variety of areas, such that an understanding of his philosophy and its influence is important for grasping many aspects of contemporary thought and culture. However Nietzsche's thought is complex and elusive, and has been interpreted in many ways. Moreover, he has influenced starkly contrasting movements and schools of thought, from atheism to theology, from existentialism...
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(P/B) WITTGENSTEIN
Wittgenstein's complex and demanding work challenges much that is taken for granted in philosophical thinking as well as in the theorizing of art, theology, science and culture. Each essay in this collection explores a key concept involved in Wittgenstein's thinking, relating it to his understanding of philosophy, and outlining the arguments and explaining the implications of each concept. Concepts covered include grammar, meaning and meaning-blindness, language-games and private language, family resemblances, psychologism, rule-following,...
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(P/B) FREE WILL
The question whether human choices and actions are causally determined or are in a way free, and the implications of this for our moral, personal and social lives continues to challenge philosophers. This book explores the determinist rejection of free will through a detailed exposition of the central determinist argument and a consideration of the responses to each of its premises. At every stage familiar examples and case studies help frame and ground the argument. The discussion is at no time peremptory and the invitation to the reader ...
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(H/B) THE PHILOSOPHY OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY
George Karamanolis shows that early Christian thinkers, following the example of classical philosophy, developed a highly sophisticated method of philosophical thinking by means of which they constructed some of the most fundamental doctrines of Christianity. The book examines the character of early Christian philosophy and goes on to place the development of this philosophy in its cultural and historical context. The core of the book deals thematically with the central philosophical concerns of early Christian thinkers and counters curren...
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(P/B) THOMAS NAGEL
Thomas Nagel's contribution to philosophy over the past forty years has been enormously influential. In this book, the first sustained examination of Nagel's ideas, Alan Thomas provides readers with a detailed exploration of the central dichotomy around which Nagel organizes his philosophy: the concern over how to reconcile the subjective and objective views of the world. Thomas begins by clarifying and defending Nagel's basic metaphysical contrast between subjective and objective ways of thinking about the world. He shows how a proper und...
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(P/B) MICHEL FOUCAULT
Michel Foucault's work on freedom, subjectivity and power is now central to thinking across an extraordinarily wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, history, psychology, politics, anthropology, sociology and criminology. Michel Foucault: Key Concepts explores Foucault's central ideas, such as disciplinary power, biopower, bodies, spirituality, and practices of the self. Each essay focuses on a specific concept, analyzing its meaning and uses across Foucault's work, highlighting its connection to other concepts, and emphasizing i...
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(P/B) JOHN SEARLE
Direct, combative and wide-ranging, John Searle's philosophy has made fundamental and lasting contributions to thinking in language, mind, knowledge, truth and the nature of social reality. His account of language based on speech-acts, that mind is intentional, and the Chinese Room Argument, are just some of his most famous contributions to philosophical thinking. In this - the first introduction to John Searle's philosophy - Nick Fotion provides clear and assured exposition of Searles' ideas, while also testing and exploring their implica...
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(P/B) ROBERT BRANDOM
Robert Brandom is one of the most significant philosophers writing today, yet paradoxically philosophers have found it difficult to get to grips with the details and implications of his work. This book aims to facilitate critical engagement with Brandom's ideas by providing an accessible overview of Brandom's project and the context for an initial assessment. Jeremy Wanderer's examination focuses on Brandom's inferentialist conception of rationality, and the core part of this conception that aims to specify the structure that a set of perf...
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(P/B) IMMANUEL KANT
Immanuel Kant is among the most pivotal thinkers in the history of philosophy. His transcendental idealism claims to overcome the scepticism of David Hume, resolve the impasse between empiricism and rationalism, and establish the reality of human freedom and moral agency. A thorough understanding of Kant is indispensable for any student of philosophy. The significance of Kant's thought is matched by its complexity. His revolutionary ideas are systematically interconnected and he presents them using a forbidding technical vocabulary. A care...
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(P/B) PRESOCRATICS
The earliest phase of philosophy in Europe saw the beginnings of cosmology and rational theology, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethical and political theory. It saw the development of a wide range of radical and challenging ideas: from Thales' claim that magnets have souls and Parmenides' account that there is only one unchanging existent to the development of an atomist theory of the physical world. This general account of the Presocratics introduces the major Greek philosophical thinkers from the sixth to the middle of the fifth century...
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(P/B) ANALYTIC VERSUS CONTINENTAL
Throughout much of the twentieth century, the relationship between analytic and continental philosophy has been one of disinterest, caution or hostility. Recent debates in philosophy have highlighted some of the similarities between the two approaches and even envisaged a post-continental and post-analytic philosophy. Opening with a history of key encounters between philosophers of opposing camps since the late-nineteenth century - from Frege and Husserl to Derrida and Searle - the book goes on to explore in detail the main methodological ...
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(P/B) DONALD DAVIDSON
Donald Davidson's work has been of seminal importance in the development of analytic philosophy and his views on the nature of language, mind and action remain the starting point for many of the central debates in the analytic tradition. His ideas, however, are complex, often technical, and interconnected in ways that can make them difficult to understand. This introduction to Davidson's philosophy examines the full range of his writings to provide a clear succinct overview of his ideas. The book begins with an account of the assumptions a...
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(P/B) DAVID LEWIS
The work of David Lewis (1941 - 2001) has influenced most areas of Anglo-American philosophy and remains of fundamental importance in current philosophical inquiry. Lewis's work provides a comprehensive philosophical system that answers a broad range of questions in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of action and many other areas. The breadth and unity of his ideas, however, have meant that a casual reader may miss some of the illuminating connections between apparently quite disparate pieces of work. Dani...
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