Social Philosophy Books - Page 3

Social Ethics: Morality and Social Policy

Thomas A. Mappes, Jane S. Zembaty

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

what a lovely book! 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful.

The Mappes/Zembaty reader has everything one would want in an introductory primer on ethics and social policy. The editors have collected well-argued and important essays by philosophers, jurists and laymen on most of the politically charged topics of today, from abortion to pornography to environmentalism. Unfortunately, the book has not been updated to include any treatment of behaviors made newly possible by the Internet; perhaps a newer edition will accommodate this angle.

GOOD TRANSACTION 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 10 people found this review helpful.

PRODUST WAS SHIPPED AS PROMISED. BOOK WAS IN GREAT SHAPE, PRATICALLY NEW. WILL DO BUISNESS AGAIN

Editorial Review:

Perfect for introductory ethics courses, this popular anthology encourages a critical examination of contemporary moral problems by presenting differing viewpoints on issues like the death penalty; euthanasia; hate speech and censorship; world hunger and global justice; and the environment. The readings, half of which are new to this Fifth Edition, include relevant opinions, as well as selections from the work of some of the most respected contemporary writers and thinkers.

In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture

Kwame Anthony Appiah

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Africa's intellectuals have long been engaged in a conversation with each other, and with Europeans and Americans about what it means to be African. At the heart of these debates on African identity are the seminal works of politicians, creative writers and philosophers from Africa and its diaspora. In this book, Appiah draws on his experiences as a Ghanaian in the New World to explore the writings of these African and African-American thinkers and to contribute his own vision of the possibilities and pitfalls of an African identity in the late twentieth century. Appiah sets out to dismantle the specious oppositions between "us" and "them," the West and the Rest, that have governed so much of the cultural debate about Africa in the modern world. All of us, he maintains, wherever we live on the planet, must explore together the relations between our local cultures and an increasingly global civilization. Combining philosophical analysis with more personal reflections, Appiah addresses the major issues in the philosophy of culture through an exploration of the contemporary African predicament.

A Jacques Barzun Reader: Selections from His Works (Perennial Classics)

Jacques Barzun

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This book, like Barzun himself, gets better with age! 5 out of 5 stars.
16 of 16 people found this review helpful.

Like too many others, my journey to becoming a Barzun addict was a slow, steady build. Yes, it was through first reading 'From Dawn to Decadence' that I came to admire his electrifying prose and sparkling wit. And his books on culture and education...my gosh, man!

So there I was in the neighborhood bookstore and I see a brand spankin' new Barzun reader. Since I read in tangents, the format seemed a bit scattered but I bought it, knowing that I would always, no matter what tangent I was on, find something of interest in this volume.

I couldn't have been more right!! I've had the book for, maybe, nine months now and I'm STILL finding, savoring and rereading these excerpts. So many topics covered- from baseball to Berlioz, crime-fiction to higher education, race to romanticism. These days, whenever someone writes about so many subjects, there's always a suspicion that we, the readers, will find ourselves slighted- how can one person actually EXCEL in so many areas and still retain quality and grace. Barzun is a stunning example of someone who can and if you're anything like me (not reading all the way through, but reading each exerpt as it strikes your fancy), this book will rank on your 'most rewarding purchases' list

Editorial Review:

Throughout his career Jacques Barzun, author of the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist From Dawn to Decadence, has always been known as a witty and graceful essayist, one who combines a depth of knowledge and a rare facility with words.

Now Michael Murray has carefully selected eighty of Barzun's most inventive, accomplished, and insightful essays, and compiled them in one impressive volume. With subjects ranging from history to baseball to crime novels, A Jacques Barzun Reader is a feast for any reader.

On Equilibrium: Six Qualities of the New Humanism

John Ralston Saul

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Vague notions hiding behind vague, incomprehensible writing 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I stopped reading this book after the chapter on 'Common Sense'.. in it Saul argues that there is a common body of knowledge in the world that cannot be transcribed by language and that transcends reasoning. He bemoans the increasing specialization of knowledge away from "common sense" and the worship of reason. I can't help but think of all the times when what was 'common knowledge' has been disproved or changed by what he derides as 'pure reasoning'.. e.g., the flat-earth idea, racial hierarchy, the planet being less than 5000 years old, etc. I also fail to see how knowledge is 'common', seeing as how it is tainted by our own views and prejudices. To be fair to him, he does try to differentiate his idea of 'common sense' from superstition, but doesn't specify where the line is drawn.. is it common sense that women are bad drivers or is it just superstition.. or is it a prejudiced world view that can be disproved by objective reasoning?

He fails to take into account the fact that as our body of knowledge has increased (through understanding and objective reasoning), we have come to rely on it more than on gut instinct and perceived common sense. There is a lot that we know but we don't understand but we rely on the fact that someone, somewhere has understood it. I know that human beings evolved from single celled organisms - I don't claim to understand it completely, but I know that someone, somewhere does and if I wanted to I could look it up. If I claim that it is common knowledge that the world is ruled by invisible purple monkeys, who is going to be the arbitrator of that claim? Science by majority voting?

In all the writing doesn't flow smoothly and I decided that it wasn't worth deciphering his ideas - it's just another case of "I don't understand it so it must be wrong".

Editorial Review:

Is it moral to sacrifice one's life for a higher goal? Why do many in the U.S. think it admirable to join the army but despicable for Palestinians to sign up with Hamas? How can we actually determine "evil" and "good" in the daily world? These practical questions cut to the heart of what it means to be human. John Ralston Saul, in his matter-of-fact discussion of six basic human qualities - ethics, common sense, intuition, imagination, memory, and reason - confronts basic concepts in a manner not done since Thomas Paine more than two centuries ago. In an easy-to-understand style, Saul explains why essential qualities of being human cannot exist in isolation but instead depend on and enrich each other. On Equilibrium persuasively explores morality and how it can be used to foster equilibrium for the self and achieve an ethical society.

The Philosophy of Civilization: Part I, the Decay and the Restoration of Civilization : Part Ii, Civilization and Ethics

Albert Schweitzer, C. T. Campion

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Classic of Global (NOT WESTERN) Civilization 5 out of 5 stars.
32 of 37 people found this review helpful.

Einstein was not the Person of the 20th Century. Not by a long shot. Albert Schweitzer wins that distinction hands down. In the 20th and 21st century, too much emphasis has been placed on the relationship between technological advances and the corresponding impact on society. Schweitzer simply transcended achievement by weaving a legacy of the most accomplished Renaissance Man in the last 200 years. Combining intellectual brilliance and an amazing thirst for humanitarian service, Schweitzer simply made the world a much better place. He accomplished more in one life time than anyone I can think of.

The Philosophy of Civilization is a monument. This was Schweitzer's labor of love, and predictably, he produced yet another masterpiece. Reading Schweitzer should be required reading in philosophy, humanities, and religious studies at all universities and colleges in America. He should be the standard by which all GLOBAL thought is measured.

Editorial Review:

Albert Schweitzer's social and ethical philosophy is best expressed in "The Philosophy of Civilization". Not widely available in recent years, this edition will give contemporary readers the opportunity to discover his prophetic thought.

Truth Imagined

Eric Hoffer

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The growing years of a remarkable "thinker" for our times 5 out of 5 stars.
23 of 23 people found this review helpful.

Anything and everything by Eric Hoffer is always fascinating; this story of his life, and his responses to dozens of people he met, is no exception.

This is book is an adventure, his life as a bum and the experiences until 1942 which shaped his personal outlook and created his rugged individualist philosophy of life. His first book was the classic 'True Believer' in 1951, significant enough to help shape the ideas of President John F. Kennedy. Hoffer is deservedly famous for it and 10 other such books. This one should be read in connection with any of them.

Originally published in 1983, near the end of his life, it covers his career up to the start of his career as a longshoreman/intellectual in San Francisco. One element dominates, his insatiable curiosity and interest in other people. For that reason, he would undoubtedly object to be called an "intellectual". Yet, the term fits; this book appeals to the intellect, and he was an intelligent and informed person.

The difference is how he related to people and ideas; many modern intellectuals relate only to books, documents and other abstractions. When Hoffer read Michael de Montaigne he "felt all the time he was writing about me" because he had learned the same sort of common sense and practical wisdom from the bums, hobos, homeless and other drifters who were always a part of his life. As Casey Stengel once said, "You can learn a lot by listening".

The five paragraphs of his 23rd Chapter are a gem for every historian, fully equal in common sense and beauty to the Biblical 23rd Psalm. Skip the first paragraph if you want; the other four explain history and Hoffer better than anything else I've read.

"History is made not by irresistible forces but by example," sums up Hoffer's style; an aphorism in the style of Montaigne, with the power of dynamite. Like dynamite, history is deadly if the anecdote is wrong, and such errors are easy to make; but, in the hands of a good historian, it shows how everyday events are illuminated by history.

His 24th Chapter explains far more of modern economics than anything from Adam Smith to Alan Greenspan; had either economist learned to sum up Western Civ more astutely, the world would be far more peaceful, benign and just. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, with only $50 in hand, Hoffer learned a society without money means "there is no freedom of choice, since it is ruled by sheer power, and no equality, since brute force cannot be distributed."

These two chapters, 11 short paragraphs in all illustrated by two clarion anecdotes, are worth the price of the book. The rest is interesting in explaining how he reached these two ideas and became one of the most significant intellectuals -- he'd prefer "thinker" -- who is more relevant today than ever before.

Editorial Review:

Blind as a child, Eric Hoffer--one of America’s most important thinkers--regained his sight at the age of fifteen and became a voracious reader. At eighteen, fate would take his remaining family, sending him on the road with three hundred dollars and into the life of a Depression Era migrant worker, but his appetite for knowledge—-history, science, mankind—-remained and became the basis for his insights on human nature. Filled with timeless aphorisms and entertaining stories, Truth Imagined tracks Hoffer’s years on the road, which served as the breeding ground for his most fertile thoughts.

The Principles of Morals and Legislation (Great Books in Philosophy)

Jeremy Bentham

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Jeremy Bentham's work on "The Principles of Morals and Legislation" emerges from its historic roots in hedonism and teleology as a scientific attempt to assess the moral content of human action by focusing on its results or consequences. Proceeding from the assumption that human beings desire pleasure (and avoid pain), Bentham's unique perspective, known as utilitarianism, is used to construct a fascinating calculus for determining which action to perform when confronted with situations requiring moral decision-making the goal of which is to arrive at the 'greatest happiness of the greatest number'.Toward this end, he endeavors to delineate the sources and kinds of pleasure and pain and how they can be measured when assessing one's moral options. Bentham supports his arguments with discussions of intentionality, consciousness, motives, and dispositions. Bentham concludes this groundbreaking work with an analysis of punishment: its purpose and the proper role that law and jurisprudence should play in its determination and implementation. Here we find Bentham as social reformer seeking to resolve the tension that inevitably exists when the concerns of the many conflict with individual freedom. This book offers readers the rare opportunity to experience one of the great works of moral philosophy, a volume that has influenced the course of ethical theory for over a century.

Migrations to Solitude

Sue Halpern

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Beautifully written and enduring book 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Migrations to Solitude and I recommend the book for its subject matter, which is the quest for privacy in a crowded world. The book is divided into 12 "profoundly original" essays that have a common thread of a spiritual journey. I felt very much connected to the author while reading the book and I didn't want the book to end.

The book was published in 1992 prior to the current invasion of privacy by the present administration. I wonder what Helperin would have written if she knew the invasiveness of Big Brother in our lives today. A quest for Solitude today might be impossible now in our society and all of the places of solitudes are perhaps gone for ever like the Dodo bird.

Editorial Review:

An exploration of privacy makes a statement on the human sense of being alone in the world by examining how Americans sometimes choose to sacrifice their privacy and sometimes choose to bask in it. 20,000 first printing. $20,000 ad/promo.

Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication

John Durham Peters

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Communication plays a vital and unique role in society-often blamed for problems when it breaks down and at the same time heralded as a panacea for human relations. A sweeping history of communication, Speaking Into the Air illuminates our expectations of communication as both historically specific and a fundamental knot in Western thought.

"This is a most interesting and thought-provoking book. . . . Peters maintains that communication is ultimately unthinkable apart from the task of establishing a kingdom in which people can live together peacefully. Given our condition as mortals, communication remains not primarily a problem of technology, but of power, ethics and art." —Antony Anderson, New Scientist

"Guaranteed to alter your thinking about communication. . . . Original, erudite, and beautifully written, this book is a gem." —Kirkus Reviews

"Peters writes to reclaim the notion of authenticity in a media-saturated world. It's this ultimate concern that renders his book a brave, colorful exploration of the hydra-headed problems presented by a rapid-fire popular culture." —Publishers Weekly

What we have here is a failure-to-communicate book. Funny thing is, it communicates beautifully. . . . Speaking Into the Air delivers what superb serious books always do-hours of intellectual challenge as one absorbs the gradually unfolding vision of an erudite, creative author." —Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer

Symbolic Exchange and Death (Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society)

Jean Baudrillard

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Editorial Review:

Jean Baudrillard is one of the most celebrated and most controversial of contemporary social theorists. This major work, appearing in English for the first time, occupies a central place in the rethinking of the humanities and social sciences around the idea of postmodernism.

It leads the reader on an exhilarating tour encompassing the end of Marxism, the enchantment of fashion, the body and sex, economic versus symbolic exchange and their differing effects on the rituals of death. Most significantly, the book represents Baudrillard's fullest elaboration of the concept of the three orders of the simulacra, defining the historical passage from production to reproduction to simulation.

A classic in its field, Symbolic Exchange and Death is a key source for the redefinition of contemporary social thought. Baudrillard's critical gaze appraises social theories as diverse as cybernetics, ethnography, psychoanalysis, feminism, marxism, communications theory and semiotics.

This edition, translated by Iain Hamilton Grant, includes an introduction by Mike Gane and a bibliography of Baudrillard's works.