Social Philosophy Books - Page 6

Blacks & Social Justice

Bernard R. Boxill

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Editorial Review:

Delineate the principal arguments for and against the major racial issues of our time.

Freedom, Fame, Lying And Betrayal: Essays On Everyday Life

Leszek Kolakowski

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

a simple philosophy book 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

I have always been skeptical of philosophy books, having been scarred at school and university by their academic pretentiousness. Descartes once wrote: "I am sorry this letter is so long. I did not have the time to make it short" This book is short and concise, yet more profound and well-thought out than the encyclopedic volumes that we all had to plough through. Admittedly, some of the essays are weaker than others. Some are vague, but most are brilliant in their thought and structure. Kolakowski isn't trying to give everybody else's definitions and views on topics. He just writes what he thinks and sometimes, he does miss a point or he doesn't explore a particular issue as much as he could. Nonetheless, this is a very good read and it does provide a valuable guide on how to think and argue about issues

Editorial Review:

Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski is renowned worldwide for wrestling with serious philosophical conundrums with dazzling elegance. In this new book, he turns his characteristic wit to important themes of ordinary life, from the need for freedom to the wheel of fortune, from the nature of God to the ambiguities of betrayal. Extremely lucid and lacking in intellectual pretension, these essays speak in everyday language, spurring the reader’s own thoughts and providing a handle on which to debate and think about the themes. The eighteen essays cover the following topics: power, fame, equality, lying, toleration, travel, virtue, collective responsibility, the wheel of fortune, betrayal, violence, boredom, freedom, luxury, God, respect for nature, superstition, and national stereotypes.

Understanding and Explanation: A Transcendental-Pragmatic Perspective (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

Karl-Otto Apel

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The explanation versus understanding debate was important to the philosophy of the social sciences from the time of Dilthey and Weber through the work of Popper and Hempel. In recent years, with the development of interpretive approaches in hermeneutics, phenomenology, and language analysis, the problematic has become absolutely central. The broad literature to which it has given rise, while still split along "analytic" versus "continental" lines, shows increasing signs of a reunification in philosophy. G. H. von Wright's important book, Explanation and Understanding, originally published in 1971, is a good example of this trend.

In Understanding and Explanation, Karl-Otto Apel takes von Wright's work as a point of departure for a rigorous, penetrating analysis of the issues involved. After reviewing the failure of earlier discussions to resolve these issues, Apel develops his own approach in light of the turn from logico-semantic to pragmatic analysis of language in post-Wittgensteinian philosophy. In doing so, he constructs bridges that reach back to themes and positions of the German tradition of the Geisteswissenschaften, but from strikingly new angles.

Karl-Otto Apel holds the chair for social philosophy at the University of Frankfurt. His book is included in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy.

Subjection of Women

John Stuart Mill

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Mill's Best Work 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

The Subjection of Women is an often overlooked classic by one of history's greatest minds. Published at the end of Mill's life, The Subjection brings together all of Mill's most important views on liberty, utility, human nature, and society. It paints a far more accessable ethic than more famous works, such as On Liberty. Mill uses his philosophical views to reach conclusions that were long ahead of his time, and in many ways continue to outpace our understanding of gender and society. This work is arguably the best feminist writing ever, and the best commentary on morality and social evolution.

Today, Mill's work continues to provide us with a framework for understanding social movements such as the gay rights and animal rights movements. Mill shows us how just institutions are vital to the happiness of both society and the individual, as these institutions are central to the formation of our characters. He shows us how both the oppressor and the oppressed are harmed by unjust institutional arrangements, such as gender inequalities in the family. In sum, Mill's The Subjection of Women is perhaps the finest piece of social and political philosophy produced in the modern era, and should be read by all interested in social justice, feminism, or ethics.

The Velvet Monkey Wrench

John Muir

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

Back In Print 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I notice the reviews for The Velvet Monkey Wrench say they reviewed an out of print edition. This book is back in print, the magenta edition as pictured, with an afterword by me, Eve Muir. Richard Polese of Ocean Tree Publications writes: "A revolutionary classic of social philosophy --- and just in time --- to challenge the assumptions of greed and corporate capitalism that have left us yearning for a more human system." I happened to have it the other day at the park and remembered: it's also quite funny.

Illustrated with loving care 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I have an original, July 73 First Edition, and I've never finished the text because of the illustrations. I always get stopped at one. My copy is clear and sharp and that's a good thing because the excusite illustrations have miles and miles of tiny detailed work. Too fun. Much in the same style as R. Crumb, but more positive, the illustrations and the book nicely combine to reflect the late 60's, early 70's sentiment.

If you've seen the"...keep VW alive..." books and marveled at the illustrations, and the light hearted words of John Muir as he helps you fix your bug, you'll love this. I do.

Editorial Review:

From universal human rights and a justice system based on truth to new concepts in education and public transportation, author John Muir presents his highly original, often outrageous common-sense ideas for creating a world based on peace and harmony. An ideal gift for any afficionado of sixties-era nostalgia.

The World of the Gift

Jacques T. Godbout, Alain Caille, Donald Winkler

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Editorial Review:

In an age dominated by consumerism and government agencies many people believe that generosity and altruism either no longer exist or are fuelled by self-interest. Gifts are seen as, at best, irrelevant frills. In "The World of the Gift" Jacques Godbout and Alain Caille show that in reality the gift is all-pervasive in our society. The anthropologist Marcel Mauss, in his famous exploration of the gift in 'primitive' and archaic societies, showed that the essential aspect of the exchange of presents involved the establishment of a social tie that bound the parties together above and beyond any material value of the objects exchanged.He argued that these intangible mutual 'debts' constituted the social fabric. Godbout and Caille show that, contrary to the modern assumption that societies function on the basis of market exchange and the pursuit of self-interest, the gift still constitutes the foundation of our social fabric. The authors describe the gift not as an object but as a social connection, perhaps the most important social connection because it creates a sense of obligation to respond in kind.They examine the gift in a broad range of cases such as blood and organ donation; volunteer work; the bonds between friends, couples, and family; Santa Claus; the interaction between performers and their audience; and the relation of the artist to society. Written in an engaging manner, "The World of the Gift" will appeal to anyone who is interested in how the world really operates. Jacques T. Godbout is a research professor at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Universite du Quebec. Alain Caille is a professor at the Universite Paris X and director of the Revue du MAUSS.

Philosophy of Social Science (Prentice-Hall Foundations of Philosophy Series)

David Braybrooke

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Critique of Violence: Between Poststructuralism and Critical Theory (Warwick Studies in European Philosophy)

Beatric Hanssen

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Editorial Review:

Beatrice Hanssen uses Walter Benjamin's essay "Critique of Violence" as a guide to analyze the heated controversy between poststructuralism and critical theory, shifting the emphasis from struggle to dialogue between the two parties.

Social Reality (Problems of Philosophy Their Past and Present)

Finn Collin

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Editorial Review:

Social reality is a key problem in the philosophy of social science. Outlining the major historical and contemporary issues raised by the social reality and social facts, this book has something to offer both philosophers and social scientists. To the former is shows how the well-worn topic of realism versus anti-realism assumes new and interestingly varied forms when social reality is substituted for physical reality. For the social scientist, the book offers conceptual clarification of key issues in recent social science which are really philosophical issues.

Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections on the African Experience

Kwame Gyekye

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This book offers a philosophical interpretation and critical analysis of the African cultural experience in modern times. In their attempt to evolve ways of life appropriate to our modern world culture, says Kwame Gyekye, African people face a number of unique societal challenges, some stemming from the values and practices of their traditional cultures, others representing the legacy of European colonialism. Defending the cross-cultural applicability of philosophical concepts developed in Western culture, Gyekye attempts to show the usefulness of such concepts in addressing a wide range of concrete and specifically African problems. Among the issues he considers are: economic development, nation-building, the evolution of viable and appropriate democratic political institutions, the development of appropriate and credible ideologies, political corruption, and the crumbling of traditional moral standards in the wake of rapid social change. Throughout, Gyekye challenges the notion that modernity for Africa must be equated with Western values and institutions, arguing instead that African modernity must be forged creatively within the furnace of Africa's many-sided cultural experience.
A timely and powerful addition to postcolonial theory, Tradition and Modernity will interest scholars and students working in philosophy, political science, sociology, and African studies.