Best of
Philosophy

1950

Discourse on Colonialism


Aimé Césaire - 1950
    Nearly twenty years later, when published for the first time in English, Discourse on Colonialism inspired a new generation engaged in the Civil Rights, Black Power, and antiwar movements. Aimé Césaire eloquently describes the brutal impact of capitalism and colonialism on both the colonizer and colonized, exposing the contradictions and hypocrisy implicit in western notions of "progress" and "civilization" upon encountering the "savage," "uncultured," or "primitive." He reaffirms African values, identity, and culture, and their relevance, reminding us that "the relationship between consciousness and reality is extremely complex. . . . It is equally necessary to decolonize our minds, our inner life, at the same time that we decolonize society." An interview with Aimé Césaire by the poet René Depestre is also included.

Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist


Walter Kaufmann - 1950
    When Walter Kaufmann wrote it in the immediate aftermath of World War II, most scholars outside Germany viewed Nietzsche as part madman, part proto-Nazi, and almost wholly unphilosophical. Kaufmann rehabilitated Nietzsche nearly single-handedly, presenting his works as one of the great achievements of Western philosophy.Responding to the powerful myths and countermyths that had sprung up around Nietzsche, Kaufmann offered a patient, evenhanded account of his life and works, and of the uses and abuses to which subsequent generations had put his ideas. Without ignoring or downplaying the ugliness of many of Nietzsche's proclamations, he set them in the context of his work as a whole and of the counterexamples yielded by a responsible reading of his books. More positively, he presented Nietzsche's ideas about power as one of the great accomplishments of modern philosophy, arguing that his conception of the will to power was not a crude apology for ruthless self-assertion but must be linked to Nietzsche's equally profound ideas about sublimation. He also presented Nietzsche as a pioneer of modern psychology and argued that a key to understanding his overall philosophy is to see it as a reaction against Christianity.Many scholars in the past half century have taken issue with some of Kaufmann's interpretations, but the book ranks as one of the most influential accounts ever written of any major Western thinker.

Waiting for God


Simone Weil - 1950
    An enduring masterwork and "one of the most neglected resources of our century" (Adrienne Rich), Waiting for God will continue to influence spiritual and political thought for centuries to come."Simone Weil has become a legend, and her writings are regarded as a classic document of our period." THE NEW YORKER"Her example, her achievements, her frustrations, her intellectual or moral or religious impasses, and her failures, self-described or apparent to us from hindsight, all can serve to focus the mind, enlarge the heart, and stir the soul." ROBERT COLES

Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson


G.I. Gurdjieff - 1950
    I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949) has come to be recognized as one of the most original, enduring, and penetrating of our century. While Gurdjieff used many different means to transmit his vision of the human dilemma and human possibility, he gave special importance to his acknowledged masterwork, Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson. Beelzebub's Tales is an "ocean of story" and of ideas that one can explore for a lifetime. It is majestic in scale and content, challengingly inventive in prose style, and, for those very reasons, often approached with apprehension. The first English language edition of the Russian original appeared in 1950. Since then, readers have recognized the need for a revised translation that would clarify the verbal surface while respecting the author's own thought and style. This revised edition, in preparation for many years under the direction of Gurdjieff's closest pupil, Jeanne de Salzmann, meets this need. Originally published in 1992, this translation offers a new experience of Gurdjieff's masterpiece for contemporary readers. It is presented in a sturdy cloth edition that echoes its original publication.

Selected Writings


Ralph Waldo Emerson - 1950
     This new edition offers a broad view of the author's finest work, featuring his critical essays, poems, and letters, plus a considerable amount of material from the Journals, including an entry discovered in 1964 in the Library of Congress.

Unpopular Essays


Bertrand Russell - 1950
    In this volume of essays Russell is concerned to combat, in one way or another, the growth of dogmatism, whether of the Left or of the Right, which has hitherto characterised our tragic century.

The Supreme Identity


Alan W. Watts - 1950
    Neither philosophy nor religion today gives us the consciousness that at the deepest center of our being exists an eternal reality, which in the West is called God. Yet only from this realization come the serenity and spiritual power necessary for a stable and creative society.One of the most influential of Alan Watts's early works, The Supreme Identity examines the reality of civilization's deteriorated spiritual state and offers solutions through a rigorous theological discussion on Eastern metaphysic and the Christian religion. By examining the minute details of theological issues, Watts challenges readers to reassess the essences of religions that before seemed so familiar and to perceive Vedantic "oneness" as a meeting ground of all things – "good" and "evil." In addressing how religious institutions fail to provide the wisdom or power necessary to cope with the modern condition, Watts confidently seeks the truth of the human existence and the divine continuum.In this eye-opening account of "metaphysical blindness" in the West, Watts accents this dense exploration of religious philosophy with wry wit that will engage inquiring minds in search of spiritual power and wisdom.

Computing machinery and intelligence


Alan Turing - 1950
    The paper, published in 1950 in Mind, was the first to introduce his concept of what is now known as the Turing test to the general public.Published in Mind 49: page 433-460.(Source: Wikipedia)

Reality: A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought


Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange - 1950
    This volume is his attempt to summarize a philosophical and theological worldview by interpreting the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas and his successors: Reality is seen in light of the central doctrines of the Trinity, of Creation, and of the Incarnation of the Son as Jesus Christ, in Whom humankind is drawn into the intimacy of the inner life of the Triune God. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange argues on behalf of 24 thomistic theses, which he presents as a lens through which to view salvation, the Sacraments, the Mother of the Redeemer, and the spiritual life whereby the divine image is restored in the soul. This work is of interest to any who wish to enhance their understanding of the Catholic theological tradition through an acquaintance with this major and often controversial figure. (Ex Fontibus Co.)

The Principles of Psychology: Volume 2


William James - 1950
    Covers stream of thought, time perception, memory, and experimental methods. Total in set: 94 figures.

The End of the Modern World


Romano Guardini - 1950
    The principle of individual responsibility weaves both works into a seamless, comprehensive, and compelling moral statement.

Eye of the Heart


Frithjof Schuon - 1950
    Essays covering a wide range of subjects: spiritual symbolism, the afterlife, and more.

Selected Writings


Paul Valéry - 1950
    It concludes with excerpts from his creative writings such as Monsieur Teste and the drama Mon Faust.The list of translators for this volume is distinguished. Among them are Lionel Abel, Léonie Adams, Malcolm Cowly, James Kirkup, C. Day Lewis, Jackson Mathews, Louise Varese, and Vernon Watkins.

Finite and Eternal Being: An Attempt at an Ascent to the Meaning of Being


Edith Stein - 1950
    With her careful step-by-step analysis, she gradually shows how the being of all finite existents (especially the human "I") finds its ultimate ground and destiny in the eternal Divine Being, the Creator whose trinitarian nature is reflected throughout creation.

Psychoanalysis and Religion


Erich Fromm - 1950
    In this classic work a noted psychoanalyst assesses the persistent tension between traditional religion and the underlying philosophy of psychoanalysis, which many believe regards the satisfaction of instinctive and material wishes as the sole aim of life.

The Nature Of Physical Reality: A Philosophy Of Modern Physics


Henry Margenau - 1950
    

The Maine Woods/Walden/Cape Cod


Henry David Thoreau - 1950
    Includes The Maine Woods, Cape Cod & Walden.

The Science Of Correct Thinking: Logic


Celestine N. Bittle - 1950
    Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

Freedom and Nature: The Voluntary and the Involuntary


Paul Ricœur - 1950
    The way in which Ricoeur approaches these themes makes his works relevant to the reader today: he writes with honesty and depth of insight into the core of a problem, and his ability to mark for future thought the very path of philosophical inquiry is nearly unmatched. Freedom and Nature, the first part of Ricoeur's Philosophy of the Will, is an eidetics, carried out within carefully imposed phenomenological brackets. It seeks to deal with the essential structure of man's being-in-the-world, and so it suspends the distorting dimensions of existence, the bondage of passion, and the vision of innocence to which Ricoeur returns in his later writings. The result is a conception of man as an incarnate Cogito, which can make the polar unity of subject and object intelligible and provide a basic continuity for the various aspects of inquiry into man's being-in-the-world. This volume and the other new editions of Ricoeur's texts published by Northwestern University Press have joined the canon of contemporary continental philosophy and continue to contribute to emergent discussions in the twenty-first century.

Good and Evil


Martin Buber - 1950
    A treatment of the religious and social dimensions of the human personality, and of man's two-fold encounter with reality in the realms of the I-It and the I-Thou.

Logical Foundations of Probability


Rudolf Carnap - 1950
    

The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Other Works


Ralph Waldo Emerson - 1950
    HISTORY.II. SELF-RELIANCE.III. COMPENSATION.IV. SPIRITUAL LAWS.V. LOVE.VI. FRIENDSHIP.VII. PRUDENCE.VIII. HEROISM.IX. THE OVER-SOUL.X. CIRCLES.XI. INTELLECT.XII. ART.ESSAYS, SECOND SERIESI. THE POET.II. EXPERIENCE.III. CHARACTER.IV. MANNERS.V. GIFTS.VI. NATURE.VII. POLITICS.VIII. NONIMALIST AND REALIST.IX. NEW ENGLAND REFORMERS.REPRESENTATIVE MENTHE CORRESPONDENCE OF THOMAS CARLYLE AND RALPH WALDO EMERSON I & IIPOEMS BY RALPH WALDO EMERSONLIFE OF EMERSONCRITICAL OPINIONS OF EMERSON AND HIS WRITINGSIncludes an active table of contents.This unexpurgated edition contains the complete text with errors and omissions corrected.

The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication of Democracy and a Critique of its Traditional Defense


Reinhold Niebuhr - 1950
    Written and first read during the prolonged, tragic world war between totalitarian and democratic forces, Niebuhr’s book took up the timely question of how democracy as a political system could best be defended.s career.

Definition


Richard Robinson - 1950
    The purpose of this book is to clarify the concept of definition and improve defining activities.

Evolution of Scientific Thought from Newton to Einstein


A. d'Abro - 1950
    

Pragmatism and American Culture (Problems in American Civilization Series)


William James - 1950
    

Functional Operators: Vol.I Measures and Intedrals


John von Neumann - 1950
    Geometry of orthogonal spaces.

A History Of Philosophical Systems


Vergilius Ture Anselm Ferm - 1950
    Written with the cooperation of forty-one eminent professors of philosophy representing American, Canadian, European and Asian academic institutions, each writing on his specialty. Chapter One begins with the Story of Indian Philosophy and the last chapter (forty-seven in all) ends with the subject of Philosophies of Religion. The reader will find a lucid summary of such systems as Chinese Philosophy; Platonism; Aristotelianism; Roman Schools; Early Christian, Arabic and Islamic; Ancient and Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy; Scholasticism; Thomism; Renaissance Philosophies; Enlightenment; Kantianism; Absolute Idealism; Positivism; Pragmatism; Phenomenology; Naturalism; Semantics; Aesthetics; Philosophy of History; Philosophy of the Sciences - and many others.

The Works of Rene Descartes


René Descartes - 1950
    The works of Rene Descartes with an active table of contents.Works include:A Discourse on MethodPrinciples of Philosophy

The Dhammapada: by S.Radhakrishnan


Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan - 1950
    Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975), about the Dhammapada, an important Buddhist scripture. Originally published in 1950 by Oxford University Press, the book has been republished numerous times by the same publisher, most recently in 1997. A 2007 Indian edition was published by Pilgrims Publishing. The book has been reviewed in several professional journals. All editions have had 194 pages and have used the same title.

Greek Political Theory: The Image of Man in Thucydides and Plato


David Grene - 1950
    

The Spiritual Physick of Rhazes


Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi - 1950
    Rhazes begins the discussion with an affirmation of the value of divinely-bestowed reason, which he saw as the foundation for his subsequent discussion and which is the most obviously religious portion of the text. Then he argues for the importance of suppressing passion, and the remainder of the text is essentially case studies of how to suppress various kinds of passion.