Best of
Philosophy

1994

Can Man Live Without God


Ravi Zacharias - 1994
    According to Zacharias, how you answer the questions of God's existence will impact your relationship with others, your commitment to integrity, your attitude toward morality, and your perception of truth.

The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering


Bhikkhu Bodhi - 1994
    Each step of the path is believed to cultivate wisdom through mental training, and includes an enlightened and peaceful middle path that avoids extremes. The theoretical as well as practical angles of each of the paths—right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration—are illustrated through examples from contemporary life. The work's final chapter addresses the Buddhist path and its culmination in enlightenment.

The Wisdom of the Native Americans: Including The Soul of an Indian and Other Writings of Ohiyesa and the Great Speeches of Red Jacket, Chief Joseph, and Chief Seattle


Kent Nerburn - 1994
    This collection of writings from revered Native Americans offers timeless, meaningful lessons on living and learning.

On Fear


Jiddu Krishnamurti - 1994
    Among the many questions Krishnamurti addresses in these remarkable teachings are: How can a mind that is afraid love? And what can a mind that depends on attachment know of joy? He points out that the voice of fear makes the mind dull and insensitive, and argues that the roots of hidden fears, which limit us and from which we constantly seek escape, cannot be discovered through analysis of the past. Questioning whether the exercise of will can eliminate the debilitating effects of fear, he suggests, instead, that only a fundamental realization of the root of all fear can free our minds.

Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior


Marimba Ani - 1994
    Examines the influence of European culture on the formation of modern institutional frameworks, through colonialism and imperialism, from an African perspective.

On Love and Loneliness


Jiddu Krishnamurti - 1994
    Krishnamurti suggests that "true relationship" can come into being only when there is self-knowledge of the conditions which divide and islolate individuals and groups. Only by renouncing the self can we understand the problem of lonliness, and truly love.

Emerson: The Ultimate Collection


Ralph Waldo Emerson - 1994
    He was seen as a champion of individualism. The transcendentalists believe in the inherent goodness of both people and nature. They further believe that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures first, then revised them for print. His first two collections of essays – Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series, published respectively in 1841 and 1844 – represent the core of his thinking, and include such well-known essays as Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet and Experience. Together with Nature, these essays made the decade from the mid-1830s to the mid-1840s Emerson's most fertile period. The collection: • Nature • The American Scholar • The Conduct of Life • English Traits Essays - First Series • History • Self-Reliance • Compensation • Spiritual Laws • Love • Friendship • Prudence • Heroism • The Over-Soul • Circles • Intellect • Art Essays - Second Series • The Poet • Experience • Character • Manners • Gifts • Nature • Politics • Nonimalist and Realist • New England Reformers Representative Men • Plato; or, the Philosopher • Plato; New Readings • Swedenborg; or, the Mystic • Montaigne; or, the Skeptic • Shakspeare; or, the Poet • Napoleon; or, the Man of the World • Goethe; or, the Writer Poems • May-Day And Other Pieces • Elements And Mottoes • Quatrains And Translations

The Commanding Self


Idries Shah - 1994
    The book serves to illustrate and amplify Idries Shah's preceding (over 20) books on the Sufi Way.

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life


Jon Kabat-Zinn - 1994
    It speaks both to those coming to meditation for the first time and to longtime practitioners, anyone who cares deeply about reclaiming the richness of his or her moments.

Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age


Seraphim Rose - 1994
    Seraphim) undertook to write a monumental chronicle of the abandonment of Truth in the modern age. Of the hundreds of pages of material he compiled for this work, only the present essay has come down to us in completed form. Here Fr. Seraphim reveals the core of all modern thought and life—the belief that all truth is relative—and shows how this belief has been translated into action in our century. Today, four decades after he wrote it, this essay is more timely than ever. It clearly explains why contemporary ideas, values, and attitudes—the “spirit of the age”—are shifting so rapidly in the direction of moral anarchy, as the philosophy of Nihilism enters more deeply into the fiber of society. Nietszche was right when he predicted that the 20th century would usher in “the triumph of Nihilism.”“Atheism, true ‘existential’ atheism burning with hatred of a seemingly unjust or unmerciful God, is a spiritual state; it is a real attempt to grapple with the true God.… Nietzsche, in calling himself Antichrist, proved thereby his intense hunger for Christ.”This new second edition contains a superb essay entitled “The Philosophy of the Absurd,” written by Fr. Seraphim at the same time that he was working on “Nihilism.”

Zhuan Falun: The Complete Teachings of Falun Gong


Li Hongzhi - 1994
    Zhuan Falun is the core comprehensive book about Falun Gong -- and a best-selling book in China before it was banned.

Man and His Symbols: Approaching the Unconscious


C.G. Jung - 1994
    Its catalyst was a dream Jung had in which he recognized the need to explain his theories to the lay public. Man and His Symbols is a succinct rendering of his life's work. "Brilliantly read", -- AudioFile"The entire series merits serious attention by librarians and booksellers". -- Publishers Weekly"Listening to these works in shortened form highlights aspects of each author's personality. Recommended". -- Library Journal"The professional narrators have a relaxed, serious style that invites thoughtful listening. These sets are fine way to become acquainted with the classics". -- Booklist

An Intimate History of Humanity


Theodore Zeldin - 1994
    "An intellectually dazzling view of our past and future."--Time magazineContents1. How humans have repeatedly lost hope, and how new encounters, and a new pair of spectacles, revive them2. How men and women have slowly learned to have interesting conversations3. How people searching for their roots are only beginning to look far and deep enough4. How some people have acquired an immunity to loneliness5. How new forms of love have been invented6. Why there has been more progress in cooking than in sex7. How the desire that men feel for women, and for other men, has altered through the centuries8. How respect has become more desirable than power9. How those who want neither to give orders nor to receive them can become intermediaries10. How people have freed themselves from fear by finding new fears11. How curiosity has become the key to freedom12. Why it has become increasingly difficult to destroy one’s enemies13. How the art of escaping from one’s troubles has developed, but not the art of knowing where to escape to14. Why compassion has flowered even in stony ground15. Why toleration has never been enough16. Why even the privileged are often somewhat gloomy about life, even when they can have anything the consumer society offers, and even after sexual liberation17. How travellers are becoming the largest nation in the world, and how they have learned not to see only what they are looking for18. Why friendship between men and women has been so fragile19. How even astrologers resist their destiny20. Why people have not been able to find the time to lead several lives21. Why fathers and their children are changing their minds about what they want from each other22. Why the crisis in the family is only one stage in the evolution of generosity23. How people choose a way of life, and how it does not wholly satisfy them24. How humans become hospitable to each other25. What becomes possible when soul-mates meet

Master Dogen's Shobogenzo


Gudo Wafu Nishijima - 1994
    The translation adheres closely to the original Japanese, with a clear style and extensive annotations. Book 1 presents translations of twenty-one chapters of Shobogenzo including Genjo-koan (The Realized Universe), Soku-shin-ze-butsu (Mind Here & Now is Buddha), Uji (Existence-Time), and Sansuigyo (The Sutra of Mountains & Water). Its several reference sections include a Chinese/English appendix of references to the Lotus Sutra, and an extensive Sanskrit glossary. 'At last I visited Zen Master Nyojo of Dai-byaku-ho mountain, and there I was able to complete the great task of a lifetime of practice. After that, at the beginning of the great Sung era of Shojo, I came home determined to spread the Dharma and to save living beings, it was as if a heavy burden had been placed on my shoulders....I will leave this record to people who learn in practice and are easy in the truth, so that they can know the right Dharma of the Buddha's lineage. This may be a true mission.'

The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy


Simon Blackburn - 1994
    The dictionary provides wide-ranging and lively coverage of not only Western philosophical traditions, but also themes from Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Jewish philosophy. This clear and easy to use reference also contains in-depth analysis of philosophical terms and concepts, and a chronology of philosophical events stretching from 10,000 BC to the present day.

The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics


Martha C. Nussbaum - 1994
    Like medicine, philosophy to them was a rigorous science aimed both at understanding and at producing the flourishing of human life. In this engaging book, Martha Nussbaum examines texts of philosophers committed to a therapeutic paradigm--including Epicurus, Lucretius, Sextus Empiricus, Chrysippus, and Seneca--and recovers a valuable source for our moral and political thought of today.

The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are - The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology


Robert Wright - 1994
    Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics--as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies. Illustrations.

No Water, No Moon


Osho - 1994
    Through these Zen teaching stories, he explores the essence of Zen in al its beauty and mystery. Woven throughout are Zen shocks, Zen knocks and great laughter, which can shake readers from the sameness of everyday life into an awareness of the essence of existence and their true selves.

A Spinoza Reader: The Ethics and Other Works


Baruch Spinoza - 1994
    Also included are selections from other works by Spinoza, chosen by Curley to make the Ethics easier to understand, and a substantial introduction that gives an overview of Spinoza's life and the main themes of his philosophy. Perfect for course use, the Spinoza Reader is a practical tool with which to approach one of the world's greatest but most difficult thinkers, a passionate seeker of the truth who has been viewed by some as an atheist and by others as a religious mystic.The anthology begins with the opening section of the Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, which has always moved readers by its description of the young Spinoza's spiritual quest, his dissatisfaction with the things people ordinarily strive for--wealth, honor, and sensual pleasure--and his hope that the pursuit of knowledge would lead him to discover the true good. The emphasis throughout these selections is on metaphysical, epistemological, and religious issues: the existence and nature of God, his relation to the world, the nature of the human mind and its relation to the body, and the theory of demonstration, axioms, and definitions. For each of these topics, the editor supplements the rigorous discussions in the Ethics with informal treatments from Spinoza's other works.

Sunzi Speaks: The Art of War


Tsai Chih Chung - 1994
    A profoundly wise and humorous rendering of the classic Chinese text on military strategy, as told through the delightful Chinese cartoon panels of best-selling author Tsai Chih Chung.

The Soul of Science


Nancy R. Pearcey - 1994
    The authors demonstrate how the flowering of modern science depended upon the Judeo-Christian worldview of the existence of a real physical contingent universe, created and held in being by an omnipotent personal God, with man having the capabilities of rationality and creativity, and thus being capable of investigating it. Pearcey and Thaxton make excellent use of analogies to elucidate difficult concepts, and the clarity of their explanations for the nonspecialist, for example, of Einstein's relativity theories or of the informational content of DNA and its consequences for theories of prebiotic evolution, are quite exceptional, alone making the volume worth purchasing." --Dr. David Shotton, Lecturer in Cell Biology, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford"Pearcey and Thaxton show that the alliance between atheism and science is a temporary aberration and that, far from being inimical to science, Christian theism has played and will continue to play an important role in the growth of scientific understanding. This brilliant book deserves wide readership." --Phillip E. Johnson, University of California, Berkeley"This book would be an excellent text for courses on science and religion, and it should be read by all Christians interested in the relationship between science and their theological commitments." --J.P. Moreland, Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

Wendal, His Cat, and the Progress of Man: An Illustrated Novel


V. Campudoni - 1994
    

Hélène Cixous, Rootprints: Memory and Life Writing


Hélène Cixous - 1994
    Published here in English for the first time Helene Cixous, Rootprints is an ideal introduction to Cixous's theory and her fiction, tracing her development as a writer and intellectual whose remarkable prespicacity and electrifying poetic force are known world-wide.Unprecedented in its form and content this collection breaks new ground in the theory and practice of auto/biography. Cixous's creative reflections on the past provide occasion for scintillating forays into the future.The text includes: * an extended interview between Cixous and Calle-Gruber, exploring Cixous's creative and intellectual processes* a revealing collection of photographs taken from Cixous's family album, set against a poetic reflection by the author * selections from Cixous's private notebooks* a contribution by Jacques Derrida* original 'thing-pieces' by Calle-Gruber.

Jung: A Very Short Introduction


Anthony Stevens - 1994
    Though he was a prolific writer and an original thinker of vast erudition, Jung lacked a gift for clear exposition, and his ideas are less widely appreciated than they deserve to be. Now, in this extremely accessible introduction, Anthony Stevens--one of Britain's foremost Jungian analysts--clearly explains the basic concepts of Jungian psychology: the collective unconscious, complex, archetype, shadow, persona, anima, animus, and the individualization of the Self. A small masterpiece of insight and concision, this volume offers a clear portrait of one of the twentieth century's most important and controversial thinkers.About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction


John M. Frame - 1994
    Proof- presenting a rational basis for faith. 2. Defense- answering objections to unbelief. 3. Offense- exposing the foolishness of unbelieving thought. Frame offers a fresh look at probability arguments and gives special attention to the problem of evil. Particularly helpful are his extensive use of Scripture and his presentation of specific lines of argument. A model dialogue in the concluding chapter shows how the various lines of argument work in a conversation with a non-believer. Level: Semi-technical.

Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld


Patrick Harpur - 1994
    But those that aren't, those that purport to document or comment on such phenomena in what passes for "real life" vary across such a wide range of quality, credulity & comprehensibility that it's tempting to dismiss them all as pure badly-written hokum. Of course, as in any genre, no matter how microscopic, there are classics. Charles Fort's Book of the Damned is surely in the forefront. But once you get past the looming shadow of Charles Fort, matters become far murkier. Patrick Harpur's Daimonic Reality is a work that would surely make the top ten lists of many Fortean scholars. Subtitled A Field Guide to the Otherworld, Daimonic Reality synthesizes the reports of many different phenomena into a single Unified Field Theory of the Strange. It's an audacious attempt that largely succeeds. Harpur has a low key writing style that makes this work easy to read. His comprehensive knowledge of a wide variety of inexplicable events is impressive & entertaining. Most importantly, he has drawn together these disparate elements with a rather interesting philosophical take that looks to Jung, Fort, Blake, Yeats & beyond. There are enough elements in this stew to make it a really tasty treat for the hungry mind. Daimonic Reality is divided into three sections thru which Harpur journeys ever deeper into the mind behind the perceptions. But he's careful not to shortchange the perceptions & events themselves. Part One: Apparitions covers apparitions of all kinds, from UFOs to lights in the sky, from aliens & fairies to sightings of Black Dogs & Big Cats. Harpur's economical coverage of these subjects makes it easy for any level of Fortean reader to enjoy the individuality of each experience. But this treatment also enables the reader to step back & see the bigger picture, to move towards the idea of the otherworld. The individual reports are carefully chosen & beautifully written. Harpur takes a more substantial step towards the otherworld in Part Two: Vision. Starting with a discussion of "seeing things", he moves on to visions of Ladies, which are dominated by (but not exclusively) visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He discusses the evidence that these encounters leave behind, from fairy shoes to crop circles. (Coming soon to a theater near you.) He talked about the part that Imagination plays in the otherworld & finally reaches the mythic land itself. In Part Three: Otherworld Journeys, Harpur gives both practical & philosophical advice for otherworld journeys. He discusses the variety of journeys that one can have, from missing time to alien encounters, from a trip to fairyland to an out-of-body experience. When Harpur sticks to the practical, he has practically no peer in writing compelling prose about otherworldly experiences. His philosophical thoughts aren't quite as page-turning, but they're pithy, fascinating & pertinent. Harpur isn't content to merely provoke thought. He wants to invoke internal debate in the reader, & does so with some formal philosophical discussion that is difficult to pull off with the authority that Harpur achieves. He's a remarkably intelligent writer & his work requires a reader of nearly equal intelligence. You don't have to be a philosopher to read Harpur's work, but it certainly helps to be philosophically inclined. This isn't mere reportage of events, but a reasoned analysis, with conclusions that go well beyond 'Is it real or are they all just a bunch of crazy yahoos?' That there is an audience for this sort of thinking is shown by the eternal sales of the works of writers such as Carlos Castenada, not to mention the immense & increasing popularity of Fortean fiction, horror, science fiction & fantasy. That's because Harpur is looking to snatch something from the center of creation, something that is partly in the human mind & partly in the otherworld. Daimonic Reality does an excellent job grasping at the ineffable & getting it in print. As of 2/2003, this title is back in print by Pine Winds Press/Idyll Arbor. They've chosen an equally nice cover print, & are publishing the book as a sturdy US hardcover. Better yet, they're a small press, so you can buy directly from them. Since Harpur has managed to wrestle the ineffable into print, we've got to thank Pine Winds Press for keeping it in print.--Rick Kleffel

Thought as a System


David Bohm - 1994
    The author rejects the notion that our thinking processes neutrally report on what is out there in an objective world. He explores the manner in which thought actively participates in forming our perceptions, our sense of meaning and our daily actions. He suggests that collective thought and knowledge have become so automated that we are in large part controlled by them, with a subsequent loss of authenticity, freedom and order.

Thee Psychick Bible: Thee Apocryphal Scriptures ov Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Thee Third Mind ov Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth


Genesis P-Orridge - 1994
    Its leader was Genesis P-Orridge, co-founder of Psychick TV and Throbbing Gristle, the band that created the industrial music genre. The limited signed cloth edition of Thee Psychick Bible quickly sold out, creating demand for any edition of this 544-page book, which will be available in a handsome smyth-sewn paperback edition with flaps and ribbon. According to author Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, "this is the most profound new manual on practical magick, taking it from its Crowleyan empowerment of the Individual to a next level of realization to evolve our species."

The Instant of My Death / Demeure: Fiction and Testimony


Maurice Blanchot - 1994
    More than a literary text with critical commentary, it constitutes an event of central significance for contemporary philosophical, literary, and political concerns.The book consists of The Instant of My Death, a powerful short prose piece by Blanchot, and an extended essay by Derrida that reads it in the context of questions of literature and of bearing witness. Blanchot's narrative concerns a moment when a young man is brought before a firing squad during World War II and then suddenly finds himself released from his near death. The incident, written in the third person, is suggestively autobiographical—from the title, several remarks in the text, and a letter Blanchot wrote about a similar incident in his own life—but only insofar as it raises questions for Blanchot about what such an experience might mean. The accident of near death becomes, in the instant the man is released, the accident of a life he no longer possesses. The text raises the question of what it means to write about a (non)experience one cannot claim as one's own, and as such is a text of testimony or witness.Derrida's reading of Blanchot links the problem of testimony to the problem of the secret and to the notion of the instant. It thereby provides the elements of a more expansive reassessment of literature, testimony, and truth. In addressing the complex relation between writing and history, Derrida also implicitly reflects on questions concerning the relation between European intellectuals and World War II.

Commentary on Aristotle's De Anima


Thomas Aquinas - 1994
    Thomas on Aristotle. Each volume has the full text of Aristotle with Bekker numbers, followed by the commentary of St. Thomas, cross-referenced using an easily accessible mode of referring to Aristotle in the Commentary.Each volume is beautifully printed and bound using the finest materials. All copies are printed on acid-free paper and Smyth sewn. They will last.

Making It Explicit: Reasoning, Representing & Discursive Commitment


Robert B. Brandom - 1994
    Making It Explicit is an investigation into the nature of language--the social practices that distinguish us as rational, logical creatures--that revises the very terms of this inquiry. Where accounts of the relation between language and mind have traditionally rested on the concept of representation, this book sets out an alternate approach based on inference, and on a conception of certain kinds of implicit assessment that become explicit in language. Making It Explicit is the first attempt to work out in detail a theory that renders linguistic meaning in terms of use--in short, to explain how semantic content can be conferred on expressions and attitudes that are suitably caught up in social practices.At the center of this enterprise is a notion of discursive commitment. Being able to talk--and so in the fullest sense being able to think--is a matter of mastering the practices that govern such commitments, being able to keep track of one's own commitments and those of others. Assessing the pragmatic significance of speech acts is a matter of explaining the explicit in terms of the implicit. As he traces the inferential structure of the social practices within which things can be made conceptually explicit, the author defines the distinctively expressive role of logical vocabulary. This expressive account of language, mind, and logic is, finally, an account of who we are.

Nomadic Subjects


Rosi Braidotti - 1994
    Braidotti argues for a new kind of philosophical thinking, one that would include the insights of feminism and abandon the hegemonic mode that is conventionally adopted in high theory.

The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas


Étienne Gilson - 1994
    Thomas Aquinas, Etienne Gilson presents the sweeping range and organic unity of Thomistic philosophical thought. Gilson demonstrates that Aquinas drew from a wide spectrum of sources in the development of his thought—from Aristotle to the Arabic and Jewish philosophers of his time, as well as from Christian writers. What results is an insightful introduction to the thought of Aquinas and the Scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages.

Freedom, Love and Action


Jiddu Krishnamurti - 1994
    Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.In the dialogues and reflections included in Freedom, Love, and Action, Krishnamurti points to a state of total awareness beyond mental processes. He discusses such topics as meditation as a path to personal and societal transformation, setting the mind free from its own conditioning, the possibility of finding enlightenment in everyday activities, and integrating freedom, love, and action.

The Holy Vedas: Rig Veda,Yajur Veda Sama Veda and Atharva Veda


Bibek Debroy - 1994
    The world veda literally means Knowledge. The root is vid, ‘to Know’ The Vedas are thus texts that provide Knowledge.There are four Vedas, known as the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda. Many years ago, the Vedas were referred to as trayi or three. There must have been some point of time when there were only three Vedas. These are acknowledged to have been the Rig Vedas, the yajur Veda and the Sama Veda. The Atharva Veda is believed to have a later addition to the sacred canon.The world trayi is also interpreted in a different sense. Although the interpretation does seem to be slightly artificial, it is following. The three paths to salvation are believed to be those of jnana (Knowledge), bhakti (devotion) and karma (action). Since the Vedas teach these three paths to salvation, they are referred to as trayi. The Rig Veda is identified with the path of knowledge, the yajur Veda with the path of action, and the Sama Veda with the path of devotion.Each of the Vedas has two parts, a samhita and the brahmanas. The samhita part consists of mantras or incantations. These were hymns that were used in sacrifies. But these mantras are difficult to interpret without commentaries. This is what the brahmanas set out to do. They explain the hymns and indicate how these are to be used in sacrifices. The brahmanas also have detailed descriptions of sacrifices and how they are to be conducted. The samhita and the brahmanas are often known as karma kanda, that is, the part of the Vedas that deals with rituals.In addition Vedic literature also includes jnana kanda. This is the part that deals with supreme knowledge. Included in jnana kanda are the aranyakas and the Upanishads. These are identified with various Vedas.We can therefore have a narrow definition of a Veda as well as a broad one. The narrow definition would take the word Veda to mean the samhita alone. The broad definition would include, in addition associated brahmanas, aranyakas and Upanishads. By the word Veda, we will mean the samhita alone.When were the Vedas composed and who composed them? Strictly speaking, there is no answer to these questions. The Vedas were revealed; they were shrutis. They were not written down or composed. They were communicated by the supreme godhead or the divine essence (brahman) to the ancient seers (rishis). These rishis did not compose the Vedas; they merely obtained this divine knowledge through their extraordinary powers. In this sense, the Vedas are apourusheya, that is, not the handiwork of men. Their authorship cannot be ascribed to any human author.In the Hindu conception of time, time is divided into four eras. These are known as satya yuga, treat yuga, dvapara yuga and kali yuga. As one moves from satya yuga towards kali yuga, the power of righteousness diminishes and evil starts to rear its ugly head. To bring men back to the righteous path, the sacred knowledge that is in the Vedas must be disseminated amongst them. But the Vedas are abstract and esoteric, often difficult for ordinary mortals to comprehend. To make the dissemination and assimilation easier, the Vedas must be conveniently partitioned and divided into various groups. A person who thus divides (vyasa) the Vedas has the title of Vedavyasa or Vyasadeva conferred on him.In every dvapara yuga, such a Vedavyasa is born to perform this sacred task, The Vedavyasa born in the dvapara yuga tha immediately preceded the present kali, yuga, was Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa. It is he who is credited with having divided the original unified Vedas into the four segments of the Rig Veda, the yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda. Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa did not compose the Vedas, he merely recapitulated what was already known. Incidentally, Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa is also credited with the composition of the great epic, the Mahabharata.Just as it is impossible to determine who composed the Vedas, it is also impossible to determine when they were composed. Widely different dates have been suggested by scholars. Tilak suggested a date of around 6000 B.C., while Jacobi’s date was around 4500 B.C. Most scholars would agree that the Vedas were compiled some time between 4000 B.C. and 1000 B. C. and that it is impossible to narrow down the range further. The earliest of the Vedas is clearly the Rig Veda. This reached a stage of final compilation between 1000 B. C. and 900 B. C.

Modern Philosophy: An Introduction and Survey


Roger Scruton - 1994
    Rather than producing a survey of an academic discipline, Scruton reclaims philosophy for worldly concerns.

The Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader: Philosophy and Painting


Galen A. Johnson - 1994
    His essays on painting, "Cezanne's Doubt" (1945), "Indirect Language and the Voices of Silence" (1952), and "Eye and Mind" (1960), have inspired new approaches to epistemology, ontology, and the philosophy of history. Galen A. Johnson has gathered these essays for the first time into a single volume and augmented them with essays by distinguished scholars and artists, including M.C. Dillon, Mikel Dufrenne, and René Magritte. Together the essays demonstrate the continuing significance of Merleau-Ponty's ideas about art for contemporary philosophy on both sides of the Atlantic.

Shaman of Tibet: Milarepa--From Anger to Enlightenment


Winged Wolf - 1994
    Written by Winged Wolf and published in 1994 by Higher Consciousness Books, it's a book that educates by engaging. Milarepa's story is interesting, dynamic, mysterious, painful, full of humanity and discovery. However, it is the manner of telling that substantiates Shaman...and facilitates Winged Wolf's intent to convey useful spiritual ideas. "Subtle ideas and true knowledge are embedded in characters, and in that way vivified. To do this an author must more fully understand what is being conveyed so the knowledge is presented in an effective and timely way. There are degrees of understanding, and understanding exceeds intellectual comprehension as the square of a number exceeds the number. It is very difficult. When it is accomplished, the reader can feel as well as cognize the thought. Winged Wolf succeeds admirably and in such a way that, even if one has no interest in esoteric knowledge, the characters have depth, are believable, and come to life. Even younger people will enjoy this book which will constructively unfetter their imaginations: they will love Milarepa, the friend, and have lively feelings about various other characters in the book.

Blackfoot Physics: A Journey into the Native American Worldview


F. David Peat - 1994
    David Peat went to a Blackfoot Sun Dance ceremony. Having spent all of his life steeped in and influenced by linear Western science, he was entranced by the Native American worldview and, through dialogue circles between scientists and native elders, he began to explore it in greater depth. Blackfoot Physics is the account of his discoveries. In an edifying synthesis of anthropology, history, metaphysics, cosmology, and quantum theory, Peat compares the medicines, the myths, the languages--the entire perceptions of reality of the Western and indigenous peoples. What becomes apparent is the amazing resemblance between indigenous teachings and some of the insights that are emerging from modern science, a congruence that is as enlightening about the physical universe as it is about the circular evolution of humanity's understanding. Through Peat's insightful observations, he extends our understanding of ourselves, our understanding of the universe, and how the two intersect in a meaningful vision of human life in relation to a greater reality.

Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity: Metaphysical Intimations of Modern Physics


Tim Maudlin - 1994
    Relativity imposed a locality constraint on physical theories: since nothing can go faster than light, very distant events cannot influence one another. Only in the last few decades has it become clear that quantum theory violates this constraint. The work of J. S. Bell has demonstrated that no local theory can return the predictions of quantum theory. Thus it would seem that the central pillars of modern physics are contradictory. Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity examines the nature and possible resolution of this conflict. Beginning with accurate but non-technical presentations of Bell's work and of Special Relativity, there follows a close examination of different interpretations of relativity and of the sort of locality each demands. The story continues with a brief discussion of the General Theory of Relativity. This second edition also includes a new author's preface and an additional appendix. The book introduces philosophers to the relevant physics and demonstrates how philosophical analysis can help to resolve some of the problems. All of the physics is presented from first principles, and as much as possible is presented pictorially.

Hélène Cixous Reader


Susan Sellers - 1994
    The substantial pieces range broadly across her entire oeuvre, and include essays, works of fiction, lectures and drama. Arranged helpfully in chronological order, the extracts span twenty years of intellectual thought and demonstrate clearly the development of one of the most creative and brilliant minds of the twentieth century.With a foreword by Jacques Derrida, a preface by Cixous herself, and first-class editorial material by Susan Sellers, The Helene Cixous Reader is destined to become a key text of feminist writing.

Global Perspectives and Psychedelic Poetics


Terence McKenna - 1994
    McKenna brings his considerable talents to bear on the meltdown of values of Western civilization and the future of the human species, and calls for an Archaic Revival and the dissolution of synthetic boundaries erected by the male ego.

When These Things Begin: Conversations with Michel Treguer


René Girard - 1994
    Girard affirms that “our unprecedented present is incomprehensible without Christianity.” Globalization has unified the world, yet civil war and terrorism persist despite free trade and economic growth. Because of mimetic desire and the rivalry it generates, asserts Girard, “whether we’re talking about marriage, friendship, professional relationships, issues with neighbors or matters of national unity, human relations are always under threat.” Literary masters including Marivaux, Dostoevsky, and Joyce understood this, as did archaic religion, which warded off violence with blood sacrifice. Christianity brought a new understanding of sacrifice, giving rise not only to modern rationality and science but also to a fragile system that is, in Girard’s words, “always teetering between a new golden age and a destructive apocalypse.” Treguer, a skeptic of mimetic theory, wonders: “Is what he’s telling me true...or is it just a nice story, a way of looking at things?” In response, Girard makes a compelling case for his theory.

The Dust of Death: The Sixties Counterculture and How It Changed America Forever


Os Guinness - 1994
    Shows how the Sixties counterculture changed America and its view of Christianity forever, and explores various ways for believers to influence our world today.

Essays in Understanding, 1930-1954: Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism


Hannah Arendt - 1994
    A philosophic champion of human freedom, she was among the first to draw the now-evident parallel between Nazism and Bolshevism and to identify totalitarianism as a threat inherent to the modern world. Jerome Kohn, Arendt's longtime assistant, has compiled, edited, and annotated her manuscripts for publication, beginning with some of her earliest published work and including essays on Augustine, Rilke, Kierkegaard, and figures of the nineteenth-century "Berlin Salon"; the loyalties of immigrant groups within the United States; the unification or "federation" of Europe; "the German problem"; religion, politics, and intellectual life; the dangers of isolation and careerism in American society; the logical consequences of "scientific" theories of Nature and History; the terror that was the organizing principle of both the Nazi and the Communist states. Two seminal essays have never before been published in complete form: On the Nature of Totalitarianism: An Essay in Understanding (1953) and Concern with Politics in Recent European Philosophical Thought (1954).

Finger Pointing to the Moon: Discourses on the Adhyatma Upanishad


Osho - 1994
    In this beautiful series on the seeds of wisdom, the upanishads, Osho says, "This Upanishad is a direct encounter with spirituality. There are no doctrines in it; there are only experiences of the fulfilled ones. In it there is no discussion of that which is born out of curiosity or inquisitiveness, no. In it there are hints to those who are full of longing for liberation from those who have already attained liberation."

Mind and World


John Henry McDowell - 1994
    In Mind and World, based on the 1991 John Locke Lectures, one of the most distinguished philosophers writing today offers his diagnosis of this difficulty and points to a cure. In doing so, he delivers the most complete and ambitious statement to date of his own views, a statement that no one concerned with the future of philosophy can afford to ignore.John McDowell amply illustrates a major problem of modern philosophy--the insidious persistence of dualism--in his discussion of empirical thought. Much as we would like to conceive empirical thought as rationally grounded in experience, pitfalls await anyone who tries to articulate this position, and McDowell exposes these traps by exploiting the work of contemporary philosophers from Wilfrid Sellars to Donald Davidson. These difficulties, he contends, reflect an understandable--but surmountable--failure to see how we might integrate what Sellars calls the logical space of reasons" into the natural world. What underlies this impasse is a conception of nature that has certain attractions for the modern age, a conception that McDowell proposes to put aside, thus circumventing these philosophical difficulties. By returning to a pre-modern conception of nature but retaining the intellectual advance of modernity that has mistakenly been viewed as dislodging it, he makes room for a fully satisfying conception of experience as a rational openness to independent reality. This approach also overcomes other obstacles that impede a generally satisfying understanding of how we are placed in the world.

Looking at Philosophy: The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter


Donald D. Palmer - 1994
    Palmer is the author of Does the Center Hold: Introduction to Western Philosophy. Illustrated with more than 350 cartoons.

The Dark Side: Thoughts on the Futility of Life from Ancient Greeks to the Present


Alan R. Pratt - 1994
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Generative Energy: Protecting and Restoring the Wholeness of Life


Raymond Peat - 1994
    Practical issues of health, education, and creativity are often considered as though science had nothing to offer beyond certain concrete facts. Holistic and coherent views emerge from many areas of science, illuminating questions such as: Longevity: Brain improvement: Biological regeneration: Ecological restoration: The meaning of stress: A solution for obesity: Fertility.

Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture


Gene Edward Veith Jr. - 1994
    Assumptions that shaped twentieth-century thought and culture, the bridges we crossed to this present moment, have blown up. The postmodern age has begun.Just what is postmodernism? The average person would be shocked by its creed: Truth, meaning, and individual identity do not exist. These are social constructs. Human life has no special significance, no more value than animal or plant life. All social relationships, all institutions, all moral values are expressions and masks of the primal will to power.Alarmingly, these ideas have gripped the nation's universities, which turn out today's lawyers, judges, writers, journalists, teachers, and other culture-shapers. Through society's influences, postmodernist ideas have seeped into films, television, art, literature, politics; and, without his knowing it, into the head of the average person on the street.Christ has called us to proclaim the gospel to a culture grappling with postmodernism. We must understand our times. Then, through the power that Christ gives, we can counter the prevailing culture and proclaim His sufficiency to our society's very points of need."While pundits wring their hands over the radicalism of political correctness, speech codes, and outrageous art, Gene Edward Veith takes unerring aim at the intellectual roots of it all. The most important book for anyone who wants to know what's behind the political correctness movement." --Chuck Colson, founder, Prison Fellowship"An ideal guide for Christians who don't want to be like the notorious military strategist preparing to fight the last war instead of the next one." --Herbert Schlossberg, author, Idols for Destruction"Pinpoints the strengths and weaknesses of postmodern thought and points the way for Christians to take advantage of both." --E. Calvin Beisner, Covenant College

I Ching Wisdom: Guidance from the Book of Changes


Wu Wei - 1994
    In this book, author wu wei has brillantly excerpted some of the I Ching's greatest wisdom and has added to it his own enlightened comments that render the wisdom exuberantly alive, and a Chinese ink drawing in the Zen fashion.

Values in Philippine Culture and Education


Manuel B. Dy Jr. - 1994
    

Bridging Science and Spirit: Common Elements in David Bohm's Physics, the Perennial Philosophy and Seth


Norman Friedman - 1994
    In the resultant confusion scientists, philosophers and theologians have pondered and argued; yet the separation remains. Norman Friedman correlates the quantum physics of David Bohm with the Perennial Philosophy described by Aldous Huxley and the spiritual insights of the channeled entity known as Seth to show how a single reality emerges from seemingly contradictory perspectives; a brilliant synthesis. BOOK REVIEWS I think Bridging Science and Spirit is one of the most insightful, comprehensive, and brilliant expressions of knowledge. I shall certainly use it as a reference guide. Many abstract ideas that I was not comfortable with are now more meaningful. Deepak Chopra, M.D., author of Ageless Body, Timeless Mind; The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success; The Way of the Wizard Bridging Science and Spirit accomplishes a formidable task. This book will be a valuable research document for many years to come for those concerned with a perspective that honors both science and spirituality. Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D.; author of Taking the Quantum Leap; Parallel Universes; The Physics of the Soul Bridging Science and Spirit correctly asks, 'How does matter originate from consciousness?' This is the fundamental question of a growing body of literature regarding the new paradigm of an idealist, consciousness-based science. Norman Friedman has made an important and thoughtful contribution to this new science. Amit Goswami, Ph.D., Professor of Physics, University of Oregon; author of The Self-Aware Universe An insightful synthesis of the outer frontiers of theoretical physics with the deep revelations of mystical insight, throwing important light on the reality we live in. Peter Russell, author of The Global Brain; The White Hole in Time; The Global Brain Awakens A masterful job of bringing innate psychic understanding and scientific knowledge together, brilliantly showing us how all is one and one is all. Robert F. Butts - Husband of Jane Roberts, Channel for Seth Few have understood both science and metaphysics well enough to remove our blinders to their underlying similarities and universal truths. Kudos to Norman Friedman for proving to be a master bridge builder. Lynda Madden Dahl, Co-founder, Seth Network International; author of eight Seth-based books, including the Living a Safe Universe Series Some future historian will, I feel confident, identify the 'Great Debate' of the twentieth century around the question: 'What is science going to do about consciousness?' I would surmise that Norman Friedman's book Bridging Science and Spirit will turn out to be a benchmark in that inquiry. No one can read it without gaining some clarity on their own nature. Willis Harman, Ph.D., President, Institute of Noetic Sciences; author of Global Mind Change A brilliant synthesis of ageless wisdom and modern science. Friedman's writing provides pictures for our minds so we can 'see' reality Jacquelyn Small, MSSW, President, Eupsychia, Inc.; author of Awakening in Time; Transformers, the Artists of Self-Creation I responded to this book with both admiration and appreciation for the task Norman Friedman set out to do and accomplished so successfully. He has paved the way toward a deeper understanding of the role of consciousness in the creation and structure of matter. Montague Ullman, Ph.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, N.Y."

Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar's Philosophy


Andrew Collier - 1994
    It shows how to overcome the atomistic and narrowly human-centered approaches which have dominated European thought for four centuries. In this readable introduction to his work, Andrew Collier expounds and defends the main concepts of Bhaskar’s philosophy.The first part of this book looks at the philosophy of experimental science and discusses the stratification of nature, showing how biological structures are founded on chemical ones yet are not reducible to them. This paves the way, in part two, for a discussion of the human sciences which demonstrates that the world they study is also rooted in and emergent from nature. Bhaskar’s concept of an “explanatory critique” (an explanation that is also a criticism, not in addition to, but by virtue of, its explanatory work) is discussed at length as a key concept for ethics and politics. Collier concludes by looking at the uses to which critical realism has been put in clarifying disputes within the human sciences with particular reference to linguistics, psychoanalysis, economics and politics.

Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life


Giorgio Agamben - 1994
    Recently, Agamben has begun to direct his thinking to the constitution of the social and to some concrete, ethico-political conclusions concerning the state of society today, and the place of the individual within it.In Homo Sacer, Agamben aims to connect the problem of pure possibility, potentiality, and power with the problem of political and social ethics in a context where the latter has lost its previous religious, metaphysical, and cultural grounding. Taking his cue from Foucault’s fragmentary analysis of biopolitics, Agamben probes with great breadth, intensity, and acuteness the covert or implicit presence of an idea of biopolitics in the history of traditional political theory. He argues that from the earliest treatises of political theory, notably in Aristotle’s notion of man as a political animal, and throughout the history of Western thinking about sovereignty (whether of the king or the state), a notion of sovereignty as power over “life” is implicit.The reason it remains merely implicit has to do, according to Agamben, with the way the sacred, or the idea of sacrality, becomes indissociable from the idea of sovereignty. Drawing upon Carl Schmitt’s idea of the sovereign’s status as the exception to the rules he safeguards, and on anthropological research that reveals the close interlinking of the sacred and the taboo, Agamben defines the sacred person as one who can be killed and yet not sacrificed—a paradox he sees as operative in the status of the modern individual living in a system that exerts control over the collective “naked life” of all individuals.

Gateway to the Miraculous: Further Explorations in the Tao of Cheng Man Ch'ing


Wolfe Lowenthal - 1994
    Like the previous book, it is about his teacher, the great Cheng Man-ch’ing, the art of Tai Chi Chuan, and his experience as a student and teacher.

Read My Desire: Lacan Against the Historicists


Joan Copjec - 1994
    Ordinarily, these discourses only cross paths long enough for historicists to charge psychoanalysis with an indifference to history, but here psychoanalysis, via Lacan, goes on the offensive. Refusing to cede historicity to the historicists, Copjec makes a case for the superiority of Lacan's explanation of historical process, its generative principles, and its complex functionings.

Life On The Cutting Edge


Sal Rachele - 1994
    It's not about the same old tired reality that's been talked about for decades. It's not a sugar-coated, love, and light routine. And it's not another feel-good manual or "how to succeed without really trying" rehash. It's not psychobabble, quick-fix therapy, preaching, or lamenting a cause.This book takes a no-nonsense look at what is really happening behind the scenes, above the scenes, and beyond the scenes. It addresses the issues you and I are facing right now and will be facing for a long time to come. It uses the past only as a springboard for stepping into the unknown, into the big picture.It exposes the lies, coverups, deceit, control, and manipulation that have kept the people of Earth locked into rigid systems of dogma and despair. But it also offers real solutions that are timely yet timeless.

Hegel's Phenomenology: The Sociality of Reason


Terry P. Pinkard - 1994
    Written in a clear and straightforward style, the book reconstructs Hegel's theoretical philosophy and shows its connection to the ethical and political theory. Terry Pinkard sets the work in a historical context and reveals the contemporary relevance of Hegel's thought to European and Anglo-American philosophers.

Deleuze: A Philosophy of the Event: Together with the Vocabulary of Deleuze


François Zourabichvili - 1994
    From the publication of Deleuze: A Philosophy of the Event to his untimely death in 2006, Fran�ois Zourabichvili was regarded as one of the most important new voices of contemporary philosophy in France. His work continues to make an essential contribution to Deleuze scholarship today.This edition makes two of Zourabichvili's most important writings on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze available in a single volume. A Philosophy of the Event (1994) is an exposition of Deleuze's philosophy as a whole, while the complementary Deleuze's Vocabulary (2003) approaches Deleuze's work through an analysis of key concepts in a dictionary form.This new translation is set to become an event within Deleuze Studies for many years to come.Key Features: Distinguishes Deleuze's notion of the event from the phenomenological, ontological and voluntarist conceptions that continue to lay claim to it today With an introduction by Gregg Lambert and Daniel W. Smith, two of the world's leading commentators on Deleuze, explaining the key themes and arguments of Zourabichvili's work

Philosophy Before Socrates: An Introduction with Texts and Commentary


Richard D. McKirahan - 1994
    It provides a wide survey of Greek science, metaphysics, and moral and political philosophy, from their roots in myth to the philosophers and Sophists of the fifth century. A comprehensive selection of fragments and testimonia, translated by the author, is presented in the context of a thorough and accessible discussion. An introductory chapter deals with the sources of Presocratic and Sophistic texts and the special problems of interpretation they present.In its second edition, this work has been updated and expanded to reflect important new discoveries and the most recent scholarship. Changes and additions have been made throughout, the most significant of which are found in the chapters on the Pythagoreans, Parmenides, Zeno, Anaxagoras, and Empedocles, and the new chapter on Philolaus. The translations of some passages have been revised, as have some interpretations and discussions. A new Appendix provides translations of three Hippocratic writings and the Derveni papyrus.

Talking Zen


Alan W. Watts - 1994
    Alan Watts's essays and talks range widely through psychology, art, religion and politics, but always come home to the Zen core, as in his 1967 lecture Zen Bones.

Life's Little Treasure Book On Success (Life's Little Treasure Books)


H. Jackson Brown Jr. - 1994
    "He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much," said Bessie Anderson Stanley.This book is a collection of observations about success that the author first shared with his son in the first two volumes of "Life's Little Instruction Book." It also includes thought-provoking and inspiring quotes from other sources.

Wrong-Doing, Truth-Telling: The Function of Avowal in Justice


Michel Foucault - 1994
    These lectures—which focus on the role of avowal, or confession, in the determination of truth and justice—provide the missing link between Foucault’s early work on madness, delinquency, and sexuality and his later explorations of subjectivity in Greek and Roman antiquity. Ranging broadly from Homer to the twentieth century, Foucault traces the early use of truth-telling in ancient Greece and follows it through to practices of self-examination in monastic times. By the nineteenth century, the avowal of wrongdoing was no longer sufficient to satisfy the call for justice; there remained the question of who the “criminal” was and what formative factors contributed to his wrongdoing. The call for psychiatric expertise marked the birth of the discipline of psychiatry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as well as its widespread recognition as the foundation of criminology and modern criminal justice. Published here for the first time, the 1981 lectures have been superbly translated by Stephen W. Sawyer and expertly edited and extensively annotated by Fabienne Brion and Bernard E. Harcourt. They are accompanied by two contemporaneous interviews with Foucault, in which he elaborates on a number of the key themes. An essential companion to Discipline and Punish, Wrong-Doing, Truth-Telling will take its place as one of the most significant works of Foucault to appear in decades, and will be necessary reading for all those interested in his thought.

Mystical Languages of Unsaying


Michael A. Sells - 1994
    which literally means "speaking away." Sometimes translated as "negative theology," apophatic discourse embraces the impossibility of naming something that is ineffable by continually turning back upon its own propositions and names. In this close study of apophasis in Greek, Christian, and Islamic texts, Michael Sells offers a sustained, critical account of how apophatic language works, the conventions, logic, and paradoxes it employs, and the dilemmas encountered in any attempt to analyze it.This book includes readings of the most rigorously apophatic texts of Plotinus, John the Scot Eriugena, Ibn Arabi, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart, with comparative reference to important apophatic writers in the Jewish tradition, such as Abraham Abulafia and Moses de Leon. Sells reveals essential common features in the writings of these authors, despite theirwide-ranging differences in era, tradition, and theology.By showing how apophasis works as a mode of discourse rather than as a negative theology, this work opens a rich heritage to reevaluation. Sells demonstrates that the more radical claims of apophatic writers—claims that critics have often dismissed as hyperbolic or condemned as pantheistic or nihilistic—are vital to an adequate account of the mystical languages of unsaying. This work also has important implications for the relationship of classical apophasis to contemporary languages of the unsayable. Sells challenges many widely circulated characterizations of apophasis among deconstructionists as well as a number of common notions about medieval thought and gender relations in medieval mysticism.

Philosophical Writings: Arthur Schopenhauer


Wolfgang Schirmacher - 1994
    This blunt honesty was Schopenhauer's trademark. Perhaps no philosopher equaled him in relatinf metaphysical speculation to the seemingly random events of everyday life. This volume includes " On Thinking for Oneself," "On the Affirmation of the Will-to-Live," "On Suicide," "The World as Will: Second Aspect," "On the Fundamental View of Idealism," "On the Metaphysics of Music," "The Foundation of Ethics," and other essential writings.

The Autobiography of Elder Helvecio Martins


Helvecio Martins - 1994
    

In the Face of the Absolute


Frithjof Schuon - 1994
    Presents and illustrates many concepts and distinctions essential to metaphysics, anthropology, and religious phenomology."

The Vision of Dhamma: Buddhist Writings of Nyanaponika Thera


Nyanaponika Thera - 1994
    Written by a Westerner whose life experience was as a Buddhist monastic, this collection of essays conveys a friendly spirit, in the manner of a wise and practical teacher.

Heraclitus: Translation and Analysis


Dennis Sweet - 1994
    Dennis Sweet maintains the "flavor" of the Greek syntax as much as meaningful English will allow, and uses more archaic meanings over the later meanings. In the footnotes he includes, along with various textual and explanatory information, variant meanings of the most important terms so as to convey some of the semantical richness and layers of meaning which Heraclitus often utilizes.

Leibniz: Determinist, Theist, Idealist


Robert Merrihew Adams - 1994
    But the part of his work that is most studied today is probably his writings in metaphysics, which have been the focus of particularly lively philosophical discussion in the last twenty years or so.Leibniz's writings in metaphysics contain one of the great classic systems of modern philosophy, but the system must be pieced together from a vast and miscellaneous array of manuscripts, letters, articles, and books, in a way that makes especially strenuous demands on scholarship. This book presents an in-depth interpretation of three important parts of Leibniz's metaphysics, thoroughly grounded in the texts as well as in philosophical analysis and critique. The three areas discussed are the metaphysical part of Leibniz's philosophy of logic, his essentially theological treatment of the central issues of ontology, and his theory of substance (the theory of monads).

On Truth


Jiddu Krishnamurti - 1994
    Krishnamurti taught that truth comes uninvited, with glory, when one puts all in order, and in that there is great sacredness.

The Paradoxes of Delusion: Wittgenstein, Schreber, and the Schizophrenic Mind


Louis A. Sass - 1994
    Most schizophrenics, however, do not act as if they mistake their delusions for reality. In a work of uncommon insight and empathy, Louis A. Sass shatters conventional thinking about insanity by juxtaposing the narratives of delusional schizophrenics with the philosophical writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Ten Luminous Emanations I


Yehuda Ashlag - 1994
    Ten Luminous Emanations volume one examines the micro cosmos and presents us with a richer understanding of the recent scientific discoveries that have stretched human consciousness to the edges of time and space. This is an essential book for all students of Kabbalah.

Lord God of truth and Concerning the teacher


Gordon H. Clark - 1994
    "Lord God of Truth" is an important essay in which Clark examines four major problems in the philosophy of empiricism: sensation, causality, imagination, and induction. He concludes that Christianity answers philosophical questions that empiricism cannot answer. Marshalling Scripture to his cause, Clark argues that the Lord God of Truth reveals his truth immediately to our minds, without the means of sense experience. In "Concerning the Teacher", Augustine discusses the nature of learning and teaching. His conclusion is that there is only one Teacher, Christ. Human teachers do not teach; they merely call our attention to what Christ is teaching our minds.

This Thing of Darkness: A Sociology of the Enemy


James A. Aho - 1994
    In the course of his wide-ranging observations, interviews, and sometimes dangerous investigations into the persistence of right-wing extremism in the Unites States, he has come to recognize a seemingly universal need of social groups to identify 'the enemy', that which is held responsible for the bad things in life.In This Thing of Darkness Aho attempts to understand the making and breaking of domestic and foreign enemies in general. He considers enemies as social products rather than as psychological phenomena, and focuses on how enemies are perceived or constructed in the minds of a group or society at large.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff's Experience and Philosophy: A Personal Record of Transformation and a Discussion of Transcendental Consciousness: Containing His Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object and His Pathways Through to Space


Franklin Merrell-Wolff - 1994
    Merrell-Wolff experienced enlightenment, became established in the state, and wrote clearly about the value and nature of the knowledge he attained. This is a record of transformation in consciousness written during the actual process itself, supplying an unusually intimate view.The author faces the epistemological problem directly--the problem of demonstrating the reality and value of knowledge springing from mystical roots. He gives serious attention to the philosophical and psychological criticism, writing with an eye to the pitfalls indicated by such criticism. He did not write only for those who believe easily.

Postmodern Poetry: The Talisman Interviews : William Bronk, Clark Coolidge, Anselm Hollo, Susan Howe, Nathaniel Mackey, Alice Notley, Ron Padgett, L


Edward Halsey Foster - 1994
    

On Learning and Knowledge


Jiddu Krishnamurti - 1994
    His teachings spawned a generation of individual seekers whose spiritual views are shaped by their unique experiences.

Womanizing Nietzsche: Philosophy's Relation to the Feminine


Kelly Oliver - 1994
    Offering readings from Nietzsche, Derrida, Irigaray, Kristeva, Freud and Lacan, Oliver builds an innovative foundation for an ontology of intersubjective relationships that suggests a new approach to ethics

Carvaka/Lokayata: An Anthology of Source Materials and Some Recent Studies


Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya - 1994
    

The Mary Miracle


Jack W. Hayford - 1994
    

The State of Humanity


Julian L. Simon - 1994
    More than fifty scholars from all over the world present new, concise and accessible accounts of the present state of humanity and the prospects for its social and natural environment. The subjects range from deforestation, water pollution and ozone layer depletion to poverty, homelessness, mortality and murder. Each contributor considers the present situation, historical trends, likely future prospects, and the efficacy or otherwise of current activity and policy. The coverage is worldwide, with a particular emphasis on North America. The State of Humanity is a magnificent and eye-opening synthesis of cultural, social, economic and environmental perspectives. It will interest all those - including geographers, economists, sociologists and policy makers - concerned to understand some of the most pressing problems of our time.

Angels: A Modern Myth


Michel Serres - 1994
    Divided, as between Heaven and Hell, into First and Third Worlds, our societies search for ways to make contact, both by means of the most basic interpersonal relations and high-tech communications. The role of the messenger, Serres argues, is as important now as it was in Biblical times, perhaps more, and yet we lack a philosophy which can explain this role - a philosophy of movement, of communication. Angels: A Modern Myth offers such a philosophy, showing how angels as message-bearers are still part of our modern world, our means of bringing together and understanding science, law, and religion, and perhaps also the means of satisfying our need for reason, justice, and consolation. Abundantly illustrated with an astounding breadth of images ranging from Renaissance paintings to film stills, satellite photographs, computer microchips, and medical microscopy, this thought-provoking book addresses some of the most crucial issues of our time and will make essential reading for anyone seeking to comprehend the new phase of human development engendered by the transformation of our world by information technology.

A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities


Pierre-Simon Laplace - 1994
    It is of especial interest today as an application of mathematical techniques to problems in social and biological sciences.Generally recognized as the founder of the modern phase of probability theory, Laplace here applies the principles and general results of his theory "to the most important questions of life, which are, in effect, for the most part, problems in probability." Thus, without the use of higher mathematics, he demonstrates the application of probability to games of chance, physics, reliability. of witnesses, astronomy, insurance, democratic government and many other areas.General readers will find it an exhilarating experience to follow Laplace's nontechnical application of mathematical techniques to the appraisal, solution and/or prediction of the outcome of many types of problems. Skilled mathematicians, too, will enjoy and benefit from seeing how one of the immortals of science expressed so many complex ideas in such simple terms.

Radical Behaviorism: The Philosophy and the Science


Mecca Chiesa - 1994
    Like Darwin, B.F. Skinner adopted selection as a causal mode. He applied that mode himself to the behavior of the individual, pointing out but leaving it to others to unravel the causal role of selection in the behavior of a social culture. Also, Radical Behaviorism parts company with traditional behaviorists who pronounce private experience and thinking to be outside the domain of science. Misconceptions, misinterpretations, and misrepresentations have kept the humanity and the promise of this approach to behavioral science from those who would have welcomed and used it if they had been properly informed.

The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi


Richard John Lynn - 1994
    The first translation ever to appear in English that includes one of the major Chinese philosophical commentaries, the Columbia I Ching presents the classic book of changes for the world today.Richard Lynn's introduction to this new translation explains the organization of The Classic of Changes through the history of its various parts, and describes how the text was and still is used as a manual of divination with both the stalk and coin methods. For the fortune-telling novice, he provides a chart of trigrams and hexagrams; an index of terms, names, and concepts; and a glossary and bibliography.Lynn presents for the first time in English the fascinating commentary on the I Ching written by Wang Bi (226-249), who was the main interpreter of the work for some seven hundred years. Wang Bi interpreted the I Ching as a book of moral and political wisdom, arguing that the text should not be read literally, but rather as an expression of abstract ideas. Lynn places Wang Bi's commentary in historical context.

Hearer of the Word: Laying the Foundation for a Philosophy of Religion


Karl Rahner - 1994
    -- Andrew Tallon

Quest for the Grail


Richard Rohr - 1994
    Using the mythological investigationsof Joseph Campbell and Robert Moore,Richard Rohr brings alive the ancientlegends of knights and the search forKing Arthur’s grail, and shows how theycan serve as models for a journey of thepsyche and spirit.

The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Hakuin: A Translation of the Sokko-roku Kaien-fusetsu


Hakuin Ekaku - 1994
    As a teacher, he placed special emphasis on koan practice, inventing many new koans himself, including the famous “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” As an artist, Hakuin used calligraphy and painting to create “visual Dharma”—teachings that powerfully express the nature of enlightenment. The text translated here offers an excellent introduction to the work of this extraordinary teacher. Hakuin sets forth his vision of authentic Zen teaching and practice, condemning his contemporaries, whom he held responsible for the decline of Zen, and exhorting his students to dedicate themselves to “breaking through the Zen barrier.” Included are reproductions of several of Hakuin’s finest calligraphies and paintings.

Dreaming the End of the World: Apocalypse as a Rite of Passage


Michael Hall Ortiz - 1994
    . . I invite the reader to the wilderness, to the beginning of the apocalyptic rite of passage . . . I offer this book with a single caveat: Beware the seduction of the image, mine and others, for the myth of apocalypse seeks to enthrall us into an epic fiction with very real consequences. Beware the fascination with what is larger than life, this vulgar Passion Play that would crucify the world."

Explorations in Metaphysics: Being-God-Person


W. Norris Clarke - 1994
    Norris Clarke, a philosopher inspired by the Thomistic tradition. Each essay offers arguments built on the points made in previous ones as they address the themes of the metaphyics of reality and the philosophy of God.

What Can We Know?: An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge


Louis P. Pojman - 1994
    The coverage is comprehensive, ranging from skepticism to religious belief (belief and acceptance). The most comprehensive book in the field, it is written in a friendly, conversational manner without unnecessary philosophical jargon or needless logical symbols.

The Emotional Tone Scale


L. Ron Hubbard - 1994
    Ron Hubbard developed just such a method, and it is applicable to all people, without exception.With this data, it is possible to accurately predict the behavior of a potential business partner, employee or friend—before you commit to a relationship. The risks involved in human interaction can be avoided or minimized when you can predict how people will behave.By understanding and using the information in this booklet, all aspects of human relationships will become more productive and more fulfilling. You’ll know who to associate with, who to avoid, and you will be able to help those who are mired in uncomfortable situations with others. Imagine knowing, after a very short time, how people are likely to behave in any given circumstance. You can.* Do you feel let down by others?* Who do you trust and how do you know who to avoid?* How can you better predict behavior?For the solutions and answers to these situations, buy and read this booklet.

Philosophy of Nonsense


Jean-Jacques Lecercle - 1994
    Using the resources of contemporary philosophy - notably Deleuze and Lyotard - he manages to bring out the importance of nonsense' - Andrew Benjamin, University of Warwick Why are we, and in particular why are philosophers and linguists, so fascinated with nonsense? Why do Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear appear in so many otherwise dull and dry academic books? This amusing, yet rigorous new book by Jean-Jacques Lecercle shows how the genre of nonsense was constructed and why it has proved so enduring and enlightening for linguistics and philosophy.

The Humanity of Thucydides


Clifford Orwin - 1994
    And yet, as some scholars have asserted, his work also displays a profound humanity. In the first thorough exploration of the relation between these two traits, Clifford Orwin argues that Thucydides' humanity is not a reflection of the author's temperament but an aspect of his thought, above all of his articulation of the central problem of political life, the tension between right and compulsion.This book provides the most complete treatment to date of Thucydides' handling of the problem of injustice, as well as the most extensive interpretations yet of the speeches in which it comes to light. Thucydides does not merely display the weakness of justice in the world, but joins his characters in exploring the implications of this weakness for our understanding of what justice is. Orwin pursues this question through Thucydides' work and relates it to the historian's other leading concerns, such as the contrast between the Athenian way and the Spartan way, the role of piety in political life, the interaction of foreign and domestic politics, and the role of statesmanship in a world dominated by frenzies of hope, fear, and indignation. Above all, Orwin demonstrates the richness, complexity, and daring of Thucydides' articulation of these issues.

Eastern State Penitentiary: Crucible of Good Intentions


Norman Johnston - 1994
    Heir to the energetic Quaker reformist tradition in Philadelphia in the 1820s, the penitentiary was a model of idealism in penal reform and a model of prison architecture for the world. About three hundred prisons worldwide trace their paternity to Eastern State Penitentiary. This book shows how the novel experiment in prison reform contended with the realities of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and explores the legacy of this crucible of good intentions.

Taming Our Monkey Mind: Insight, Detachment, Identity


Phyllis Krystal - 1994
    She equates this behavior to the monkey jar or gourd. The fistful of candy is too big to go through the small opening and he can't run from the hunters because his fist is stuck in the jar. Impulsive, curious, impatient, and driven by its senses, the monkey serves to illustrate how the undisciplined mind's attachments can become a prison. By taming our monkey mindovercoming our greed and desirewe findthe way to free ourselves from the material work so we can enter the world of the Divine. Phyllis Krystal shares Sai Baba's insights along with her own growth techniques in this exciting and very practical book.

The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene


Herbert M. Shelton - 1994
    A Hygienic material or influence is one that is normally employed by living organisms in their development,, growth and function. It is that upon which life depends. Hygiene thus becomes the employment of materials, agents and influences that have a normal relationship to life, in the preservation and restoration of health according to well-defined laws and demonstrated principles of nature.