Book picks similar to
The Existential Background of Human Dignity (William James Lectures) by Gabriel Marcel


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System of Transcendental Idealism (1800)


Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling - 1800
    A central text in the history of German idealism, its original German publication in 1800 came seven years after Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre and seven years before Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.

Dr. King's Refrigerator: And Other Bedtime Stories


Charles R. Johnson - 2005
    Each is a vivid cultural and philosophical portrait that deftly explores issues of identity and race. "Kwoon" follows the spiritual journey of a martial arts teacher on Chicago's South Side. "Sweet Dreams" is a Kafkaesque tale set in a world where dreams are taxed and a man and his dreamlife are being audited. "The Gift of the Osuo" is a fable about the dangers of getting what you wish for. In "Cultural Relativity," a young woman falls in love with the son of the president of an African nation but is forbidden to ever kiss him. The title story is an illuminating and deeply human tale about pre-Montgomery Martin Luther King Jr. and a revelation he had when he looked into his refrigerator late one night. Provocative, engaging, and compassionate, Dr. King's Refrigerator is a superb and important collection from a major American voice.

The Philosophy of Humanism


Corliss Lamont - 1949
    Renowned philosopher and activist Corliss Lamont offers a vigorous argument for humanism and provides an affirmative, intelligent guidebook for shaping a better life in today's complex world.

Nagarjuna's Letter To A Friend: With Commentary By Kangyur Rinpoche


Nāgārjuna
    This work will appeal to readers with a general interest in Mahayana Buddhism, to those who wish to familiarize themselves with one of the great classics of Indian Buddhist literature, and to students who come across passages quoted in other Buddhist works and who wish to explore further. The great Indian Buddhist master Nagarjuna (first–second century A.D.) wrote his celebrated poem "Letter to a Friend" as a gift of advice to a South Indian king, and it has since become a monument in the Indian shastra tradition. Despite its short length (only 123 verses), it covers the whole Mahayana path, combining a practical approach to daily conduct with a theoretical exposition of the different stages leading to enlightenment. It has thus been an ideal source for many of Tibet 's great scholars seeking a scriptural authority to enhance their own descriptions of the Buddhist path. Any difficulties in understanding the poem are overcome by Kangyur Rinpoche's commentary, which turns Nagarjuna's sometimes cryptic poem into straightforward prose, expanding on each topic and ordering the different subjects in such a way that on returning to the original poem, the reader can easily make sense of the advice it contains. It includes headings to explain Nagarjuna's frequent changes in subject and full explanations of the ideas introduced in each verse. In addition to the commentary, this book presents the original poem in the Tibetan and in a new English translation that attempts to emulate Nagarjuna's lines of metric verse. Also included are Kangyur Rinpoche's structural outline (sa bchad), a Tibetan line index to enable students to locate quotations used in other Tibetan works, full notes, and a glossary.

Life Lessons from Bergson


Michael Foley - 2013
    Written for 'The School of Life series, Foley takes one of his favourite philosophers, Henri Bergson, and highlights the ideas from Bergson that are most relevant to our ordinary everyday dilemmas.

Thomas Aquinas: A Portrait


Denys Turner - 2013
    Highly visible as a public teacher, preacher, and theologian, he nevertheless has remained nearly invisible as man and saint. What can be discovered about Thomas Aquinas as a whole? In this short, compelling portrait, Denys Turner clears away the haze of time and brings Thomas vividly to life for contemporary readers—those unfamiliar with the saint as well as those well acquainted with his teachings. Building on the best biographical scholarship available today and reading the works of Thomas with piercing acuity, Turner seeks the point at which the man, the mind, and the soul of Thomas Aquinas intersect. Reflecting upon Thomas, a man of Christian Trinitarian faith yet one whose thought is grounded firmly in the body’s interaction with the material world, a thinker at once confident in the powers of human reason and a man of prayer, Turner provides a more detailed human portrait than ever before of one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in all of Western thought.

A History of Western Philosophy and Theology


John M. Frame - 2015
    This will shed greater light on the developments in the history of philosophy and better prepare us for the intellectual challenges of our time. The fall of Adam brought intellectual as well as moral corruption on the human race, and the effects of the fall can be seen in the work of philosophers, most of whom try to understand the world autonomously—through reasoning apart from God’s revelation. Some philosophers have appealed to God’s revelation, but their work has often been compromised with the wisdom of the world. Revelation should inform reason, and not the other way round. In the past, even Christian theology was corrupted by the movement toward intellectual autonomy, creating the tradition of liberalism, which has unhappily dominated academic theology down to the present day. But there is hope—a new generation of Christian thinkers take God’s Word seriously. Frame’s unique new contribution augments that process.

Refuting the External World


Göran Backlund - 2014
    It will effectively reveal and dispel any wrong-thinking surrounding this idea upon which all else stands. The purpose? To unburden you from all notions of ‘self’, allowing you to directly discover the raw, non-dual truth of Being.This isn't the first work that tackles this subject. But others have left it at “we can’t really know whether there’s anything beyond our experience”, while I go all the way and say that we can know – and in this book I’ll show you exactly how and why this idea of an objective, physical universe of time and space beyond our perceptions is nothing but a figment of our imagination.But it’s a book unlike all others on the contemporary non-dual awakening scene. You won’t find any ‘pointers’ in it. What you’ll find is stone cold logic hacking away at the very foundation of existence itself. And in its wake; when the dust finally settles; you’ll recognize that, not only were the words of the sages true all along, but they've gone from being a remote possibility to being the light and guiding principle of your life. What words?"Consciousness is all."

White Trash Cooking II: Recipes for Gatherins


Ernest Matthew Mickler - 1988
    Tooler Doolus’s Oven Spaghetti and Bobbie’s Lemon/Lime Jell-O Cake Supreme, Ernie Mickler has collected another whopping batch of the“most magnannygoshus” recipes of the Very Deepest South. Previously known as SINKIN SPELLS, HOT FLASHES, FITS AND CRAVINS, this collection has a new name and a new cover that calls to mind its best-selling brother, WHITE TRASH COOKING. Same good eatin’, though. With color photographs by the author.

Situation Ethics: The New Morality


Joseph F. Fletcher - 1966
    Proposing an ethic of loving concern, Fletcher suggests that certain acts--such as lying, premarital sex, adultery, or even murder--might be morally right, depending on the circumstances. Hotly debated on television, in magazines and newspapers, in churches, and in the classroom, Fletcher's provocative thesis remains a powerful force in contemporary discussions of morality.The Library of Theological Ethics series focuses on what it means to think theologically and ethically. It presents a selection of important and otherwise unavailable texts in easily accessible form. Volumes in this series will enable sustained dialogue with predecessors though reflection on classic works in the field.

Getting Started in Hold 'em


Ed Miller - 2005
    Sadly, most of these "professional" players will wind up broke. While many people play, few win consistently. In Getting Started in Hold 'em, noted poker authority Ed Miller guides you onto the winning path. As someone who made the leap from beginner to professional in less than a year and a half, Ed is uniquely qualified to show new players the quickest route to hold 'em success. This book presents the critical principles that expert players use: preflop hand valuation, domination, betting for value, protecting your hand, semi-bluffing, pot equity, pot odds, implied odds, free card plays, the importance of stack size, why chips change value in tournaments, and much more. Whether you want to play limit, no limit, or tournament hold 'em, this book provides you a solid foundation. It's perfect, not just for the would-be pro, but for anyone who wants a serious edge on the competition. Getting Started in Hold 'em teaches you more than just how to play; it teaches you to win.

The Fate of Reason: German Philosophy from Kant to Fichte


Frederick C. Beiser - 1987
    The philosophers of this time broke with the two central tenets of the modern Cartesian tradition: the authority of reason and the primacy of epistemology. They also witnessed the decline of the Aufkl�rung, the completion of Kant's philosophy, and the beginnings of post-Kantian idealism.Thanks to Frederick C. Beiser we can newly appreciate the influence of Kant's critics on the development of his philosophy. Beiser brings the controversies, and the personalities who engaged in them, to life and tells a story that has uncanny parallels with the debates of the present.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man / Dubliners


James Joyce - 1914
    His two earliest, and perhaps most accessible, successes—A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners—are here brought together in one volume. Both works reflect Joyce’s lifelong love-hate relationship with Dublin and the Irish culture that formed him.In the semi-autobiographical Portrait, young Stephen Dedalus yearns to be an artist, but first must struggle against the forces of church, school, and society, which fetter his imagination and stifle his soul. The book’s inventive style is apparent from its opening pages, a record of an infant’s impressions of the world around him—and one of the first examples of the “stream of consciousness” technique.Comprising fifteen stories, Dubliners presents a community of mesmerizing, humorous, and haunting characters—a group portrait. The interactions among them form one long meditation on the human condition, culminating with “The Dead,” one of Joyce’s most graceful compositions centering around a character’s epiphany. A carefully woven tapestry of Dublin life at the turn of the last century, Dubliners realizes Joyce’s ambition to give his countrymen “one good look at themselves.” Kevin J. H. Dettmar is Professor of English and Cultural Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He is the author or editor of a half-dozen books on James Joyce, modernist literature, and rock music. He is currently finishing a term as President of the Modernist Studies Association.--back cover

Free Will


Mark Balaguer - 2014
    You get up from the couch, you go for a walk, you eat chocolate ice cream. It seems that we're in control of actions like these; if we are, then we have free will. But in recent years, some have argued that free will is an illusion. The neuroscientist (and best-selling author) Sam Harris and the late Harvard psychologist Daniel Wegner, for example, claim that certain scientific findings disprove free will. In this engaging and accessible volume in the Essential Knowledge series, the philosopher Mark Balaguer examines the various arguments and experiments that have been cited to support the claim that human beings don't have free will. He finds them to be overstated and misguided.Balaguer discusses determinism, the view that every physical event is predetermined, or completely caused by prior events. He describes several philosophical and scientific arguments against free will, including one based on Benjamin Libet's famous neuroscientific experiments, which allegedly show that our conscious decisions are caused by neural events that occur before we choose. He considers various religious and philosophical views, including the philosophical pro-free-will view known as compatibilism. Balaguer concludes that the anti-free-will arguments put forward by philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists simply don't work. They don't provide any good reason to doubt the existence of free will. But, he cautions, this doesn't necessarily mean that we have free will. The question of whether we have free will remains an open one; we simply don't know enough about the brain to answer it definitively.

Ethics: Approaching Moral Decisions


Arthur F. Holmes - 1984
    Arthur Holmes addresses the questions: What is good? What is right? How can we know? In doing so he also surveys a variety of approaches to ethics, including cultural relativism, emotivism, ethical egoism and utilitarianism--all with an acknowledgment of the new postmodern environment.