9 minute read
Philosophy
On Food and Being Human
Raymond D. Boisvert and Lisa Heldke
“Boisvert and Heldke are proceeding from our shared, lived experience as people with stomachs, so prior familiarity with the work of Immanuel Kant and Rene Descartes is not needed. The book is carved with that crisp, clear precision common to academic philosophy texts, never advancing any idea an inch without a concise explanation of its origin.”—PopMatters
Distributed for Reaktion Books
2016 200 p. 51/2 x 81/2 181 Paper ISBN: 978-1-78023-588-2 $22.50
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A Philosophy of Dirt
Olli Lagerspetz
“Lagerspetz traces the ideological links that have existed, at least since the Enlightenment, between cleanliness and self-discipline, and conversely between dirt and the surrender to animal instincts. . . . Cleanliness is not just contiguous to godliness, but in some deep-rooted way constitutive of it. You cannot be pure in spirit if you live in a pigsty.”—Boundless Magazine
Distributed for Reaktion Books
2018 256 p. 51/2 x 81/2 182 Cloth ISBN: 978-1-78023-918-7 $24.00
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A Philosophy of Freedom
Lars Svendsen
Freedom of speech, religion, choice, will—humans have fought, and continue to fight, for all of these. But what is human freedom, really? Taking a broad approach across metaphysics, politics, and ethics, Svendsen explores this question in his engaging book, while also looking at the threats freedom faces today. Though our behaviors, thoughts, and actions are restricted by social and legal rules, deadlines, and burdens, Svendsen argues that the fundamental requirement for living a human life is the ability to be free.
Distributed for Reaktion Books
2014 288 p. 6 x 9 183 Cloth ISBN: 978-1-78023-370-3 $40.00
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A Philosophy of Pain
Arne Vetlesen
“Vetlesen has produced a wideranging volume that begins with an examination of central cases of pain (including physical pain and psychic pain). . . . Vetlesen finds much to criticize in the culturally anemic modern world of youth violence, reality television, and a general lack of shame.”—Choice
Distributed for Reaktion Books
2009 176 p. 43/4 x 78/9 184 Paper ISBN: 978-1-86189-541-7 $27.95
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Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem
“These letters illuminate the historical record by placing into context and documenting not only the profound differences between these powerful personalities but also their commonalities, shared activities, interests, and loyalties.” —Steven E. Aschheim, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, on the German edition
2017 336 p. 6 x 9 18 halftones 185 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-92451-9 $45.00
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Arendt and America
Richard H. King
“King’s great contribution to the literature on Arendt is to show, in fine-grained terms, how her political theory was the result of a quintessentially American experience: to arrive on American shores an immigrant, to draw on resources from both an old country and a new, imagined one, and to participate in the riot of reinvention.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
2015 416 p. 6 x 9 186 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-31149-4 $35.00
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187 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-56553-8 $25.00
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Heidegger and the Myth of a Jewish World Conspiracy
Peter Trawny
“Only Trawny, at this point, has offered the kind of sustained interpretation of the anti-Semitic passages in Heidegger’s Black Notebooks that we need if we are to determine for ourselves just how far his thought is compromised by these revelations. In the present book, he shows in precise and rigorous ways the specific challenges that these passages present to those readings of Heidegger that attempt to minimize the role his association with National Socialism should play in the assessment of his thought.” —Robert Bernasconi, Penn State University
2016 160 p. 51/2 x 81/2 188 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-30373-4 $25.00
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The History of Continental Philosophy
Edited by Alan D. Schrift
“This landmark series provides the first comprehensive history of continental philosophy. . . . Every scholar of continental philosophy will have occasion to turn to it often.” —Michael Naas, DePaul University
Nietzsche, Psychology, and First Philosophy
Robert B. Pippin
“Pippin presents a much-needed new approach and appreciation of Nietzsche. . . . [He] adroitly starts fresh with Nietzsche, considering his work holistically and in the context of both early psychology and 19th-century French morality. In his novel reading, Pippin exposes the folly of underappreciating Nietzsche’s irony and self-criticism.” —Choice
2010 152 p. 6 x 9 190 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-66975-5 $35.00
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191 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-66976-2 $28.00
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Nietzsche’s Journey to Sorrento
Genesis of the Philosophy of the Free Spirit
Paolo D’Iorio
“This book is the detailed description of a metamorphosis, a break in the life and thought of Nietzsche, a ‘crisis’ from which the birth of the ‘philosophy of the free spirit’ was born.”—Libération
“Although this account of Nietzsche’s travels is confined to the time he was in Sorrento, it is valuable for tracing the philosopher’s intellectual thought. . . . This is a pleasant, instructive read.”—Choice
2016 168 p. 6 x 9 34 halftones 192 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-16456-4 $35.00
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The Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll
Unexpected Essays on Philosophy, Art, Life, and Death
Ben-Ami Scharfstein
“The book makes vivid and compelling Scharfstein’s long standing opposition to philosophical selfisolation.”—Victor Kestenbaum, Boston University
“A set of reflections on Scharfstein’s life and work that provides stimulation and pleasure in equal measure to heart and mind. It belongs in every civilized person’s library.”—Hilary Putnam, Harvard University
The Just
Paul Ricoeur
“The essays assembled in The Just are at once essential readings for anyone concerned with the link between ethics, law, and politics. . . . [Ricoeur] retains the style of a moderator by engaging the most powerful authors on justice available: Aristotle, Kant, Arendt, Rawls, Walzer, to name a few.” —Review of Metaphysics
2000, 2003 192 p. 51/2 x 81/2 194 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-71340-3 $26.00
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Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life
Reading “What Is Political Philosophy?”
Edited by Rafael Major
“Lively interest in the work and legacy of Strauss continues, as does controversy over what he did—and did not—argue for. This collection of essays demonstrates an expository thoroughness that will be of great interest to those who read them alongside the Strauss essays themselves. One doubts this will clear away the controversy, but one can hope that it will promote a more serious, engaged, and sympathetic debate.”—Timothy Fuller, Colorado College
2012 232 p. 6 x 9 195 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-92421-2 $32.00
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Following Searle on Twitter
How Words Create Digital Institutions
Adam Hodgkin
“As we are all somehow aware, human reality is being changed as a result of the workings of social media. Philosophers have so far done little to come to terms with this fact. Hodgkin’s book is in this respect a true trailbreaker—and a pleasure to read.”—Barry Smith, University at Buffalo
“As an invitation to be self-reflexive about your own tweeting, you could not ask for a better guide than Hodgkin.”—LSE Review of Books
2017 224 p. 6 x 9 1 halftone, 1 table 196 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-43821-4 $40.00
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An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone
Scott Samuelson
“Defying the widespread perception of philosophy as an academic specialty, Samuelson urges readers to join him in a humanizing intellectual adventure, one that begins with Socrates’ frank profession of ignorance. . . . But perhaps no one teaches more than Samuelson’s own diverse college students—a wineloving bicyclist, a sleep-deprived housewife, a monk-faced factory worker. These seemingly ordinary people underscore the most important lesson of all: philosophy matters for everyone.”—Booklist
2014 240 p. 6 x 9 197 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-13038-5 $22.50
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The Evolution of Imagination
Stephen T. Asma
“From testing a theory to playing bebop, improvisation is the fount of creativity. . . . So argues philosopher and jazz musician Asma, who draws on neuroscience and animal behaviour for this intriguing . . . foray into human evolution. Looking at improvisation from pre-linguistic expression (such as dance) to storytelling, Asma explores how we actively engage the imagination to create our own ‘virtual realities’ and to build just societies, as well as to foster the adaptability we need to negotiate life’s changes.”—Nature
2017 320 p. 6 x 9 20 halftones 198 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-22516-6 $30.00
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Wisdom
A History
Trevor Curnow
Drawing on examples from a diversity of eras and places, Curnow explores deities, proverbs, and other ways in which humans have tried to solve the mystery of life. Including a collection of 100 sayings that offer a rich record of wisdom’s reification, this history gives new insight into what wisdom actually is and where we might find it.
Distributed for Reaktion Books
2015 240 p. 51/2 x 81/2 10 halftones 199 Cloth ISBN: 978-1-78023-451-9 $35.00
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A Philosophy of Tragedy
Christopher Hamilton
“Aims for a perspective that will account for the permanent condition of tragedy and for the specific contours of tragedy today. . . . Its guiding question is not ‘how can I find meaning in the world?’ but ‘who am I as I write philosophy?’” —Times Literary Supplement
Sandra Laugier
“Laugier’s brilliant book provides a concise history of the philosophy of language after Quine and Wittgenstein. But Laugier does more than that: she shows why Wittgenstein, Austin, and Cavell’s claim that to speak about language is to speak about the world is an antimetaphysical revolution in philosophy, a revolution that transforms our understanding of epistemology and ethics.”—Toril Moi, Duke University
2013 168 p. 6 x 9 201 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-47054-2 $38.00
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The Beast and the Sovereign, Volume I
Jacques Derrida
“Fascinatingly intricate. . . . A vivid attestation to the experience of Derrida as a teacher—the quality of his attention, the tone and rhythm of his voice, his means of sparking his students capacities’ to read and think.”—Times Literary Supplement
“What Derrida accomplishes in this, his final seminar, is remarkable because it goes to the very heart of his lifelong project of deconstructing the logocentric bias of Western thinking.”—Choice
2009 368 p. 6 x 9 202 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-14428-3 $44.00
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Art and Truth after Plato
Tom Rockmore
“A highly important contribution to the philosophy of art, aesthetics, and the history of philosophy generally. Rockmore successfully explores one of the fundamental problems in the history of philosophy, namely, appearance and reality, mimesis and representation, and their bearing on the question of truth, and he does so in a way that is engaging and highly readable. . . . His work easily ranks with the best in contemporary philosophy.” —Alan Olson, Boston University
2013 344 p. 6 x 9 203 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-04002-8 $59.00
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Human Predicaments
And What to Do about Them
John Kekes
“This book uses fascinating historical and anthropological material to leaven a clear and provocative discussion of issues such as boredom, hypocrisy, evil, and innocence— phenomena that are at the center of most people’s evaluative lives yet can often be pushed to the margins in contemporary moral philosophy.”—Stephen Mulhall, University of Oxford
