Imagination A Very Short Introduction

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Imagination: A Very Short Introduction

Jennifer Gosetti-Ferencei
Imagination A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Jennifer Gosetti-Ferencei
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 167 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2023-09-26
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780192565631

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Imagination: A Very Short Introduction by Jennifer Gosetti-Ferencei Pdf

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Imagination: A Very Short Introduction explores imagination as a cognitive power and an essential dimension of human flourishing, demonstrating how imagination plays multiple roles in human cognition and shapes humanity in profound ways. Examining philosophical, evolutionary, and literary perspectives on imagination, the author shows how this facility, while potentially distorting, both frees us from immediate reality and enriches our sense of it, making possible our experience of a meaningful world. Long regarded by philosophers as an elusive and mysterious capacity of the human mind, imagination has been the subject of extraordinary ambivalence, described as both dangerous and divine, as merely peripheral to rationality and as essential to all thinking. Drawing on philosophy, aesthetics, literary and cognitive theory as well as the human sciences, this book engages the dramatic conceptual history of imagination together with contemporary explanations of its role in cognition to explain its importance in everyday life as well as the exquisite creativity of the arts, scientific discovery, and invention. Engaging examples from cave paintings to modern painting, performance art to pop art, physics to phenomenology, technological inventions to literary worlds, the Nazca geoglyphs to dramatic theatre, poetry, and jazz improvisation, the author illuminates with clarity and vision the philosophy of imagination and the stakes of its involvement in human thinking. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Imagination

Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei
Imagination Book PDF

Author : Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2023
Category : Imagination
ISBN : 0191868434

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Imagination by Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei Pdf

Examining philosophical, evolutionary, and literary perspectives, this text explores imagination as a cognitive power and an essential dimension of human flourishing. It demonstrates how imagination plays multiple roles in human cognition and shapes humanity in profound ways, making possible our experience of a meaningful world.

Imagination: a Very Short Introduction

Jennifer Gosetti-Ferencei
Imagination a Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Jennifer Gosetti-Ferencei
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 161 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2023-10-19
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780198830023

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Imagination: a Very Short Introduction by Jennifer Gosetti-Ferencei Pdf

Examining philosophical, evolutionary, and literary perspectives, this book explores imagination as a cognitive power and an essential dimension of human flourishing. It demonstrates how imagination plays multiple roles in human cognition and shapes humanity in profound ways, making possible our experience of a meaningful world.

French Literature: A Very Short Introduction

John D. Lyons
French Literature A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : John D. Lyons
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2010-04-22
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780191614231

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French Literature: A Very Short Introduction by John D. Lyons Pdf

The heritage of literature in the French language is rich, varied, and extensive in time and space; appealing both to its immediate public, readers of French, and also to a global audience reached through translations and film adaptations. The first great works of this repertory were written in the twelfth century in northern France, and now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, include authors writing in many parts of the world, ranging from the Caribbean to Western Africa. French Literature: A Very Short Introduction introduces this lively literary world by focusing on texts - epics, novels, plays, poems, and screenplays - that concern protagonists whose adventures and conflicts reveal shifts in literary and social practices. From the hero of the medieval Song of Roland to the Caribbean heroines of I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem or the European expatriate in Japan in Fear and Trembling, these problematic protagonists allow us to understand what interests writers and readers across the wide world of French. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Philosophical Method: A Very Short Introduction

Timothy Williamson
Philosophical Method A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Timothy Williamson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2020-08-27
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780192538116

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Philosophical Method: A Very Short Introduction by Timothy Williamson Pdf

What are philosophers trying to achieve? How can they succeed? Does philosophy make progress? Is it in competition with science, or doing something completely different, or neither? Timothy Williamson tackles some of the key questions surrounding philosophy in new and provocative ways, showing how philosophy begins in common sense curiosity, and develops through our capacity to dispute rationally with each other. Discussing philosophy's ability to clarify our thoughts, he explains why such clarification depends on the development of philosophical theories, and how those theories can be tested by imaginative thought experiments, and compared against each other by standards similar to those used in the natural and social sciences. He also shows how logical rigour can be understood as a way of enhancing the explanatory power of philosophical theories. Drawing on the history of philosophy to provide a track record of philosophical thinking's successes and failures, Williams overturns widely held dogmas about the distinctive nature of philosophy in comparison to the sciences, demystifies its methods, and considers the future of the discipline. From thought experiments, to deduction, to theories, this Very Short Introduction will cause you to totally rethink what philosophy is. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. Previously published in hardback as Doing Philosophy

Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction

Elizabeth Fisher
Environmental Law A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Elizabeth Fisher
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2017-10-19
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780192512635

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Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction by Elizabeth Fisher Pdf

Environmental law is the law concerned with environmental problems. It is a vast area of law that operates from the local to the global, involving a range of different legal and regulatory techniques. In theory, environmental protection is a no brainer. Few people would actively argue for pollution or environmental destruction. Ensuring a clean environment is ethically desirable, and also sensible from a purely self-interested perspective. Yet, in practice, environmental law is a messy and complex business fraught with conflict. Whilst environmental law is often characterized in overly simplistic terms, with a law being seen as be a magic wand that solves an environmental problem, the reality is that creating and maintaining a body of laws to address and avoid problems is not easy, and involves legislators, courts, regulators and communities. This Very Short Introduction provides an overview of the main features of environmental law, and discusses how environmental law deals with multiple interests, socio-political conflicts, and the limits of knowledge about the environment. Showing how interdependent societies across the world have developed robust and legitimate bodies of law to address environmental problems, Elizabeth Fisher discusses some of the major issues involved in environmental law's: nation statehood, power, the reframing role of law, the need to ensure real environmental improvements, and environmental justice. As Fisher explains, environmental law is, and will always be, necessary but inherently controversial. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Environmental Law

Elizabeth Fisher
Environmental Law Book PDF

Author : Elizabeth Fisher
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 169 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2017
Category : LAW
ISBN : 9780198794189

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Environmental Law by Elizabeth Fisher Pdf

"Although environmental laws are rarely able to provide the simple solutions that people want from them, they are essential for the future of our planet. This book explores how legal responses are shaped in response to the problems facing the environment today, and the socio-political conflicts facing environmental legislation."--Publisher's description.

Romanticism: A Very Short Introduction

Michael Ferber
Romanticism A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Michael Ferber
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 169 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2010-09-23
Category : Art
ISBN : 9780199568918

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Romanticism: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Ferber Pdf

The only short introduction to Romanticism that incorporates not only the English but the Continental movements, and not only literature but music, art, religion, and philosophy.-publisher description.

Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction

Susan Blackmore,Susan J. Blackmore
Consciousness A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Susan Blackmore,Susan J. Blackmore
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 161 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2005-03-24
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780192805850

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Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction by Susan Blackmore,Susan J. Blackmore Pdf

A lively introduction that combines the perspectives of philosophy, psychology and neuroscience - written by the top name in the field, Susan Blackmore.

Democracy: A Very Short Introduction

Bernard Crick
Democracy A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Bernard Crick
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2002-10-10
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780191577659

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Democracy: A Very Short Introduction by Bernard Crick Pdf

No political concept is more used, and misused, than that of democracy. Nearly every regime today claims to be democratic, but not all 'democracies' allow free politics, and free politics existed long before democratic franchises. This book is a short account of the history of the doctrine and practice of democracy, from ancient Greece and Rome through the American, French, and Russian revolutions, and of the usages and practices associated with it in the modern world. It argues that democracy is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for good government, and that ideas of the rule of law, and of human rights, should in some situations limit democratic claims. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Magic: A Very Short Introduction

Owen Davies
Magic A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Owen Davies
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 153 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2012-01-26
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780191623882

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Magic: A Very Short Introduction by Owen Davies Pdf

Defining 'magic' is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces. 'Magic' continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has caused over two and a half millennia. In common usage today 'magic' is uttered in reference to the supernatural, superstition, illusion, trickery, religious miracles, fantasies, and as a simple superlative. The literary confection known as 'magical realism' has considerable appeal and many modern scientists have ironically incorporated the word into their vocabulary, with their 'magic acid', 'magic bullets' and 'magic angles'. Since the so-called European Enlightenment magic has often been seen as a marker of primitivism, of a benighted earlier stage of human development. Yet across the modern globalized world hundreds of millions continue to resort to magic - and also to fear it. Magic provides explanations and remedies for those living in extreme poverty and without access to alternatives. In the industrial West, with its state welfare systems, religious fundamentalists decry the continued moral threat posed by magic. Under the guise of neo-Paganism, its practice has become a religion in itself. Magic continues to be a truly global issue. This Very Short Introduction does not attempt to provide a concluding definition of magic: it is beyond simple definition. Instead it explores the many ways in which magic, as an idea and a practice, has been understood and employed over the millennia. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Goethe: A Very Short Introduction

Ritchie Robertson
Goethe A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Ritchie Robertson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2016-01-28
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780191003448

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Goethe: A Very Short Introduction by Ritchie Robertson Pdf

In 1878 the Victorian critic Matthew Arnold wrote: 'Goethe is the greatest poet of modern times... because having a very considerable gift for poetry, he was at the same time, in the width, depth, and richness of his criticism of life, by far our greatest modern man.' In this Very Short Introduction Ritchie Robertson covers the life and work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): scientist, administrator, artist, art critic and supreme literary writer in a vast variety of genres. Looking at Goethe's poetry, novels and drama pieces, as well as his travel writing, autobiography, and essays on art and aesthetics, Robertson analyses some of the key themes in his works: love, nature, religion and tragedy. Dispelling the misconception of Goethe as a sedate Victorian sage, Robertson shows how much of his art was rooted in turbulent personal conflicts, and draws on recent research to present a complete portrait of the scientific work and political activity which accompanied Goethe's writings. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Identity: A Very Short Introduction

Florian Coulmas
Identity A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Florian Coulmas
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2019-02-21
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780192563606

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Identity: A Very Short Introduction by Florian Coulmas Pdf

Identity has become one of the most widely used terms today, appearing in many different contexts. Anything and everything has an identity, and identity crises have become almost equally pervasive. Yet 'identity' is extremely versatile, meaning different things to different people and in different scientific disciplines. To many its meaning seems self-evident, since its various uses share common features, so often the term is used without a definition of what, exactly, is meant by it. This provokes the core question: What exactly is identity? In this Very Short Introduction Florian Coulmas provides a survey of the many faces of the concept of identity, and discusses its significance and varied meanings in the fields of philosophy, sociology, and psychology, as well as politics and law. Tracing our concern with identity to its deep roots in Europe's intellectual history, individualism, and the felt need to draw borderlines, Coulmas identifies the most important features used to mark off individual and collective identities, and demonstrates why they are deemed important. He concludes with a glimpse at the many ways in which literature has engaged with problems of identity throughout history. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

American Intellectual History: A Very Short Introduction

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
American Intellectual History A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2021-09-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9780190622466

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American Intellectual History: A Very Short Introduction by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen Pdf

Long before the United States was a nation, it was a set of ideas, projected onto the New World by European explorers with centuries of belief and thought in tow. From this foundation of expectation and experience, America and American thought grew in turn, enriched by the bounties of the Enlightenment, the philosophies of liberty and individuality, the tenets of religion, and the doctrines of republicanism and democracy. Crucial to this development were the thinkers who nurtured it, from Thomas Jefferson to Ralph Waldo Emerson, W.E.B. Du Bois to Jane Addams, and Betty Friedan to Richard Rorty. This addition to Oxford's Very Short Introductions series traces how Americans have addressed the issues and events of their time and place, whether it is the Civil War, the Great Depression, or the culture wars of today. Spanning a variety of disciplines, from religion, philosophy, and political thought, to cultural criticism, social theory, and the arts, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen shows how ideas have been major forces in American history, driving movements such as transcendentalism, Social Darwinism, conservatism, and postmodernism. In engaging and accessible prose, this introduction to American thought considers how notions about freedom and belonging, the market and morality - and even truth - have commanded generations of Americans and been the cause of fierce debate.

The Ghetto: A Very Short Introduction

Bryan Cheyette
The Ghetto A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Bryan Cheyette
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2020-08-27
Category : History
ISBN : 9780192537997

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The Ghetto: A Very Short Introduction by Bryan Cheyette Pdf

For three hundred years the ghetto defined Jewish culture in the late medieval and early modern period in Western Europe. In the nineteenth-century it was a free-floating concept which travelled to Eastern Europe and the United States. Eastern European ", which enabled genocide, were crudely rehabilitated by the Nazis during World War Two as if they were part of a benign medieval tradition. In the United States, the word ghetto was routinely applied to endemic black ghettoization which has lasted from 1920 until the present. Outside of America " has been universalized as the incarnation of class difference, or colonialism, or apartheid, and has been applied to segregated cities and countries throughout the world. In this Very Short Introduction Bryan Cheyette unpicks the extraordinarily complex layers of contrasting meanings that have accrued over five hundred years to ghettos, considering their different settings across the globe. He considers core questions of why and when urban, racial, and colonial ghettos have appeared, and who they contain. Exploring their various identities, he shows how different ghettos interrelate, or are contrasted, across time and space, or even in the same place. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.