Materialism And Social Inquiry In The Continental Tradition In Philosophy

Author : Andrew M. Koch
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 159 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2017-08-04
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781498551700

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Materialism and Social Inquiry in the Continental Tradition in Philosophy by Andrew M. Koch Pdf

The continental tradition in philosophy has gotten more “materialistic” over the last two hundred years. This has resulted from a combination of some very specific moves with regard to the epistemological parameters of understanding and the assertion that ideas may have material force in history. Therefore, the materialism within the continental tradition is not a materiality of being, but a materiality of understanding and action. Such an inquiry opens up space between the activities of sensation and the mental faculty of cognition. ‘I think, therefore I am,’ is not an empirical statement, but a statement of cognition. It is assumed that this distinction is at the core of continental philosophy. Cognition is always interpretive. Experience is the start of cognition, but not its final product. Our cognitions cannot be separated from our experience of the physical, social, and cultural environment around us. The symbolic nature of language reinforces the interpretive nature of our thoughts and ideas. Our language is, therefore, always projecting an implicit image of the world. Language is, therefore, always political. The materiality of these cognitive world-views is manifested in two ways. First, in their formation. They are the products of sensual contact with the world. Second, in their effects. They move people. It is a picture of the world which serves to shape the content and character of human behavior. Whether we want to call these phantoms of the mind, world-view, ideas, thoughts, cognitions, or any other term, the dual character of their materiality is secure. This work examines the threads materialist ideas running through the efforts of some major authors in the continental tradition in philosophy. A model of materialism is constructed in Chapter One and used to assess the materialist elements in works from Kant, Marx, Weber, Nietzsche, and contemporary poststructuralism. The work demonstrates the evolution of materialist thinking within the tradition and asserts an evolving and developing articulation of materialism in relation to the thoughts and activities of human beings.

Author : Robin Gordon Brown,James Ladyman
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 140 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2019-04-29
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780429535376

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Materialism by Robin Gordon Brown,James Ladyman Pdf

The doctrine of materialism is one of the most controversial in the history of ideas. For much of its history it has been aligned with toleration and enlightened thinking, but it has also aroused strong, often violent, passions amongst both its opponents and proponents. This book explores the development of materialism in an engaging and thought-provoking way and defends the form it takes in the twenty-first century. Opening with an account of the ideas of some of the most important thinkers in the materialist tradition, including Epicurus, Lucretius, Hobbes, Hume, Darwin and Marx, the authors discuss materialism’s origins, as an early form of naturalistic explanation and as an intellectual outlook about life and the world in general. They explain how materialism’s beginnings as an imaginative vision of the true nature of things faced a major challenge from the physics it did so much to facilitate, which now portrays the microscopic world in a way incompatible with traditional materialism. Brown and Ladyman explain how out of this challenge materialism developed into the new doctrine of physicalism. Drawing on a wide range of colourful examples, the authors argue that although materialism does not have all the answers, its humanism and commitment to naturalistic explanation and the scientific method is our best philosophical hope in the ideological maelstrom of the modern world.

Author : Charlie Blake,Patrice Haynes
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2019-04-27
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781351400961

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Immanent Materialisms by Charlie Blake,Patrice Haynes Pdf

Must a philosophy of life be materialist, and if so, must it also be a philosophy of immanence? In the last twenty years or so there has been a growing trend in continental thought and philosophy and critical theory that has seen a return to the category of immanence. Through consideration of the work of thinkers such as Giorgio Agamben, Catherine Malabou, Francois Laruelle, Gilles Deleuze and others, this collection aims to examine the interplay between the concepts of immanence, materialism and life, particularly as this interplay can highlight new directions for political inquiry. Furthermore, critical reflection on this constellation of concepts could also be instructive for continental philosophy of religion, in which ideas about the divine, embodiment, sexual difference, desire, creation and incarnation are refigured in provocative new ways. The way of immanence, however, is not without its dangers. Indeed, it may be that with its affirmation something of importance is lost to material life. Could it be that the integrity of material things requires a transcendent origin? Precisely what are the metaphysical, political and theological consequences of pursuing a philosophy of immanence in relation to a philosophy of life? This book was originally published as a special issue of Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities.

Author : Esteve Morera
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 267 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2014-03-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781317746294

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Gramsci, Materialism, and Philosophy by Esteve Morera Pdf

Western critical theory, Marxism included, has largely been based on a view of historical materialism that Gramsci, among others, developed in his prison notebooks. For many, Gramsci’s philosophical reflections in prison offered a new foundation for the philosophy of the future. His reflections on the philosophy of praxis and absolute historicism find echoes in much of what today is considered to be a materialist philosophy. That form of materialism was unable to provide a sound foundation for a progressive social project, the possibility of a meaningful and creative ethical life, and the forms of activity or praxis that would be conducive to creating good society. In this book, Esteve Morera connects Marxist philosophy to the broader philosophical discussion of materialism in metaphysics, the philosophy science, philosophy of mind, and naturalised ethics. Each chapter deals with a particular aspect related to materialism and its consequences, the sorts of things that, if materialism is true, need to be confronted. Morera critiques, and rejects Gramsci’s conception of matter and materialism and concludes that that philosophical materialism is compatible with freedom, and as a consequence, offers a good foundation for ethical life. Gramsci, Materialism, and Philosophy is an original contribution to the philosophically vital debates around the meaning, limitations, implications, and possibilities of philosophical materialism as it is a contribution to the critical literature on Gramsci.

Author : Patrice Haynes
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2012-08-23
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781441150868

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Immanent Transcendence by Patrice Haynes Pdf

Over the last twenty years materialist thinkers in the continental tradition have increasingly emphasized the category of immanence. Yet the turn to immanence has not meant the wholesale rejection of the concept of transcendence, but rather its reconfiguration in immanent or materialist terms: an immanent transcendence. Through an engagement with the work of Deleuze, Irigaray and Adorno, Patrice Haynes examines how the notion of immanent transcendence can help articulate a non-reductive materialism by which to rethink politics, ethics and theology in exciting new ways. However, she argues that contrary to what some might expect, immanent accounts of matter and transcendence are ultimately unable to do justice to material finitude. Indeed, Haynes concludes by suggesting that a theistic understanding of divine transcendence offers ways to affirm fully material immanence, thus pointing towards the idea of a theological materialism.

Author : Bernardo Bianchi,Emilie Filion-Donato,Marlon Miguel,Ayşe Yuva
Publisher : ICI Berlin Press
Page : 425 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2021-03-02
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783965580183

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Materialism and Politics by Bernardo Bianchi,Emilie Filion-Donato,Marlon Miguel,Ayşe Yuva Pdf

What remains of materialism’s subversive potential — i.e., its ties with heresy or atheism and republicanism or communism — and to what extent does this concept still interpellate us politically and philosophically? As neoliberal policies expanded far beyond the state, their mechanisms of control seeped into the materiality of social reproduction, solidifying a conception of matter as something inert, to be appropriated, manipulated, and exploited. If in this context the subversive nature of a reference to materiality is called into question, it has also provoked new forms of resistance, as well as fundamental reconsiderations of the political implications of the notion of ‘matter’. Against this background, the aim of this book is to show the diversity within continued engagements with materialism as a central concept for progressive politics, be it in the direction opened up by New Materialism, in renewed forms of Marxist and Spinozist based approaches, or in feminist analyses, each in their own terms, without excluding the possibility of alliances between them. Finally, this volume insists that the study of materiality and materialist approaches does not amount to a renunciation of philosophy, but rather urges us to broaden the task of philosophical thought in order to reconsider the historical and, in every sense of the word, material situatedness of all philosophical problems. Against a reductive and ahistorical conception of materialism — the straightest way back to ideology —, this book offers an analysis of its diverse emancipatory potentialities.

Author : Sarah Ellenzweig,John H Zammito
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2017-07-14
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781351976145

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The New Politics of Materialism by Sarah Ellenzweig,John H Zammito Pdf

New materialism challenges the mechanistic models characteristic of early modern philosophy that regarded matter as largely passive and inert. Instead it gives weight to topics often overlooked in such accounts: agency, vitalism, complexity, contingency, and self-organization. This collection, which includes an international roster of contributors from philosophy, history, literature, and science, is the first to ask what is "new" about the new materialism and place it in interdisciplinary perspective. Against current theories of new materialism it argues for a deeper engagement with materialism's history, questions whether matter can be "lively," and asks whether new materialism's wish to revitalize politics and the political lives up to its promise. Contributors: Keith Ansell-Pearson, Sarah Ellenzweig, Christian J. Emden, N. Katherine Hayles, Jess Keiser, Mogens Laerke, Ian Lowrie, Lenny Moss, Angela Willey, Catherine Wilson, Charles T. Wolfe, Derek Woods, and John H. Zammito.

Author : F.A. Lange
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 1133 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2016-01-08
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781317829911

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The History of Materialism by F.A. Lange Pdf

This is Volume I of five in a series on Epistemology and Metaphysics. Originally published in 1865, this book offers the history of materialism and a criticism of its present importance in that period of time, presented in three parts.

Author : Charles T. Wolfe
Publisher : Springer
Page : 134 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2016-01-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783319248202

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Materialism: A Historico-Philosophical Introduction by Charles T. Wolfe Pdf

This book provides an overview of key features of (philosophical) materialism, in historical perspective. It is, thus, a study in the history and philosophy of materialism, with a particular focus on the early modern and Enlightenment periods, leading into the 19th and 20th centuries. For it was in the 18th century that the word was first used by a philosopher (La Mettrie) to refer to himself. Prior to that, ‘materialism’ was a pejorative term, used for wicked thinkers, as a near-synonym to ‘atheist’, ‘Spinozist’ or the delightful ‘Hobbist’. The book provides the different forms of materialism, particularly distinguished into claims about the material nature of the world and about the material nature of the mind, and then focus on materialist approaches to body and embodiment, selfhood, ethics, laws of nature, reductionism and determinism, and overall, its relationship to science. For materialism is often understood as a kind of philosophical facilitator of the sciences, and the author want to suggest that is not always the case. Materialism takes on different forms and guises in different historical, ideological and scientific contexts as well, and the author wants to do justice to that diversity. Figures discussed include Lucretius, Hobbes, Gassendi, Spinoza, Toland, Collins, La Mettrie, Diderot, d’Holbach and Priestley; Büchner, Bergson, J.J.C. Smart and D.M. Armstrong.

Author : Friedrich Albert Lange
Publisher : New York : Arno Press
Page : 1154 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 1974
Category : Materialism
ISBN : STANFORD:36105037034803

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The History of Materialism by Friedrich Albert Lange Pdf

Author : Robert C. Koons,George Bealer
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 490 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0199556199

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The Waning of Materialism by Robert C. Koons,George Bealer Pdf

A sustained and up-to-date critique of philosophical materialism (the thesis that all of reality consists of material particles and their physical relations and interactions), relying on recent scientific research and the most sophisticated tools of contemporary philosophy, undertaken by twenty-three of the world's leading analytic philosophers. The case against materialism comprises arguments from conscious experience, rational thought, the interaction of mindand body, and the unity and persisting identity of human persons. The contributors develop a wide range of alternatives to the dominant materialist models that have dominated analytic philosophy until recently, including anti-materialist versions of naturalism, renewed forms of Aristotle's account,theories of strongly emergent mental powers, and significant modifications of traditional dualism.

Author : Richard Kearney
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781136793738

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Continental Philosophy in the 20th Century by Richard Kearney Pdf

Continental philosophy is one of the twentieth century's most important and challenging philosophical movements. This major volume includes fourteen chapters on its major representatives and schools, including phenomenology, existentialism and postmodernism.

Author : Friedrich Albert Lange
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 1881
Category : Materialism
ISBN : UOM:39015055406956

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History of Materialism and Criticism of Its Present Importance: History of materialism until Kant by Friedrich Albert Lange Pdf

Author : Paul K. Moser,J. D. Trout
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 406 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2002-11-01
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781134839339

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Contemporary Materialism by Paul K. Moser,J. D. Trout Pdf

Contemporary Materialism brings together the best recent work on materialism from many of our leading contemporary philosophers. This is the first comprehensive reader on the subject. The majority of philosophers and scientists today hold the view that all phenomena are physical, as a result materialism or 'physicalism' is now the dominant ontology in a wide range of fields. Surprisingly no single book, until now, has collected the key investigations into materialism, to reflect the impact it has had on current thinking in metaphysics, philosophy of mind and the theory of value. The classic papers in this collection chart contemporary problems, positions and themes in materialism. At the invitation of the editors, many of the papers have been specially up-dated for this collection: follow-on pieces written by the contributors enable them to appraise the original paper and assess developments since the work was first published. The book's selections are largely non-technical and accessible to advanced undergraduates. The editors have provided a useful general introduction, outlining and contextualising this central system of thought, as well as a topical bibliography. Contemporary Materialism will be vital reading for anyone concerned to discover the ideas underlying contemporary philosophy. David Armstrong, University of Sydney; Jerry Fodor, Rutgers University, New Jersey; Tim Crane, University College, London; D. H. Mellor, Univeristy of Cambridge; J.J.C.

Author : Friedrich Albert Lange
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 422 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 1880
Category : Materialism
ISBN : UCLA:31158011535399

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The History of Materialism and Criticism of Its Present Importance by Friedrich Albert Lange Pdf