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| perennial questions of philosophy: The Perennial Philosophy Aldous Huxley, 2012-02-14 An inspired gathering of religious writings that reveals the divine reality common to all faiths, collected by Aldous Huxley The Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Huxley writes, may be found among the traditional lore of peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions. With great wit and stunning intellect—drawing on a diverse array of faiths, including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christian mysticism, and Islam—Huxley examines the spiritual beliefs of various religious traditions and explains how they are united by a common human yearning to experience the divine. The Perennial Philosophy includes selections from Meister Eckhart, Rumi, and Lao Tzu, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, Tibetan Book of the Dead, Diamond Sutra, and Upanishads, among many others. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Plant Minds Chauncey Maher, 2017-06-26 The idea that plants have minds can sound improbable, but some widely respected contemporary scientists and philosophers find it plausible. It turns out to be rather tricky to vindicate the presumption that plants do not have minds, for doing so requires getting clear about what plants can do and what exactly a mind is. By connecting the most compelling empirical work on plant behavior with philosophical reflection on the concept of minds, Plant Minds aims to help non-experts begin to think clearly about whether plants have minds. Relying on current consensus ideas about minds and plants, Chauncey Maher first presents the best case for thinking that plants do not have minds. Along the way, however, he unearths an idea at the root of that case, the idea that having a mind requires the capacity to represent the world. In the last chapter, he defends a relatively new and insightful theory of mind that rejects that assumption, making room for the possibility that plants do have minds, primarily because they are alive. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Political Thinking Glenn Tinder, 1986 |
| perennial questions of philosophy: The Questions of Moral Philosophy Michael Shenefelt, 1999 In this appreciation of philosophy's most engaging features, Professor Michael Shenefelt takes the reader, in his own words, on a stroll through the gardens of the discipline, where I hope to point out some of the more interesting sights. Drawing on his nineteen years' experience in teaching intellectual history, Shenefelt discusses in a conversational tone most of the authors typically assigned in a Western Civilization course. He covers not only epistemology and metaphysics, but morality and politics as well. Shenefelt writes for those with no formal training in philosophy, discussing many of the perennial questions. Among other things he explains how Plato and Kant dealt with the question: Why be moral?; how Aristotle and the Stoics answered the question: What is the good life?; how Jeremy Bentham (who provided in his will for his own mummification) tried to reduce all moral questions to a mathematical calculus of pleasure and pain. He also considers such timely issues as: Are some races intellectually superior?, Is democracy a blessing?, Is Marxism still tenable?, and Why does God permit evil? Stating that his only purpose is to entertain by walking his readers down philosophy's royal road, Shenefelt dedicates his excursion especially to the young, who may find philosophy both pleasing and inspiring. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Political Philosophy Cross-Examined T. Pangle, J. Lomax, 2015-12-04 Political societies frequently regard philosophers as potential threats to morality and religion, and those who speak for politics often demand a defense of philosophy. This book will address philosophy as a mode of existence put into question. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: The Nature of Philosophical Problems John Kekes, 2014-05-08 We must all make choices about how we want to live. We evaluate our possibilities by relying on historical, moral, personal, political, religious, and scientific modes of evaluations, but the values and reasons that follow from them conflict. Philosophical problems are forced on us when we try to cope with such conflicts. There are reasons for and against all proposed ways of coping with the conflicts, but none of them has been generally accepted by reasonable thinkers. The constructive aim of The Nature of Philosophical Problems is to propose a way of understanding the nature of such philosophical problems, explain why they occur, why they are perennial, and propose a pluralist approach as the most reasonable way of coping with them. This approach is practical, context-dependent, and particular. It follows from it that the recurrence of philosophical problems is not a defect, but a welcome consequence of the richness of our modes of understanding that enlarges the range of possibilities by which we might choose to live. The critical aim of the book is to give reasons against both the absolutist attempt to find an overriding value or principle for resolving philosophical problems and of the relativist claim that reasons unavoidably come to an end and how we want to live is ultimately a matter of personal preference, not of reasons. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Philosophy in a Meaningless Life James Tartaglia, 2015-12-17 This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. Philosophy in a Meaningless Life provides an account of the nature of philosophy which is rooted in the question of the meaning of life. It makes a powerful and vivid case for believing that this question is neither obscure nor obsolete, but reflects a quintessentially human concern to which other traditional philosophical problems can be readily related; allowing them to be reconnected with natural interest, and providing a diagnosis of the typical lines of opposition across philosophy's debates. James Tartaglia looks at the various ways philosophers have tried to avoid the conclusion that life is meaningless, and in the process have distanced philosophy from the concept of transcendence. Rejecting all of this, Tartaglia embraces nihilism ('we are here with nothing to do'), and uses transcendence both to provide a new solution to the problem of consciousness, and to explain away perplexities about time and universals. He concludes that with more self-awareness, philosophy can attain higher status within a culture increasingly in need of it. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Science and the Myth of Progress Marhdad Zarandi, 2003-07-30 In the wake of the fall / Frithjof Schuon -- Sacred and profane science / René Guénon -- Traditional cosmology and the modern world / Titus Burckhardt -- Religion and science / Lord Northbourne -- Contemporary man, between the rim and the axis / Seyyed Hossein Nasr -- Christianity and the religious thought of C.G. Jung / Philip Sherrard - - On earth as it is in heaven / James S. Cutsinger -- The nature and extent of criticism of evolutionary theory / Osman Bakar -- Knowledge and knowledge / D.M. Matheson -- Knowledge and its counterfeits / Gai Eaton -- Ignorance / Wendell Berry -- The plague of scientistic belief / Wolfgang Smith -- Scientism: the bedrock of the modern worldview / Huston Smith -- Life as non-historical reality / Giuseppe Sermonti -- Man, creation and the fossil record / Michael Robert Negus -- The act of creation: bridging transcendence and immanence / William A. Dembski. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Understanding Our Being John W. Carlson, 2008-02 Written as an undergraduate textbook, Understanding Our Being treats central topics about our knowledge of being, the being of the natural world, and, via the latter, being as such |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Real Philosophy for Real People Robert McTeigue, 2020-08-24 The philosopher Paul Weiss once observed, Philosophers let theories get in the way of what they and everyone else know. For many, the very word philosophical has become all but synonymous with impractical. Yet whether we like it or not, almost every corner of our lives—from dissertation writing to channel surfing—brings us face to face with competing philosophies and world views, each claiming to tell us definitively what it means to be human. How can we know which one is right? And what difference does it make? To Robert McTeigue, S.J., it makes every difference in the world. Consciously or not, we all have a world view, and it decides how we live. In this book, McTeigue gives a funny and invigorating crash course in practical logic, metaphysics, anthropology, and ethics, equipping readers with a tool kit for breaking down and evaluating the thought systems—some good, some toxic—that swirl around us, and even within us. In McTeigue, classical philosophy finds a contemporary voice, accessible to the layman and engaging to the scholar. Real Philosophy for Real People is an answer to those philosophies that prize theory over truth, to any metaphysics that cannot account for itself, to anthropologies that are unworthy of the human person, and to ethical systems that reduce the great dignity and destiny of the human person. As the author insists, A key test of any philosophy is: Can it be lived? With Thomas Aquinas, this book teaches not only how to know the truth, but how to love it and to do it. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Philosophy's Big Questions Steven M. Emmanuel, 2021-06 The essays in this book turn to the major figures and texts of the Buddhist tradition in order to expand and enrich our thinking on enduring philosophical questions. Featuring striking and generative comparisons, Philosophy's Big Questions offers readers new conceptual tools, methods, and insights for the pursuit of a good and happy life. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Philosophy of Science in the Light of the Perennial Wisdom Mahmoud Bina, Alireza K. Ziarani, 2020-07-11 Against the backdrop of the pervasive scientism of our time, this book is a daring attempt to offer an intellectual critique of the foundations of modern science by rigorously examining the limitations of rational thought and empirical investigation. Unique of its kind, it situates science in the context of the perennial wisdom of the world's religions, which for millennia have provided keys to true knowledge. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Political Thinking Glenn E. Tinder, 1986 |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Jesus and Philosophy Paul K. Moser, 2008-10-13 What, if anything, does Jesus of Nazareth have to do with philosophy? This question motivates this collection of essays from leading theologians, philosophers, and biblical scholars. Part I portrays Jesus in his first-century intellectual and historical context, attending to intellectual influences and contributions and contemporaneous similar patterns of thought. Part II examines how Jesus influenced two of the most prominent medieval philosophers. It considers the seeming conceptual shift from Hebraic categories of thought to distinctively Greco-Roman ones in later Christian philosophers. Part III considers the significance of Jesus for some prominent contemporary philosophical topics, including epistemology and the meaning of life. The focus is not so much on how 'Christianity' figures in such topics as on how Jesus makes distinctive contributions to them. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: The Divine Within Aldous Huxley, Huston Smith, 2013-07-02 “A genius . . . a writer who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine.” — The New Yorker Brave New World author Aldous Huxley on enlightenment and the ultimate reality. In this anthology of twenty-six essays and other writings, Aldous Huxley discusses the nature of God, enlightenment, being, good and evil, religion, eternity, and the divine. Huxley consistently examined the spiritual basis of both the individual and human society, always seeking to reach an authentic and clearly defined experience of the divine. Featuring an introduction by renowned religious scholar Huston Smith, this celebration of ultimate reality proves relevant and prophetic in addressing the spiritual hunger so many feel today. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: The Concealed Influence of Custom Jay L. Garfield, 2019-04-01 Jay L. Garfield defends two exegetical theses regarding Hume's Treatise on Human Nature. The first is that Book II is the theoretical foundation of the Treatise. Second, Garfield argues that we cannot understand Hume's project without an appreciation of his own understanding of custom, and in particular, without an appreciation of the grounding of his thought about custom in the legal theory and debates of his time. Custom is the source of Hume's thoughts about normativity, not only in ethics and in political theory, but also in epistemological, linguistics, and scientific practice- and is the source of his insight that our psychological and social natures are so inextricably linked. The centrality of custom and the link between the psychological and the social are closely connected, which is why Garfield begins with Book II. There are four interpretative perspectives at work in this volume: one is a naturalistic skeptical interpretation of Hume's Treatise; a second is the foregrounding of Book II of the Treatise as foundational for Books I and III. A third is the consideration of the Treatise in relation to Hume's philosophical antecedents (particularly Sextus, Bayle, Hutcheson, Shaftesbury, and Mandeville), as well as eighteenth century debates about the status of customary law, with one eye on its sequellae in the work of Kant, the later Wittgenstein, and in contemporary cognitive science. The fourth is the Buddhist tradition in which many of the ideas Hume develops are anticipated and articulated in somewhat different ways. Garfield presents Hume as a naturalist, a skeptic and as, above all, a communitarian. In offering this interpretation, he provides an understanding of the text as a whole in the context of the literature to which it responded, and in the context of the literature it inspired. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Intimacy or Integrity Thomas P. Kasulis, 2002-03-31 How can I know something? How can I convince someone of the rightness of my position? How does reality function? What is artistic creativity? What is the role of the state? It is well known that people from various cultures give dissimilar answers to such philosophical questions. After three decades in the cross-cultural study of ideas and values, Thomas Kasulis found that culture influences not only the answers to these questions, but often how one arrives at the answers. In generalizing cultural difference, Kasulis identifies two kinds of orientation: intimacy and integrity. Both determine how we think about relations among people and among things, and each is reasonable, effective, and consistent. Yet the two are so incompatible in their basic assumptions that they cannot successfully engage each other. Cultural difference extends beyond nations. Cultural identities crystallize in relation to religion, occupation, race, gender, class. Rather than attempt to transcend cultural difference, Kasulis urges a deeper awareness of its roots by moving beyond mere cultural relativism toward a cultural bi-orientationality that will allow us to adapt ourselves to different cultural contexts as the situation demands. Wonderfully clear and unburdened by jargon, Intimacy or Integrity is accessible to readers from a variety of perspectives and backgrounds. By analyzing the synergy between thought and culture, it increases our understanding of cultural difference and guides us in developing strategies for dealing with orientations different from our own. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Philosophical Perspectives on Democracy in the 21st Century Ann E. Cudd, Sally J. Scholz, 2016-08-27 This work offers a timely philosophical analysis of fundamental principles of democracy and the meaning of democracy today. It explores the influence of big money and capitalism on democracy, the role of information and the media in democratic elections, and constitutional issues that challenge democracy in the wake of increased threats to privacy since 2001 and in light of the Citizens United decision of the US Supreme Court. It juxtaposes alternate positions from experts in law and philosophy and examines the question of legitimacy, as well as questions about the access to information, the quality of information, the obligations to attain epistemic competence among the electorate, and the power of money. Drawing together different political perspectives, as well as a variety of disciplines, this collection allows readers the opportunity to compare different and opposing moral and political solutions that both defend and transform democratic theory and practice. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Why Does the World Exist Jim Holt, 2012-07-17 In this astonishing and profound work, an irreverent sleuth traces the riddleof existence from the ancient world to modern times. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Ye Shall Know the Truth Mateus Soares de Azevedo, 2005-02-23 Contains essays on mysticism, prayer, sacred art, the relationship between Christianity and other religious. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Philosophical Progress Daniel Stoljar, 2017-09-22 Many people believe that philosophy makes no progress. Members of the general public often find it amazing that philosophers exist in universities at all, at least in research positions. Academics who are not philosophers often think of philosophy either as a scholarly or interpretative enterprise, or else as a sort of pre-scientific speculation. And - amazingly - many well-known philosophers argue that there is little genuine progress in philosophy. Daniel Stoljar arguesargues that this is all a big mistake. When you think through exactly what philosophical problems are, and what it takes to solve them, the pattern of success and failure in philosophy is similar to that in other fields. In philosophy, as elsewhere, there is a series of overlapping topics that determine what the subject is about. In philosophy, as elsewhere, different people in different historical epochs and different cultures ask different big questions about these topics. And in philosophy, as elsewhere, big questions asked in the past have often been solved: Stoljar provides examples. Philosophical Progress presents a strikingly optimistic picture of philosophy - not a radical optimism that says that there is some key that unlocks all philosophical problems, and not the kind of pessimism that dominates both professional and non-professional thinking about philosophy, but a reasonable optimism that views philosophy as akin to other fields. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Questions About God Steven M. Cahn, David Shatz, 2002-10-31 A collection of essays by leading philosophers previously published from 1973 to 1998. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: A Journey through Philosophy in 101 Anecdotes Nicholas Rescher, 2015-06-04 Nicholas Rescher presents the first comprehensive chronology of philosophical anecdotes, spanning from antiquity to the current era. He introduces us to the major thinkers, texts, and historical periods of Western philosophy, recounting many of the stories philosophers have used over time to engage with issues of philosophical concern: questions of meaning, truth, knowledge, value, action, and ethics. Rescher’s anecdotes touch on a wide range of themes—from logic to epistemology, ethics to metaphysics—and offer much insight into the breadth and depth of philosophical inquiry. This book illustrates the various ways philosophers throughout history have viewed the issues in their field, and how anecdotes can work to inform and encourage philosophical thought. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: The Latest Answers to the Oldest Questions Nicholas Fearn, 2007 In his serious, challenging, and accessible new book, Fearn moves deftly from pop culture to the writings of Plato to take readers on a fascinating tour of where philosophy is today and what it can tell us about where we as humans are going. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Wittgenstein's Metaphilosophy Paul Horwich, 2012-12-13 Paul Horwich presents a bold new interpretation of Wittgenstein's later work. He argues that it is Wittgenstein's radically anti-theoretical metaphilosophy - and not his identification of the meaning of a word with its use - that underpins his discussions of specific issues concerning language, the mind, mathematics, knowledge, art, and religion. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Hasidic Tales , 2004 The Tales of the Hasidic Masters Can Become a Companion for Your Own Spiritual Journey. The wisdom of the Hasidim is earthy, realistic, rooted in the simplicity of the heart. It is alive with the awareness of the holiness of Creation and the boundlessness of God's mercy, and is utterly honest about the necessity of living such awareness in loving service to all beings. It is a wisdom that fuses the highest mystical initiations with the most down-home celebration of life and a rugged commitment to social and political justice in all its forms. In other words, it is a wisdom that is never, as my old prep school headmaster would put it, too divine to be of any earthly use. --from the Foreword by Andrew Harvey Martin Buber, author of Tales of Hasidim, was the first to bring the Hasidic tales to life for modern readers in the middle of the twentieth century. His groundbreaking work was the first time that most readers had ever encountered the lives and teachings of these profound and enigmatic spiritual masters from Eastern Europe. In Hasidic Tales: Annotated & Explained, Rabbi Rami Shapiro breathes new life into these classic stories of people who so marvelously combined the mystical and the ordinary. Each demonstrates the spiritual power of unabashed joy, offers lessons for leading a holy life, and reminds you that the Divine can be found in the everyday. Without an expert guide, the allegorical quality of Hasidic tales can be perplexing. But Shapiro presents them as stories rather than parables, making them accessible and meaningful. Now you can experience the wisdom of Hasidism firsthand even if you have no previous knowledge of Jewish spirituality. This SkyLight Illuminations edition offers insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that explains theological concepts, introduces major characters, offers clarifying references unfamiliar to most readers and reveals how you can use the Hasidic tales to further your own spiritual awakening. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Three Questions We Never Stop Asking Michael K. Kellogg, 2010 What can I know? (philosophical knowledge) What may I hope? (existence of God) What ought I to do? (human virtue) Juxtaposes pairs of the greatest thinkers on each of these questions. The first member of the pair is a builder, the second a destroyer. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Equal Recognition Alan Patten, 2016-11-08 Conflicting claims about culture are a familiar refrain of political life in the contemporary world. On one side, majorities seek to fashion the state in their own image, while on the other, cultural minorities press for greater recognition and accommodation. Theories of liberal democracy are at odds about the merits of these competing claims. Multicultural liberals hold that particular minority rights are a requirement of justice conceived of in a broadly liberal fashion. Critics, in turn, have questioned the motivations, coherence, and normative validity of such defenses of multiculturalism. In Equal Recognition, Alan Patten reasserts the case in favor of liberal multiculturalism by developing a new ethical defense of minority rights. Patten seeks to restate the case for liberal multiculturalism in a form that is responsive to the major concerns of critics. He describes a new, nonessentialist account of culture, and he rehabilitates and reconceptualizes the idea of liberal neutrality and uses this idea to develop a distinctive normative argument for minority rights. The book elaborates and applies its core theoretical framework by exploring several important contexts in which minority rights have been considered, including debates about language rights, secession, and immigrant integration. Demonstrating that traditional, nonmulticultural versions of liberalism are unsatisfactory, Equal Recognition will engage readers interested in connections among liberal democracy, nationalism, and current multicultural issues. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Anselm on Freedom Katherin Rogers, 2008-06-19 Can human beings be free and responsible if there is a God? Anselm of Canterbury, the first Christian philosopher to propose that human beings have a really robust free will, offers viable answers to questions which have plagued religious people for at least two thousand years: If divine grace cannot be merited and is necessary to save fallen humanity, how can there be any decisive role for individual free choice to play? If God knows today what you are going to choose tomorrow, then when tomorrow comes you have to choose what God foreknew, so how can your choice be free? If human beings must have the option to choose between good and evil in order to be morally responsible, must God be able to choose evil? Anselm answers these questions with a sophisticated theory of free will which defends both human freedom and the sovereignty and goodness of God. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Being and Time Martin Heidegger, 2008-07-22 What is the meaning of being? This is the central question of Martin Heidegger's profoundly important work, in which the great philosopher seeks to explain the basic problems of existence. A central influence on later philosophy, literature, art, and criticism—as well as existentialism and much of postmodern thought—Being and Time forever changed the intellectual map of the modern world. As Richard Rorty wrote in the New York Times Book Review, You cannot read most of the important thinkers of recent times without taking Heidegger's thought into account. This first paperback edition of John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson's definitive translation also features a new foreword by Heidegger scholar Taylor Carman. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Problems in Philosophy Colin McGinn, 1993 Problems in Philosophy is a critical introduction to philosophy. The author offers a synoptic view of philosophical inquiry, discussing such topics as reason and truth, consciousness, the self, meaning, free will, the a priori, and knowledge. The emphasis is on the fundamental intractability of these issues, and a theory is proposed as to why the human mind has so much difficulty resolving them. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview James Porter Moreland, William Lane Craig, 2003-03-31 Arguments are clearly presented, and rival theories are presented with fairness and accuracy.--BOOK JACKET. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Philosophy's Big Questions Steven M. Emmanuel, 2021-07-27 Certain questions have recurred throughout the history of philosophy. They are the big questions—about happiness and the good life, the limits of knowledge, the ultimate structure of reality, the nature of consciousness, the relation between causality and free will, the pervasiveness of suffering, and the conditions for a just and flourishing society—that thinkers in different cultures across the ages have formulated in their own terms in an attempt to make sense of their lives and the world around them. The essays in this book turn to the major figures and texts of the Buddhist tradition in order to expand and enrich our thinking on these enduring questions. Examining them from a comparative and cross-cultural perspective demonstrates the value of alternative ways of addressing philosophical problems, showing how different approaches can produce new and unexpected kinds of questions and answers. Engaging with the Buddhist tradition, this book shows, helps return philosophy to its practical as well as theoretical aim: not only understanding the world but also knowing how to live in it. Featuring striking and generative comparisons of Buddhist and Western thought, Philosophy’s Big Questions challenges our thinking in fundamental ways and offers readers new conceptual tools, methods, and insights for the pursuit of a good and happy life. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Philosophy of Social Science Mark Risjord, 2014-05-16 The Philosophy of Social Science: A Contemporary Introduction examines the perennial questions of philosophy by engaging with the empirical study of society. The book offers a comprehensive overview of debates in the field, with special attention to questions arising from new research programs in the social sciences. The text uses detailed examples of social scientific research to motivate and illustrate the philosophical discussion. Topics include the relationship of social policy to social science, interpretive research, action explanation, game theory, social scientific accounts of norms, joint intentionality, reductionism, causal modeling, case study research, and experimentation. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Aristotelian Interpretations Fran O'Rourke, 2016-05-01 Aristotle’s phrase ‘Every realm of nature is marvellous’ serves as an underlying and unifying motif for this volume of original essays. Aristotelian Interpretations considers themes of perennial interest, offering new avenues of interpretation, illustrating how Aristotle’s thought may be creatively applied to a variety of timeless and contemporary questions. Apart from the final chapter – a comprehensive survey of the extensive and penetrating influence of Aristotle on James Joyce – they are concerned with central topics in metaphysics, aesthetics, political anthropology, ethics, and theory of knowledge. The volume presents an integral survey of Aristotle’s philosophy emphasizing that, far from being just a figure of historical interest, his vision is still alive and relevant. While many of Aristotle’s empirical suppositions are archaic, his deeper intuitions have ageless validity. His philosophy is marked by a robust common sense, an optimistic trust in nature, confidence in the human mind’s capacity to discover truth and value, and an abiding sense of all-embracing beauty. The author’s introduction describes early personal experiences that inspired his affection for a distinctively Aristotelian approach to the world. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing? Leszek Kolakowski, 2017-05-04 Can nature make us happy? How can we know anything? What is justice? Why is there evil in the world? What is the source of truth? Is it possible for God not to exist? Can we really believe what we see? There are questions that have intrigued the world’s great thinkers over the ages, which still touch a cord in all of us today. They are questions that can teach us about the way we live, work, relate to each other and see the world. Here, one of the world’s greatest living philosophers, Leszek Kolakowski, explores the essence of these ideas, introducing figures from Socrates to Thomas Aquinas, Descartes to Nietzsche and concentrating on one single important philosophical question from each of them. Whether reflecting on good and evil, truth and beauty, faith and the soul, or free will and consciousness, Kolakowski shows that these timeless ideas remain at the very core of our existence. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, 2004-03-22 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy was engaged in the world not only as a scholarly expositor of traditional culture and philosophy, but also as a radical critic of contemporary life. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: Aquinas on Beauty Christopher Scott Sevier, 2015-02-12 Aquinas on Beauty explores the nature and role of beauty in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Beginning with a standard definition of beauty provided by Aquinas, it explores each of the components of that definition. The result is a comprehensive account of Aquinas’s formal view on the subject, supplemented by an exploration into Aquinas’s commentary on Dionysius’s Divine Names, including a comparison of his views with those of both Dionysius and those of Aquinas’s mentor, Albert the Great. The book also highlights the tight connection in Aquinas’s thought between aesthetics and ethics, and illustrates how Aquinas preserves what is best about aesthetic traditions preceding him, and anticipates what is best about aesthetic traditions that would follow, marrying objective and subjective aesthetic intuitions and charting a kind of via media between the common extremes. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: What is the Human Being? Patrick R. Frierson, 2013-02-11 Philosophers, anthropologists and biologists have long puzzled over the question of human nature. It is also a question that Kant thought about deeply and returned to in many of his writings. In this lucid and wide-ranging introduction to Kant’s philosophy of human nature - which is essential for understanding his thought as a whole - Patrick R. Frierson assesses Kant’s theories and examines his critics. He begins by explaining how Kant articulates three ways of addressing the question ‘what is the human being?’: the transcendental, the empirical, and the pragmatic. He then considers some of the great theorists of human nature who wrestle with Kant’s views, such as Hegel, Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud; contemporary thinkers such as E.O.Wilson and Daniel Dennett, who have sought biological explanations of human nature; Thomas Kuhn, Michel Foucault, and Clifford Geertz, who emphasize the diversity of human beings in different times and places; and existentialist philosophers such as Sartre and Heidegger. He argues that whilst these approaches challenge and enrich Kant’s views in significant ways, all suffer from serious weaknesses that Kant’s anthropology can address. Taking a core insight of Kant’s - that human beings are fundamentally free but finite - he argues that it is the existentialists, particularly Sartre, who are the most direct heirs of his transcendental anthropology. The final part of the book is an extremely helpful overview of the work of contemporary philosophers, particularly Christine Korsgaard and Jürgen Habermas. Patrick R. Frierson explains how these philosophers engage with questions of naturalism, historicism, and existentialism while developing Kantian conceptions of the human being. Including chapter summaries and annotated further reading, What is the Human Being? is an outstanding introduction to some fundamental aspects of Kant’s thought and a judicious assessment of leading theories of human nature. It is essential reading for all students of Kant and the philosophy of human nature, as well as those in related disciplines such as anthropology, politics and sociology. |
| perennial questions of philosophy: The Failures of Philosophy Stephen Gaukroger, 2020-11-03 Taking the long view of the history of philosophy, The Failures of Philosophy shows how philosophy has in fact collapsed several times, been completely abandoned, sometimes for centuries, and been replaced by something quite different from philosophy. The book focuses on what are historically the most significant failures of philosophy: attempts to provide an account of 'the good life' and how to live; to establish philosophy as a discipline that can stand in judgement over and assess other forms of thought; attempts to establish philosophy as a theory of everything; and attempts to construe it as a discipline that parallels or rationalizes the empirical and mathematical sciences, building up technical credentials that mimic those of science. The central argument of the book is that examination of these failures tells us much more about the nature of philosophical enquiry, and about the ultimate point of the exercise, than its successes possibly could. Examination of its failures shows us the significant differences in the way in which philosophers have conceived of the point at different times, and why they have been obliged to shift focus. It tells us why philosophy has been thought to bring distinctive skills to questions, and whether these are actually fruitful skills. And, above all, it allows us to open up the question whether philosophy has anything to offer over and above other ways of engaging cognate questions-- |
Annual vs Perennial Flowers: What’s the Difference?
May 6, 2025 · What is a perennial plant? Knowing the difference between annual vs perennial flowers will help you understand how each type will behave in your garden. Specifically, you’ll …
Perennial - Wikipedia
Common chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a herbaceous perennial plant. In horticulture, the term perennial (per-+ -ennial, "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived …
28 Best Perennial Flowers and Plants That Bloom All Year
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PERENNIAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
When you hear perennial, you probably think of peonies rather than pines. The word today typically describes (or, as a noun, refers to) plants that die back seasonally but produce new …
Perennial | Definition, Plant, Examples, & Facts | Britannica
May 15, 2025 · Perennial, any plant that persists for several years, usually with new herbaceous growth from a part that survives from growing season to growing season. Trees and shrubs, …
Perennial: Definition & Guide to Choosing the Best Perennial ...
Perennials are a diverse and vital garden part, offering beauty, utility, and sustainability. Choosing the right ones involves considering your garden’s specific conditions and requirements and …
Perennial, Biennial, and Annual Plants: What's the Difference?
Oct 13, 2023 · What's the difference between an annual plant, a biennial plant, and a perennial plant? The distinction lies in the anticipated length of their lifecycles. Let's look at the definitions …
What Are Perennial Plants, And How Do They Grow?
Jan 7, 2025 · Plants are generally classified into three different cycles — annual, biennial and perennial. The life cycle for a plant starts with the seed (or other propagative structure), …
Annual vs Perennial – What is the Difference? | Garden Design
what is a perennial? Unlike their short-lived counterparts, perennials are typically cold-hardy plants that will return again in the spring. They usually bloom for only one season each year …
72 Beautiful Perennial Flowers For Every Part of the Garden
4 days ago · There are many different types of perennial flowers that can brighten up just about any garden. In this article, we take a deeper look at our favorite perennial flowers, with names …
Annual vs Perennial Flowers: What’s the Difference?
May 6, 2025 · What is a perennial plant? Knowing the difference between annual vs perennial flowers will help you understand how each type will behave in your garden. Specifically, you’ll …
Perennial - Wikipedia
Common chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a herbaceous perennial plant. In horticulture, the term perennial (per-+ -ennial, "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived …
28 Best Perennial Flowers and Plants That Bloom All Year
May 13, 2025 · To help you grow a low-maintenance garden, we've rounded up the best perennial plants, complete with zone requirements, sunlight needs and optimal blooming times.
PERENNIAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
When you hear perennial, you probably think of peonies rather than pines. The word today typically describes (or, as a noun, refers to) plants that die back seasonally but produce new …
Perennial | Definition, Plant, Examples, & Facts | Britannica
May 15, 2025 · Perennial, any plant that persists for several years, usually with new herbaceous growth from a part that survives from growing season to growing season. Trees and shrubs, …
Perennial: Definition & Guide to Choosing the Best Perennial ...
Perennials are a diverse and vital garden part, offering beauty, utility, and sustainability. Choosing the right ones involves considering your garden’s specific conditions and requirements and …
Perennial, Biennial, and Annual Plants: What's the Difference?
Oct 13, 2023 · What's the difference between an annual plant, a biennial plant, and a perennial plant? The distinction lies in the anticipated length of their lifecycles. Let's look at the …
What Are Perennial Plants, And How Do They Grow?
Jan 7, 2025 · Plants are generally classified into three different cycles — annual, biennial and perennial. The life cycle for a plant starts with the seed (or other propagative structure), …
Annual vs Perennial – What is the Difference? | Garden Design
what is a perennial? Unlike their short-lived counterparts, perennials are typically cold-hardy plants that will return again in the spring. They usually bloom for only one season each year …
72 Beautiful Perennial Flowers For Every Part of the Garden
4 days ago · There are many different types of perennial flowers that can brighten up just about any garden. In this article, we take a deeper look at our favorite perennial flowers, with names …
