The development of Simone de Beauvoir's notion of self in both her philosophical and autobiographical writings is analyzed in this volume. Two ideas of the self are isolated: the existential notion of the self and the gendered self, which she developed in The Second Sex, and which represents a major departure from existential philosophy. Beginning with a study of her early essays, the author proceeds to discuss Beauvoir's major philosophical works and her autobiographical writings where three personae emerge--the child, the woman in love, and the writer. This analysis highlights the...

This book examines what we can reliably know about Plato and the historical Socrates. It shows how pervasively the sources of information were biased by Pythagoreanism, Platonism, and Neoplatonism. It gives a source-critical account of how the climate of opinion in fourth-century Athens was captured by the Pythagoreans and how Speusippos's Academy also came to be pythagorized--adding definitional idealism to Pythagorean number idealism, and elevating Plato to a divine level that makes him into a coequal of Pythagoras, thus capturing Plato for Pythagoreanism. By showing how Plato's...

More than fifty years ago, Tetsuhiko Uehiro looked down on the radioactive ashes of Hiroshima and dedicated his life to more ethical resolutions of human disagreements. He founded an association which attracted millions of Japanese people, to promote traditional ethics. His son, Eiji Uehiro, seeking a more universal and international basis for ethics, founded the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education, which became a partner of the Carnegie Council. To commemorate the Foundation's tenth anniversary, leading scholars of Asian philosophy and Jungian psychology were brought together to...

This volume contains five articles by prominent scholars of French literature and political philosophy that examine the relation between Montaigne's "Essays," one of the classic works of the French philosophical and literary traditions, and the writings attributed by Montaigne to his friend, the French humanist Etienne de La Boetie's.

Three contributors to the volume suggest that Montaigne was the real author of the revolutionary tract "On Voluntary Servitude," along with the other works he attributed to La Boetie's. Two contributors describe the remarkable mathematical and/or...

The life and teachings of Diogenes of Sinope, the Greek philosopher who gave rise to classical Cynicism, deserve careful consideration because of their relevance to contemporary ethical issues. The task of reconstructing the philosopher's life, however, is exceedingly difficult, because in his case, more than in those of other ancient philosophers, we must deal not only with the scarcity of reliable sources and testimonies, but also with the mountains of anecdotal and fictional accounts that are responsible for the creation of a veritable literary legend around the Cynic who once lived in...

The natural law tradition, which takes as central to moral discussion an appeal to our common humanity, provides a sustainable and attractive approach to problems of ethics and morals. This volume presents a contemporary version of natural law ethics, one that does not rely for support on the authority of Aristotle or St. Thomas Aquinas, however much it is indebted to them and their followers for inspiration and arguments. The author discusses the mutual relations of four key moral concepts--the good, virtue, duty, and rights--as well as their application to various issues, including...

The status of the modern age has long been debated, but since post-modernism, it has assumed centrality as if it were the issue of philosophy. Gardner brings a new approach to the problem of modernity, based on theories of Rene Girard and others. While modernity is commonly seen as an ideological project or interpretation of Being, Gardner sees it in terms of the structure of human relations and their impact on philosophy. The decisive feature of the modern world is what Tocqueville called equality of conditions, which has wrought a revolution in the self-image of the individual and in...

At the turn of the century, philosophical thinking on both sides of the Atlantic was dominated by the idealist movement, a school of thought that influenced the rise of both pragmatism and analytic philosophy. The essays in this edited collection introduce and critically assess the central themes of the main Anglo-American idealists, considering the philosophical arguments in their own context and terms, but also connecting them to current debates. The figures and topics covered include T. H. Green on the common good, Edward Caird on evolution, F. H. Bradley on relations, Bosanquet's view...

This detailed analysis and evaluation of the enormously varied, rich, and productive career of one of nineteenth-century America's most interesting intellectuals includes discussions of Johnson's Treatise on Language and Treatise on Morality; appraisals by contemporaries of his works; and descriptions of his careers as banker, businessman, essayist, satirist, and philosopher.

Sartre has more to say about Evil--its origins in, effects on modern man, and how to fight it--than any other philosopher in the 20th century. In this book, the authors examine many of Sartre's literary and philosophical writings for what they have to say about the nature of Evil and its effect on our lives. From this, they evolve guidelines for those wishing to fight Evil in their own lives. Using examples from their experience with human rights violations, the authors suggest that Evil is any attempt to purposely destroy the freedom of a person, and clearly demonstrate that Sartre's work...