This work is a discussion of one of the major issues in contemporary thinking by two of the world's leading thinkers. From the Stoics to Kant's idea of perpetual peace, cosmopolitanism has been at the heart of philosophical and political thinking but until now has received little attention from contemporary commentators. Jacques Derrida asks how it is possible to uphold an international hospitality and sense of justice in the face of increasing nationalism and hostility to refugees. Richard Rorty asks whether the ideals of rights enshrined in liberty, equality and fraternity implicit in...

Drawing on a diverse array of thinkers from Plato to Kierkegaard, On the Internet is one of the first books to bring philosophical insight to the debate on how far the internet can and cannot take us.
Dreyfus shows us the roots of the disembodied, free floating web surfer in Descartes' separation of mind and body, and how Kierkegaard's insights into the birth of the modern reading public anticipate the news-hungry, but disinterested risk avoiding internet junkie. Drawing on recent studies of the isolation experienced by many internet users, Dreyfus shows how the internet's...

Air Quality Assessment is an integral component of any environmental management process. It involves not only the identification, monitoring, prediction and evaluation of such critical variables as source emissions and meteorogical conditions, but also potential changes to air quality as a result of emissions from a development and the mitigation and control of these emissions. This work describes the techniques available for an AQA while detailing the concepts and methodologies involved. It reviews: the principles of air quality management; primary sources of air pollution; impact of...

Drawing on the work of James Joyce, the story of Sigmund Freud's Dora and the case of Oscar Schindler, this text illuminates how stories are deep at work in fictional writing, autobiography, psychoanalysis and above all, in attempts to talk of the self. The author also considers the stories of nations and how these may affect the way a national identity can emerge from stories. He looks at the stories of Romulus and Remus in the founding of Rome, the hidden agenda of stories in the antagonism between Britain and Ireland and how stories of alienation in film such as Aliens and Men in Black...

The question 'What is the meaning of life?' is one of the most fascinating, oldest and most difficult questions human beings have ever posed themselves. In an increasingly secularized culture, it remains a question to which we are ineluctably and powerfully drawn.
Drawing skillfully on a wealth of thinkers, writers and scientists from Augustine, Descartes, Freud and Camus, to Spinoza, Pascal, Darwin, and Wittgenstein, On the Meaning of Life breathes new vitality into one of the very biggest questions.

Can science explain everything? Brian Ridley, a physicist himself, explores this question and more in this compelling exploration of both the scope and limits of science. Tracing back to the roots of scientific thinking in a world of 'magical ideas', he argues that science shares more with magic than we are often led to believe.
The book also explores the often overlooked relationship between science and mathematics and the uneasy relationship between the two. This is neatly linked to a fascinating discussion of relativity and quantum theory, reminding us of the many perspectives on offer...

Does humour makes us human, or do the cats and dogs laugh along with us? On Humour is a fascinating and beautifully written book on what philosophy can tell us about humour and about what it is to be human. Simon Critchley probes some of the most perennial but least understood features of humour, such as our tendency to laugh at animals and our bodies, why we mock death with comedy and why we think it's funny when people act like machines. He also looks as the darker side of humour, as rife in sexism and racism, and argues that is important for reminding of us of people we would rather not...

What is the basis of belief in an era when globalization, multiculturalism and big business are the new religion? Slavoj Zizek, renowned philosopher and irrepressible cultural critic takes on all comers in this compelling and breathless new book.
From 'cyberspace reason' to the paradox that is 'Western Buddhism', On Belief gets behind the contours of the way we normally think about belief, in particular Judaism and Christianity. Holding up the so-called authenticity of religious belief to critical light, Zizek draws on psychoanalysis, film and philosophy to reveal in startling...

Thought-provoking and with an astonishing range of references, On Being Authentic is a gripping journey into the self. Beginning with Socrates and Augustine, Charles Guignon argues that being authentic is to have a sincere story to tell.