Ethical evaluation of language and action has relied historically on the western, monocultural assumptions of classical ethical theory. But persistent contemporary critiques undermine the moral force of ethical agency as individualistic, autonomous, and rationalistic. Contributors to Moral Engagement in Public Life take up the search for intellectual resources in light of these challenges by explicating twelve theorists in moral philosophy and communication ethics. Two classical theorists, Aristotle and Confucius, provide longstanding themes of ongoing relevance and serve as a point of...

It has been fifty years since the Beats first came upon the literary scene and although the academy s hostility toward the Beats has not completely abated, it has certainly diminished. Today mainstream publishers are adding many Beat titles to their lists, and students of Beat literature can draw upon a wealth of critical resources that have been published in the last twenty years. The fourteen critical essays gathered in this collection verify that Jack Kerouac is still the undisputed king of the Beats followed by William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. At the same time, however, the Beat...

This book is a critical and ethnographic study of camgirls: women who broadcast themselves over the web for the general public while trying to cultivate a measure of celebrity in the process. The book's over-arching question is, What does it mean for feminists to speak about the personal as political in a networked society that encourages women to 'represent' through confession, celebrity, and sexual display, but punishes too much visibility with conservative censure and backlash? The narrative follows that of the camgirl phenomenon, beginning with the earliest experiments in personal...

Diana Wynne Jones: An Exciting and Exacting Wisdom is a collection of scholarly essays examining the work of British author Diana Wynne Jones, whose prolific contributions to speculative fiction span the past thirty years. A contemporary of such well known fantastic authors as Alan Garner and Susan Cooper, Jones is also a clear influence on more recent writers such as J. K. Rowling. Her humorous and exciting stories, many published for children but read by all ages, are also complexly structured and thought provoking. These essays written by academics and independent scholars from...

This book assesses the desirability of legalising euthanasia. From the ethical perspective, euthanasia raises many important issues including the right to life, the right to liberty, the avoidance of unnecessary pain, the appropriate allocation of medical resources, and the rights and duties of doctors. Other relevant considerations include the improving standard of palliative care and the -slippery slope- argument. The central arguments for and against euthanasia are evaluated against the background of the leading contemporary moral theories. This book seeks to cut through the rhetoric that...

In this collection of voices, one hears stories and discussions grounded in the ideas of one of the most influential teachers and thinkers of our time. The Freirean Legacy offers the reader an opportunity to consider the work of Paulo Freire in terms of three significant perspectives. Michael Apple, Joe Kincheloe, and Ana Maria Araujo (Nita) Freire are among those who share insights and understandings resulting from firsthand experiences with Freire. The theoretical insights into his work and ideas are brought forth in pieces by Peter McLaren, Judith J. Slater, and others. Finally,...

Adult Education @ 21st Century tackles tough questions concerning how to respond to and engage with transnational education markets and multicultural diversity in a global environment typified by disorienting changes and continuities. Researchers from different countries demonstrate various ways in which the teachers of adults mediate and mitigate the oppressive consequences of the contemporary transition to globalization and the resentment and alienation to which it gives rise. Based on analyses of their work, the contributors argue that teachers and policy makers involved in adult...

The phantasmagoric short stories and satirical novellas of the Russian modernist Sigizmund Kr i anovskij (1887-1950) are a unique amalgam of verbal pyrotechnics, scientific erudition, and philosophical contemplation. This book examines how the raw materials of Russian byt are transformed through Kr i anovskij s ironic wit and rich imagination. Affinities with the theories of his Russian Formalist and Futurist contemporaries are revealed in Kr i anovskij s use of literary devices to generate the themes of his experimental prose. It demonstrates how paranomasia and other types of pun...