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A Concise Introduction to Ethics
by Russ Shafer-LandauThis book offers a condensed and exceptionally well-written introduction to the essential moral theories. Based on Russ Shafer-Landau's best-selling primer on ethical theory, The Fundamentals of Ethics, this briefer volume retains the longer one's content advantage over competing books by addressing issues that other texts omit, including the good life (value theory), natural law, and prima facie duties. <p><p>It also incorporates discussion questions and case studies at the end of each chapter, giving students the opportunity to apply ethical theories to real-world moral problems. A perfect companion to Shafer-Landau's anthology, The Ethical Life, this volume's compact size and low price make this book an ideal complement to any course where it is important that students understand moral theories.
A Concise Introduction to Languages and Machines (Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science)
by Alan P. ParkesA Concise Introduction to Languages, Machines and Logic provides an accessible introduction to three key topics within computer science: formal languages, abstract machines and formal logic. Written in an easy-to-read, informal style, this textbook assumes only a basic knowledge of programming on the part of the reader. The approach is deliberately non-mathematical, and features: - Clear explanations of formal notation and jargon, - Extensive use of examples to illustrate algorithms and proofs, - Pictorial representations of key concepts, - Chapter opening overviews providing an introduction and guidance to each topic, - End-of-chapter exercises and solutions, - Offers an intuitive approach to the topics. This reader-friendly textbook has been written with undergraduates in mind and will be suitable for use on course covering formal languages, formal logic, computability and automata theory. It will also make an excellent supplementary text for courses on algorithm complexity and compilers.
A Concise Introduction to Logic (Twelfth Edition)
by Patrick J. HurleyUnsurpassed for its clarity and comprehensiveness, Hurley's A CONCISE INTRODUCTION TO LOGIC is the #1 introductory logic book on the market. In this Twelfth Edition, Hurley continues to build upon the tradition of a lucid, focused, and accessible presentation of the basic subject matter of logic, both formal and informal. The edition's new Previews connect a section's content to real-life scenarios, using everyday examples to "translate" new notions and terms into concepts that readers unfamiliar with the subject matter can relate to. An extensive, carefully sequenced collection of exercises guides readers toward greater proficiency with the skills they are learning.
A Concise Introduction to Mathematical Logic (Universitext)
by Wolfgang RautenbergTraditional logic as a part of philosophy is one of the oldest scientific disciplines and can be traced back to the Stoics and to Aristotle. Mathematical logic, however, is a relatively young discipline and arose from the endeavors of Peano, Frege, and others to create a logistic foundation for mathematics. It steadily developed during the twentieth century into a broad discipline with several sub-areas and numerous applications in mathematics, informatics, linguistics and philosophy. This book treats the most important material in a concise and streamlined fashion. The third edition is a thorough and expanded revision of the former. Although the book is intended for use as a graduate text, the first three chapters can easily be read by undergraduates interested in mathematical logic. These initial chapters cover the material for an introductory course on mathematical logic, combined with applications of formalization techniques to set theory. Chapter 3 is partly of descriptive nature, providing a view towards algorithmic decision problems, automated theorem proving, non-standard models including non-standard analysis, and related topics. The remaining chapters contain basic material on logic programming for logicians and computer scientists, model theory, recursion theory, Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems, and applications of mathematical logic. Philosophical and foundational problems of mathematics are discussed throughout the text. Each section of the seven chapters ends with exercises some of which of importance for the text itself. There are hints to most of the exercises in a separate file Solution Hints to the Exercises which is not part of the book but is available from the author's website.
A Concise Reader of Chinese Culture (China Insights)
by Chunsong GanThis book uses the mutual interactions between Chinese and Western culture as a point of departure in order to concisely introduce the origins and evolution of Chinese culture at the aspects of constitution, thinking, values and atheistic. This book also analyzes utensil culture, constitution culture and ideology culture, which were perfected by absorbing classic arguments from academia. As such, the book offers an essential guide to understanding the development, civilization and key ideologies in Chinese history, and will thus help to promote Chinese culture and increase cultural awareness.
A Concise Survey of French Literature
by Germaine MasonAn overview of French literature as it evolved from the Middle Ages to the mid-twentieth century. In this compact yet wide-ranging volume, the many aspects of French literature and the different tendencies of successive schools are shown in the light of contemporaneous political and artistic developments. A Concise Survey of French Literature explores the relationship between literature and the evolution of French thought, deeply concerned, as it is, with the problems of human life and destiny. It also serves as an excellent reference for any student of French literature.
A Confession (Hesperus Classics Ser.)
by Leo Tolstoy Aylmer MaudeDespite having written War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy, at the age of 51, looked back on his life and considered it a meaningless, regrettable failure. A Confession provides insight into the great Russian writer's movement from the pursuit of aesthetic ideals toward matters of religious and philosophical consequence.Authentic and genuinely moving, this memoir of midlife spiritual crisis was first distributed in 1872 and marked a turning point in the author's career as a writer: in subsequent years, Tolstoy would write almost exclusively about religious life, especially devotion among the peasantry.Generations of readers have been inspired by this heartfelt reexamination of Christian orthodoxy and subsequent spiritual awakening. Ranked among the best books on the subject, this timeless work is for anyone who has ever worried about the fleeting nature of life and speculated about the value of existence.
A Confession (Penguin Great Ideas)
by Leo TolstoyDescribing Tolstoy's crisis of depression and estrangement from the world, A Confession is an autobiographical work of exceptional emotional honesty. It describes his search for 'a practical religion not promising future bliss but giving bliss on earth'. Although the Confession led to his excommunication, it also resulted in a large following of Tolstoyan Christians springing up throughout Russia and Europe. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves – and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives – and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles
by Thomas SowellIn this classic work, Thomas Sowell analyzes the two competing visions that shape our debates about the nature of reason, justice, equality, and power. The "constrained" vision, which sees human nature as unchanging and selfish, and the "unconstrained" vision, in which human nature is malleable and perfectible. He describes how these two radically opposed views have manifested themselves in the political controversies of the past two centuries, including such contemporary issues as welfare reform, social justice, and crime. Updated to include sweeping political changes since its first publication in 1987, this revised edition of A Conflict of Visions offers a convincing case that ethical and policy disputes circle around the disparity between both outlooks.
A Confucian Analysis on the Evolution of Chinese Patent Law System
by Nan ZhangThis book comprehensively discusses the main features of the Chinese patent law system, which not only legally ‘transplants’ international treaties into the Chinese context, but also maintains China’s legal culture and promotes domestic economic growth. This is the basis for encouraging creativity and improving patent law protection in China. The book approaches the evolution of the Chinese patent system through the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius’s classic principle, offering readers a fresh new way to understand and analyze Chinese patent law reforms, while also outlining how Confucian insights could be used to improve the enforcement of patent law and overall intellectual property protection awareness in China. It examines ancient Chinese innovation history, explores intellectual property from a Confucian perspective, and discusses the roots of Chinese patent law, as well as the past three amendments and the trends in the ongoing fourth amendment. In addition to helping readers grasp the mentality behind the Chinese approach to patent law and patent protection, the book provides an alternative research methodology and philosophical approach by demonstrating Confucian analysis, which provides a more dynamic way to justify intellectual property in the academic world. Lastly, it suggests future strategies for local industries in the legal, cultural and sociological sectors in China, which provide benefits for domestic and overseas patent holders alike. The book offers a valuable asset for graduate students and researchers on China and intellectual property law, as well as general readers interested in Asian culture and the philosophy of law.
A Confucian Approach to Media Ethics (Routledge Focus on Communication Studies)
by Yayu FengA Confucian Approach to Media Ethics offers a comprehensive theorization of an approach to media ethics based on the moral philosophy that originated from China and that profoundly influenced East Asian countries.This book engages with foundational concepts from Confucian ethics and explicates a new framework that can be used for guiding media practices, as well as media ethics research and teaching. It suggests that the Confucian ideals of He (harmony), Zhong (equilibrium), and the notion of Junzi can be applied to guide intercultural media practices, and sets out a fresh model for ethics education centered on Xiuji (self-cultivation) that is different from the training-based and decision-making-centered model prevalent in the Western classrooms. This is also a framework that emphasizes both individual moral growth and the moral character of the broader professional community.Filling a gap in the conversation between Eastern and Western approaches to media ethics, this innovative and important volume will offer new perspectives to students and scholars of media ethics, communication studies, and comparative philosophy.
A Confucian Constitutional Order: How China's Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Future (The Princeton-China Series #4)
by Jiang QingWhat a Confucian constitutional government might look like in China's political futureAs China continues to transform itself, many assume that the nation will eventually move beyond communism and adopt a Western-style democracy. But could China develop a unique form of government based on its own distinct traditions? Jiang Qing—China's most original, provocative, and controversial Confucian political thinker—says yes. In this book, he sets out a vision for a Confucian constitutional order that offers a compelling alternative to both the status quo in China and to a Western-style liberal democracy. A Confucian Constitutional Order is the most detailed and systematic work on Confucian constitutionalism to date.Jiang argues against the democratic view that the consent of the people is the main source of political legitimacy. Instead, he presents a comprehensive way to achieve humane authority based on three sources of political legitimacy, and he derives and defends a proposal for a tricameral legislature that would best represent the Confucian political ideal. He also puts forward proposals for an institution that would curb the power of parliamentarians and for a symbolic monarch who would embody the historical and transgenerational identity of the state. In the latter section of the book, four leading liberal and socialist Chinese critics—Joseph Chan, Chenyang Li, Wang Shaoguang, and Bai Tongdong—critically evaluate Jiang's theories and Jiang gives detailed responses to their views.A Confucian Constitutional Order provides a new standard for evaluating political progress in China and enriches the dialogue of possibilities available to this rapidly evolving nation. This book will fascinate students and scholars of Chinese politics, and is essential reading for anyone concerned about China's political future.
A Constitutional History of the Kingdom of Eswatini (African Histories and Modernities)
by Hlengiwe Portia DlaminiSwaziland—recently renamed Eswatini—is the only nation-state in Africa with a functioning indigenous political system. Elsewhere on the continent, most departing colonial administrators were succeeded by Western-educated elites. In Swaziland, traditional Swazi leaders managed to establish an absolute monarchy instead, qualified by the author as benevolent and people-centred, a system which they have successfully defended from competing political forces since the 1970s. This book is the first to study the constitutional history of this monarchy. It examines its origins in the colonial era, the financial support it received from white settlers and apartheid South Africa, and the challenges it faced from political parties and the judiciary, before King Sobhuza II finally consolidated power in 1978 with an auto-coup d’état. As Hlengiwe Dlamini shows, the history of constitution-making in Swaziland is rich, complex, and full of overlooked insight for historians of Africa.
A Contemporary Turkish Prison Diary: Reflections on the Writings of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
by Ismail AlbayrakThis book explores the religious experiences of two notable figures who endured severe trials under authoritarian regimes: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960) within the Islamic tradition, and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) within the Russian Orthodox Christian tradition. Against the tumultuous backdrop of the twentieth century’s spiritual, social, political, and intellectual upheavals, both Nursi and Solzhenitsyn grappled with immense hardships because of their beliefs. Despite immense tribulations, both individuals demonstrated unwavering faith and resilience in the face of adversity, continuing their scholarly and literary activities. The current study centers on the dichotomy of spiritual confinement and expansiveness, illustrating how people can experience spiritual distress even without physical restraints. It explores the historical and conceptual aspects of imprisonment within Christian and Muslim perspectives, explores the reasons for Nursi and Solzhenitsyn's incarceration, examines their coping mechanisms in the face of hardship, and underscores the role of faith and spirituality. The author integrates personal experiences, particularly his own incarceration during the aftermath of the 2016 Turkish staged coup attempt, within the context of the narratives of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn. The book addresses court proceedings, release, departure from Turkey, and resettlement in Australia. Throughout, the author draws parallels between their own observations and those of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn, contributing to the broader discourse on individual spirituality and collective consciousness. The book offers insights into spiritual resilience in the face of adversity, utilizing the lives of these figures to illuminate shared human experiences. A unique collation of personal narration and scholarly reflection, it is relevant to academics and students in history, political science, sociology, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, and to social scientists researchingthe phenomenon of exile and prison in different countries across the world. It also speaks to the work of activists and policymakers in human rights.
A Contest of Civilizations: Exposing the Crisis of American Exceptionalism in the Civil War Era (Littlefield History of the Civil War Era)
by Andrew F. LangMost mid-nineteenth-century Americans regarded the United States as an exceptional democratic republic that stood apart from a world seemingly riddled with revolutionary turmoil and aristocratic consolidation. Viewing themselves as distinct from and even superior to other societies, Americans considered their nation an unprecedented experiment in political moderation and constitutional democracy. But as abolitionism in England, economic unrest in Europe, and upheaval in the Caribbean and Latin America began to influence domestic affairs, the foundational ideas of national identity also faced new questions. And with the outbreak of civil war, as two rival governments each claimed the mantle of civilized democracy, the United States' claim to unique standing in the community of nations dissolved into crisis. Could the Union chart a distinct course in human affairs when slaveholders, abolitionists, free people of color, and enslaved African Americans all possessed irreconcilable definitions of nationhood? In this sweeping history of political ideas, Andrew F. Lang reappraises the Civil War era as a crisis of American exceptionalism. Through this lens, Lang shows how the intellectual, political, and social ramifications of the war and its meaning rippled through the decades that followed, not only for the nation's own people but also in the ways the nation sought to redefine its place on the world stage.
A Contractarian Approach to Law and Justice: Live and Let Live
by William E. O’Brian Jr.This book presents a distinctive version of a contractarian approach to law and justice. The work argues that law and justice are social norms that arise from a process of social evolution, and are binding only if and to the extent that they are mutually beneficial. It explicitly rejects accounts of law and justice that are based on morality, on the basis that morality itself is only legitimately founded on mutual advantage. But it also rejects most existing versions of contractarianism, which are based on ideas of hypothetical agreements by rational contractors, in favour of an approach that is based on actually existing social norms, but advocates critically examining these norms and discarding those that are not truly mutually beneficial. The first half of the book develops the approach, while the second half explores some of its implications for law. It argues for a left-libertarian approach to property, an approach largely based on the common law of tort, contract and criminal law, and a rejection of most statutory law, which is based not on mutual advantage but rather on benefiting some at the expense of others. However, it ultimately recognises that there are those who want a more extensive state than this approach allows, and advocates a strong form of federalism to allow this, provided robust exit rights are provided. The book combines political philosophy, economics and law into an approach that is broadly libertarian but distinctive in many respects. It will be of interest to scholars in all three of those disciplines.
A Copernican Critique of Kantian Idealism
by J. T. W. RyallThis book offers a comprehensive critique of the Kantian principle that 'objects conform to our cognition' from the perspective of a Copernican world-view which stands diametrically opposed to Kant's because founded on the principle that our cognition conforms to objects. Concerning both Kant's ontological denial in respect of space and time and his equivalence thesis in respect of 'experience' and 'objectivity', Ryall argues that Kant's transcendental idealism signally fails to account for the one thing that is essential for Copernicus and the only thing that would validate a comparison between his and Kant's critical philosophy, namely the subject as 'revolving object'. It is only by presupposing - in a transcendentally realistic sense - that human beings exist as physical things in themselves, therefore, that the 'observer motion' of Copernican theory is vindicated and the distorted nature of our empirical observations explained. In broadly accessible prose and by directly challenging the arguments of many stalwart defenders of Kant including Norman Kemp Smith, Henry E. Allison and Michael Friedman, Ryall's book will be of interest to both scholars and students of Kant's philosophy alike.
A Cord of Three Strands: A New Approach to Parent Engagement in Schools
by Soo HongHow can low-income, non-English-speaking parents become advocates, leaders, and role models in their children&’s schools? A Cord of Three Strands offers a close study of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, a grassroots organization on the northwest side of Chicago, whose work on parent engagement has drawn national attention. The author identifies three elements—induction, integration, and investment—that together capture the dynamic and developmental nature of successful parent engagement. Writing with both optimism and urgency, author Soo Hong offers richly detailed portraits of parents&’ experiences and addresses the complex and sometime conflicting relationships among school, family, and community.
A Cosmopolitanism of Nations: Giuseppe Mazzini's Writings on Democracy, Nation Building, and International Relations
by Giuseppe MazziniThis anthology gathers Giuseppe Mazzini's most important essays on democracy, nation building, and international relations, including some that have never before been translated into English. These neglected writings remind us why Mazzini was one of the most influential political thinkers of the nineteenth century--and why there is still great benefit to be derived from a careful analysis of what he had to say. Mazzini (1805-1872) is best known today as the inspirational leader of the Italian Risorgimento. But, as this book demonstrates, he also made a vital contribution to the development of modern democratic and liberal internationalist thought. In fact, Stefano Recchia and Nadia Urbinati make the case that Mazzini ought to be recognized as the founding figure of what has come to be known as liberal Wilsonianism. The writings collected here show how Mazzini developed a sophisticated theory of democratic nation building--one that illustrates why democracy cannot be successfully imposed through military intervention from the outside. He also speculated, much more explicitly than Immanuel Kant, about how popular participation and self-rule within independent nation-states might result in lasting peace among democracies. In short, Mazzini believed that universal aspirations toward human freedom, equality, and international peace could best be realized through independent nation-states with homegrown democratic institutions. He thus envisioned what one might today call a genuine cosmopolitanism of nations.
A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers
by Helen Schucman PhDA Course in Miracles is the acclaimed spiritual guide that teaches the way to universal love and peace is by undoing guilt through forgiving others. The "miracles" of the title refers to shifts in perception from fear to love, which fosters the healing and sanctification of relationships. Although expressed in terms of traditional Christianity, this life-changing work constitutes nonsectarian, universal spiritual teachings.The three-part approach begins with an explanation of the course's theory and the development of the experience of forgiveness. The second consists of a workbook, comprising 365 lessons — an exercise for each day of the year — intended to influence students' perceptions. The third section presents a manual for teachers, in which the question-and-answer format provides responses for likely inquiries as well as definitions for terms used throughout the course. Written by Dr. Helen Schucman, a clinical and research psychologist, and edited by her colleague at Columbia University, Dr. William Thetford, from 1965 to 1970, A Course in Miracles has been translated into more than 20 languages and sold millions of copies around the world.
A Course on Basic Model Theory
by Shashi Mohan Srivastava Haimanti SarbadhikariThis self-contained book is an exposition of the fundamental ideas of model theory. It presents the necessary background from logic, set theory and other topics of mathematics. Only some degree of mathematical maturity and willingness to assimilate ideas from diverse areas are required. The book can be used for both teaching and self-study, ideally over two semesters. It is primarily aimed at graduate students in mathematical logic who want to specialise in model theory. However, the first two chapters constitute the first introduction to the subject and can be covered in one-semester course to senior undergraduate students in mathematical logic. The book is also suitable for researchers who wish to use model theory in their work.
A Course on Mathematical Logic (Universitext)
by Shashi Mohan SrivastavaThis is a short, modern, and motivated introduction to mathematical logic for upper undergraduate and beginning graduate students in mathematics and computer science. Any mathematician who is interested in getting acquainted with logic and would like to learn Gödel's incompleteness theorems should find this book particularly useful. The treatment is thoroughly mathematical and prepares students to branch out in several areas of mathematics related to foundations and computability, such as logic, axiomatic set theory, model theory, recursion theory, and computability. In this new edition, many small and large changes have been made throughout the text. The main purpose of this new edition is to provide a healthy first introduction to model theory, which is a very important branch of logic. Topics in the new chapter include ultraproduct of models, elimination of quantifiers, types, applications of types to model theory, and applications to algebra, number theory and geometry. Some proofs, such as the proof of the very important completeness theorem, have been completely rewritten in a more clear and concise manner. The new edition also introduces new topics, such as the notion of elementary class of structures, elementary diagrams, partial elementary maps, homogeneous structures, definability, and many more.
A Covenant of Creatures: Levinas's Philosophy of Judaism
by Michael Fagenblat"I am not a particularly Jewish thinker," said Emmanuel Levinas, "I am just a thinker." This book argues against the idea, affirmed by Levinas himself, that Totality and Infinity and Otherwise Than Being separate philosophy from Judaism. By reading Levinas's philosophical works through the prism of Judaic texts and ideas, Michael Fagenblat argues that what Levinas called "ethics" is as much a hermeneutical product wrought from the Judaic heritage as a series of phenomenological observations. Decoding the Levinas's philosophy of Judaism within a Heideggerian and Pauline framework, Fagenblat uses biblical, rabbinic, and Maimonidean texts to provide sustained interpretations of the philosopher's work. Ultimately he calls for a reconsideration of the relation between tradition and philosophy, and of the meaning of faith after the death of epistemology.
A Critical Bibliography of Adam Smith
by Hiroshi MizutaThis critical bibliography of Adam Smith takes as its starting point the Kress Library of Business and Economics’ 1939 catalogue of its Vanderblue Collection of Smithiana. Since the bicentenary of The Wealth of Nations in 1976, the rate of international publication markedly accelerated, significantly extending the scope of this bibliography beyond 1939. Its scope has been further enlarged via the inclusion of essays on the diffusion process while the inclusion of all works in the chronological main bibliography gives an overview of the scope of this process. The notes appended to the entries provide a running commentary to the gathering pace of publication and the entries are organised chronologically with systematic annotation throughout.
A Critical Edition of Robert Davenport's The City Night-Cap (Routledge Revivals)
by Robert DavenportOriginally published in 1979, this volume includes the full, edited, 1661 play of Robert Davenport, 'The City Night-Cap', alongside textual notes, including an introduction on the man and his works, theatrical history, characterization, theme and structure, and setting.