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When Victims Become Killers
by Mahmood Mamdani"When we captured Kigali, we thought we would face criminals in the state; instead, we faced a criminal population." So a political commissar in the Rwanda Patriotic Front reflected after the 1994 massacre of as many as one million Tutsis in Rwanda. Underlying his statement is the realization that, though ordered by a minority of state functionaries, the slaughter was performed by hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, including even judges, human rights activists, and doctors, nurses, priests, friends, and spouses of the victims. Indeed, it is its very popularity that makes the Rwandan genocide so unthinkable. This book makes it thinkable. Rejecting easy explanations of the genocide as a mysterious evil force that was bizarrely unleashed, one of Africa's best-known intellectuals situates the tragedy in its proper context. He coaxes to the surface the historical, geographical, and political forces that made it possible for so many Hutu to turn so brutally on their neighbors. He finds answers in the nature of political identities generated during colonialism, in the failures of the nationalist revolution to transcend these identities, and in regional demographic and political currents that reach well beyond Rwanda. In so doing, Mahmood Mamdani usefully broadens understandings of citizenship and political identity in postcolonial Africa. There have been few attempts to explain the Rwandan horror, and none has succeeded so well as this one. Mamdani's analysis provides a solid foundation for future studies of the massacre. Even more important, his answers point a way out of crisis: a direction for reforming political identity in central Africa and preventing future tragedies.
When Will We Talk About Hitler?: German Students and the Nazi Past (Worlds of Memory #1)
by Alexandra OeserFor more than half a century, discourses on the Nazi past have powerfully shaped German social and cultural policy. Specifically, an institutional determination not to forget has expressed a “duty of remembrance” through commemorative activities and educational curricula. But as the horrors of the Third Reich retreat ever further from living memory, what do new generations of Germans actually think about this past? Combining observation, interviews, and archival research, this book provides a rich survey of the perspectives and experiences of German adolescents from diverse backgrounds, revealing the extent to which social, economic, and cultural factors have conditioned how they view representations of Germany’s complex history.
When Words Are Called For: A Defense of Ordinary Language Philosophy
by Avner BazA new form of philosophizing known as ordinary language philosophy took root in England after the Second World War, promising a fresh start and a way out of long-standing dead-end philosophical debates. Pioneered by Wittgenstein, Austin, and others, OLP is now widely rumored, within mainstream analytic philosophy, to have been seriously discredited, and consequently its perspective is ignored. Avner Baz begs to differ. In When Words Are Called For, he shows how the prevailing arguments against OLP collapse under close scrutiny. All of them, he claims, presuppose one version or another of the very conception of word-meaning that OLP calls into question and takes to be responsible for many traditional philosophical difficulties. Worse, analytic philosophy itself has suffered as a result of its failure to take OLP’s perspective seriously. Baz blames a neglect of OLP’s insights for seemingly irresolvable disputes over the methodological relevance of “intuitions” in philosophy and for misunderstandings between contextualists and anti-contextualists (or “invariantists”) in epistemology. Baz goes on to explore the deep affinities between Kant’s work and OLP and suggests ways that OLP could be applied to other philosophically troublesome concepts. When Words Are Called For defends OLP not as a doctrine but as a form of practice that might provide a viable alternative to work currently carried out within mainstream analytic philosophy. Accordingly, Baz does not merely argue for OLP but, all the more convincingly, practices it in this eye-opening book.
When You Kant Figure It Out, Ask a Philosopher: Timeless Wisdom for Modern Dilemmas
by Marie RobertAdvice for modern dilemmas from the greatest Western philosophers.How can Kant comfort you when you get ditched via text message? How can Aristotle cure your hangover? How can Heidegger make you feel better when your dog dies? When You Kant Figure It Out, Ask a Philosopher explains how pearls of wisdom from the greatest Western philosophers can help us face and make light of some of the daily challenges of modern life. In twelve clever, accessible chapters, you'll get advice from Epicurus about how to disconnect from constant news alerts and social media updates, Nietzsche's take on getting in shape, John Stuart Mill's tips for handling bad birthday presents, and many other classic insights to help you navigate life today. Hilarious, practical, and edifying, When You Kant Figure It Out, Ask a Philosopher brings the best thinkers of the past into the 21st Century to help us all make sense of a chaotic new world.
When Your Life is On Fire
by Erik Kolbell"In When Your Life Is On Fire Erik Kolbell listens, provokes, and most of all, shares with us the enduring lessons and insights of life and faith as realized by a diverse population of thoughtful people. It's a town hall of the soul. " -- Tom Brokaw If your life were on fire, what would be the one thing you save? Progressive minister and psychotherapist Erik Kolbell asks that question of 13 remarkable and unique individuals. The answers are provided by such notable people as journalist Jane Pauley, actor Alan Alda, and jazz impresario Regina Carter, as well as Brenda Berkman, a New York City firefighter who responded to the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11, and Don Lange, a U. S. Veteran severely injured in the Iraq war. The insights of these and other ordinary people put into extraordinary situations, will help all of us consider what it is that we value most in life.
Where are the Dead?: Exploring the idea of an embodied afterlife
by Peter MooreWhere are the dead? What are they doing? What kind of a process is dying? What relationships exist among the dead themselves, and between the dead and those in the world they have left behind? Modern philosophers argue that the idea of disembodied survival - to which many believers pay lip service - is incoherent, and that there can be evidence neither for nor against something incoherent. By contrast, this book argues, the idea of an embodied survival (albeit a form of embodiment differing from our present embodiment) makes perfect sense in itself and fits much better with the alleged evidence for post-mortem survival. Exploring post-mortem survival, Where are the Dead? uses a variety of empirical data, alongside mythological, legendary and purely fictional material, to illustrate how the less familiar idea of embodied post-mortem survival might actually ’work’ in some real afterlife environment. By asking questions about the nature and whereabouts of the afterlife, and about what it might be like to be dead, the book explores themes nowadays relatively neglected even in disciplines explicitly concerned with ideas about death, dying and life after death.
Where Are the Women?: Why Expanding the Archive Makes Philosophy Better
by Sarah TysonPhilosophy has not just excluded women. It has also been shaped by the exclusion of women. As the field grapples with the reality that sexism is a central problem not just for the demographics of the field but also for how philosophy is practiced, many philosophers have begun to rethink the canon. Yet attempts to broaden European and Anglophone philosophy to include more women in the discipline’s history or to acknowledge alternative traditions will not suffice as long as exclusionary norms remain in place.In Where Are the Women?, Sarah Tyson makes a powerful case for how redressing women’s exclusion can make philosophy better. She argues that engagements with historical thinkers typically afforded little authority can transform the field, outlining strategies based on the work of three influential theorists: Genevieve Lloyd, Luce Irigaray, and Michèle Le Doeuff. Following from the possibilities they open up, at once literary, linguistic, psychological, and political, Tyson reclaims two passionate nineteenth-century texts—the Declaration of Sentiments from the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and Sojourner Truth’s speech at the 1851 Akron, Ohio, Women’s Convention—showing how the demands for equality, rights, and recognition sought in the early women’s movement still pose quandaries for contemporary philosophy, feminism, and politics. Where Are the Women? challenges us to confront the reality that women’s exclusion from philosophy has been an ongoing project and to become more critical both of how we see existing injustices and of how we address them.
Where Are You?: An Ontology of the Cell Phone (Commonalities)
by Maurizio FerrarisThis book sheds light on the most philosophically interesting of contemporary objects: the cell phone. “Where are you?”—a question asked over cell phones myriad times each day—is arguably the most philosophical question of our age, given the transformation of presence the cell phone has wrought in contemporary social life and public space.Throughout all public spaces, cell phones are now a ubiquitous prosthesis of what Descartes and Hegel once considered the absolute tool: the hand. Their power comes in part from their ability to move about with us—they are like a computer, but we can carry them with us at all times—in part from what they attach to us (and how), as all that computational and connective power becomes both handy and hand-sized.Quite surprisingly, despite their name, one might argue, as Ferraris does, that cell phones are not really all that good for sound and speaking. Instead, the main philosophical point of this book is that mobile phones have come into their own as writing machines—they function best for text messages, e-mail, and archives of allkinds. Their philosophical urgency lies in the manner in which they carry us from the effects of voice over into reliance upon the written traces that are, Ferraris argues, the basic stuff of human culture.Ontology is the study of what there is, and what there is in our age is a huge network of documents, papers, and texts of all kinds. Social reality is not constructed by collective intentionality; rather, it is made up of inscribed acts. As Derrida already prophesized, our world revolves around writing. Cell phones have attached writing to our fingers and dragged it into public spaces in a new way. This is why, with their power to obliterate or morph presence and replace voice with writing, the cell phone is such a philosophically interesting object.
Where Buddhism Meets Neuroscience: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Spiritual and Scientific Views of Our Minds (Core Teachings of Dalai Lama #6)
by The Dalai LamaThis book, designed as a conversation between the Dalai Lama and Western neuroscientists, takes readers on a journey through opposing fields of thought--showing that they may not be so opposing after all.Is the mind an ephemeral side effect of the brain’s physical processes? Are there forms of consciousness so subtle that science has not yet identified them? How does consciousness happen? Organized by the Mind and Life Institute, this discussion addresses some of the most troublesome questions that have driven a wedge between Western science and religion. Edited by Zara Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, Where Buddhism Meets Neuroscience is the culmination of meetings between the Dalai Lama and a group of eminent neuroscientists and psychiatrists. The Dalai Lama’s incisive, open-minded approach both challenges and offers inspiration to Western scientists. This book was previously published under the title Consciousness at the Crossroads.
Where Can Peace Be Found?
by J. KrishnamurtiWidely recognized as one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the twentieth century, Jiddu Krishnamurti taught that in order for there to be peace in the world, we must each first make peace with ourselves. No spiritual path, leader, or personal or political philosophy will guide us in this endeavor, he said; this transformation of the human psyche is a truth that each of us must discover within. Here, Krishnamurti teaches that the war and destruction human beings wreak on each other and the environment are caused by our misplaced attachment to a sense of self and individuality that leads to aggression, competition, greed, and conflict. When we recognize that our consciousness is not individual but common to all humans, we can work together in a spirit of cooperation and compassion. Krishnamurti shows that taking personal responsibility for our actions and reactions—in our relationships and in our lives—is the necessary first step toward a global view
Where Film Meets Philosophy: Godard, Resnais, and Experiments in Cinematic Thinking (Film and Culture Series)
by Hunter VaughanHunter Vaughan interweaves phenomenology and semiotics to analyze cinema's ability to challenge conventional modes of thought. Merging Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of perception with Gilles Deleuze's image-philosophy, Vaughan applies a rich theoretical framework to a comparative analysis of Jean-Luc Godard's films, which critique the audio-visual illusion of empirical observation (objectivity), and the cinema of Alain Resnais, in which the sound-image generates innovative portrayals of individual experience (subjectivity). Both filmmakers radically upend conventional film practices and challenge philosophical traditions to alter our understanding of the self, the world, and the relationship between the two. Films discussed in detail include Godard's Vivre sa vie (1962), Contempt (1963), and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967); and Resnais's Hiroshima, mon amour (1959), Last Year at Marienbad (1961), and The War Is Over (1966). Situating the formative works of these filmmakers within a broader philosophical context, Vaughan pioneers a phenomenological film semiotics linking two disparate methodologies to the mirrored achievements of two seemingly irreconcilable artists.
Where Has Social Justice Gone?: From Equality to Experimentation
by Emmanuelle Barozet Ivan Sainsaulieu Régis Cortesero David MéloThis book uses survey data in "hot spots" around the globe, to analyse various models of social justice, particularly the principle of equality, from a pragmatic perspective. Starting with ordinary actors, social movements, and concrete contexts, the authors question foundations of social and political democracy in our times. They focus on how social actors deal with the principles of justice and judgments of justice at work and in their social lives. The book suggests that the increase in social inequalities in recent decades contrasts with the blurring of the aims of social justice. At a time when the reconsideration of politics largely depends on its relevance to and aspirations for social justice, the authors of this book question contemporary developments by illustrating its variety, according to specific historical, institutional, social and organizational contexts.The book will be useful to students and scholars in the social sciences, especially those interested in moral questions regarding social justice, from an empirical and practical point of view.
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For (Penguin Great Ideas)
by Henry ThoreauThroughout 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.Thoreau's account of his solitary and self-sufficient home in the New England woods remains an inspiration to the environmental movement - a call to his fellow men to abandon their striving, materialistic existences of 'quiet desperation' for a simple life within their means, finding spiritual truth through awareness of the sheer beauty of their surroundings.
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For (Penguin Books - Great Ideas)
by Henry David ThoreauThoreau's account of his solitary and self-sufficient home in the New England woods remains an inspiration to the environmental movement--a call to his fellow men to abandon their striving, materialistic existences of 'quiet desperation' for a simple life within their means, finding spiritual truth through awareness of the sheer beauty of their surroundings.
Where Is Abbas Kiarostami?: Toward a Postcolonial Film-Philosophy
by Hamid DabashiWhen Abbas Kiarostami suddenly passed away in July 2016, he was already an iconic figure in world cinema—and his reputation as a master filmmaker has only grown since. In this book, celebrated scholar Hamid Dabashi offers a new way of looking at Kiarostami's artworld, one that questions the very idea of film philosophy. Dabashi's authoritative account of the philosophical resonances of Kiarostami's oeuvre offers an iconoclastic critique of the field's Eurocentrism and, in vivid prose, makes the case for a new method of appreciating the work of this essential figure. The result is a provocative perspective on the totality of Kiarostami's legacy that, with deep roots in Iranian aesthetic and Persian poetic and philosophical traditions, overcomes film's provincial preoccupation with its Western heritage and charts a new path forward for film-philosophy.
Where Is History Going?: A Christian Response to Secular Philosophies of History
by John Warwick MontgomeryIn a closely reasoned, logical presentation, Dr. Montgomery examines such issues as: Where is History Going? / What Does a Historian Know About Jesus Christ? / The Divinity of Jesus Christ / Karl Barth and Contemporary Theology of History / Tillich's Philosophy of History / Gordon Clark's Historical Philosophy / Toward a Christian Philosophy of History. Dr. Montgomery thoroughly documents his conclusions on the basis of a wide range of authorities, and concludes that the only valid approach to history is from the Christian perspective - the authority of God, His Son, and His Word.
Where Is Science Going?
by Albert Einstein Max Planck James MurphyFirst published in 1932, this book by Nobel Prize-winning German physicist Max Planck, a profound humanist as well as a theoretical scientist and professor in Germany between the two World Wars, provides the reader with a great insider’s look at how scientific revolutions unfold from the first sparks of ingenuity to their establishment as accepted paradigms of their current times.
Where Is Science Leading Us?: And What Can We Do to Steer It?
by Lars Jaeger Michel DacorognaThis book charts the evolution of the sciences and technologies that have shaped our modern age like nothing else in the last 60 years. As well as describing many exciting developments, it will also highlight the challenges and dangers of the technologies that have emerged from them. While science and technology have brought about enormous and often astonishing improvements in our quality of life, they have often also brought with them considerable risks, including the risk of human extinction. We place particular emphasis on the aspects that directly impact us as human beings: Artificial Intelligence (AI), enhancements of our brains/minds through innovative neuro-technologies, and the integration of nanotechnology into our bodies for early disease detection and elimination. What philosophical implications arise from these transformations? Authored by two theoretical physicists who are also experts in economics and capital markets - a rather rare combination - the book will explain the developments of modern science and the resulting technologies. It also examines the current state of play and emerging developments in a manner accessible to non-scientists. Based on their own experience and the analysis, the authors also propose ways in which science can progress more harmoniously in future.
Where is the Gödel-point hiding: Gentzen's Consistency Proof of 1936 and His Representation of Constructive Ordinals
by Anna HorskáThis book explains the first published consistency proof of PA. It contains the original Gentzen's proof, but it uses modern terminology and examples to illustrate the essential notions. The author comments on Gentzen's steps which are supplemented with exact calculations and parts of formal derivations. A notable aspect of the proof is the representation of ordinal numbers that was developed by Gentzen. This representation is analysed and connection to set-theoretical representation is found, namely an algorithm for translating Gentzen's notation into Cantor normal form. The topic should interest researchers and students who work on proof theory, history of proof theory or Hilbert's program and who do not mind reading mathematical texts.
Where Responsibility Takes You: Logics of Agency, Counterfactuals, and Norms (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #13228)
by Ilaria CanavottoThis book presents the Ph.D. dissertation of Ilaria Canavotto. The thesis won the E.W. Beth Dissertation Prize in 2021 for outstanding dissertations in the fields of logic, language, and information. It combines modal logics of agency, counterfactuals, and norms in order to study the reasoning underlying ascriptions of causal responsibility, the responsibility an agent is subject to because of the states of affairs they have brought about. Ascriptions of causal responsibility involve both causal reasoning and normative reasoning. In order to provide a logical analysis of these components, the dissertation brings together two mainstream logics of actions, STIT (seeing to it that) logic and Propositional Dynamic Logic, and extends them with an analysis of causality, a Lewis-Stalnaker style analysis of counterfactuals, subject matter semantics, and deontic logic. The author uses the resulting logics to investigate a number of philosophical issues underlying ascriptions of causal responsibility and technical issues emerging from the unification of the above-mentioned formal frameworks.
Where State Education Fails (Routledge Library Editions: Education)
by Lucie SimpsonDespite being published in the early part of the twentieth century many of the issues this volume discusses are still being debated in education today. The author maintains that state education is not functioning as it should – that the output is not commensurate with the outlay, that education has become too narrow in its focus and that more importance should be given to the teaching of younger children. The balance between a traditional academic education versus the skills needed for practical trades is also discussed, as is the disparity between the types of education available to rich and poor.
Where Things Touch: A Meditation on Beauty (Essais Ser. #10)
by Bahar OrangTo devote oneself to the study of beauty is to offer footnotes to the universe for all the places and all the moments that one observes beauty. I can no longer grab beauty by her wrists and demand articulation or meaning. I can only take account of where things touch.Part lyric essay, part prose poetry, Where Things Touch grapples with the manifold meanings and possibilities of beauty.Drawing on her experiences as a physician-in-training, Orang considers clinical encounters and how they relate to the concept and very idea of beauty. Such considerations lead her to questions about intimacy, queerness, home, memory, love, and other aspects of human existence. Throughout, beauty is ultimately imagined as something inextricably tied to care: the care of lovers, of patients, of art and literature, and the various non-human worlds that surround us.Eloquent and meditative in its approach, beauty, here, beyond base expectations of frivolity and superficiality, is conceived of as a thing to recover. Where Things Touch is an exploration of an essential human pleasure, a necessary freedom by which to challenge what we know of ourselves and the world we inhabit.
Where We Stand (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)
by Djamila RibeiroThe instant bestseller from Djamila Ribeiro that sparked a major Black feminist movement in Brazil In a society shaped by the legacies of enslavement, white supremacy, and sexism, who has the right to a voice? In this elegant essay, Djamila Ribeiro offers a compelling intervention into contemporary discussions of power and identity: the concept of &“speaking place.&” A crucial component of conversations on race and gender in Brazil, speaking place is the idea that everyone has a social position in the world and that what we are able to say, and how it is received by others, depends on it. Ribeiro traces the history of Black feminist thought through several centuries, examining the ways that Black women have been silenced, ignored, and punished for speaking. Building on feminist standpoint theory, and in conversation with the works of Sojourner Truth, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and others, Ribeiro invites all of us to recognize where we stand, to imagine geographies different from those we&’ve inherited, and to speak a more humane world into being.
Where Women Run
by Kira SanbonmatsuWhy don’t more women run for office? Why are certain states more likely to have female candidates and representatives? Would strengthening political parties narrow the national gender gap?Where Women Runaddresses these important questions through a rare and incisive look at how candidates are recruited. Drawing on surveys and case studies of party leaders and legislators in six states, political scientist Kira Sanbonmatsu analyzes the links between parties and representation, exposing the mechanism by which parties’ informal recruitment practices shape who runs—or doesn’t run—for political office in America. “Kira Sanbonmatsu has done a masterful job of linking the representation of women in elective office to the activities of party organizations in the states. She combines qualitative and quantitative data to show how women are navigating the campaign process to become elected leaders and the changing role of party organizations in their recruitment and election. It is a significant contribution to the study of representative democracy. ” --Barbara Burrell, Northern Illinois University “Sanbonmatsu has produced an excellent study that will invigorate research on the role of political parties and the recruitment of women candidates. Using a variety of methods and data sources, she has crafted a tightly constructed, clearly argued, and exceedingly well-written study. A commendable and convincing job. ” --Gary Moncrief, Boise State University “Sanbonmatsu offers important insights in two neglected areas of American politics: the role of political parties in recruiting candidates and the continued under-representation of women in elected office. Connecting the two subjects through careful qualitative and statistical methods, insightful interpretation of the literature and interesting findings, the book is a significant new addition to scholarship on parties, gender, and political recruitment. ” --Linda Fowler, Dartmouth College Kira Sanbonmatsu is Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University and Senior Scholar at the Eagleton Institute of Politics’ Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). She was previously associate professor at Ohio State University. She is the author ofDemocrats, Republicans, and the Politics of Women’s Place.
The Whirlpool That Produced China: Stag Hunting on the Central Plain (SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)
by Tingyang ZhaoIn The Whirlpool That Produced China, Tingyang Zhao offers a philosophical interpretation of China's historicity, explaining how the expansion of China was not due to the lures of expansionist behavior but to the offerings of the surrounding contenders as they were constantly being pulled into a whirlpool of growth and amalgamation. The peoples surrounding China on all four sides sought to win the greatest material benefits and greatest spiritual resources by shaping their ways of thinking and living around the evolving core culture of the central plains. Zhao also investigates how the tianxia vision of world order was able to dissolve the fierce currents of contention and create out of them the inclusive model of many cultures and many peoples with many forms of governance. He explains these reasons for why China became China by weaving together ontology with game theory methodology: the "stag hunt." Ultimately, Zhao addresses the question of how ancient China became such an irresistible attraction—a stag—to its vital periphery that once a population and territory was drawn into the game, or the whirlpool, it was difficult if not impossible to withdraw.