The purpose of this paper is to show through the concrete example of epileptic seizure anticipation how neuro-dynamic analysis and “pheno-dynamic” analysis may guide and determine each other. We will show that this dynamic approach to epileptic seizure makes it possible to consolidate the foundations of a cognitive non pharmacological therapy of epilepsy. We will also show through this example how the neuro-phenomenological co-determination could shed new light on the difficult problem of the “gap” which separates subjective experience from neurophysiological (...) activity. (shrink)

Previous studies have found Forsyth’s Ethical Position Questionnaire (EPQ) to vary between countries, but none has made a systematic evaluation of its psychometric properties across consumers from many countries. Using confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group LISREL analysis, this paper explores the factor structure of the EPQ and the measurement equivalence in five societies: Austria, Britain, Brunei, Hong Kong and USA. The results suggest that the modified scale, measuring idealism and relativism, was applicable in all five societies. Equivalence was found across (...) Britain, Brunei and USA, but the original scale cannot be used validly. (shrink)

Eleven essays, on a variety of topics, most of them first given as lectures or published in periodicals and Festschriften. This is "late" Heidegger --alternately brilliant and mystifying, provocative and exasperating, at least to the uninitiated. Perhaps the best pieces in the book are the three which discuss passages in pre-Socratic philosophers--here, familiar texts are given fresh, if unorthodox, interpretations, and are made to suggest philosophical conclusions of remarkable subtlety and scope. --V. C. C.

A survey of the practices and problems of American teachers of philosophy, based upon nearly 350 answers to a comprehensive questionnaire covering courses, curriculum problems, class preparation, grading, professional ethics, and advancement. The report is liberally sprinkled with direct quotations.--V. C. C.

A collection of six essays, including three previously unpublished papers entitled, "Methods of Philosophy," "The Nature of Value," and "The Metaphysical Concept of Space." The target in each case is the whole of technical philosophy; the thesis to be defended is the claim that its separate divisions represent no more than "linguistically contrived intellectual illusions." Along the way, it is argued that the traditional retreat from speculative metaphysics to philosophical analysis is to no avail, for it is claimed that since (...) all philosophy is of a piece, all its parts and methods stand or fall together. We are offered, therefore, the following dual thesis which is both surprising and unique: Philosophy is an ordered whole in structure and method, but the products of philosophical reflection embody nothing more than snares, delusions, and unproductive disputation.—C. V. (shrink)

Ibsen's epic drama rendered, not altogether successfully, into English verse. The idiom is sometimes unnatural and the verse tends to be rigid and sing-song.--V. C. C.

An examination of the role of the humanities in American college education, carried out with vigor and sound common sense. Mr. Greene's conclusions are familiar but not commonplace, and his defense of them is eloquent. --V. C. C.

Winner of the 2021 Toshihide Numata Book Award in Buddhism The assertion that there is nothing in the constitution of any person that deserves to be considered the self (ātman)—a permanent, unchanging kernel of personal identity in this life and those to come—has been a cornerstone of Buddhist teaching from its inception. Whereas other Indian religious systems celebrated the search for and potential discovery of one’s “true self,” Buddhism taught about the futility of searching for anything in our experience that (...) is not transient and ephemeral. But a small yet influential set of Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, composed in India in the early centuries CE, taught that all sentient beings possess at all times, and across their successive lives, the enduring and superlatively precious nature of a Buddha. This was taught with reference to the enigmatic expression tathāgatagarbha—the “womb” or “chamber” for a Buddha—which some texts refer to as a person’s true self. The Buddhist Self is a methodical examination of Indian teaching about the tathāgatagarbha (otherwise the presence of one’s “Buddha-nature”) and the extent to which different Buddhist texts and authors articulated this in terms of the self. C. V. Jones attends to each of the Indian Buddhist works responsible for explaining what is meant by the expression tathāgatagarbha, and how far this should be understood or promoted using the language of selfhood. With close attention to these sources, Jones argues that the trajectory of Buddha-nature thought in India is also the history and legacy of a Buddhist account of what deserves to be called the self: an innovative attempt to equip Mahāyāna Buddhism with an affirmative response to wider Indian interest in the discovery of something precious or even divine in one’s own constitution. This argument is supplemented by critical consideration of other themes that run through this distinctive body of Mahāyānist literature: the relationship between Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachings about the self, the overlap between the tathāgatagarbha and the nature of the mind, and the originally radical position that the only means of becoming liberated from rebirth is to achieve the same exalted status as the Buddha. (shrink)

An extended diatribe, largely unintelligible, against idealism, "equalism," Jews, Negroes, Christians, Communists, the U.N., etc. --V. C. C.

A photographic reprint of Santayana's classic essay in epistemology, in inexpensive yet attractive form.--V. C. C.

An attempt to discover the most fundamental "logical" categories or principles of unity which lie at the basis and determine the structure of all reality. The three central principles or categories are "Wissen," "Wollen," and "Ichheit," from which it is clear that reality has a personal basis and that its fundamental structure is that of a self or person. The presentation is highly compressed and often obscure, but there is much in it that is suggestive.--V. C. C.

The author seeks, through an examination of the characters of Dostoevsky, to interpret the nature of man and his fate. A "Christian existentialist," he sees man's life as essentially tragic, torn between the "dialectical opposites," God and nature. Man's only hope for harmony and synthesis lies in the total "surrender of his autonomy to the demands of God." Sometimes obscure in meaning, the book contains nevertheless a number of interesting suggestions.--V. C. C.

A new edition, with additions and revisions, of a carefully argued, sometimes persuasive defense of reason, in the traditional, transcendent sense, primarily against the reductionist program of evolutionary naturalism. The book first appeared in 1930.--V. C. C.

A collection of essays, German and English, including some not previously published. There are papers on ancient, medieval and modern philosophy as well as a number dealing with problems of contemporary interest, especially in the philosophy of religion. Frank's general position is strongly reminiscent of that of the Existenz philosophers who were his friends, and whom he influenced. A long "Appreciation" by the editor describes Frank's achievement and relates it to the milieu, intellectual and personal, out of which it grew.--V. (...) C. C. (shrink)

The current trend of some philosophers away from narrow sectarian interests and inconsequential intramural skirmishes is nowhere better evidenced than in this book of collected essays. The breadth of Professor Findlay's interest in philosophy is indicated by the inclusion of three important articles in ethics, "Morality by Convention," "The Justification of Attitudes," and "The Methodology of Normative Ethics," two essays in the philosophy of logic, and one paper in philosophical theology, the much discussed "disproof" of God's existence.--C. V.

Hanson has set forth in a fascinating way the story of the discovery of the positron. He takes up in some detail the question concerning the symmetry of explaining and predicting, argues that certain features of microphysical theory cannot be accommodated to mechanical-type models, and defends his interpretation of the "Copenhagen" view of quantum theory. He shows how an adequate understanding of these matters makes possible a grasp of the significance of the concept of the positron, and in so doing, (...) illustrates the complex relationships in which physical theory stands to observation and experiment. Consequently, Hanson's book is another of the recent works in which an author refuses to construe the scientific enterprise as a sophisticated search for facts, where so-called theoretical entities serve as mere devices to make calculation easier. The book includes four appendices of a rather technical nature and 41 pages of notes on the text.--C. V. (shrink)

A reprint, in two paper-bound volumes, of a standard student text, first published in 1934. The new edition is both cheaper and easier to handle than the original, and thus is even better suited to student use.--V. C. C.

A compact edition of Mr. Beck's excellent translation of the second Critique, slightly revised, together with a helpful short introduction and a bibliography.--V. C. C.

The academic literature in research ethics has been marked in the past decade by a much broader focus on the need for the protection of developing communities subjected to international clinical trials. Because of the proximity of the revision of the Declaration of Helsinki, completed in October 2008, most papers have addressed the issue of a double standard of care following the use of placebo. However, other no less important issues, such as interactions between the lifestyles structures of low-income communities (...) and the efficiency of risk-minimising procedures also deserve attention. The purpose of this paper is to discuss forms of uncertainty involved in clinical trials in poor and low-income countries that are not addressed by conventional methods of risk assessment. Furthermore, the increase in size of risks that are identified by conventional assessment methods will be addressed. Besides, the difficulty in properly applying risk-minimising procedures will be discussed. Finally, this paper proposes the involvement of research ethics committees in the risk evaluation process and the establishment of national ethics evaluation systems. (shrink)

A reprint edition of Russell's early work, based on his Cambridge dissertation, on the philosophical problems of geometry, first published in 1897. A helpful foreword by Morris Kline is new to this edition.--V. C. C.

Some bold speculations about the sources of cancer, relying heavily upon such notions as "Primordial energy," "destiny," and "autonomous growth."--V. C. C.

Reprints a useful, non-technical statement of Reichenbach's mature thought, combining an unconvincing survey of speculative philosophy and its "failure," with a concise account of the results of a philosophy carried out "scientifically." The original appeared in 1951.--V. C. C.

A reprint, intended for student use. Despite the repudiation by some of the contributors of their articles after editing, the work as a whole has some value, and some of the pieces are distinguished.--V. C. C.

The life and thought of the sixteenth-century Flemish humanist Justus Lipsius provide the author of this valuable monograph with a convenient point of departure for studying the development of Stoicism in the later Renaissance. Lipsius was the first scholar thoroughly to examine the original Greek as well as the later Roman sources of the Stoic ethical doctrines which owing to the influence of the Latin humanists, were so widespread in Renaissance thought. As a result of his researches, Lipsius recognized the (...) importance of, and revived interest in, the distinctive physical and metaphysical doctrines underlying Stoic ethical theory. It is upon Lipsius' formulation of these doctrines, and his struggle to reconcile them with their Christian counterparts, that Mr. Saunders concentrates his attention. The result is a lively and informative contribution to the understanding of Renaissance thought.--V. C. C. (shrink)

An English version of a work which has attracted wide attention since its publication in France some 15 years ago. It represents an effort to face and to resolve a problem implicit in much so-called "existential" thinking and writing, the problem of suicide: does not the existential recognition of the absurdity of life compel one to leave it? M. Camus' argument is often hard to follow, but his answer is plain: suicide is not justified, even though absurdity is inevitable; the (...) proper response to absurdity, indeed, is just the affirmation of life. We must, like Sisyphus, continue to struggle, even though the struggle nought availeth; "One must," concludes M. Camus, "imagine Sisyphus happy." The five short pieces which accompany the title essay in this volume include some examples of what M. Camus probably does best--intense evocations of the North African landscape and mood.--V. C. C. (shrink)

Alberti's Della pittura was the first, and in many ways the most important, of the Renaissance treatises on painting, elaborating as it does the theoretical backgrounds of the influential new art of 15th-century Florence. This edition presents the work with distinction. The translation--the first in English since 1755--is based upon the known manuscript sources, and has been provided with a helpful introduction and notes. Diagrams serve to clarify Alberti's accounts of perspective. --V. C. C.

A hard-cover reprint of the first collection of Peirce's works, so tragically neglected during their author's lifetime. Cohen's selections comprise the Popular Science Monthly papers of 1877-78 and five of the Monist papers of 1891-93. The volume also includes an essay by Dewey on Peirce's pragmatism, still well worth reading.--V. C. C.

The original French edition of this book has won a number of literary prizes, and been extravagantly praised. Its theme is man's changing conceptions of, and attitudes towards, time and the experience of time in its various aspects, as revealed in the writings of French poets, essayists, dramatists, and novelists from Montaigne to Proust. M. Poulet's analyses are imaginative and subtle, and his transitions from point to point are often breathtaking in their brilliance; the book's scope and sweep, too, are (...) impressive, as an author or age is summarized in a few terse yet highly packed phrases. Prosaically-minded philosophers interested in conceptual clarity may find such phrases difficult to unpack, but the book's literary virtues outweigh its purely philosophical deficiencies; as a piece of literary literary criticism its impact is considerable. --V. C. C. (shrink)

A hard-cover reprint of Morris' comprehensive and useful work on the theory of signs, first published in 1946.--V. C. C.

A Sartre sampler, showing the range of its author's interests as well as the subtlety and inventiveness of his thinking. Most of the "literary" essays--seven short pieces on individual authors and books--have a decidedly philosophical turn despite their disjointedness; a discussion of The Sound and the Fury, e.g., becomes an examination of Faulkner's "metaphysics of time." The three philosophical pieces, including the anti-Marxist "Materialism and Revolution," are longer and more systematic. There are also three essays on America, arising out of (...) Sartre's 1945 visit, which are perceptive, fresh, and sometimes profound.--V. C. C. (shrink)

An extended polemic, couched in familiar and fairly naive terms, against "faith, myth and superstition." Chance, the author argues, and the physical processes of which it is the dominant feature, form "the guiding principle for our lives."--V. C. C.

Though intended as an introductory textbook of Thomistic metaphysics, this work offers a fairly detailed treatment of a number of important problems, presented in systematic and well-ordered fashion. Father Klubertanz rejects the a priori procedure of some recent Thomists, and endeavors to reconstruct the Thomistic synthesis by beginning with immediate sense experience. This and other "departures from systematized Thomism" give the book a certain originality, and raise it somewhat above the usual textbook level.--V. C. C.

This compact edition reprints James's most important writings on pragmatism, as first selected by R. B. Perry in the edition of 1943.--V. C. C.

A hard-cover reprint of Morris' comprehensive and useful work on the theory of signs, first published in 1946.--V. C. C.

A brief survey of topics having to do in some way with "time," in a number of that term's myriad senses. There are chapters on "lived" time, the times of physics and history, and the relation of time and eternity. M. Pucelle's writing is lively, and his discussions are frequently illuminating, despite their extreme brevity and, at times, over-generality.--V. C. C.

An effective demonstration that the techniques of Oxford analysis can be put to constructive as well as to critical philosophic use. Mr. Geach considers a number of connected topics--among them the nature and formation of concepts, judgment, and sensation--advancing positive theses while rejecting views he holds to be false. He is particularly opposed to the "abstractionist" doctrine of concept formation. Concepts, he holds, are not capacities for recognizing recurrent features in experience, but "mental abilities, exercised in acts of judgment, and (...) expressed in the intelligent use of words," though not, he adds, "exclusively in such use." Despite the connections among the topics dealt with, the book remains somewhat episodic, and many of its points are sketched or suggested only, rather than fully developed. But Mr. Geach's arguments are elegant, and what is worked out is compelling. One curious feature of the book is its frequent citation of St. Thomas Aquinas--Mr. Geach seems as anxious to be on the side of the Angelic Doctor as he is to be in tune with Wittgenstein.--V. C. C. (shrink)

Two-thirds of this book are devoted to an examination of the variants in "the" Christian attitude towards sex, from the "essentially positive" Biblical view, through its replacement by the negative views of the early Church Fathers, influenced by Hellenistic dualisms, to the positions of certain contemporary theologians, both Catholic and Protestant. The book's concluding section makes a strong case against the rigidity and artificiality of much modern theological thinking about sex, and urges, on the basis of the discoveries of psychoanalysts (...) as well as of good sense, a return to a naturalism more in keeping with the Biblical spirit. Mr. Cole's writing is graceful and sensitive, his points generally sound and well taken, and his arguments compelling. --V. C. C. (shrink)

A re-issue of Whitehead's last book, published in 1938, in which is outlined, brilliantly and with tantalizing laconism, its author's mature philosophy.--V. C. C.

Five essays, all of them previously published in English but here brought together for the first time, consisting of delightfully overstated--and therefore highly stimulating--observations on art and letters.--V. C. C.