Jacobi held a position of unparalleled importance in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century intellectual history. This includes his role in bringing about the close of the Enlightenment, his central part in shaping the reception of Kant's philosophy and German idealism, and his influence on the development of Romanticism and existentialism.

Platonism has played a central role in Christianity and is essential to a deep understanding of the Christian theological tradition. At times, Platonism has constituted an essential philosophical and theological resource, furnishing Christianity with an intellectual framework that has played a key role in its early development, and in subsequent periods of renewal. Alternatively, it has been considered a compromising influence, conflicting with the faith's revelatory foundations and distorting its inherent message. In both cases the fundamental importance of Platonism, as (...) a force which Christianity defined itself by and against, is clear. Written by an international team of scholars, this landmark volume examines the history of Christian Platonism from antiquity to the present day, covers key concepts, and engages issues such as the environment, natural science and materialism. (shrink)

How does talk work, and can we engage the public in a dialogue about the scientific study of talk? This article presents a history, critical evaluation and empirical illustration of the public science of talk. We chart the public ethos of conversation analysis that treats talk as an inherently public phenomenon and its transcribed recordings as public data. We examine the inherent contradictions that conversation analysis is simultaneously obscure yet highly cited; it studies an object that people understand intuitively, yet (...) routinely produces counter-intuitive findings about talk. We describe a novel methodology for engaging the public in a science exhibition event and show how our ‘conversational rollercoaster’ used live recording, transcription and public-led analysis to address the challenge of demonstrating how talk can become an informative object of scientific research. We conclude by encouraging researchers not only to engage in a public dialogue but also to find ways to actively engage people in taking a scientific approach to talk as a pervasive, structural feature of their everyday lives. (shrink)

An important contribution both to the philosophical literature concerned with the problem of free choice and to the growing field of investigation dealing with self-referential argumentation. The authors have attempted to weave these two areas of interest together, in the hope of advancing philosophical knowledge in both. The book’s approach to the problem of free choice by means of self-referential argumentation will constitute a milestone for future efforts which have this double, or either special, focus.

J B O O’Malley; Style and Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 1, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 19–28, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.1967.t.

Now approaching eighty, Mortimer Adler has just produced the best of his many philosophical writings. This is a precisely reasoned examination of previous arguments and a presentation of a new argument intended to show that God really exists. Without footnotes or many citations, the book gives clear evidence of its roots in Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, and recent science and philosophy. Adler thinks and writes as a "pagan": one who does not worship the God of Christians, Jews, or Moslems. Not denying (...) the possibility of a religious philosophy, Adler chooses to appeal to the intelligent nonbeliever with a purely philosophical approach. The result is also of great interest to the believer. He does not aim at absolute certitude ; instead he regards his new way of reasoning as capable of producing a conviction that is beyond reasonable doubt. I think he achieves this goal but not every casual reader will understand and agree with Adler’s argument. (shrink)

A printing of the lecture notes of a course on moral philosophy that Perelman taught for many years at the University of Brussels, which has not changed the simple oral style. As a sketch of the history of ethics the book is briefer than, but comparable to, René Le Senne’s Traité de morale générale and Jacques Maritain’s Moral Philosophy. A book for beginners, Perelman’s work offers a clear analysis of more than thirty ethical positions from the ancient, medieval, and modern (...) periods. (shrink)