Philosophy 2010
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Philosophy 2010 press.princeton.edu Contents 3 Princeton Foundations of Contemporary Philosophy 4 General Interest 9 History of Philosophy & Ancient Philosophy 14 Princeton Monographs in Philosophy 16 Mind, Language, Science & Logic 18 Aesthetics 19 Moral & Political Philosophy 27 Isaiah Berlin 28 Søren Kierkegaard 30 Philosophy Now 31 Of Related Interest Forthcoming Not for Profit Why Democracy Needs the Humanities Martha C. Nussbaum In this short and powerful book, celebrated philosopher Martha Nussbaum makes a passionate case for the importance of the liberal arts at all levels of education. Historically, the humanities have been central to education because they have rightly been seen as essential for creating competent democratic citizens. But recently, Nussbaum argues, thinking about the aims of education has gone disturbingly awry both in the United “This book could not be more States and abroad. Anxiously focused on national economic growth, timely nor more on target. we increasingly treat education as though its primary goal were to Martha Nussbaum argues teach students to be economically productive rather than to think that education has become critically and become knowledgeable and empathetic citizens. increasingly utilitarian, mar- ket-driven, career-oriented, Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Pro- and impoverished in its atten- fessor of Law and Ethics in the Philosophy Department, Law School, tion to the arts and humani- and Divinity School at the University of Chicago. ties. The arts and humanities The Public Square don’t necessarily make people May 2010. 176 pages. humane and creative, but Cl: 978-0-691-14064-3 $22.95 | £15.95 they are, Nussbaum argues, required for Socratic examina- Also by Martha C. Nussbaum tion and self-examination. If Winner of the 2004 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Law, we agree with Socrates that Association of American Publishers the unexamined life is not Hiding from Humanity worth living, then we need Disgust, Shame, and the Law Nussbaum’s argument.” 2006. 432 pages. —Peter Brooks, Princeton Pa: 978-0-691-12625-8 $27.95 | £19.95 University Cover image © Shutterstock Two New Books by Mark Johnston Saving God Religion after Idolatry Mark Johnston In this book, Mark Johnston argues that God needs to be saved not only from the distortions of the “undergraduate atheists” (Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris) but, more importantly, from the idolatrous tendencies of religion itself. Each monotheistic religion has its characteristic ways of domesticating True Divinity, of taming God’s demands so that they do not radically threaten our self-love and false righteousness. Turning the monotheistic critique of idolatry on the monotheisms themselves, Johnston shows that much in these tradi- tions must be condemned as false and spiritually debilitating. He then “[O]utstanding. [Saving presents a conception of God that both resists idolatry and respects the God] look[s] beyond the natural sciences. headlines to ponder the Mark Johnston is the Walter Cerf Professor of Philosophy at Princeton question of what it actually University. means to believe in God.” —Alan Wolfe, National 2009. 216 pages. 1 halftone. Cl: 978-0-691-14394-1 $24.95 | £16.95 Interest Surviving Death Mark Johnston In this extraordinary book, Mark Johnston sets out a new understand- ing of personal identity and the self, thereby providing a purely natural- istic account of surviving death. Death threatens our sense of the importance of goodness. The threat can be met if there is, as Socrates said, “something in death that is better for the good than for the bad.” Yet, as Johnston shows, all exist- ing theological conceptions of the afterlife are either incoherent or at odds with the workings of nature. These supernaturalist pictures of the rewards for goodness also obscure a striking consilience between the philosophical study of the self and an account of goodness common “This outstanding book to Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism: the good person presents original and is one who has undergone a kind of death of the self and who lives indeed brave views. [It] a life transformed by entering imaginatively into the lives of others, is also superbly written— anticipating their needs and true interests. As a caretaker of humanity pellucid, stylish, engaging, who finds his or her own death comparatively unimportant, the good and at points richly humor- person can see through death. ous. A tour de force.” Carl G. Hempel Lecture Series —Michael Forster, 2010. 408 pages. 3 color illus. 2 line illus. University of Chicago Cl: 978-0-691-13012-5 $35.00 | £24.95 Many of the books in this catalog are now being made available as ebook editions that can be pur- chased from online booksellers. For more information, please visit our Web site at press.princeton.edu. press.princeton.edu 1 New Forthcoming Why Not Socialism? Introduction by Stephen Macedo G. A. Cohen Meaning in Life and Why “[Why Not Socialism?] It Matters brilliantly captures the Susan Wolf essence of the socialist With commentary by John Koethe, ethical complaint Robert M. Adams, Nomy Arpaly & against market society.” Jonathan Haidt —Hillel Steiner, Univer- sity of Manchester “Susan Wolf’s picture of what makes life Is socialism desirable? Is meaningful is at once it even possible? In this powerful and down to concise book, one of earth, deeply argued the world’s leading po- but unpretentious. Part litical philosophers presents with clarity and wit of Wolf’s persuasive a compelling moral case for socialism and argues force comes from her that the obstacles in its way are exaggerated. stylish prose and cool treatment of profound G. A. Cohen (1941–2009) was emeritus fellow of concerns. This book is All Souls College, University of Oxford. absorbing and a pleasure to read.” 2009. 92 pages. —Kieran Setiya, University of Pittsburgh Cl: 978-0-691-14361-3 $14.95 | £10.95 Susan Wolf is the Edna J. Koury Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, New Chapel Hill. Politics and the Imagination University Center for Human Values Raymond Geuss April 2010. 160 pages. Cl: 978-0-691-14524-2 $24.95 | £16.95 “These essays are ele- gant and erudite, as well as unfailingly insightful Also by Raymond Geuss and interesting. A very Philosophy and Real Politics fine collection.” —Daniel Brudney, “A discipline-altering University of Chicago book.” —Glen Newey, London In this collection of Review of Books recent essays, including his most overtly political “[A]n impressive and writing yet, Raymond provocative essay Geuss explores the role of imagination in politics, on contemporary particularly how imaginative constructs interact Anglo-American political with political reality. philosophy theory.” —Christoph Konrath, Raymond Geuss teaches philosophy at the Law and Politics Book University of Cambridge. Review 2010. 216 pages. 2008. 126 pages. Pa: 978-0-691-14228-9 $24.95 | £16.95 Cl: 978-0-691-13788-9 $19.95 | £13.95 Cl: 978-0-691-14227-2 $70.00 | £48.95 2 Princeton Foundations of Contemporary Philosophy Scott Soames, series editor This is a new series of state-of-the-art books, written by leading experts, about major areas of active research in contemporary philosophy. Providing high-level introductions for students and fresh perspec- tives for researchers, these books present new, unified visions of their subjects, from their recent history and leading themes to their most exciting new developments and most important unanswered questions. New Philosophical Logic John P. Burgess Philosophical Logic is a clear and concise critical survey of nonclassical logics of philosophical interest written by one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject. After giving an overview of classical logic, John Burgess introduces five central branches of nonclassical logic (temporal, modal, conditional, relevantistic, and intuitionistic), focusing on the sometimes problematic relationship between formal apparatus and intuitive motivation. Requiring minimal background and arranged to make the more technical material optional, the book offers a choice between an overview and in-depth study, and it balances the philo- sophical and technical aspects of the subject. The book emphasizes the relationship between models and the “This book is terrific. It covers traditional goal of logic, the evaluation of arguments, and critically the basics of philosophical examines apparatus and assumptions that often are taken for granted. logic in a lively, interesting, Philosophical Logic provides an unusually thorough treatment of con- and informative way.” ditional logic, unifying probabilistic and model-theoretic approaches. —Stewart Shapiro, editor It underscores the variety of approaches that have been taken to rel- of The Oxford Handbook evantistic and related logics, and it stresses the problem of connecting of Philosophy of Math- formal systems to the motivating ideas behind intuitionistic mathemat- ematics and Logic ics. Each chapter ends with a brief guide to further reading. “Nicely done and very use- Philosophical Logic addresses students new to logic, philosophers ful for someone who wants working in other areas, and specialists in logic, providing both a sophis- a compact and accessible ticated introduction and a new synthesis. introduction to nonclassi- cal logic.” John P. Burgess is professor of philosophy at Princeton University. —Kit Fine, New York University 2009. 168 pages. Cl: 978-0-691-13789-6 $19.95 | £13.95 Next in the series