Gary Browning

In Why Iris Murdoch Matters Gary Browning draws on as yet unpublished archival material to present an unrivalled overview of Murdoch's work and thought. Browning argues for Murdoch's position amongst the key theorists of modern life, and discusses in detail her engagement with the notion of late modernity. Her multiple perspectives on art, philosophy, religion, politics and the self all relate to how she understands the nature of late modernity. Browning lucidly illustrates that through both her thought and fiction we can grasp the significance of issues that remain of paramount importance today: the possibilities of a moral life without foundations, the meaning of philosophy in a post-metaphysical age, the prospects of politics without ideological certainties and the significance of art after realism. A totally original work arguing persuasively that Iris Murdoch not only matters but is absolutely central to how we think through the contemporary age.

Why Iris Murdoch Matters

This book reviews Iris Murdoch’s thought as a whole. It surveys the breadth of her thinking, taking account of her philosophical works, her novels and her letters. It shows how she explored many aspects of experience and brought together apparently contradictory concepts such as truth and love. The volume deals with her notions of truth, love, language, morality, politics and her life. It shows how she offers a challenging provocative way of seeing things which is related to but distinct from standard forms of analytical philosophy and Continental thought. Unlike so many philosophers she does offer a philosophy to live by and unlike many novelists she has reflected deeply on the kind of novels she aimed to write. The upshot is that her novels and her philosophy can be read together productively as contributions to how we can see others and the world.

Murdoch on Truth and Love

Scythian at a Typewriter

Boris Pilniak

Rethinking R.G. Collingwood reviews Collingwood's thought via his own rethinking of Hegel. It establishes the revisionary character of Collingwood's defence of liberal civilization in theory and practice. Collingwood is seen as avoiding the pitfalls of Hegel's teleological historicism by developing an open and contestable reading of the rationality of liberal civilization, which neither reduces practice to theory nor philosophy to history. The contemporary relevance of Collingwood's standpoint is demonstrated by comparing it with those of recent defenders and critics of liberalism Rawls, Lyotard and MacIntyre.

Philosophy, Politics and the Unity of Theory and Practice

Rethinking R.G. Collingwood

Contains the roots from Charles E. Gribble's Russian root list.

Workbook to Russian Root List

Frank Webster

Abigail Halcli

Understanding Contemporary Society: Theories of the Present is a comprehensive textbook to guide students through the complexities of social theory today. Over 30 chapters, written by an international team of contributors, demonstrate clearly the practical applications of social theory in making sense of the modern world. Students are both introduced to the most significant theories and guided through the major social developments which shape our lives. Key features of the book are: clearly structured and readable prose; bullet pointed summaries and annotated further reading for each topic; makes complex issues accessible to undergraduates; focuses on relevance and practicality; chapter lay-out which is ideal for t

Theories of the Present

Understanding Contemporary Society

Constantine Sandis

2021 marks Dylan's 80th birthday and his 60th year in the music world. It invites us to look back on his career and the multitudes that it contains. Is he a song and dance man? A political hero? A protest singer? A self-portrait artist who has yet to paint his masterpiece? Is he Shakespeare in the alley? The greatest living exponent of American music? An ironsmith? Internet radio DJ? Poet (who knows it)? Is he a spiritual and religious parking meter? Judas? The voice of a generation or a false prophet, jokerman, and thief? Dylan is all these and none. The essays in this book explore the Nobel laureate’s masks, collectively reflecting upon their meaning through time, change, movement, and age. They are written by wonderful and diverse set of contributors, all here for his 80th birthday bash: celebrated Dylanologists like Michael Gray and Laura Tenschert; recording artists such as Robyn Hitchcock, Barb Jungr, Amy Rigby, and Emma Swift; and 'the professors’ who all like his looks: David Boucher, Anne Margaret Daniel, Ray Monk, Galen Strawson, and more. Read it on your toaster!

It used to go like that, and now it goes like this

Dylan at 80

David Boucher

David Boucher and Gary Browning provide a multi-faceted analysis of the political art of Bob Dylan. The contributions cover Dylan's career as a whole, dealing with such themes as alienation, protest, non-conformity and the American Dream. Dylan's work is examined from a variety of perspectives including the aesthetic theory of Kant, Adorno, Lyotard and Collingwood. The assembled authors are notable specialists in political theory, literary criticism and popular culture. They do not tackle Dylan from a single standpoint but collectively question how Dylan's work relates to the theory and practice of politics.

The Political Art of Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is one of the most significant figures in popular culture. In this book, the authors provide a multi-faceted analysis of his political art. They address Dylan’s career as a whole, dealing with such themes as alienation, protest, non-conformity, the American Dream, modernity and postmodernism and pivotal moments of Dylan’s career such as the ‘Judas’ accusation at the 1966 Manchester Free Trade Hall concert and Dylan’s comments on the need to aid American farmers at Live Aid, 1985. Dylan’s songs are analysed for their political meaning and for the songs in contemporary American political and popular culture. As notable specialists in the fields of political theory, literary criticism and popular culture the authors examine Dylan’s work from a variety of perspectives—aesthetic theory, Kant, Adorno, Lyotard, Lorca and Collingwood. Collectively, they question how Dylan’s work relates to the theory and practice of politics. In this second revised and expanded edition, the chapters have been revised and rewritten, with a new introduction exploring the enigma of Bob Dylan throughout the whole of his career and with a completely new Bob Dylan Timeline integrating Dylan’s life, songs and actions into the historical events that shaped his views. Two new chapters have been added, one focusing on the late Dylan, Masked and Anonymous and Love and Theft and another on Dylan at Live Aid and his stance on Farm Aid. This book is a must for anyone seriously interested in the legendary Bob Dylan.

Revised and Expanded Second Edition

How are we to understand past political thinkers? Is it a matter simply of reading their texts again and again? Do we have to relate past texts of political thought to the contexts in which ideas were composed and in which the aims of past thinkers were formulated? Or should past political theories be deconstructed so as to uncover not what their authors maintain, but what the texts reveal? In this book, theories of interpreting past political thinkers are examined and the interpretive methods of a range of theories are reviewed, including those of Hegel, Marx, Oakeshott, Collingwood, the Cambridge School, Foucault, Derrida and Gadamer. The application of these theories of interpretation to notable modern political theorists, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Bentham, Mill, Nietzsche and Beauvoir is then used as a way of understanding modern political thought and of assessing interpretive theories of past political thought. The result is a book which sees the history of modern political thought as more than a procession of political theories but rather as a reflection on the meaning of past political thought and its interpretation. It provides a way of reading the history of modern political thought, in which the question of interpretation matters both for understanding how we interpret the past but also for considering what it means to undertake political thinking.

The Question of Interpretation

A History of Modern Political Thought

Construction Report

Evaluation of RESURF CR

2021 marks Dylan's 80th birthday and his 60th year in the music world. It invites us to look back on his career and the multitudes that it contains. The essays in this book explore the Nobel laureate's masks, collectively reflecting upon their meaning through time, change, movement, and age.

Gary Browning

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