New Books Network

New Books in Philosophy
Robert Talisse, “Overdoing Democracy: Why We Must Put Politics in Its Place” (Oxford UP, 2019)
Robert Talisse
Overdoing Democracy
Why We Must Put Politics in Its Place
Oxford University Press, 2019

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in Big IdeasNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in PhilosophyNew Books in Political ScienceNew Books in PoliticsNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books Network November 11, 2019 Carrie Figdor

In the United States in particular, there is almost no social space today, whether that’s Thanksgiving dinner or going shopping, that has not become saturated with political meaning. In Overdoing Democracy: Why We Must Put Politics in Its Place (Oxford University Press, 2019), Robert Talisse argues that contrary to what... Read More
Elijah Millgram, “John Stuart Mill and the Meaning of Life” (Oxford UP, 2019)
Elijah Millgram
John Stuart Mill and the Meaning of Life

Oxford University Press, 2019

New Books in BiographyNew Books in British StudiesNew Books in Intellectual HistoryNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in PhilosophyNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books Network November 1, 2019 Robert Talisse

According to an intuitive view, lives are meaningful when they manifest a directedness or instantiate a project such that the disparate events and endeavors “add up to” a life.  John Stuart Mill’s life certainly was devoted to a project in that sense.  Yet Mill’s life was in many respects unsatisfying... Read More
Dilek Huseyinzadegan, “Kant’s Nonideal Theory of Politics” (Northwestern UP, 2019)
Dilek Huseyinzadegan
Kant’s Nonideal Theory of Politics

Northwestern University Press, 2019

New Books in Intellectual HistoryNew Books in PhilosophyNew Books in PoliticsNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books Network October 21, 2019 Sarah K. Tyson

In Kant’s Nonideal Theory of Politics (Northwestern University Press, 2019), Dilek Huseyinzadegan analyzes Kant’s political writings by attending to the role of history, anthropology, and geography in his thought. She shows that Kant employs teleology as a means to orient us within the chaotic contingency of experience in order to... Read More
Justin Garson, “What Biological Functions are and Why They Matter” (Cambridge UP, 2019)
Justin Garson
What Biological Functions are and Why They Matter

Cambridge University Press, 2019

New Books in PhilosophyNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ScienceNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books Network October 10, 2019 Carrie Figdor

Why do zebras have stripes? One way to answer that question is ask what function stripes play in the lives of zebras – for example, to deter disease-carrying flies from biting them. This notion of a function plays a central role in biology: biologists frequently refer to the functions of... Read More
Axel Seemann, “The Shared World: Perceptual Knowledge, Demonstrative Communication, and Social Space” (MIT Press, 2019)
Axel Seemann
The Shared World
Perceptual Knowledge, Demonstrative Communication, and Social Space
MIT Press, 2019

New Books in PhilosophyNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books Network October 1, 2019 Robert Talisse

Much of what we are able to accomplish in our day-to-day lives depends on the ability to act and think in concert with others.  Often this involves not only the capacity to perceive together the surrounding world—we must also know that we perceive together.  In other words, there must be... Read More
Malcolm Keating, “Language, Meaning, and Use in Indian Philosophy” (Bloomsbury, 2019)
Malcolm Keating
Language, Meaning, and Use in Indian Philosophy
An Introduction to Mukula's “Fundamentals of the Communicative Function”
Bloomsbury Academic, 2019

New Books in CommunicationsNew Books in LanguageNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in PhilosophyNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in South Asian StudiesNew Books Network September 20, 2019 Alexus McLeod

Philosophy of Language was a central concern in classical Indian Philosophy.  Philosophers in the tradition discussed testimony, pragmatics, and the religious implications of language, among other topics.  In his new book, Language, Meaning, and Use in Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Mukula’s ‘Fundamentals of the Communicative Function’ (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019),... Read More
Chiara Russo Krauss, “Wundt, Avenarius and Scientific Psychology: A Debate at the Turn of the Twentieth Century” (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019)
Chiara Russo Krauss
Wundt, Avenarius and Scientific Psychology
Debate at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

New Books in German StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Intellectual HistoryNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in PhilosophyNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in PsychologyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books Network September 10, 2019 Carrie Figdor

At the start of the 19th century, the field we now call psychology was still the branch of philosophy that studied the soul. How did psychology come to define itself as a separate area of inquiry, and how did it come to be a science? In Wundt, Avenarius and Scientific... Read More
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