Professor Department of Philosophy Alan Thomas's Books

Natural Moralities : A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism

A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism

By: Department of Philosophy Duke University David B. Wong Professor and Chair

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Natural Moralities : A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism

A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism

By: Department of Philosophy Duke University David B. Wong Professor and Chair

David B. Wong proposes that there can be a plurality of true moralities, moralities that exist across different traditions and cultures, all of which address facets of the same problem: how we are to live well together. Wong examines a wide array of positions and texts within the Western canon as well as in Chinese philosophy, and draws on philosophy, psychology, evolutionary theory, history, and literature, to make a case for the importance of pluralism in moral life, and to establish the virtues of acceptance and accommodation. Wong's point is that there is no single value or principle or ordering of values and principles that offers a uniquely true path for human living, but variations according to different contexts that carry within them a common core of human values. We should thus be modest about our own morality, learn from other approaches, and accommodate different practices in our pluralistic society.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

313

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

019804156X

ISBN 13

9780198041566

Suffering and Moral Responsibility

By: Jamie Mayerfeld Associate Professor of Political Science University of Washington

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Suffering and Moral Responsibility

By: Jamie Mayerfeld Associate Professor of Political Science University of Washington

In this original study, Jamie Mayerfeld undertakes a careful inquiry into the meaning and moral significance of suffering. Understanding suffering in hedonistic terms as an affliction of feeling, he addresses difficulties associated with its identification and measurement. He then turns to an examination of the duty to relieve suffering: its content, its weight relative to other moral considerations, and the role it should play in our lives. Among the claims defended in the book are that suffering needs to be distinguished from both physical pain and the frustration of desire, that interpersonal comparisons of the intensity of happiness and suffering are possible, that several psychological processes hinder our awareness of other people's suffering, and that the prevention of suffering should often be pursued indirectly. Mayerfeld concludes his discussion by arguing that the reduction of suffering is morally more important than the promotion of happiness, and that most of us greatly underestimate the force of the duty to prevent suffering. As the first systematic book-length inquiry into the moral significance of suffering, Suffering and Moral Responsibility makes an important contribution to moral philosophy and political theory, and will interest specialists in each of these areas.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

254

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195348214

ISBN 13

9780195348217

Teaching Honesty in a Populist Era

Emphasizing Truth in the Education of Citizens

By: Sarah M. Stitzlein,Professor of Education and Affiliate Professor of Philosophy Sarah M Stitzlein

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Teaching Honesty in a Populist Era

Emphasizing Truth in the Education of Citizens

By: Sarah M. Stitzlein,Professor of Education and Affiliate Professor of Philosophy Sarah M Stitzlein

Teaching Honesty in a Populist Era asserts that honesty is an important component in a healthy democracy and yet very few schools overtly teach it. This book describes what honesty is, how it is connected to truth, why both are important to and at risk in democracies today, and how we should teach them in schools.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

171

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0197775888

ISBN 13

9780197775882

Mill (Arguments of the Philosophers)

By: Professor John M Skorupski

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Mill (Arguments of the Philosophers)

By: Professor John M Skorupski

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

350

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1136866892

ISBN 13

9781136866890

Renaissance Truths

Humanism, Scholasticism and the Search for the Perfect Language

By: Professor Alan R Perreiah

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Renaissance Truths

Humanism, Scholasticism and the Search for the Perfect Language

By: Professor Alan R Perreiah

Though they have long been portrayed as arch rivals, Alan Perreiah here argues that humanists and scholastics were in fact working in complementary ways toward some of the same goals. After locating the two traditions within the early modern search for the perfect language, this study re-defines the lines of disagreement between them. For humanists the perfect language was a revived Classical Latin. For scholastics it was a practical logic adapted to the needs of education. Succeeding chapters examine the concepts of linguistic meaning and truth in Lorenzo Valla’s Dialectical Disputations and Juan Luis Vives’ De disciplinis. The third chapter offers a new interpretation of Vives’ Adversus pseudodialecticos as itself an exercise in scholastic sophistry. Against this humanistic background, the study takes up the concepts of meaning and truth in Paul of Venice’s Logica parva, a popular scholastic textbook in the Quattrocento. To advance recent research on language pedagogy in the Renaissance, it clarifies the connections between truth and translation and shows how scholastic logic performed an essential task in the early modern university: it was a translational language that enabled students who spoke mainly their regional vernaculars to learn the language of university discourse. A conclusion reviews some major themes of the study-e.g., linguistic determinism and relativity, vernacularity and translation, semantical vs. epistemic truth-and evaluates the achievements of humanism and scholasticism according to appropriate criteria for a perfect language.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

225

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1472411544

ISBN 13

9781472411549

Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century

Rivalry and Cooperation

By: Alan Sharp,Glyn Stone,Professor Glyn A Stone

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century

Rivalry and Cooperation

By: Alan Sharp,Glyn Stone,Professor Glyn A Stone

Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century is a collection of studies on the key episodes of the difficult and often discordant Anglo-French exchange over the past century. The authors critically re-evaluate: * the role of Spain in Anglo-French relations up to 1918 * the missed opportunity of the 1920s with the failure of France and Britain to find sufficient common ground and co-operation * the short-lived Anglo-French alliance and the Second World War * the degree of Anglo-French Imperial co-operation * the Suez Crisis * British and French policies on European Integration.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

368

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1134690738

ISBN 13

9781134690732

Beautiful Chaos

Chaos Theory and Metachaotics in Recent American Fiction

By: Gordon E. Slethaug,Professor Gordon E Slethaug, PhD

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Beautiful Chaos

Chaos Theory and Metachaotics in Recent American Fiction

By: Gordon E. Slethaug,Professor Gordon E Slethaug, PhD

Explores the way chaos theory is incorporated in the work of such writers as Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth, Don DeLillo, and Michael Crichton.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

246

Publisher

SUNY Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0791447413

ISBN 13

9780791447413

Another Cosmopolitanism

By: Seyla Benhabib Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy Yale University

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Another Cosmopolitanism

By: Seyla Benhabib Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy Yale University

In these two important lectures, distinguished political philosopher Seyla Benhabib argues that since the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, we have entered a phase of global civil society which is governed by cosmopolitan norms of universal justice--norms which are difficult for some to accept as legitimate since they are sometimes in conflict with democratic ideals. In her first lecture, Benhabib argues that this tension can never be fully resolved, but it can be mitigated through the renegotiation of the dual commitments to human rights and sovereign self-determination. Her second lecture develops this idea in detail, with special reference to recent developments in Europe (for example, the banning of Muslim head scarves in France). The EU has seen the replacement of the traditional unitary model of citizenship with a new model that disaggregates the components of traditional citizenship, making it possible to be a citizen of multiple entities at the same time. The volume also contains a substantive introduction by Robert Post, the volume editor, and contributions by Bonnie Honig (Northwestern University), Will Kymlicka (Queens University), and Jeremy Waldron (Columbia School of Law).

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

222

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195346033

ISBN 13

9780195346039

Berkeley at War : The 1960s

The 1960s

By: W.J. Rorabaugh Professor of History University of Washington

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Berkeley at War : The 1960s

The 1960s

By: W.J. Rorabaugh Professor of History University of Washington

Berkeley, California, was the bellwether of the political, social, and cultural upheaval that made the 1960s a unique period of American history--a time when the top-down methods of a conservative establishment collided head-on with the bottom-up, grass-roots ethos of the civil rights movement and an increasingly well-educated and individualistic middle class. W.J. Rorabaugh, who attended the graduate school of the University of California at Berkeley in the early 1970s, presents a lively and informative account of the events that overtook and changed forever what had once been a quiet, conservative white suburb. The rise of the Free Speech Movement, which gave a voice to disfranchised students; the growth and increasing militance of a black community struggling to end segregation; the emergence of radicalism and the anti-war movement; the blossoming of "hippie" culture, with its scorn for materialism and enthusiasm for experimentation with everything from sex and drugs to Eastern philosophies; the beginnings of modern-day feminism and environmentalism--and how all of these coalesced in the explosive conflict over People's Park--are traced in a meticulously researched and authoritative narrative. At issue was the question of power, and the struggle between the establishment and the powerless led to developments that the advocates of a freer society could scarcely have foreseen: Ronald Reagan, elected governor of California in reaction to the events at Berkeley, and Edwin H. Meese III, who battled against the student movement and People's Park, rose to national power in the 1980s (without, however, gaining any popularity in Berkeley, where Walter Mondale won 83 percent of the vote in 1984). An invaluable account of its time and place, this book anchors the '60s in American history, both before and since that colorful decade.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

325

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198022522

ISBN 13

9780198022527

For the People?

Democratic Representation in America

By: Charles R Beitz,Edwards S Sandford Professor of Politics Charles R Beitz

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

For the People?

Democratic Representation in America

By: Charles R Beitz,Edwards S Sandford Professor of Politics Charles R Beitz

Many observers of American politics believe that representative government, particularly in the Congress, is failing. This book examines the case for failure: what are the outward signs, and how do they reflect breaches of underlying norms of fair and effective representation? The book argues that good representation demands healthy competition between parties, but that in today's America, that competition has run off the rails.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

247

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0197780431

ISBN 13

9780197780435

Law, Hermeneutics and Rhetoric

By: Professor Francis J Mootz III

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Law, Hermeneutics and Rhetoric

By: Professor Francis J Mootz III

Mootz offers an antidote to the fragmentation of contemporary legal theory with a collection of essays arguing that legal practice is a hermeneutical and rhetorical event that can best be understood and theorized in those terms. This is not a modern insight that wipes away centuries of dogmatic confusion; rather, Mootz draws on insights as old as the Western tradition itself. However, the essays are not antiquarian or merely descriptive, because hermeneutical and rhetorical philosophy have undergone important changes over the millennia. To "return" to hermeneutics and rhetoric as touchstones for law is to embrace dynamic traditions that provide the resources for theorists who seek to foster persuasion and understanding as an antidote to the emerging global order and the trend toward bureaucratization in accordance with expert administration, violent suppression, or both.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

724

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409481921

ISBN 13

9781409481928

Essays on David Hume, Medical Men and the Scottish Enlightenment

'Industry, Knowledge and Humanity'

By: Professor Roger L Emerson

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Essays on David Hume, Medical Men and the Scottish Enlightenment

'Industry, Knowledge and Humanity'

By: Professor Roger L Emerson

The Scottish Enlightenment was a period of intellectual and scientific progress, in a country previously considered to be marginal to the European intellectual scene. Yet the enlightenment was not about politeness or civic humanism, but something more basic – the making of an improved society which could compete in every way in a rapidly changing world. David Hume, writing in 1752, commented that 'industry, knowledge and humanity are linked together by an indissoluble chain'. Collectively this volume of essays embraces many of the topics which Hume included under 'industry, knowledge and humanity': from the European Enlightenment and the Scots relation to it, to Scottish social history and its relation to religion, science and medicine. Overarching themes of what it meant to be enlightened in the eighteenth century are considered alongside more specific studies of notable figures of the period, such as Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, and David Hume, and the training and number of Scottish medical students. Together, the volume provides an opportunity to step back and reconsider the Scottish Enlightenment in its broader context and to consider what new directions this field of study might take.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

320

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409480224

ISBN 13

9781409480228

Eliza Hamilton Dunlop

Writing from the Colonial Frontier

By: Katie Hansord,Jason Rudy,Stuart Gibson,Dr Peter Minter,Dr Graeme Skinner,Dr James Wafer,Professor Duncan Wu

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Eliza Hamilton Dunlop

Writing from the Colonial Frontier

By: Katie Hansord,Jason Rudy,Stuart Gibson,Dr Peter Minter,Dr Graeme Skinner,Dr James Wafer,Professor Duncan Wu

Eliza Hamilton Dunlop (1796–1880) arrived in Sydney in 1838 and became almost immediately notorious for her poem “The Aboriginal Mother,” written in response to the infamous Myall Creek massacre. She published more poetry in colonial newspapers during her lifetime, but for the century following her death her work was largely neglected. In recent years, however, critical interest in Dunlop has increased, in Australia and internationally and in a range of fields, including literary studies; settler, postcolonial and imperial studies; and Indigenous studies. This stimulating collection of essays by leading scholars considers Dunlop's work from a range of perspectives and includes a new selection of her poetry.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

226

Publisher

Sydney University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1743327498

ISBN 13

9781743327494

Libertarianism Defended

By: Professor Tibor R Machan

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Libertarianism Defended

By: Professor Tibor R Machan

Ever since the publication in 1974 of Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia, libertarianism has been much discussed within political philosophy, science and economy circles. Yet libertarianism has been so strongly identified with Nozick's version of it that little attention has been devoted to other than Nozick's ideas and arguments. While Nozick's version of libertarianism has preoccupied the academic discussion Nozick himself did not respond to the many criticisms raised and yet other defenders of libertarianism have not remained silent. Jan Narveson, Loren Lomasky, Eric Mack, Douglas Rasmussen, Douglas Den Uyl and many others have contributed impressive arguments of their own in support of the libertarian idea that a political system is just when it successfully secures the rights of individuals understood within the Lockean classical liberal tradition. In this book Tibor R. Machan analyses the state of the debate on libertarianism post Nozick. Going far beyond the often cursory treatment of libertarianism in major books and other publications he examines closely the alternative non-Nozickian defenses of libertarianism that have been advanced and, by applying these arguments to innumerable policy areas in the field, Machan achieves a new visibility and prominence for libertarianism.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

364

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409485080

ISBN 13

9781409485087

Learn Office XP

Enhanced Edition

By: John Preston,Professor of Philosophy John Preston,Sally Preston,Robert Ferrett

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Learn Office XP

Enhanced Edition

By: John Preston,Professor of Philosophy John Preston,Sally Preston,Robert Ferrett

New enhanced edition has Windows XP and Computer Concepts coverage.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

1208

Publisher

Prentice Hall

Published Date

ISBN 10

0131824066

ISBN 13

9780131824065

Learn Office XP

By: John M. Preston,Professor of Philosophy John Preston,Sally Preston,Robert Ferrett

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Learn Office XP

By: John M. Preston,Professor of Philosophy John Preston,Sally Preston,Robert Ferrett

Highly-visual and skills-based, this book delivers the steps in a screen-by-screen format. The LEARN.EDU learning system represents specific chapter elements and provides users with an effective, logical pedagogy to facilitate their progress through an application. Learn.edu methodology gives quick framework for success in Office XP and the series is certified to the core level of Microsoft XP. An introduction to Office XP discusses working with Windows and managing files, common elements in Office XP, and working on the Web. Topics under Word 2002 include creating a simple document, editing a document, formatting text, formatting a document, working with tables, using Word utilities, working with non-text elements, and working with other documents and the Web. Excel 2002 coverage explains the basics, how to format a worksheet, using formulas, numbers using a chart, integrating Excel with Word and the Internet, editing cells, formatting cells and worksheets, and printing workbooks and getting help. Access 2002 material covers getting started, creating a customized database, modifying the structure of a database, retrieving information from your database, integrating Access with other applications, forms, reports, and working with other documents and the Web. Finally, PowerPoint 2002 explores learning the basics; working with graphic, audio, and video elements; sorting and animating slides; integrating PowerPoint with Office and the Internet; creating tables, c

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

1148

Published Date

ISBN 10

0130675458

ISBN 13

9780130675453

Go with Microsoft Office 2003 Intermediate

By: Shelley Gaskin,John Preston,Sally Preston,Robert L. Ferrett,Jeffrey Howard,Linda Foster-Turpen,Alicia Vargas,Professor of Philosophy John Preston

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Go with Microsoft Office 2003 Intermediate

By: Shelley Gaskin,John Preston,Sally Preston,Robert L. Ferrett,Jeffrey Howard,Linda Foster-Turpen,Alicia Vargas,Professor of Philosophy John Preston

Written for a diverse population of readers (all ages, different educational backgrounds, varying educational goals), this book allows for self or online instruction. The primary goal of the book is to teach Microsoft Office 2003, with an approach that is based on clearly-defined projects. A key feature of the book is the use of Microsoft procedural syntax: steps begin with where the action is to take place, followed by the action itself. The instruction is error-free, clearly written, and logically arranged. This series provides users with the skills to solve business problems using the computer as a tool. This book effectively covers: the use of Word , including formatting, special utilities, research papers, clip art and tables, creating newsletters with multiple columns and special formats, charts, tables, and text effects, and group projects; the use of Excel , including creating a workbook with formulas, advanced formulas, functions, and charting, customizing a workbook, adding logic, and checking work; the use of Access , including databases and tables, forms and reports, queries, access pages and database conversion, relational databases, and forms and subforms; and the use of PowerPoint, including presentation creation and formatting, enhancing presentations with graphic elements, advanced graphic techniques, and delivering a presentation. For anyone wishing to learn to effectively use the different components of Microsoft Office 2003.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

1504

Publisher

Prentice Hall

Published Date

ISBN 10

0131838504

ISBN 13

9780131838505

Western Civilization

Ideas, Politics and Society - From the 1600's

By: Marvin B. Perry,Myrna Chase,James R. Jacob,Professor of History and Sociology of Science Margaret C Jacob,Frances and Jacob Hiatt Professor of European History Theodore H Von Laue

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Western Civilization

Ideas, Politics and Society - From the 1600's

By: Marvin B. Perry,Myrna Chase,James R. Jacob,Professor of History and Sociology of Science Margaret C Jacob,Frances and Jacob Hiatt Professor of European History Theodore H Von Laue

This survey text presents the Western intellectual tradition within a chronology of political history. Known for its accessible writing style, Western Civilization appeals to students and instructors alike for its brevity, clarity, and careful selection of content. New technology resources, including Houghton Mifflin's Eduspace course management system, make learning more engaging and instruction more efficient.In the Eighth Edition, several new pedagogical features support students throughout the term. Chapter-opening focus questions direct students to important themes, while a glossary reinforces key terms and concepts. New icons in the text direct students to online resources such as maps, primary sources, and practice test questions. In addition, the new edition retains many popular features, including comparative timelines, full-color maps with physical geography essays, and primary source excerpts.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

624

Published Date

ISBN 10

0618613021

ISBN 13

9780618613021

Book's by Professor Department of Philosophy Alan Thomas

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email