1. Be it in science, in religion or in art, there is no higher revelation than that of the divinity of the All, and in fact those three start from this revelation and have significance only through it.

W. J. Mander presents the first ever synoptic history of British Idealism, the school of thought which dominated English-language philosophy from the 1860s to the early 20th century. He restores to its proper place this neglected period of philosophy, introducing the exponents of Idealism and explaining its distinctive concepts and doctrines.

F. H. Bradley did not write extensively or systematically on the philosophy of religion, and much of what he did write has the character of either tentative speculation or the pre-emptive rebuttal of potential misinterpretations that might threaten his general philosophical position. ‘I admit that on this subject I never had much to say’ he warns. But such a remark should not discourage us from considering his views on this topic, since the disclaimer is typically Bradleian, and more reflective of (...) his high standards for what is required in order to claim to have something to say about some matter than of any genuine lack of opinion. On closer inspection we find that he has, scattered throughout his work, a great many important things to say about this subject. (shrink)

W. J. Mander examines the nature of idealist ethics, that is to say, the form and content of ethical belief most typically adopted by philosophical idealists. His inquiry has two aims. The first is historical: from the record of past philosophy, Mander demonstrates that there exists a discernible idealist approach to moral philosophy; a tradition of 'idealist ethics', and examines its characteristic marks and varieties. The second aim is apologetic. He argues that such idealist ethics offers an attractive way of (...) looking at moral questions and that it has much to contribute to contemporary discussion. In particular he argues that Idealist ethics have the power to cut through the sterile opposition between moral realism and moral anti-realism. To be an idealist is precisely to hold that the universe is so constituted that things are real if and only if they are ideal; to hold that uncovering in something the work of mind makes it more not less significant. (shrink)

W. J. Mander presents a history of metaphysics in nineteenth-century Britain. He traces the story of the development and interplay of three great schools of thought, the agnostics, the empiricists, and the idealists, and their different responses to the idea of an ultimate but unknowable way that things really are in themselves.

In Search of a Political Philosophy is an analysis of the three democratic `isms'--conservatism, liberalism, and socialism--and of the distinct nature of the all-consuming ideology of Marxist communism. W. J. Stankiewicz is concerned with the conscious and unconscious assumptions of the proponents and followers of each ideology, and those of their theoreticians and critics. Stankiewicz examines the norms by which political ideologies are characterized, and discusses which of these are given precedence. He provides an analysis of how each ideology views (...) such issues as freedom and restraint, responsibility, equality, justice, power, authority, property, human nature and happiness. He also examines the areas of ideological contiguity and mutual influences, the sources of ideological incomprehension in our society, and the forces that split Western societies. In Search of a Political Philosophy takes issue with the positions of some of our leading political theorists and represents an original contribution to political philosophy in its own right. It makes a stimulating and challenging contribution to the areas of politics, political philosophy, ethics, political and social theory, the history of political thought, and the history of ideas. (shrink)

What precisely, W. J. T. Mitchell asks, are pictures (and theories of pictures) doing now, in the late twentieth century, when the power of the visual is said to be greater than ever before, and the "pictorial turn" supplants the "linguistic turn" in the study of culture? This book by one of America's leading theorists of visual representation offers a rich account of the interplay between the visible and the readable across culture, from literature to visual art to the mass (...) media. (shrink)

What are the limits of Left Wittgensteinianism's point- and need-based account of conceptual change? Based upon Wittgenstein's account of certainty and the riverbed analogy for conceptual change in On Certainty, the question is raised whether Queloz and Cueni's redevelopment of Left Wittgensteinianism can account for the multiplicitous forms of change these concepts are subject to. I argue that Left Wittgensteinianism can only partially do so, because it overemphasises the role of criticism-driven conceptual change, due to its focus on the reason-based (...) contingency of the practices of a local ‘we’. In response, it is argued that Left Wittgensteinianism should be fortified with (i) gradual changes to concepts' sociocultural constraints that concept-users are unaware of and (ii) evolutionary and environmental changes to the biological determinants of natural constraints of conceptual cores. In the end, there are conceptual practices like holding for certain that are generally, and fully contingent, but simultaneously inevitable not only for ‘us’ but also for many other delimitations of ‘we’. Subsequently, the compatibility of this Wittgensteinian account of conceptual change with pragmatic genealogy is discussed. It is concluded that thinking about conceptual changes to practices cannot be about the possibility of criticism alone nor succeed without the inclusion thereof. (shrink)

De drie korte verhandelingen over de positie van hooggeplaatsten moeten gezien worden als een schakel in de lange keten van de literair-filosofische traditie van de Vorstenspiegels, die met name in de Italiaanse Renaissance zeer geliefd waren. Pascal volt echter deze voorbeelden maar gedeeltelijk, omdat hij een nieuwe macht introduceert, waaraan ook de groten der aarde onderworpen zijn, nl. de macht van het geloof. Zijn bespiegelingen over macht, morele plicht en verantwoordelijkheid zijn nog steeds actueel.

Modernity is a stage in societies’ development that is the corollary of enlightenment. It has variously been conceived to be the ultimate moment in the unfolding of human history in the sense that norms and values, and practices and institutions are nearly or at their most perfect. However, the conceived prelude to or realization of utopia does not accord with reality in many specific modern societies, even those that are generally considered to be the forerunners of modernity. In Africa, the (...) onset of modernity and its extension into the diverse realms of human beings’ lives has entailed norms and values, and practices and institutions that are the genesis of dystopia. This article examines the ambivalent nexus of modernity and human rights in Africa from the onset of the modernization project to date. Using critical theory, the article argues that although modernity is credited with the birth of human rights, in Africa its primary actors, namely capital, the markets, and the state, are either ambivalent to and/or causal to widespread and deep human rights violations. The human rights violations are systemically and systematically cast as incidental and spurious rather than the hallmarks of modernity. Judicial, political, and educational institutions act and reiterate their capacities to address the incidental/spurious human rights violations, despite abundant evidence that, as part of modernity, these institutions are ambivalent to human rights and, therefore, can only mask the reality and perpetuate human rights violations. This general stance is the consequence of the pervasive logic of capital. This article explains how this pervasive phenomenon in its various forms, such as state capitalism and global capitalism, coupled with neopatrimonialism, has impacted the institution and practice of human rights in Africa. The analysis concludes that though modernity is credited with the birth of human rights regimes, its historicity has been causal of significant violations of human rights. The violations unleashed by capital are exacerbated by political elites who, in their processes of policy-making and budgetary deliberation, and implementation, marginally conceive nation-extensive notions of common good. Consequently, violation of human rights is rampant. (shrink)