A very short introduction
Noël Carroll
in Humour: A Very Short Introduction
‘A Very Short Introduction’ outlines the aims of the book and provides an overview of each of the following chapters. ...
4. The programme of social theory
James Gordon Finlayson
in Habermas: A Very Short Introduction
Habermas asks: how is social order possible? He believes that in modern, secular societies social order rests mainly on communicative action and discourse, which help establish and maintain ...
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2. Habermas's new approach to social theory
James Gordon Finlayson
in Habermas: A Very Short Introduction
After Habermas published Structural Transformation, he spent twenty years on an intellectual journey. He used this time re-equipping and repositioning himself in respect to the tradition of ...
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4. The analysis of knowledge
Jennifer Nagel
in Knowledge: A Very Short Introduction
‘The analysis of knowledge’ begins with Edmund Gettier who challenged the ‘classical analysis of knowledge’ that equates knowledge with justified true belief. His no-false-belief proposal ...
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5. Law and society
Raymond Wacks
in Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
‘Law and society’ examines the sociological approach to law, focusing on the two giants of social theory — Émile Durkheim and Max Weber. It also explains the Marxist materialist account of ...
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1. What is theory?
Jonathan Culler
in Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
Since the 1960s, writings from outside the field of literary studies have been taken up by people in literary studies because their analyses of language, mind, history or culture offer new ...
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7. Performative language
Jonathan Culler
in Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
‘Performative language’ considers issues concerning the meaning and effects of language, identity and the nature of the subject. Performative utterances do not describe but perform the ...
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4. Rights and justice
Raymond Wacks
in Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
‘Rights and justice’ asks: What is a right? Is there a distinction between my rights as recognized by the law, and rights that I believe I ought to have? It examines the two major theories ...
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14. Ideas
Tom Sorell
in Descartes: A Very Short Introduction
In stating that the imagination cannot help us to picture God, but that we can form a conception of our Maker by other means, Descartes was articulating his theory of ideas. ‘Ideas’ shows ...
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8. Identity, identification, and the subject
Jonathan Culler
in Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
‘Identity, identification and the subject’ examines the debate in literary and cultural theory concerning the identity and function of the subject or self. Two basic questions underlie ...
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4. Decision making
Jonathan St B. T. Evans
in Thinking and Reasoning: A Very Short Introduction
We make a decision every time that we do something when we could have done something else, but most of these decisions are habitual and require little thought. ‘Decision making’ explains ...
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8. Sapere aude: The exhaustion of theory and the promise of philosophy
Simon Critchley
in Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
‘Sapere aude: The exhaustion of theory and the promise of philosophy’ explains that current divisions in the study of philosophy are a consequence of professional self-descriptions which ...
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6. Discourse ethics I: the discourse theory of morality
James Gordon Finlayson
in Habermas: A Very Short Introduction
Discourse ethics is the normative heart of Habermas's philosophy. In it he develops themes of publicity, inclusiveness, equality, solidarity, justice in terms of the pragmatic meaning ...
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4. The culture of postmodernism
Christopher Butler
in Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction
‘The culture of postmodernism’ considers postmodernism in the fields of literature, music, art, and architecture. The postmodern fiction that involves an ontological uncertainty about the ...
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3. Nature or nurture?
Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman
in Anxiety: A Very Short Introduction
Do we inherit anxiety through our genes, or learn it from those closest to us? ‘Nature or nurture?’ looks at the evidence. Twin adoption studies point to a genetic influence, but ...
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3. Dworkin: the moral integrity of law
Raymond Wacks
in Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
Ronald Dworkin was legal positivism's most tenacious critic. ‘Dworkin: the moral integrity of law’ shows that Dworkin's theory includes not only a stimulating account of law and the legal ...
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9. Critical Theory
Andrew Bowie
in German Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
Taking as an example the economic crash of 2008–9, ‘Critical Theory’ asks how individual agents or groups of agents could regard their actions as justifiable and rational, while the actual ...
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5. Science
Ronald de Sousa
in Love: A Very Short Introduction
Scientific scrutiny of love cannot reduce it to mere physical processes. Other perspectives are needed to explain why these mechanisms exist in the first place and what role they play in ...
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2. Scepticism
Jennifer Nagel
in Knowledge: A Very Short Introduction
When you start to get self-conscious about what you know, even the simplest fact, something you usually think you could verify at a glance, can start to seem like something you don’t really ...
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2. The mechanical mind
Tim Bayne
in Thought: A Very Short Introduction
What makes a thinker? It has been argued that thought comes from a non-physical medium such as a soul or immaterial mind. This notion has few advocates in science or philosophy, who endorse ...
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