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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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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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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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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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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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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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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3. Theory
Peter Hainsworth and David Robey
in Italian Literature: A Very Short Introduction
‘Theory’ argues that Italian writers have always had a fascination with abstract models of literary form or content. Theorizing about literature goes back to Dante's Vita nova, and was ...
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7. From theory to practice
Uta Frith
in Autism: A Very Short Introduction
‘From theory to practice’ explains that autistic disorders are far too heterogeneous and too complex for a single satisfying account. It is frustrating that there is no answer yet to what ...
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9. Bargaining and coalitions
Ken Binmore
in Game Theory: A Very Short Introduction
‘Bargaining and coalitions’ investigates cooperative game theory. Cooperative game theory is not the antithesis of noncooperative game theory. It simply assumes that players have solutions ...
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8. Evolutionary biology
Ken Binmore
in Game Theory: A Very Short Introduction
‘Evolutionary biology’ applies game theory to evolutionary scenarios. In evolutionary game theory we can equate behaviour as strategy, and fitness as utility. Anything — be it a gene or an ...
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1. The nature of humour
Noël Carroll
in Humour: A Very Short Introduction
Humour is the object of comic amusement. ‘The nature of humour’ reviews the leading theories of that which engenders comic amusement – the superiority theory, the incongruity theory, 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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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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1. What is anxiety?
Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman
in Anxiety: A Very Short Introduction
‘What is anxiety?’ asks what anxiety is; what it feels like; and what its purpose might be. A brief history of anxiety takes us from its Latin roots, through the increased interest in ...
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