Quiddities - An Intermittently Philosophical Dictionary
The playful nature of this book is evident not only in its subtitle but in its title as well: quiddities can be either essences or inessentials. The 80-odd entries (alphabet to zero) give us a relaxed, informal Quine speaking his mind unfettered by the exigencies of the active professoriat (he is professor emeritus, Harvard). For the most part, the entries deal with philosophical, linguistic, and mathematical issues ( altruism, beauty, freedom, identity, phonemes, real numbers), but there are also discussions of gambling, gender, and universal library and of neologisms (mathematosis, misling).
Borges and Philosophy - Self, Time, and Metaphysics
Jorge Luis Borges is acknowledged as one of the great Spanish writers of the twentieth century. On the broader literary scene, he is recognized as a modern master. His fascination with philosophy - especially metaphysics - sets him apart from his contemporaries. Borges appreciated and formulated rigorous philosophical arguments, but also possessed the unique ability to present the most abstract ideas imaginatively in metaphors and symbols.
In this beautifully written account, Julian Young provides the most comprehensive biography available today of the life and philosophy of the nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Young deals with the many puzzles created by the conjunction of Nietzsche's personal history and his work.
Free Will and Determinism in Joseph Conrad's Major Novels
Although it has often been pointed out that the protagonists of Joseph Conrad's novels frequently fail in what they attempt to achieve, the forces that oppose them have rarely been examined systematically. Furthermore, no sustained attempts have been made to rigorously address the central philosophical issue the characters' predicament raises: that of the freedom-of-the-will. This interdisciplinary study seeks to remedy this neglect by taking recourse not only to the philosophical debate about free will and determinism but also to the relevant historical, economic, scientific, and literary discourses in the Victorian and Early-Modernist periods.
The Wild and the Tame - Essays in Cultural Practice
A university booklet for the students of English literature and culture. Contains thirteen texts devoted to the notion of "wildness" in British and American literature. The main theme is presented in various cultural, ideological and philosophical contexts. See the table of content for more details.
