A nice nod from The Observer to our publication of the first English translation of Jean-Paul Sartre's unfinished Roads of Freedom IV. James Purdon comments the book is a 'gritty translation' with 'explanatory notes and generous critical padding' that offers 'a few surprises among its reassembled shards'
The full review is here.
Carly
James Garvey, author of The Ethics of Climate Change, has written an arcticle for The Guardian today, with the provocative title: 'Copenhagen is an opportunity for ethics to trump economics: avoiding action on climate change because it might be too expensive is on a moral par with harming other people for money'
Read on here.
James invites everyone to add some (rational) comments to the discussion raging at the bottom of the arcticle!
Carly
We're getting a run of nice new books landing on our desks at the moment here at Continuum Philosophy. Tom mentioned last week the paperback edition of Quentin Meillassoux's After Finitude, which has been a real surprise success for us since it came out last year. Now, I wanted to highlight a new book by Fiona Hughes, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Essex, UK: Kant's Critique of Aesthetic Judgement: A Reader's Guide.
Kant's book is, of course, one of the most important texts in the field of aesthetics but it isn't always an easy read and Fiona Hughes has done a wonderful job of exploring the ideas in the Critique, as well as its historical context and enduring influence. Anyone trying to get to grips with Kant's aesthetic thought would do well to pick up a copy of this book.
In fact, I'd recommend taking a look at our Reader's Guides series in general for anyone working closely with any of the key texts in the History of Philosophy as we have some of the foremost authorities on the texts in question writing for this series, from Sebastan Gardner on Sartre's Being and Nothingness to Christopher Warne on Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. Check them out here.
All the best,
David,
Acting Senior Editor,
Continuum Philosophy
In my role as Philosopher-in-Residence at Rugby School I introduce students to philosophy, often for the first time. I am therefore always interested to read the various guidebooks to philosophy that are available, particularly those which aim to help new students understand what studying philosophy is all about.
I recently came across Doing Philosophy: A Practical Guide for Students – a new guidebook co-authored by the team at the Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. The book is helpful in that it gives comprehensive and yet accessible advice to students preparing to study philosophy for the first time. The main topics for consideration have been carefully selected to reflect the tasks and challenges faced by philosophy undergraduates. Consequently, the book successfully conveys a sense of what studying for a philosophy degree will actually involve.
Perhaps the central merit of the guidebook is that, as suggested by the title, it focuses on the practicalities of studying the subject and thus illuminates what it means to be actively engaged in ‘doing philosophy’. To this end, it shows students that philosophy is not only a matter of learning about the history of ideas – it is also a matter of doing some thinking for oneself. The chapters on ‘Discussion’ and ‘Writing Philosophy’ offer particularly concrete advice and should be helpful for any student grappling with the nature of philosophical argument.
From my perspective, highlighting the fact that philosophy is something you do as an active process is an important feature of any guidebook to the subject. At Rugby School, we also aim to get students actively doing philosophy. We do not teach the traditional A-level philosophy course but we instead have philosophy lessons that are centred on discussion and debate. In this way, we encourage students to cultivate the techniques and methods used in philosophy and to develop their own critical thinking skills. It is with the development of these skills that Doing Philosophy offers some valuable help. I therefore think this guidebook is well worth a read for those either preparing to or currently studying philosophy for the first time. Indeed, it will help many students to understand that, as the authors recognise, ‘the focus of your philosophical study will be to learn not what to believe, but how to think.’
Emma L Williams
Philosopher in Residence
Rugby School
Because everyone likes a treat at the end of the week (you've got to get some sort of reward for getting through it!), I've posted a free extract of How To Be An Existentialist via our Twitter account and Scribd.com here.
Keep an eye on Twitter each week and you just might find some more goodies...
Enjoy!
Carly
Donal P. O'Mathuna: Nanoethics: Big Ethical Issues With Small Technology (Think Now)
Markus Gabriel and Slavoj Žižek: Mythology, Madness and Laughter: Subjectivity in German Idealism
Alexander Brown: Personal Responsibility: Why It Matters (Think Now)
Madsen Pirie: 101 Great Philosophers: Makers of Modern Thought
Joshua Rust: John Searle (Continuum Contemporary American Thinkers)
Peter Cave: This Sentence Is False: An Introduction to Philosophical Paradoxes
Gary Cox: How to Be an Existentialist: Or How to Get Real, Get a Grip and Stop Making Excuses
Laurence Carlin: Empiricists: A Guide for the Perplexed (Guides for the Perplexed)
