Practical Ethics Third Edition By Peter Singer Review by Laura Cabrera on Tue, Jan 24th 2012.
Thirty years ago, Peter Singer wrote the first edition of a book that has come to be considered part of the classical introduction to applied ethics. In keeping pace with current pressing ethical challenges, Singer revised and updated all the chapters for his third edition of Practical Ethics.
This third edition keeps the lucid style and provocative arguments of its predecessors, but with a more up to date perspective into current ethical challenges. This makes Practical ethics not only an ideal text for university courses, but also for anyone who wants to dedicate some serious thinkin Click here to read the full review!
The Domain of Reasons By John Skorupski Review by Dejan Simkovic on Tue, Jan 24th 2012.
John Skorupski's The Domain of Reasons is a kind of book that is not often seen in what can be described as the contemporary analytical tradition in philosophy. Such qualification is justified by the fact that it is -- in terms of the structure, some of the problems it addresses, its conceptual framework, and its author's ambition -- reminiscent of, for instance, Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, Fichte's Science of Knowledge, or Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit or The Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences. The position defended in The Domain of Reasons, however, is very much a product of th Click here to read the full review!
New Takes in Film-Philosophy By Havi Carel and Greg Tuck (Editors) Review by Shara Knight on Tue, Jan 24th 2012.
New Takes in Film-Philosophy is a collection of essays on the philosophy of film which offers an overview of the continuing discussion about whether films can do philosophy and if they are suitable focus for philosophical analysis. In considering film and philosophy, editors Carel and Tuck pose a philosopher's question: 'are such mass cultural products philosophically productive?' Each chapter explores what it is about films, rather than other aspects of culture, that makes them of interest and attention. This book expands on the discipline of film studies as largely in Click here to read the full review!
Psychiatrist on the Road Encounters in Healing and Healthcare By Lawrence H. Climo Review by Cecile Lawrence, Ph.D., J.D. on Tue, Jan 24th 2012.
If you have an interest in North American Cultural Studies, you are probably familiar with Story Corps. One could call this collection of interviews "Story Corps on the inside: video shorts in words" with a very special set of interviewees.
At age 65, the author lost his job as an employee of an urban mental health clinic, where he was senior clinical psychiatrist. Deciding not to retire just then, he contracted with three companies that hire medical personnel to work temporarily in various locations around the U.S. With that the author gets on the road.
The word pictures Click here to read the full review!
The Girl in the Garden By Kamala Nair Review by Pratima Sampat-Mar on Tue, Jan 24th 2012.
The Girl in the Garden is Kamala Nair's debut novel, and after listening to the 8 CD unabridged audio version, I am looking forward to her next offering. The description on the back of the box, which mentioned secrets and a relationship between mother and daughter, made me want to hear the story. The plot, intricate details, and characters all kept me listening. Rakhee, now a young woman, tells the story about a summer she spent in India with her mother which changed the course of her life. Rakhee is at first reluctant to go to India, never having been there and not wanting to leave her father Click here to read the full review!
Re-Emergence Locating Conscious Properties in a Material World By Gerald Vision Review by Kevin Morris, Ph.D. on Tue, Jan 24th 2012.
We are conscious beings, and have a wide range of conscious experiences. We have conscious sensations, like pain and itchiness, and at least some of our beliefs and desires are conscious as opposed to unconscious. It is natural to think that consciousness is found in nonhuman creatures as well--a nearby cat has a certain olfactory sensation when we open a can of tuna fish, and a dog has a certain auditory experience when we call its name. We all have some idea of what it is to be a conscious being; we can all understand, for example, the transition from a non-conscious state to a state of cons Click here to read the full review!
Perfect Lives By Polly Samson Review by Natalie Kelley-Wilson on Tue, Jan 24th 2012.
This collection of interwoven short stories brings to light the reality behind the facade of perfection which camouflages the loneliness, distrust, fatigue, resentment and hidden passion in the lives of its subjects. The characters all have comfortable and seemingly mundane and content lives riddled with secrets and possessing hidden depths. The stories and characters are connected though some only peripherally. The intricacy with which these connections are interwoven contributes to the parallels and nuances of the stories.
The general reader can definitely benefit from reading these stories Click here to read the full review!
Merchants of Doubt How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming By Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway Review by Christian Perring on Tue, Jan 24th 2012.
The objectivity of science is an issue that gets a great deal of attention these days, as public debate often centers around which scientific claims we can be sure are true, or are at least much more certain than rival hypothesis. It occurs with theories of the origin of the universe and the origin of life on earth, in theories about the efficacy of different psychiatric and medical treatments and classification of diseases, and in the explanation for climate change and the best remedies for the problems that it causes. It would be an exaggeration to say that public confidence in s Click here to read the full review!
Mixing Minds The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism By Pilar Jennings Review by Sreekumar Jayadevan on Tue, Jan 24th 2012.
Mixing Minds is a striking text consisting of impressive personal narratives as well as lucid explication of theoretical environments both in psychoanalysis and Mahayana Buddhism. With this work, Pilar Jennings has been able to locate herself in a relatively young genre of cross cultural understanding within the milieu containing the two. The structure of the book is shaped such that the reader can comprehend her thoughts without difficulty within the interrelated field of both traditions. She cites thinkers in both traditions and explains their stances wherever required. What makes th Click here to read the full review!
A World Without Values Essays on John Mackie's Moral Error Theory By Richard Joyce and Simon Kirchin (Editors) Review by James Taggart, Ph.D. on Tue, Jan 17th 2012.
A World Without Values collects thirteen essays on moral skepticism written by leading analytic philosophers, including David Copp, Jamie Dreier, Richard Joyce, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, and Michael Smith. While non-specialists may be put off by some technical vocabulary, the topics covered by many of the essays should interest readers of Metapsychology Reviews. To convey a better a sense of these essays, I say something first about the anthology's overall focus. After discussing these preliminary points, I trace an interesting argument for moral skepticism taken up by a number of contributo Click here to read the full review!
Three Generations, No Imbeciles Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell By Paul A. Lombardo Review by Susan L. Smith, Ph.D. on Tue, Jan 17th 2012.
Paul A. Lombardo, author of Three Generations No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell, is the Bobby Lee Cook Professor of Law at Georgia State University. Three Generations earned Lombardo recognition at the 2009 Library of Virginia Literary Awards and acknowledgment as the 2009 Georgia Author of the Year. In light of the comprehensive history of eugenics presented by Lombardo in Three Generations, these awards are well deserved. Particular attention is paid to the legal and political history of eugenics with, as the title indicates, emphasis placed on B Click here to read the full review!
Confucianism By Paul R. Goldin Review by Bob Lane, MA on Tue, Jan 17th 2012.
Confucianism is another in the series of introductory books on the various schools of ancient philosophy. Early volumes in the series have been warmly received and several have been reviewed here. The books in the series are "created especially for students" – by which the publishers mean not only students in colleges and universities, but also general readers who are students of philosophy and its rich history. Goldin's book admirably meets this criterion. It is comprehensive, readable, informative, reliable, well documented with a rich listing of primary and secondary source material, Click here to read the full review!
Stoicism Traditions and Transformations By Steven K. Strange and Jack Zupko (Editors) Review by Lucien Jenkins on Tue, Jan 17th 2012.
The editors' introduction to this collection opens with the ruling that 'Stoicism remains one of the most significant minority reports in the history of Western philosophy'. Certainly the paucity of material surviving from antiquity makes this a difficult story to tell. We know of it rather than know it. (Sten Ebbesen's contribution blames Boethius for not having bequeathed a précis of it as he did for other topics; unusual to hear anyone with a word to say against Boethius these days.)
The opening article of the collection, naturally enough, focuses not on the Stoa but on Socrates, sp Click here to read the full review!
At the outset of The Philosophy of Sartre, Hatzimoysis explains that to achieve a proper understanding of the views expressed in Sartre's novels, plays, and journals, we must turn to his philosophy, where he is more explicit about his ideas. However, due to Sartre's numerous publications Hatzimoysis recognizes that formulating a strategy to first engage Sartre's philosophy may lead to a "sideways approach" to his work. Therefore, he aims at building a contextual framework by focusing on fundamental ideas pertaining to Sartre's understanding of reality with exegeses on intentionality, emotion, Click here to read the full review!
Helmholtz From Enlightenment to Neuroscience By Michel Meulders Review by Gennady Erlikhman on Tue, Jan 17th 2012.
Helmholtz: From Enlightenment to Neuroscience, by Michel Maulders, translated by Laurence Garey is a unique biography of the most interesting scientists of the 19th century. The book describes Helmholtz's development as a scientist, from his early days as a student of medicine to his eventual interests in the perception of color, sound and many other, now distinct paths of science. The text is not organized chronologically; rather, it looks at how Helmholtz became interested in such seemingly disparate topics and how his work often revolutionized the understanding of those fields.
The book b Click here to read the full review!
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