Books in the Continuum Studies in Philosophy series

Examines key Radical Cartesian pamphlets and Spinoza's role in a Radical Cartesian circle in Amsterdam. This work also explores Spinoza's political writings and argues that they should not be seen as political innovations so much as systemizations of the Radical Cartesian ideas already circulating in his time.

Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) was one of the most notorious and pious of Rene Descartes' philosophical followers. This book offers a detailed evaluation of Malebranche's efforts to provide a plausible account of human intellectual and moral agency in the context of his commitment to an infinitely perfect being possessing all causal power.

Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus are representatives of the 'Golden Age' of scholasticism. They are known for their work in natural theology, which seeks to demonstrate tenets of faith without recourse to premises rooted in dogma or revelation. This book offers an examination of natural theology in the 'Golden Age' of scholastic philosophy.

Offers an innovative interpretation of a key element of Hegel's political thought. The author argues that the basic aim of Hegel's philosophy of right is to accommodate subjectivity within a framework of universally valid ethical norms and that an analysis of how Hegel attempts to do this provides a key to understanding his philosophy of right.

Descartes held that only ideas are immediately perceived, and that all ideas are really identical to mental states. This book brings a fresh perspective to debate over whether Descartes was a representationalist or a direct realist, and sheds light on his difficult notions of material falsity and the self-representational character of thought.

Offers an interpretation of the theory of freedom in the Social Contract. The author gives a careful analysis of Rousseau's theory of the social pact, and then examines the kinds of freedom that it brings about, showing how Rousseau's individualist and collectivist aspects fit into a larger and logically coherent theory of human liberty.

Nietzsche's work resembles that of the cultural anthropologist who uncovers formal differences in social manners that might explain the development of humankind's most important instincts. This book shows how, like many of his contemporaries, Nietzsche looked to the Greeks in an attempt to alleviate Europe's woes.

St Augustine of Hippo was the earliest thinker to develop a distinctively Christian political and social philosophy. To his mind, all States are imperfect. They can provide justice and peace of a kind, but even the best earthly versions of justice and peace are not true justice and peace. This book describes and analyses this 'transformation'.

What is a musical work? This work addresses some of the questions by way of a critical engagement with the New Musicology and other debates in philosophy of music. It puts the case for a qualified Platonist approach that would respect the relative autonomy of musical works as objects of more or less adequate understanding, and appreciation.

Kant argues that beauty is subjective, but the judgment of taste about beauty is capable of universal validity. This work re-examines the relationship between "free play" and the "form of purposiveness" in Kant's aesthetics, and restores the "aesthetic ideas" to their rightful centrality in Kant's theory.

How can causal interaction occur between the spiritual mind and the physical body since they have absolutely nothing in common and cannot come into contact with one another? This book shows how Descartes avoids this problem. The author argues that the union of mind and body is not constituted by efficient causal interaction for Descartes.

Provides both an elucidation and reinterpretation of a number of concepts central to Leibniz's work, such as "richness", "simplicity", "harmony" and "incompossibility". This book provides an reinterpretation of many of the core themes of Leibniz's philosophy. It serves as a useful entry point into this philosophy.

Discusses the main issues in Popper's theory of science. After giving a characterization of each issue, this book examines the main objections that have been raised against them and offers ways of circumventing them. It also covers the amendments to Popper's definitions, especially to his qualitative definition of verisimilitude.

Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus are arguably the most celebrated representatives of the 'Golden Age' of scholasticism. Looking at the belief of Aquinas maintaining that our knowledge of God is confused and Scotus that it is accurate, here, the author argues that the truth about Aquinas and Scotus lies somewhere in the middle.

Offering a comprehensive overview and introduction to the concept of relativism and relativistic arguments, this book investigates the reasons that contribute to the 'evergreen' status of relativism and asks: why does relativism remain a constant occurrence in the writings of the humanities and what accounts for its popular appeal?

Drawing on insights from thinkers such as Badiou and Nancy, this book examines Hegel's conception of 'the rabble' in order to reconstruct his political philosophy. It identifies and explores a crucial problem in the Hegelian philosophy of right that strikes at the heart of Hegel's conception of the state.

A monograph that relates Hegel's aesthetics to his philosophies of religion and history and, in particular, his philosophy of right. It develops the idea that these transcripts show that Hegel was primarily interested in understanding art as an historical phenomenon and, in terms of its function in human history.

Two currents of thought dominated Western philosophy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Continental Rationalism and British Empiricism. This book offers analysis of Kant's method of proof in philosophy. It constructs a model based on Kant's own statements about his procedure and then examines his famous proofs in light of it.

Synthesizing data from studies on the historical and philosophical foundations of analytic philosophy as well as from canonical primary texts, this work argues that analytic philosophy has never involved significant agreement on substantive philosophical views, and thus that it has always been in this state of crisis.