Books in the Key Concepts in Philosophy series

Throughout history, the world and its operation have been viewed in terms of cause and effect. The principles of causation have been applied, fruitfully, across the sciences, law, and medicine, and in everyday life, despite the lack of any agreed-upon framework for understanding what causation ultimately amounts to.

Summarises the work of key thinkers in the philosophy of law, including Rousseau, Hobbes, Austin, Hegel, Habermas, Mill, Marx, Dworkin, Hart and Rawls. This title provides explication and analysis of central concerns in legal philosophy, covering criminal law, civil law and constitutional law.

Provides an exposition and analysis of the main philosophical theories, ideas and arguments that inform, and are raised by, questions of gender and sexuality. This work explores both early feminist arguments, which stress 'sameness' between sexes in the interests of equality, and later theories, which emphasise difference.

How can we understand another person's feelings, thoughts, words or behaviour? Through empathy, it is hoped, we might use our imaginations to shift our perspective into another person's, thereby grasping their thoughts and emotions.

In the social sciences and in everyday speech we often talk about groups as if they behaved in the same way as individuals, thinking and acting as a singular being. We say for example that "Google intends to develop an automated car", "the U.S.

What is a virtue, and how are virtues different from vices? Do people with virtues lead better lives than the rest of us? Do they know more? Can we acquire virtues if so, how? In this lively and engaging introduction to this core topic, Heather Battaly argues that there is more than one kind of virtue.

We talk about irrationality when behaviour defies explanation or prediction, when decisions are driven by emotions or instinct rather than by reflection, when reasoning fails to conform to basic principles of logic and probability, and when beliefs lack coherence or empirical support.

Each of us, right now, is having a unique conscious experience. Nothing is more basic to our lives as thinking beings and nothing, it seems, is better known to us. But the ever-expanding reach of natural science suggests that everything in our world is ultimately physical.

What is truth? Is there anything that all truths have in common that makes them true rather than false? Is truth independent of human thought, or does it depend in some way on what we believe or what we would be justified in believing? The author surveys various theories of the nature of truth and evaluates their philosophical costs and benefits.

The concept of well-being plays a central role in moral and political theory. Policies and actions are justified or criticized on the grounds that they make people better or worse off.

* This is the next book in the Key Concepts in Philosophy series focusing on the core and difficult topic of paradoxes. * An accessible and entertaining introduction to the study of paradoxes, in which the author provides a detailed examination of a wide variety of paradoxes.

Part of the "Key Concepts in Philosophy" series, this book considers such fundamentals as discovery, evidence, verification and falsification, realism and objectivity. It also draws on specific examples from the history of science to further illuminate the philosophical questions addressed.

The philosophy of religion encompasses some of the most complex philosophical questions. Does God exist? What is God's nature? Why does God allow evil? What is a religious experience? This book covers the work of major thinkers and outlines the central questions and arguments encountered in studying the philosophy of religion.

Offers an account of the central theories and ideas encountered in political philosophy. This text is structured, covering the discipline's principal ideologies: Statism; Realism; Liberalism; Conservatism; Socialism; Anarchism; and Environmentalism. It also offers a history of political philosophy and the major political philosophers.

Offers an account of the central theories and ideas encountered in aesthetics. Suitable for students across the arts and humanities, this book stresses distinctively modern and contemporary problems, including the divergence between theories of aesthetics and theories of art and the problem of media.

Regardless of who you are or how you live your life, you disagree with millions of people on an enormous number of topics from politics, religion and morality to sport, culture and art.

* An insightful framing of basic issues and developments in the field of moral responsibility * Clearly and engagingly overs a staggering amount of material in a short amount of space * Includes some of the author's genuinely original ideas and insights * An up-to-the-minute snapshot of what issues are exercising theorists today.

Emotion is at the centre of our personal and social lives. To love or to hate, to be frightened or grateful is not just a matter of how we feel on the inside: our emotional responses direct our thoughts and actions, unleash our imaginations, and structure our relationships with others.

As persons, we are importantly different from all other creatures in the universe.

When a doctor tells you there's a one percent chance that an operation will result in your death, or a scientist claims that his theory is probably true, what exactly does that mean? Understanding probability is clearly very important, if we are to make good theoretical and practical choices.