Books in the Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy series

With the help of concepts adapted from different branches of cognitive science - cognitive linguistics, cognitive and clinical psychology - this book explains where and why therapy is called for in philosophy, and develops techniques to actually carry it out.

Comprising the insights of two primary representatives of twentieth century and contemporary philosophy, this book provides a transcendental analysis of the nature of thought. Looking at the works of Donald Davidson and Robert Brandom, it creates a transcendental defence of universal conceptual lingualism and linguistic interpretationism.

Concerns the foundations and implications of a particular form of liberal political theory. This title argues that one should see liberalism as a political theory committed to the value of autonomy.

Develops and applies a unified interpretation of John Rawls' theory of justice as fairness in order to clarify the account of citizenship that Rawls relies upon, and the kind of educational policies that the state can legitimately pursue to promote social justice. This title examines the role of the family as the 'first school of justice'.

Presents a theory of intergenerational justice that gives citizens duties to past and future generations, showing why people can make legitimate demands of their successors and explaining what relationships between contemporary generations count as fair.

Part of the field of practical approaches to philosophical questions relating to identity, agency and ethics - approaches which work across continental and analytical traditions and which the author justifies through an explication of how the structures of human embodiment necessitate a narrative model of selfhood, understanding, and ethics.

Aims to retool Jurgen Habermas' theory of communicative action to provide a description of the role that literature plays in the political public sphere.

As witnessed by the films such as "Fight Club" and "Identity", our culture is obsessed with multiple personality - a phenomenon raising intriguing questions about personal identity. This title offers both a philosophical theory of personal identity and an account of multiple personality.

In political philosophy, the revival of pragmatism has led to a new appreciation for the democratic theory of John Dewey. The author argues that Deweyan democracy cannot adequately recognize "pluralism", the fact that intelligent, sincere, and well-intentioned persons can disagree sharply and reasonably over moral ideals.

An investigation into metaphysics: its aims, scope, methodology and practice. It argues that metaphysics should take itself to be concerned with investigating the fundamental nature of reality, and suggests that the ontological significance of language has been grossly exaggerated in the pursuit of that aim.

Presents a comprehensive defence of neo-Aristotelian essentialism. This title reinvigorates the tradition of realist, essentialist metaphysics, defending the reality and knowability of essence, the possibility of objective, immutable definition, and its relevance to contemporary scientific and metaphysical issues.

Develops a aesthetic theory terms as Critical Aesthetic Realism - taking Kantian aesthetics as a starting point and drawing upon contemporary theories of mind from philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science. This book reveals dichotomies such as universality and subjectivity, objectivity and autonomy, and cognitivism and non-cognitivism.

This book explores the ways in which interpersonal relations are affected by being conducted via computer-mediated communication. Rooksby investigates the benefits, limitations and implications of computer-mediatied communication.

The essays in this book analyze the concept of the inhuman gaze, as conceptualized by Merleau-Ponty, from a variety of different perspectives, including phenomenology, philosophy of mind, cognitive psychology, psychiatry, and psychopathology.

This book collects essays by top scholars that address questions about the nature, origins, and effects of ambivalence. It seeks to explain how ambivalence relates to philosophical topics such as agency, rationality, justification, knowledge, autonomy, self-governance, well-being, and social cognition.

This book offers a philosophical examination of incarceration as a form of punishment. A diverse group of contributors engages with research in criminology, economics, law, and sociology to help contextualize the philosophical issues.

This edited collection focuses on the moral and social dimensions of ignorance-an undertheorized category in analytic philosophy. Contributors address such issues as the relation between ignorance and deception, ignorance as a moral excuse, ignorance as a legal excuse, and the relation between ignorance and moral character.

This volume brings together new essays that consider Wittgenstein's treatment of the phenomenon of aspect perception in relation to the broader idea of conceptual novelty; that is, the acquisition or creation of new concepts, and the application of an acquired understanding in unfamiliar or novel situations.