Suchergebnisse

Immanuel Kant is undoubtedly one of the most important thinkers in the history ofphilosophy. He is also notoriously difficult for beginners to understand. Starting with Kant offers a genuinelyaccessible introduction to the metaphysics, theory of knowledge, and moralphilosophy of this hugely influential figure. It assumes no prior acquaintancewith his ideas.Thematicallystructured, the book opens with a completely non-technical overview of thedevelopment of Kants mature thought, resulting in a wide-ranging understandingof his famous and ground breaking Copernican revolution in metaphysics. Thebo

The first narrative history of the Civil War as told by the very people it freed. Historian of nineteenth-century and African-American history Andrew Ward weaves together hundreds of interviews, diaries, letters, and memoirs. Here is the Civil War as seen from slave quarters, kitchens, roadsides, swamps, and fields. Body servants, army cooks and launderers, runaways, teamsters, and gravediggers bring the war to richly detailed life. From slaves' theories about the causes of the Civil War to their frank assessments of major figures; from their searing memories of the carnage of battle to their often startling attitudes toward masters and liberators alike; and from their initial jubilation at the Yankee invasion of the slave South to the crushing disappointment of freedom's promise unfulfilled, this is a transformative vision of America's second revolution.--From publisher description

The development and diffusion of inexpensive, reliable and easy to use public Internet access means that large portions of the U.S. and global populations now regularly communicate with one another. Will the increasing penetration of the Internet into the social and political lives of people facilitate Thomas Jefferson's vision of a world "founded on the primacy of individual liberty and a commitment to pluralism, diversity, and Community"? While many people believe that the answer to this question is "yes", such affirmations often rest on adducing cases not theoretically linked to one another. In contrast, the present paper provides a broadly philosophical, conceptual analysis of how use of the Internet can lead to forms of "social tyranny" in which one or more elements of a community impose their own beliefs and interests on others in that community. For instance, dependence on Internet access and use for social action or pertinent information about social activities may lead to marginalization and exclusion for people whose Internet access or use is limited. Furthermore, the connectedness or mode of connectedness of groups or organizations may give them an unfair advantage disseminating and advocating the messages they deliver to members of the communities in which they exist. The conclusion is not that we should adopt attitudes and policies that are antithetical to the use of the Internet. Rather, using ideas from Dewey and Habermas, amongst others, the conclusion is that it is important to reflect broadly and critically on how use of the Internet can transform the character of the public domain and the deliberations about governance that occur within that domain.

The nature of health care, a multifaceted system of reimbursements, subsidies, levels of care, and trade-offs between economics, values and social goods, makes it both a problematic area of policy and critical to the well-being of society. In the United States, provision of health care is not a right as in some countries, but occurs as a function of a complex set of cross-subsidized mechanisms that, according to some analysts, exclude from coverage those who may be in the most need of it. Accordingly, this article examines some of the issues involved in making decisions on how to justly expand health insurance.