Random House New Releases - Philosophy - History, Criticism, Surveys - Between May 18, 2012 and June 17, 2013.

The Science Delusion by Curtis White

2013-05-28T00:30:00-05:00

The Science Delusion Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy Answers
Written by Curtis White

Hardcover, 224 pages | Melville House | Philosophy - History, Criticism, Surveys; Science - Philosophy & Social | $23.95 | May 28, 2013 | 978-1-61219-200-0 (1-61219-200-9)

One of our most brilliant social critics—author of the bestselling The Middle Mind—presents a scathing critique of the “delusions” of science alongside a rousing defense of the tradition of Romanticism and the “big” questions.

With the rise of religion critics such as Richard Dawkins, and of pseudo-science advocates such as Malcolm Gladwell and Jonah Lehrer, you’re likely to become a subject of ridicule if you wonder “Why is there something instead of nothing?” or “What is our purpose on earth?” Instead, at universities around the world, and in the general cultural milieu, we’re all being taught that science can resolve all questions without the help of philosophy, politics, or the humanities.

In short, the rich philosophical debates of the 19th century have been nearly totally abandoned, argues critic Curtis White. An atheist himself, White nonetheless calls this new turn “scientism”—and fears what it will do to our culture if allowed to flourish without challenge. In fact, in “scientism” White sees a new religion with many unexamined assumptions.

In this brilliant multi-part critique, he aims at a TED talk by a distinguished neuroscientist in which we are told that human thought is merely the product of our “connectome,” a map of neural connections in the brain that is yet to be fully understood. . . . He whips a widely respected physicist who argues that our new understanding of the origins of the universe obviates any philosophical inquiry . . . and ends with a learned defense of the tradition of Romanticism, which White believes our technology and science-obsessed world desperately needs to rediscover.

It’s the only way, he argues, that we can see our world clearly. . . and change it.

The Science Delusion by Curtis White

2013-05-28T00:30:00-05:00

The Science Delusion Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy Answers
Written by Curtis White

eBook | Melville House | Philosophy - History, Criticism, Surveys; Science - Philosophy & Social | $23.95 | May 28, 2013 | 978-1-61219-201-7 (1-61219-201-7)

America the Philosophical by Carlin Romano

2013-04-23T00:30:00-05:00

America the Philosophical
Written by Carlin Romano

This bold, insightful book argues that America today towers as the most philosophical culture in the history of the world, an unprecedented marketplace for truth and debate.

With verve and keen intelligence, Carlin Romano—Pulitzer Prize finalist, award-winning book critic, and professor of philosophy—takes on the widely held belief that the United States is an anti-intellectual country. Instead he provides a richly reported overview of American thought, arguing that ordinary Americans see through phony philosophical justifications faster than anyone else, and that the best of our thinkers ditch artificial academic debates for fresh intellectual enterprises. Along the way, Romano seeks to topple philosophy’s most fiercely admired hero, Socrates, asserting that it is Isocrates, the nearly forgotten Greek philosopher who rejected certainty, whom Americans should honor as their intellectual ancestor. America the Philosophical is a rebellious tour de force that both celebrates our country’s unparalleled intellectual energy and promises to bury some of our most hidebound cultural clichés.

The Crisis of the European Mind by J. Lewis May

2013-04-09T00:30:00-05:00

The Crisis of the European Mind 1680-1715
Written by Paul Hazard
Translated by J. Lewis May
Introduction by Anthony Grafton

Paul Hazard’s magisterial, widely influential, and beloved intellectual history offers an unforgettable account of the birth of the modern European mind in all its dynamic, inquiring, and uncertain glory. Beginning his story in the latter half of the seventeenth century, while also looking back to the Renaissance and forward to the future, Hazard traces the process by which new developments
in the sciences, arts, philosophy, and philology came to undermine the stable foundations of the classical world, with its commitment to tradition, stability, proportion, and settled usage. Hazard shows how travelers’ tales and archaeological investigation widened European awareness and acceptance of cultural difference; how the radical rationalism of Spinoza and Richard Simon’s new historical exegesis of the Bible called into question the revealed truths of religion; how the Huguenot Pierre Bayle’s critical dictionary of ideas paved the way for Voltaire and the Enlightenment, even as the empiricism of Locke encouraged a new attention to sensory experience that led to Rousseau and romanticism. Hazard’s range of knowledge is vast, and whether the subject is operas, excavations, or scientific experiments his brilliant style and powers of description bring to life the thinkers who thought up the modern world.

The Crisis of the European Mind by J. Lewis May

2013-04-09T00:30:00-05:00

The Crisis of the European Mind 1680-1715
Written by Paul Hazard
Translated by J. Lewis May
Introduction by Anthony Grafton

The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain De Botton

2013-01-23T00:30:00-05:00

The Consolations of Philosophy
Written by Alain De Botton

From the author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, a delightful, truly consoling work that proves that philosophy can be a supreme source of help for our most painful everyday problems.

Perhaps only Alain de Botton could uncover practical wisdom in the writings of some of the greatest thinkers of all time. But uncover he does, and the result is an unexpected book of both solace and humor. Dividing his work into six sections -- each highlighting a different psychic ailment and the appropriate philosopher -- de Botton offers consolation for unpopularity from Socrates, for not having enough money from Epicurus, for frustration from Seneca, for inadequacy from Montaigne, and for a broken heart from Schopenhauer (the darkest of thinkers and yet, paradoxically, the most cheering). Consolation for envy -- and, of course, the final word on consolation -- comes from Nietzsche: "Not everything which makes us feel better is good for us."

This wonderfully engaging book will, however, make us feel better in a good way, with equal measures of wit and wisdom.

The Empiricists by David Hume

2013-01-16T00:30:00-05:00

The Empiricists Locke: Concerning Human Understanding; Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge & 3 Dialogues; Hume: Concerning Human Understanding & Concerning Natural Religio
Written by John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume

This volume includes the major works of the British Empiricists, philosophers who sought to derive all knowledge from experience. All essays are complete except that of Locke, which Professor Richard Taylor of Brown University has skillfully abridged.

The Essential Crazy Wisdom by Wes Nisker

2012-09-12T00:30:00-05:00

The Essential Crazy Wisdom
Written by Wes Nisker

Take a wild and rickety ride through the philosophies of the East and West to discover the madmen, dreamers, and unconventional wisdom seekers in the abridged, better-than-ever version of our best-selling cult classic. THE ESSENTIAL CRAZY WISDOM delivers the most significant, most lunatic, and most compelling insights of the ages. Scoop Nisker patches together the unorthodox teachings that have bubbled up through the words of such crazy visionaries as Rumi, Gautama the Buddha, Mark Twain, Lao Tzu, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Allen Ginsberg, and Lily Tomlin. Discover the common thread in these multiple perspectives and travel on this comedic course to enlightenment!‚Ä¢ Original edition sold over 40,000 copies.

Man's Place in Nature by Stephen Jay Gould

2012-08-08T00:30:00-05:00

Man's Place in Nature
Written by Thomas H. Huxley
Series edited by Stephen Jay Gould

Thomas H. Huxley was one of the first supporters of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, and he did more than any other writer to advance its acceptance among scientists and nonscientists alike. His most famous book, Man’s Place in Nature, published only five years after Darwin’s The Origin of Species, offers a compelling review of primate and human paleontology, and is the first attempt to apply Darwin’s theory to human beings. As compelling a piece of analysis now as it was 140 years ago, Man’s Place in Nature is a must for every science lover’s library.

America the Philosophical by Carlin Romano

2012-05-22T00:30:00-05:00

America the Philosophical
Written by Carlin Romano

eBook, 688 pages | Vintage | Philosophy - History, Criticism, Surveys; History - United States - State & Local; History - Social History | $13.99 | May 22, 2012 | 978-0-307-95821-1 (0-307-95821-3)

   A bold, insightful book that rejects the myth of America the Unphilosophical, arguing that America today towers as the most philosophical culture in the history of the world, an unprecedented marketplace of truth and argument that far surpasses ancient Greece or any other place one can name.
   With verve and keen intelligence, Carlin Romano—Pulitzer Prize finalist, award-winning book critic, and professor of philosophy—takes on the widely held belief that ours is an anti–intellectual society. Instead, while providing a richly reported overview of American thought, Romano argues that ordinary Americans see through phony philosophical justifications faster than anyone else, and that the best of our thinkers abandon artificial academic debates for fresh intellectual enterprises, such as cyberphilosophy. Along the way, Romano seeks to topple philosophy’s most fiercely admired hero, Socrates, asserting that it is Isocrates, the nearly forgotten Greek philosopher who rejected certainty, whom Americans should honor as their intellectual ancestor.
   America the Philosophical introduces readers to a nation whose existence most still doubt: a dynamic, deeply stimulating network of people and places drawn together by shared excitement about ideas. From the annual conference of the American Philosophical Association, where scholars tack wiseguy notes addressed to Spinoza on a public bulletin board, to the eruption of philosophy blogs where participants discuss everything from pedagogy to the philosophy of science to the nature of agency and free will, Romano reveals a world where public debate and intellectual engagement never stop. And readers meet the men and women whose ideas have helped shape American life over the previous few centuries, from well-known historical figures like William James and Ralph Waldo Emerson, to modern cultural critics who deserve to be seen as thinkers (Kenneth Burke, Edward Said), to the iconoclastic African American, women, Native American, and gay mavericks (Cornel West, Susan Sontag, Anne Waters, Richard Mohr) who have broadened the boundaries of American philosophy.
   Smart and provocative, America the Philosophical is a rebellious tour de force that both celebrates our country’s unparalleled intellectual energy and promises to bury some of our most hidebound cultural clichés.

America the Philosophical by Carlin Romano

2012-05-22T00:30:00-05:00

America the Philosophical
Written by Carlin Romano

Hardcover, 688 pages | Knopf | Philosophy - History, Criticism, Surveys; History - United States - State & Local; History - Social History | $35.00 | May 22, 2012 | 978-0-679-43470-2 (0-679-43470-4)

Random House New Releases - Philosophy - History, Criticism, Surveys - Between May 18, 2012 and June 17, 2013.

The Science Delusion by Curtis White

The Science Delusion Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy AnswersWritten by Curtis White

The Science Delusion by Curtis White

The Science Delusion Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy AnswersWritten by Curtis White

America the Philosophical by Carlin Romano

America the Philosophical Written by Carlin Romano

The Crisis of the European Mind by J. Lewis May

The Crisis of the European Mind 1680-1715Written by Paul Hazard Translated by J. Lewis May Introduction by Anthony Grafton

The Crisis of the European Mind by J. Lewis May

The Crisis of the European Mind 1680-1715Written by Paul Hazard Translated by J. Lewis May Introduction by Anthony Grafton

The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain De Botton

The Consolations of Philosophy Written by Alain De Botton

The Empiricists by David Hume

The Empiricists Locke: Concerning Human Understanding; Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge & 3 Dialogues; Hume: Concerning Human Understanding & Concerning Natural ReligioWritten by John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume

The Essential Crazy Wisdom by Wes Nisker

The Essential Crazy Wisdom Written by Wes Nisker

Man's Place in Nature by Stephen Jay Gould

Man's Place in Nature Written by Thomas H. Huxley Series edited by Stephen Jay Gould

America the Philosophical by Carlin Romano

America the Philosophical Written by Carlin Romano

America the Philosophical by Carlin Romano

America the Philosophical Written by Carlin Romano

The Science Delusion Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy Answers
Written by Curtis White

The Science Delusion Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy Answers
Written by Curtis White

America the Philosophical
Written by Carlin Romano

The Crisis of the European Mind 1680-1715
Written by Paul Hazard
Translated by J. Lewis May
Introduction by Anthony Grafton

The Crisis of the European Mind 1680-1715
Written by Paul Hazard
Translated by J. Lewis May
Introduction by Anthony Grafton

The Consolations of Philosophy
Written by Alain De Botton

The Empiricists Locke: Concerning Human Understanding; Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge & 3 Dialogues; Hume: Concerning Human Understanding & Concerning Natural Religio
Written by John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume

The Essential Crazy Wisdom
Written by Wes Nisker

Man's Place in Nature
Written by Thomas H. Huxley
Series edited by Stephen Jay Gould

America the Philosophical
Written by Carlin Romano

America the Philosophical
Written by Carlin Romano