The Moral Powers: A Study of Human Nature is a philosophical investigation of the moral potentialities and sensibilities of human beings, of the meaning of human life, and of the place of death in life. It is an essay in philosophical anthropology: the study of the conceptual framework in terms of which we think about, speak about, and investigate homo sapiens as a social and cultural animal. This volume examines the diversity of values in human life and the place of mora...

This highly accessible account offers an illuminating introduction to Wittgenstein's philosophy of mind and to his conception of philosophy. Combining passages from Wittgenstein's writings with detailed interpretation and commentary, Hacker leads us into a world of philosophical investigation in which 'to smell a rat is ever so much easier than to trap it.'Wittgenstein claimed that the role of philosophy is to dissolve conceptual confusions, to untie the knots in our understanding ...

In Neuroscience and Philosophy three prominent philosophers and a leading neuroscientist clash over the conceptual presuppositions of cognitive neuroscience. The book begins with an excerpt from Maxwell Bennett and Peter Hacker's Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience (Blackwell, 2003), which questions the conceptual commitments of cognitive neuroscientists. Their position is then criticized by Daniel Dennett and John Searle, two philosophers who have written extensive...

This book traces the history and coherence of the use of the word ‘representations’ from its origins, particularly in the description of artefacts, to its use in the description of so-called mental and neural representations in the mind and in the brain. It is shown that there are no good reasons for this transition. Experimental psychology is confused in taking what one perceives to be a mental representation. Neuroscientists need to avoid moving readily between the notions of neural and ...

Sir Anthony Kenny is one of the most distinguished and prolific philosophers of our time. In the wide range and historical breadth of his interests, he has influenced many parts of the philosophical landscape, especially in the philosophy of mind and the theory of human action and responsibility. In contrast to many of his contemporaries, who have played down philosophy's debt to its past, Kenny's work has always been rooted in the great tradition of Western philosophical inquiry. Mind...

First published in 1993, The Ultimate Cigar Book has become a classic in its field, and is generally credited with having helped launch the current cigar-smoking craze. It has been reprinted numerous times in the United States, and is now sold worldwide. No other book contains as much detailed and factual information on virtually every facet of cigar making and cigar smoking. Now we present an audio edition of the beloved fourth edition for the audio-loving aficionado of the futur...

Curious, confounding and brilliant, Wittgenstein is a philosopher whom people find it easy to get obsessed with. In Investigating Wittgenstein, Giles Fraser explores the secret of his attraction?The How to Believe series of ebooks explores the teachings, philosophies and beliefs of major thinkers and religious texts. In a short, easy-to-access format, leading writers present new understandings of these perennially important ideas.

By the best selling author of The Selfish Gene 'This entertaining and thought-provoking book is an excellent illustration of why the study of evolution is in such an exciting ferment these days.' Science 'The Extended Phenotype is a sequel to The Selfish Gene . . . he writes so clearly it could be understood by anyone prepared to make the effort' John Maynard Smith, London Review of Books 'Dawkins is quite incapable of being boring this characteristically brilliant and stimulating book is ...

‘Will give pleasure to anyone interested in original thinking about the brain…Breathtakingly original’ Financial TimesThe trailblazing investigation of a question that has confounded us for centuries: how is consciousness created?In Self Comes to Mind, world-renowned neuroscientist Antonio Damasio goes against the long-standing idea that consciousness is separate from the body, presenting compelling new scientific evidence...

A "fascinating" and groundbreaking work of science that demonstrates the possibilities for human control over the workings of the brain ( Cleveland Plain Dealer).Conventional science has long held that "the mind" is an illusion, a mere side effect of electrochemical activity in the physical brain. The Mind & The Brain argues exactly the opposite: that the mind has a life of its own. Dr. Schwartz, a leading researcher in brain dysfunctions, and ...

Change your brain, change your life with this essential classic from New York Times bestselling author, Rick Hanson—now celebrating 15 years in print with more than 500,000 copies sold!Great teachers like the Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, and Gandhi were all born with brains built essentially like anyone else’s—and then they changed their brains in ways that changed the world. Neuroscience now reveals how the flow of thoughts actually sculpt the brain, a...

The present publication is intended to supply a recognised deficiency in our literature—a library edition of the Essays of Montaigne. This great French writer deserves to be regarded as a classic, not only in the land of his birth, but in all countries and in all literatures.His Essays, which are at once the most celebrated and the most permanent of his productions, form a magazine out of which such minds as those of Bacon and Shakespeare did not disdain to help themselves; and, in...